SPONDON CUP

First four rounds of the cup take the form of a jamboree, over two evenings. We had entered two teams, which began to look a bit ambitious as the hunt for players began! Eventually we found seven to turn out, and thanks especially to David Bentley, who agreed to come at the last minute, thus keeping us respectable. So we went for it: #A being Latham D, Johnson M, Crofts B and Fault D. #B was Housley, Bracey, Peters and Bentley, a chance to show Derbyshire we have more good players than those they've seen: Steve Housley got the point across with a good win over Dave Williams. Otherwise, the luck of the draw was against us: three of each side's eight games were against the other Chesterfield guys, leaving me thinking that we could have stayed at home and at The Three Merry Lads they lay on decent beer.
After the games started, Fault dropped out as a spare player was drafted in; this didn't alter #A's score, which was a promising 4.5/8 for third place. #B had a harder time, with unexpectedly decent oppo on the lower boards - Alan Downham and Derek Jarvis no less. With #A well placed for the semis, we have a quandary as to how to deploy our other Sheffield A people if they're available for the next round.

CHESTERFIELD 'B'
 

West Notts 'C' v Chesterfield 'B' 23.10.09

Steve B maintained his 100% record, winning in fine style on Board one. Martin's opponent defaulted which gave the game to Martin , who also maintains a 100% record. George was on board three and managed a win at last ! Brian,on board 4, had a challenging game against a young player who perfomed very well but Brian managed to draw the game. The match ended in a win for Chesterfield 3.5 -0.5


Lichfield 'B' v Chesterfield 'B' 20.10.09

In this match, Steve and Martin on boards 1 and 2 played very well, both of them winning the games in fine style. George was in a winning position and then lost to a Queen manoeuvre which blasted open his defence. He resigned immediately. Brian's determination saw him achieve a draw after what appeared to be a lost game and he deserved every credit for sticking to it. The match ended in a win for Chesterfield 2.5 - 1.5.

West Notts - Chesterfield

Derbyshire - Greater Manchester

Chesterfield - Long Eaton

2009/10  Derby - Chesterfield

First match was the longest trek we do in either league: Lichfield away. Historic venue in the depths of their Guildhall, a long low stone hall crammed with players competing in various local leagues. They'd saved the toughest for us, and the newly promoted team looked as good as any we'd faced last season. Steve Bracey's dodgy gambit met the right response from Pete Collins, and Steve had to choose between going a solid pawn down or trying an unsound knight sac. Needless to say, he went for the sac, it came off and the finish looked classy. 1-0. Maurice Staples put Mike Johnson under much pressure and had a pawn and an attack, but Mike held on with great skill and showed that all rook endings are draws. Staples was 185 only last year, now it's all the way down to 170; on tonight's evidence he looked Lichfield's class act and well done Mike. Andy Mort played a fine logical game; won a pawn transferring to the ending and never gave his opponent the ghost of a chance. This won a match which had looked dodgy. Top board was just entertainment at 2.5-0.5, and it duly ended in disaster, Dave's flag falling when he was hunting down Paul Wallace's king with a queen v  bishop. Always nice to recall an opponent's sportsmanship and we toasted the Ecclesall star Dave Adams, who memorably called it a draw v Lloyd Powell in a similar position. 2.5-1.5, glad to get out of Lichfield with that.

Second up, the trip to Derby with the same crowd. This time the oppo were old friends. Steve had a promising hack  attack against Dave Williams' Sicilian set up, but we'll call Williams' win of the exchange a smart spot by him rather than a goof by Steve; draw immediately offered and agreed. Andy maintained 100% after pressing hard in a locked position, then burning his opponent's clock with a creative draw offer; White's position collapsed very soon after. Castro-Johnson was a fine strategic performance by our man, finishing with a neat spot-the-move forcing immediate resignation. And finally, at the sixth attempt Dave Latham starts to close the gap on Derbyshire's #1  rated player John Shannon: John went wrong in the opening, found endless defensive ideas but threw in his hand on 78. Avoid Dave or he'll force you to sit through repeat showings of this one. 3.5-0.5: it'll be a good team that betters that result against Derby.

Steve Burke and some colleagues from Sutton were the first to respond to our come for free, help drink the beer and play a few friendly games offer. Very nice to see them, and as we say, members of any club are welcome.

