Apologies for a somewhat delayed report of Trowbridge (Minor) team Captain Roy's latest exploits.
Although long-suffering from a horrible cold, Roy made the trip to Kidlington to face some tough competition in the U145 section of this popular tournament.
3 games were played on the Saturday: the first a loss against a player graded 142 (and unbeaten in the tournament). A win with Black followed, and then a draw against a grade 138. Roy must have been in good spirits after this recovery from an early setback.
In Round 4 (on Sunday) Roy had the Black pieces against another 138 graded player (also unbeaten!) who was relatively fresh having taken a bye in round 3. A loss ensued.
Undeterred by these unfavourable pairings, Roy started well in round 5 against Colin Fell, winning a bishop for 2 pawns. Apparently Mr Fell has recently returned to the chess scene, and is sporting a 115 grade. This was yet another player who had taken a half point bye in round 3. Roy's dreams of a 50% score were shattered when he played carelessly and succumbed to a strong kingside attack.
Roy concludes:
So, having lost only 3 games out of 23 in the season so far, I doubled my losses in one fell swoop! However, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and was not too discouraged given the overall standard of play.
| Round | Colour | Opponent | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White | N Dicker | 142A | loss |
| 2 | Black | J Sanderson | 87C | win |
| 3 | White | W Koreywo | 138E | draw |
| 4 | Black | D Parri | 138C | loss |
| 5 | White | C Fell | 115E | loss |
Interestingly, the player whom Roy beat went on to draw with Colin Fell (in round 4).
Click here for the full results.As reported by Mark Leonard.