February summary

The current top ten players in the club grand prix are:

		Points
1st	Nathan Barnes	14.5
2nd	Clive Bellinger	10
3rd	Mohammud Jaufarally	8
4th	Martin Harris	8
5th	Mike Wagstaff	7
6th	Svein Kjenner	6.5
7th	Matt Stemp	6
8th	Ed Goodman	6
9th	Aleksander Orava	5.5
10th	Mark Johnson	5.5

Games played in the club championship, Tony Locke rapidplay and the NECL league/knockout count for points in the grand prix. Where points are equal percentage score is used as a tie-breaker.

In the club championship three of the preliminary groups are complete. In group 1, Nathan Barnes finished 1st with Ed Goodman and Mohammud Jaufarally in joint 2nd. John-Duff Cole and Clive Bellinger finished in joint 1st in group 2, with John getting the bye for the 1st round of the knockout on tiebreak. In group 4, Brian Remmer and Dave Chatfield finished in joint 1st, with Brian getting the bye for the 1st round of the knockout on tiebreak. Martin Harris and Phil Daley have both won a game in group 5, so the match between them will decide the top two places. The knockout rounds will start in April, group winners will have a bye for the 1st round.

In NECL Division 2, Colchester A are in 1st place having won five matches and drawn one. Colchester B are in 8th place (two wins and two losses) - but have played four of the top five teams and have played fewer games than their rivals. In Division 3, Colchester C are in 2nd place (on tiebreak with 1st) after winning three matches, drawing two and losing one - though they have played more games than most teams; Colchester D are in 5th place (on tiebreak with 3rd) with three wins and one loss.

 

In the first match of the four February matches, Colchester B beat Braintree B (who beat the A team last year). Alex Orava won on board 1, as did Clive Bellinger on board 4. Mike Wagstaff had to move quickly to meet the time control and lost a pawn doing so. Svein Kjenner had a winning position but miscalculated a queen sacrifice, active play helped him to recover a draw from a completely lost position to seal the team win.

Date: Feb-2015
NECL Division 2
Brd	Col	COLCHESTER B	Result		BRAINTREE B	Col
1	w	Alex Orava (148)	1	0	Kenn Butcher (140)	b
2	b	Mike Wagstaff (148)	0	1	Greg Mantle (134)	w
3	w	Svein Kjenner (e139)	½	½	Gerald Conley (128)	b
4	b	Clive Bellinger (138)	1	0	Peter Copsey (89)	w
		(avg=143)	2.5	1.5	(avg=122)

 

The next week it was the A team's turn to play Braintree B. First to finish was Nathan Barnes winning with an overloading tactic in the transition from the middle game to the end game - the game finished with only 11 minutes showing on the combined clocks (though the time control had been reached). Mike Wagstaff won by sacrificing pawns to set up a powerful kingside attack with his major pieces. Matt Stemp finished his opponent off with a neat deflection tactic to set-up a mating net. Last minute reserve Martin Harris played a risk-free game where neither player had any real chances of losing or winning.

Date: Feb-2015
NECL Division 2
Brd	Col	BRAINTREE B	Result		COLCHESTER A	Col
1	w	Kenn Butcher (140)	0	1	Matt Stemp (e165)	b
2	b	Greg Mantle (134)	0	1	Nathan Barnes (152)	w
3	w	Gerald Conley (128)	0	1	Mike Wagstaff (148)	b
4	b	Bill O'Leary (115)	½	½	Martin Harris (121)	w
		(avg=129)	0.5	3.5	(avg=146)

 

The following week saw two matches on the same night - both featuring the same scoreline. Colchester C beat Chelmsford D 4-0 and Colchester A beat Dunmow.

Date: Feb-2015
NECL Division 2
Brd	Col	COLCHESTER A	Result		DUNMOW	Col
1	b	Ian Gooding (183)	1	0	Derek Jones (132)	w
2	w	Nathan Barnes (152)	1	0	Bill Attwood (109)	b
3	b	Mike Wagstaff (148)	1	0	John Fletcher (e100)	w
4	w	Clive Bellinger (138)	1	0	Andrew Shoolbred (51)	b
		(avg=155)	4	0	(avg=98)

 

Date: Feb-2015
NECL Division 3
Brd	Col	COLCHESTER C	Result		CHELMSFORD D	Col
1	b	Phil Daley (123)	1	0	Alan Reynolds (106)	w
2	w	Peter Smith (119)	1	0	Peter Saunders (97)	b
3	b	Simon Denney (114)	1	0	Trevor Adams (89)	w
4	w	Brian Remmer (109)	1	0	Mario Cassar (73)	b
		(avg=111)	2	2	(avg=107)