Third match was at home v Long Eaton. At about 180 average, ours was the highest graded team the club's put out since records began. We've had the pleasure of the company of Hubert Mossong for some weeks now; he's been showing us the error of our ways in lots of friendly games, and I was looking forward to seeing how he'd perform against a really strong opponent. Ray Evans fitted the bill, and it went all the way to a last pawn stalemate. For the first time this season, we brought out the Ramsden set, for which see History 3 when we get there: by ancient tradition going back all the way to 2004, this only appears for a serious game featuring at least one player who has, or had, a 190 grade and (bad luck for some GMs) also plays in the right spirit. Hubert and Ray did it full justice.

Mike Alcock returned to the team! which alone made this a red letter day for the club. Kishan Lakhani will no longer be described in these pages with anything suggesting talented junior. He's a very strong player, and hardly the guy you'd elect to face if easing yourself back in. It was a terrific win for Mike, and a really exciting game: he looked right back to his best. I couldn't match it on three v Geoff Gibson: I'd survived to a pawn up in a difficult ending; goof one left me looking for a draw and goof two threw that away. Fortunately Mike Johnson pulled us through in the last game to finish, v Andy Robins. 2.5-1.5. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was the highest powered match in the D&D for some years: it was about our strongest and I think Long Eaton's too.

Fourth, the showdown with reigning champions Breadsall. Andy Mort replaced Mike Alcock and Hubert's still here as the secret weapon, though if he carries on getting the current results the "secret" part won't last. One for the website as Hubert won what looked a very good game against Paul Madden. He even found time for a glance at my board and spotted a win I missed early on. Luckily for me Derek Jarvis missed what would have been my last trick, in time trouble at the very end of the game. Andy Mort led the way in the match, winning against Andy Toothill who's often proved a very tough opponent for us. This left Breadsall's only scorer as Steve Burke, whose game v Mike Johnson looked hard fought, but a draw throughout. Obviously 3.5-0.5 against last year's unbeaten champions was quite a result.

And so to Belper for match 5, which featured perhaps the outstanding result by a Derbyshire player this season. Sadly this was on board one by our old buddy Simon Gilmore, who managed to hold off an attack from Hubert which looked a certain winner, then came through in a difficult rook ending where Hubert gave him every chance to go wrong. The match was long decided by then: at last the captain led the way with a quick miniature; Mike Johnson played what looked suspiciously like a Blackmar-Diemar gambit and won against a new (to us) and good player, Simon Edwards; and Andy Mort kept up his 100% record, overcoming stout resistance from Vaughn Smith in a Q&R ending. 3-1 to us. Five matches, five wins: the rest of the League will have figured out our intentions by now; but with 10 points already, that looks like relegation staved off for another season.

DERBYSHIRE v WORCESTERSHIRE over 16 boards at Acordis. Thanks to Paul Kelman and Bert Loomes for the organising. The club did its bit, supplying five of the 16 players on the team. Hubert faced a fairly stodgy White set up on top board, and eventually agreed a draw rather than try to grind it out. In the event, his pushing us all down one was probably crucial. I won a sparkler on two, but Emma (and Fritz) showed how it should have ended with a queen sac as "a little bit of Morphy". Mike Johnson ran into a Rambo and there wasn't much anyone short of master could have done, a splendid attack by his opponent; Martin's game was a knife edge King's Indian, well played by both, and his King side attack carried the day; Emma's opponent needed a win at all costs for his side, but hardly played a risky move and duly got his draw, condemning his team to defeat. Another fine game by Emma and, Leics and Lincs beware, captain Kelman signed her up for the next match on the spot. 9-7 for Derbyshire, 3-2 for the Chesterfield crew.

First round of the CUP: off to Accordis, seven or eight teams playing two rounds of jamboree. Spreading the fun around a bit, we sent Mike Johnson, Andy, Steve Bracey and Emma, a team roughly comparable to our likely rivals. A jolly time had by all, and a creditable 4/8 total, starring 2/2 by Andy Mort. The 50% score puts us on joint 3-6th I believe: with four to qualify we could hardly be better placed for an exciting second evening...

...which featured two very fine wins by Mike Alcock on top board.  A third round 2.5/4 left us still not clear of the pack going into the home straight, but a clean 4/4 in the last round made us first of the four qualifiers. We take on Burton for a final place against Breadsall or Derby.

