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HERTS COUNTY 1ST TEAM REPORT 2004/05
After a disappointing start in the SCCU league, the team once again outshone some of our illustrious opponents, and we ended up nearly winning this league. Herts v Sussex 2/10/04 (at Hemel Hempstead): Lost 5-11 Things looked to be going well when Simon Knott crushed the opposing captain on top board, to give us a flying start. However, this turned out to be our only success for the next 3 hours, as our middle order in particular crumbled to an in-form Sussex team. Among our 6 draws was James Century’s first for the team, but it wasn’t till the very end that Phil Gregory’s win gave a little respectability to the final score. Herts v Surrey 23/10/04 (at Coulsdon): Won 10½ -5½ Most of the drama took place before the match began. Having already defaulted their first county match, Surrey’s captain resigned a week before this match, and it appeared that this match would not take place. Our opponents found a willing acting captain who gathered a full, if modest team, whilst a couple of our players dropped out in favour of other, more reliable arrangements. At the start, it appeared Herts would be short of a full team, but a couple of 11th hour trips ensured otherwise. The actual match proved much less exciting, our extra strength showing immediately with early wins from Simon Roe & Peter Lane. Further wins from Simon Knott, Matt Dignam, Paul Byway, Kevin Clark, Phil Bonafont, David Bower & Barry Morris confirmed an easy win, though the home side pulled some points back near the end. Herts v Essex 13/11/04 (at Rothamsted): Won 9-7 Essex usually assemble a team that outgrades us, but fails to convert its advantage. This match proved no exception as we ended a sequence of 3 successive draws against them in our favour. From the moment Phil Bonafont scored an easy, early win, we were always ahead, though never by more than 2 points. Ian Gooding and Peter Lane also won well, and at the 1st time control, we were a point ahead with 6 games left. Most of the remaining games were in our favour, and Martin Walker and Philip Gregory duly converted their material advantages. But the match went down to the final game where Geoff Hollis had played some deft moves to chase his opponent’s king round the board before delivering mate and the match. Herts v Kent 5/2/05 (at Catford): Lost 7½ -8½ After a very competitive match, we lost the match and the league championship by a single point, against a Kent team which outgraded us by an average of over 10 points a board. Chris Majer won very quickly, and although we lost a couple of games, I took advantage of my opponent’s overreaching to win a difficult ending. We then took the lead near the end for the only time when David Bower won from a lost middle-game and Matt Dignam outplayed his opponent. Needing a point to win the match and the championship, we lost the final two games. The default we suffered ultimately proved very costly. We finished the league season in 3rd place with 2 wins and 2 losses, scoring 32 game points out of 64. Top scorers are Simon Knott, Phil Gregory & myself with 3 points out of 4. This season the SCCU has 3 qualifying places in the BCF Open Counties knock-out Championship, and therefore we enter this competition for the first time in 15 years. We play Warwickshire in the quarter-finals.
Herts v Surrey 4th October 2003 (at Hemel Hempstead)
The team got off to a winning start, against a county side that is usually far stronger when playing at home, than on their travels. Nevertheless, this was our first home win over Surrey for 6 years. We did it the hard way, coming from behind with effectively 2 defaults and 2 early losses. They turned out to be our only defeats, as firstly Geoff Hollis overran his opponent and wins by Simon Knott, Steve Swanson, John Denton, Caius Turner, & David Bower and 5 draws gave us a winning margin. Finally Phil Borman demonstrated how little material you need to win by giving his opponent a difficult R + 2P v R ending in a quickplay finish and tempting him to run out of time in the process. The winning margin of 9.5-6.5 put us top of the league.
Sussex v Herts 25th October 2003 (at Hassocks)
Yet again there were two last-minute withdrawals on our side, and as the U-150 team also had a match to play, there were no reserves available. The team captain quickly won a county match for the first time in nearly two years, but this was outweighed by 5 defeats by a team heavily outgrading us. Martin Walker & Barry Morris also went on to win, to make the score 6-10. Among those drawing were Howard Tebbs, on his return to the team after a year, Tim Thurstan, on his return after x years, And Peter Lane on his first appearance. Essex & Kent both had away wins on the same day to lead the table.
