Division 1 round-up

Both Colchester teams in Division 1 finished in the top half of the table. Colchester A finished 4th (6 wins, 1 draw, 3 defeats) with their best results being 4-0 wins against Braintree and Billericay. Overall, the A team have had a great season as they won the knockout competition but their league result was not quite as strong. There were a number of good individual performances - the A team were unbeaten on board 4 and only lost one game on board 3. Matt Stemp won all his games on the top two boards.

Colchester B finished in 6th place (with 5 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses). Their best results were a surprise 3-1 win against Writtle A and a 4-0 win against Billericay. Again there were lot of strong individual results; the B team scored more than 50% on boards 2 and 3.

The combined A/B team player statistics (by board) in the league are:

Board 1 (Total 10/20)
Nathan Barnes	4/8
Matt Stemp	3/3
Ian Gooding	2.5/6
Svein Kjenner	0.5/2
Norbert Voelker	0/1

Board 2 (Total 10.5/20)
Norbert Voelker	2.5/6
Matt Stemp	2/2
Svein Kjenner	2/2
Michael Catabay	1.5/2
Mike Wagstaff	1.5/3
Felix Schnell	1/4
Nathan Barnes	0/1

Board 3 (Total 14/20)
Svein Kjenner	5.5/7
Felix Schnell	3/3
Norbert Voelker	2/2
Mike Wagstaff	1.5/2
Nathan Barnes	1/2
Matt Stemp	0.5/1
Clive Bellinger	0.5/2
Phil Daley	0/1

Board 4 (Total 12.5/20)
Nathan Barnes	5.5/6
Clive Bellinger	2/4
Pete Smith	1.5/3
Michael Catabay	1/1
Felix Schnell	1/1
Mike Wagstaff	1/3
John Duff-Cole	0.5/1
Phil Daley	0/1

Below is the finish from the game on board 4 in the Writtle A - Colchester A; tripled pawns aren't always bad. The match finished in a draw.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2017.05.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Barnes, Nathan"] [Black "Forrester, Andy"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B00"] [Annotator "Barnes,Nathan"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r3r1k1/p2n1n2/1p1q1p2/3ppNp1/3P2P1/P1PP1P2/3B1Q2/R3R1K1 b - - 0 26"] [PlyCount "38"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] 26... Qf8 $6 {The queen is awkwardly placed here; it looks sensible as it seems to help strengthen the defence around the king but it is almost trapped.} 27. c4 $1 a5 {Best} (27... dxc4 $2 28. Bb4 $1 {[%csl Rc5,Rd6,Re7,Rf8,Rg7,Rh6] Black has to give up a piece as his queen has no where to go.} Nc5 29. dxc5 a5 30. Bc3 bxc5 31. dxc4 $18) 28. cxd5 $14 {White has gone a pawn up, the tripled pawns are actually quite strong as they control the centre of the board.} Nd6 29. Ng3 {Re-routing the knight to e4.} b5 $6 30. Ne4 exd4 31. Qxd4 Ne5 32. Kg2 $16 {Strengthening the defence before carrying on.} Rec8 $2 (32... Nxe4 { was Black's best option, though White still has a nearly winning position.}) 33. Nxf6+ Qxf6 34. Qxe5 {Good enough} (34. Rxe5 {was slightly better than the queen capture} Rc2 35. Rd1) 34... Qxe5 35. Rxe5 Rc2 36. Re2 {with time starting to run out I decided to play simple, obvious moves that maintained the advantage.} (36. Rxg5+ {is clearly the best move.}) 36... Re8 37. Kf2 Kf7 38. Rae1 Ra2 $2 39. Bxa5 $1 Rxa3 40. Bb4 Rxe2+ 41. Rxe2 Ra6 42. Re6 Ra2+ 43. Ke3 Ne8 $2 (43... Nc8 44. Rc6 Ra8 (44... Na7 45. Rc7+ Ke8 46. Bc5) 45. Kd4) 44. Re7+ Kf8 45. Ra7+ 1-0