LEICESTERSHIRE V DERBYSHIRE.

Five players again for the second county match. Best wishes to Paul Kelman for a swift recovery: Trevor Bould captained the side in his absence and Paul Madden led us off with a good win on one. After that, it has to be admitted that  Leicestershire's finest came out on top against our club's senior representatives. But the other game was one to recall in years to come. See History 1 for Otto Hardy, our dashing young club champion three times in the late 50s: where else but chess could you see a real blood-and-guts contest - at a senior level - between such a legendary figure and a rising star over 60 years his junior? Emma looked like she'd taken a hammer blow early on, but came back instantly with one of her own, and quite a crowd gathered round one of the very last games to finish, to see her lay the old warrior low. That tied the match at 7-7 and the final 8-8 was a good result given the opposition.

Sixth match v Burton. Comment was passed at the county match that the League was becoming a procession. Phil Briggs did his best to halt it: plugged away v Hubert, offered two draws, then won after a slip by our man. All the other games went to last few minutes. Mike Alcock and Ralph Allen played their spectacular Ruy Lopez line for the third time. Wild sacs lead to an ending where Mike has two pieces, Ralph a rook and an extra two pawns; Mike reckons this is a win and at the third time of asking he showed one. I won a pawn early on v Trevor Bould; thought he might go wrong if I pressured him rather than switch to a doubtful ending; went wrong myself and just had enough to win. Steve Kimberley was new to us, standing in for Paul Moore on 4. Mike Johnson looked ahead for most of the game, but there were just RB  v R left on when he finally broke the resistance. 3-1, and at Christmas we had 12 points from 6; second place Derby 8 from 7. There's no lack of will to stop us: Briggs left commenting to his gallant crew "I'll drive, you lot can walk!" which sounds ominous for the cup semi.

Seventh match v Derby and finally a wheel came off. Hubert won with Black against John Shannon, which even for him was beating worthy opposition; from here onlookers expected another victory, as Messrs Williams Retout and Forey were all facing higher graded Chesterfield people...but in three long tough games the Derby men came through. I duly gritted teeth and congratulated them: it's not yet time to call in the ringers in this league, but another couple of wins before we give everyone a game. Quite a reversal from the first match, ouch.

Eighth, Breadsall, who brought such a strong side that no less a man than Andy Toothill  was spectator and reserve. Half way though it looked grim, with Madden-Alcock even, Mort-Burke already a soundly played draw; and Mike Johnson under the cosh, I thought, since Derek Jarvis had a solidly backed passer on d6.  Latham-Padilla was worse still: a knight on b4 stopped two of my three pieces from moving and his passed pawn looked hard to stop without heavy losses. At this point Mike Alcock went for a win and Paul Madden won by direct attack. That ought to have decided matters, but Fortune favours the lucky. Pablo allowed me a cheapo, the dead pieces sprang to life and the match was level. Mike Alcock then told me (after the game!) that he'd intended to warn me about my opponent's opening line, cheers for that! and finally Mike Johnson won his rook ending; I don't know how he turned it round, but the quickplay finish looked pretty ruthless.  This may well have been the hardest fought match since Long Eaton. 2.5-1.5.

The Cup semi with Burton was rearranged because of blizzards; thanks to Trevor Bould for his help in finally getting things together, and especially appreciated was the gesture of finding a neutral venue after I'd felt obliged to offer to play at their place. I missed the match myself, and Mike Johnson had gone for the even higher cultural pursuit of studying the Renaissance and the bottom of a few jars in Florence. But that hardly weakened our side of Mossong Alcock Mort and Bracey. With Phil Briggs missing from Burton's line up I'd have stuck a few bob on our team, but Mike Alcock tells me it was very tough, with Bould Hedges and John Hoddy drawing against our guys, who must have been 20 points ahead of them. Cheers for Hubert who won "in the last seconds" against Ralph Allen on top board; we all know how hard he can be to beat. And so to the final...

...but first, the ninth match, v Lichfield. Again, my account's based on reports from Mike A and Andy Mort. George took board 4 and did well to turn round his game for a draw. Hubert also drew and the match was all square; Andy Mort sounds like he was doing great 'til a goof, but Mike Alcock came through against Pete Collins. 2-2; still well ahead of any conceivable challenger except West Notts, whom we have to play twice. Win lose or draw tonight, those matches should decide matters.

