Tuesday 14th March
| Nomads II | 3½-2½ | Clay Cross |
| G Harrison (u/g) (B) | 0-1 | A Natt (146) |
| M Mohammed (135) | 1-0 | D Hartley (135) |
| M Khakimova (125) | ½-½ | A Heelin (142) |
| I Barwick (111) | 1-0 | P Kelman (106) |
| P Ford (111) | 1-0 | K Myhill (107) |
| K Marshall (107) | 0-1 | P Williams (95) |
Captain's Corner
The Richardson Plate Final is meant to be played at a neutral venue but after discussing various options with Clay Cross's captain we decided to play at either their venue or ours. I phoned Mike Brumby, he tossed a coin, I called heads, it came down tails, and already things were already going wrong.
Clay Cross were going to have a strong team, particularly on Boards 1 to 3, so now we had to think about board order. After several weeks discussion Ian had the radical idea of playing our strongest player on Board 1. Clear thinking genius. The idea was to get something on 1 to 3 and then try and win heavily on 4 to 6 as we may well lose on board count if the match was tied.
There were no disasters out of the opening on either side. Graham's position looked a little cramped and Mursal was an insecure pawn up, Masrura's game looked symmetrical and drawish. We were doing OK. The first indication things might be going our way was when Ian's opponent took around half an hour agonising over whether to win a fairly useless pawn. In the end he went for it. Ian moved quickly to regain the pawn and establish a strong centralised Knight which then began munching on pawns. Graham had less and less room, it looked like he was in for a long, painful evening of chess suffering. Mursal was manoeuvring to hang on to his pawn, Masrura's game was petering out, Phil looked in charge and Kev commented, 'I've blown it,' which must have been something to do with the fact that he'd castled into safety rather than line up his King and Queen on the e file as he usually does.
Masrura's game drifted to a draw, Ian marched his King up the board, won several pawns and the win was in no doubt. By now Phil was looking a clear winner too, despite having overlooked a version of this trick. Although Graham hadn't got a piece beyond his third rank, Mursal was still a pawn up, Kev was at worst even and a little ahead on time. The Master Plan was looking good. Basically we were 2-1 up in decisive games with secure positions on the other boards.
Then disaster struck. By misreading Mursal's score sheet and thinking he had to play for a win - because, he thought, Mursal was going to lose on time - Kev somehow contrived to lose his game on time. With Graham clearly lost, the score was now 2-2 in decisive games but 7-9 in their favour on board count. Mursal was going to have to win with his extra pawn. A judicious exchange in the middle game meant that the pawn was now passed. We all know that opposite coloured Bishops usually mean a draw, but how many of us know the technique to win when the Bishops are the same colour? You can find one version here. Mursal had five minutes on his clock to win the game and the match. We all gathered round to watch. Mursal, who seemed to be the calmest person in the room, began playing quickly and confidently. The decisive moment may well have been when Black decided to lose a second pawn rather than exchange Bishops. Mursal covered the queening square with his Bishop, promoted, and then mated in the corner with a minute left on his clock. 3½-2½. We'd won. Another trophy for the Nomads.
Paul B
| Nomads II | 5½-½ | SASCA II |
| M Mohammed | 1-0 | D Waite |
| M Khakimova | 1-0 | R Waite |
| I Barwick | 1-0 | M Backhouse |
| P Ford | ½-½ | E Hollingsworth |
| K Marshall | 1-0 | R Edwards |
| A Mohammed | 1-0 | E Bentley |
Captain's Corner
In my opinion the only child more terrifying than the one sitting across the chess board from you is this one. I decided to sit this match out. Masrura was first to finish. I'm sure Black will learn from this game that if you play Bh6 to swap off Black's King's Indian Bishop you need to look out for Qh4+. Kev had to resort to castling for once and mated on the g and h files with heavy pieces. Azmiddin used a collection of forks and pins to win his game. At 3-0 you might have thought it was going to be easy but...Mursal had about 15 minutes left for 20 moves, Ian was going into a sequence of forcing sequences without an immediately clear outcome against a tricky opponent, and Phil was down a pawn and the exchange. Were we going to lose on board count? Mursal had built up such a strong position Black couldn't cope with all the threats, Ian won N+Pv2P ending. The last game to finish was Phil's. Down on material but up on time Phil played quickly and White's flag fell but given the score in the match Phil offered a draw. 5½-½ was flattering.
Paul B
Wednesday 11th January
| Nomads II | 3½-2½ | Darnall & Handsworth |
| M Khakimova | 0-1 | G Brown |
| G Harrison | 0-1 | R Trigg |
| I Barwick | 1-0 | M Gallagher |
| A Mohammed | ½-½ | G Facer |
| K Marshall | 1-0 | D Fault |
| P Bailey | 1-0 | F Hayes |
Captain's Corner
Kev played a stormer against the hapless D Fault and we were 1-0 up before we started. But when Graham wandered into a Knight fork losing his Queen, and then Masrura lost her game, the pressure was on. Ian eased his way to another nice win, Azmiddin managed to survive playing the Scandinavian/Centre Counter, and I won a Comedy Chess Classic: following an illegal move earlier in the game which didn't register, I "forked" Black's King and Rook by moving into check at which point my opponent resigned!
Paul B
Wednesday 12th October
| Nomads II | 0-6 | SASCA I |
| P Ford (w) | 0-1 | J Arnott |
| P Bailey | 0-1 | S Dunkley |
| A Mohammed | 0-1 | J Fryer |
| K Marshall | 0-1 | L McKay |
| B Pettigrew | 0-1 | S Lee |
| R Shaw | 0-1 | M Lau |
Captain's Corner
Could we win this match or were we just trying to avoid a 6-0 whitewash? It depended on what strength team SASCA I put out. When they turned up with 180 and 150 on Boards 1 and 2 it looked like we were up against it. I was going to be late so the idea was Phil stood in as captain, and stalled for time by creating a diversion. This was very successful because I arrived at about five to eight and I was only five minutes down on the clock. Phil seemed to reach the time control about ten minutes later and was beaten soon after that. One by one we dropped till we were no more. So in my two matches as captain we are ½-11½ down. Despite this I have the full backing of the Chairman and there is no truth in the rumours that Carlton Palmer may be in charge for next season's glorious assault on the Richardson Cup. Congratulations to SASCA I and good luck in the next round.
Paul B