Tenth match at Long Eaton. We'd done badly at Rotherham this week, and bounced back with another defeat. Not down to picking a weak team: it just didn't go our way. Hubert v Ray Evans was the repeat of a thriller from earlier in the season, and I guess it's the most high powered individual game this league can offer. The opening was offbeat and double edged, and Hubert looked to have good chances at one stage but Ray took the point. Board two saw Mike Alcock pushing for a win with v Geoff Gibson; got a strong pawn on f3; but when the centre opened Mike's king was the more exposed, and a piece sac went wrong. I was already doing nothing against Andy Robins' Caro Kann, and in pushing for an edge found myself a pawn down in a rook ending. The winning chances were all his when he offered a draw; I accepted, thinking Mike Johnson was lost, his winning combination having turned out to have a flaw which left him pawns adrift in the ending. But just as my game was agreed drawn, thus losing the match, Norman Davies allowed Mike right back into it, and his pawns rushed through to a winning touchdown. So 1.5-2.5, a scoreline possibly better than we deserved, and our matches with West Notts are now more significant than I'd expected.

Holidays and distance meant few folk fancying the showdown at West Notts; fortunately they'd had the same problems and featured just two of their brilliant juniors. Daniel Lin went a pawn down to Mike Johnson and tried a sac which turned out not to give enough. Amisha Parmar resisted much longer and I was lucky she hadn't played in a few months: certainly showed why she's nationally known, and not only the league's second strongest junior but also our highest rated woman player. George Peters looked up against it in a rook ending v John Collins, but played like Korchnoi and proved the draw more quickly than I thought possible. So the match was won, and the three of us had to leave without getting the result of the top board. This looked an epic, with David Levens clearly ahead early on; but Mike Alcock got the upper hand in a very complex middle game and reported victory. We now need 2 from 3 to be mathematically certain, but have no objection to helpful results from anyone who plays Derby in particular.

Twelfth, Burton at the neutral Spondon venue. They'd been relegated and not putting out the strongest of sides...until it came to us. Phil Briggs played a permanent piece sac on the 6th move and the result was chaos; we both thought I was winning, but a terrific attack at the last got him the point his brave idea deserved. The other three boards looked evenly matched on paper, but all three went our way and all were well worth a look. Steve Bracey got to play his Dragon variation and even a pet pawn sac: looks a classic win for Black, White's strong centre knocked down with four or five successive blows. Martin Howard got good pressure v Trevor Bould, and allowed the 'win' of his queen for both rooks; one variation showed a king hunt to the 5th; in the game, he transferred smoothly to a won ending. And in the last, Mike Johnson boldly declined Ralph Allen's draw offer and showed a win in the ending; there was one terrific position where white's queen and three minor pieces could or couldn't hold it together; in the end one was dropped. So, nearly an elephant trap, but a fine match with four anthology games, and one win from two will see us home and dry.

...and the win came in our 13th match, home v West Notts. My opponent fell into an opening trap and resigned on 17; a captain's innings to settle the side, I thought, as I headed off to watch footie on TV with my lad. 90 minutes later I returned with every confidence to find out how the match had finished in our favour. But no! all games were still in progress, and Mike Alcock, engaged in a life-and-death struggle with David Levens, was asking me how the others were doing; sounded a bit anxious! Mike Johnson looked to be facing a difficult attack, and my guess that he'd win was based more on my view of Mike than his position. Andy Mort had the chance to finish off with a great combination, but we weren't sure it was sound. Anyway, the result went our way; Andy rightly didn't risk the sac and won with a series of clockburners in a complex position. Analysis revealed he was ahead, and also that his sac was a brilliancy that got away. Mike Johnson came through in good style, his opponent's position collapsing on a rock-like defence...and David Levens scored a fine win, which still left us with the League trophy by 3 - 1. The 14th match - postponed after most of the Belper team got trapped on the M1 - won't be needed so probably won't be played.

The Cup Final saw a narrow victory against a determined challenge from Breadsall. What-are-the-odds that our league match score was repeated exactly, game for game? Early draw for Andy and Steve Burke, fair agreement in some Q side opening that ended looking like a Caro Kann: Karpov might have thought one side had a minimal edge worth grinding out for a week or two, but which side? My win against Pablo bore inspection this time; hung onto a hot pawn from the opening, defied an excellent sac to get the advantage of 2 B's v R + P, and managed to throw back White's attack. So we needed a point from the last two, and here Derek Jarvis offered Mike Johnson a draw which I'd have accepted: I thought Mike Alcock was on the point of winning. But Paul Madden played the rook ending quite brilliantly to save, and then win it...back to Johnson-Jarvis, all results possible. Mike had two minutes to Derek's four; both were finding good moves instantly. This was a marvellous episode of play, ending when Derek went wrong. El Presidente was now a piece up and about to queen with seconds left. All results were still possible, including a win of game and match for Breadsall if Mike's flag fell, but such was the speed and tension that first Mike, then Derek, played illegal moves and conceded two minutes on the clock. For Derek to concede two minutes was, of course, fatal and he resigned at once. To be honest, this was such a gallant display from Breadsall that I was left, not with triumph but a sense that winning everything in Derbyshire leaves good people with nothing, and I felt like a banker ought to feel as he cashes the bonus.  Probably too soft to be a chess player...or a banker. Still, this is the only trophy we've played for which we've never won. Until now, and it was a great Final.

The only trophy we were defending was the Jamboree shield, 20 minute competition at Rolls Royce. Five teams turned out in our section, and our Latham-Johnson-Mort-Bracey combo sneaked it: 11.5/16 a point ahead of Belper, set up by some dreadful swindles (Alderson thoroughly clobbers Latham and drops a rook in last seconds is one I won't be showing) and a stellar 4/4 from Andy Mort.

Thanks to all the people who turned out for this team. Captain's prize to Mike Johnson with 11/13, ahead of Andy Mort 6.5/10 and myself on 8.5/12; eight players appeared and none scored less than 50%; second to Mike on percentages was Steve Bracey on 3/4.

Some very good chess players wanted these trophies. Ray Evans, John Shannon, Paul Madden, Phil Briggs, Derek Jarvis, David Levens, Geoff Gibson and Simon Gilmore just some of the people who played terrifically well against us. Phil and Geoff are especially noted as the guys who played two, won two against the Chesterfield double winners, respec' to them and all our other friends and opponents, and we won't be challenging the Rest of the League any day soon...but with determination and strength in depth we got there. Well done folks.
 

Derbyshire 2007/8

The Southernmost team in Sheffield A Division, we're also the Northern outpost of the Derby & District League, plugging away over 4 boards.

Over the previous three seasons we'd met strong resistance from several teams, particularly on the top boards. It was rarely easy, but we won the league three times running. I imagine Derbyshire's finest must have felt weary of the old firm of Alcock, Latham, Andrews, Mort and Johnson: individual players could match us but not for strength in depth. Latterly we had Martin Howard and Steve Housley to call upon as well: one season began with 12 wins and a draw.
This season we had to play without our star man Mike Alcock. All best wishes to him for his recovery. Often top board for the county; eleven times its champion, including the previous season...taking on his regular top board opponents made it very clear to me what a contribution he'd made. Still, after a couple of early defeats we performed well enough; when the game feature's up and running there will be some cracking games to show off. Mike Johnson and Martin Howard were very regular and had a lot of good results; Andy Mort captained the side and played many a captain's innings; thanks to Steve, Dave, George and Mick who also turned out for us. Our eventual result was second: creditable with such tough competitors as Belper, West Notts and Burton around, and none of the others were easy. All credit to Paul Madden, Steve Burke and their Breadsall colleagues who've pushed us close before and won it this year. Enjoy it while you've got it!

THE COUNTY SIDE

Paul Kelman of Amber Valley runs the Derbyshire team, and in recent years our club's usually provided the strongest contingent. This year we scored 3.5/4 as I recall, in the vital showdown against I forget whom; but overall the team got crushed and so no repeat of the march to the Minor Counties final a couple of seasons ago. It's good chess when it happens - occasional Saturdays - and we can put anyone who wants to play in touch with the captains either of the under 125s or of the County side.
Other Derbyshire events: qualified easily for the cup semi-final, went down narrowly to Belper. 20 minute Jamboree was lots of fun and that we did win. Next year we'll aim for more serious silverware.