Herts v Cambs 15th November 2003 (at Rothamsted)
This match was won for us before it began. Not only did most of the Cambs players arrive late, they didn’t even know how many of them were coming. Eventually they conceded four boards, and not even a win from their captain, the only player on their side to win a game, could conceal his dismay, and he resigned his post that evening. Wins from Simon Knott, Simon Roe, Kevin Clark, & Steve Tovey, and 6 draws including a first for Ian Gooding, increased the winning margin to 11-5. The match was, however, a relief for the home team, whose first win this was at Rothamsted after more than 2 years since this venue was first used.
Essex v Herts 29th November 2003 (at Wanstead)
We achieved another great result, despite being outgraded by about 15 points on all boards except the top one. There were impressive wins by Aleks Milovanovic (on his debut for the team) and by Peter Lane & Ian Gooding (their first wins for the team) in addition to stalwarts Simon Knott & Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell. Caius Turner scored the equalising point to record our third consecutive 8-8 draw against these formidable opponents. The result leaves both teams in joint second place behind runaway leaders Kent.
Herts v Kent 28th February 2004 (at Hemel Hempstead)
The team achieved an outstanding result in an exciting match against the national county champions who had won their last 14 matches. Despite being outgraded by an average of 8 points per board, we took an early 3 point lead, with convincing wins by Caius Turner, Chris Majer (on his return to the team after a year) & Ian Gooding. A steady line of draws followed, until after 3 hours our lead started to erode, & near the end Kent took an 8-7 lead. It was left to John Denton, probably making his last of over 100 league appearances for the team, to pull out an equalising win by sacrificing the exchange in a tense endgame to force the promotion of a passed pawn and mate in the final minute of the quick-play finish. This is the 8th time we have registered an 8-8 score in the last 28 months. The result does not affect Kent’s retention of the league championship. We are still likely to finish 4th, as Sussex & Essex both have easy matches to finish.
Bucks v Herts 13th March 2004 (at Bourne End)
We rounded off our SCCU league season with a comfortable 11-5 win over Bucks. As expected, the opposition had no strength in depth, so we managed to win 6 of the bottom 8 boards, from Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell, Chris Majer, Phil Borman, Tim Thurstan, David Bower & Barry Morris. In addition Jerry Rudge’s win, Nigel Alldritt’s first win for the county, & 6 drawn games meant that the match was won by a large margin. Simon Knott is top league scorer for the team, unbeaten with 4.5/6. The other results from the last round of the league were as expected, with Cambs preferring to play in their varsity match rather than travel to Sussex, & Essex winning at Surrey. This leaves us in 4th position, behind Kent, Essex & Sussex, despite our 4 match points from 6. Our drawn matches against much higher rated opponents from Kent & Essex were the only results in the whole league that didn’t go to form: had we scored an extra half point in either match, we would have finished runners-up, or in both matches would have landed us the championship! Instead, we qualify for the BCF Minor Counties competition, which we last won in 2001.
Herts v Glos, BCF Minor Counties Q/F, 8th May 2004 (at Oxford)
In some regional Unions, county teams have to qualify after tough matches against the leading counties, just failing to qualify for the main Open competition, and having to settle for the Minor Counties competition instead. In other regions, perhaps you haven’t won a match all season, but your Union puts your name forward anyway (without letting you know). So, having arranged a time and a place for the match, the opposition are surprised by my phone call, and can’t raise half a team before calling it a day.
Beds v Herts, BCF Minor Counties S/F, 5th June 2004
We ended the season on a thoroughly disappointing note, though the 8-8 scoreline will be familiar to Herts players. Early wins by Caius Turner, Peter Lane & Phil Borman should have been supplemented by several more, as most of the team outplayed their opponents. In the event, only Howard Tebbs & Aleks Milovanovic added to our advantage, whilst others blundered and lost. With 3 games left, one point was needed, or just half from either of the higher boards to finish. But the match went to the last game, in which a sacrificial attack involving knight & rook had led to a material advantage and a mating attack, which was unconverted in the time scramble that followed. In the ensuing quickplay finish, my opponent consolidated, then found a 5-move combination to turn the tables and win a piece, the game, and the match. We lost very narrowly on board count (43-39).
My thanks to all who participated this season. Simon Knott won this season’s Flear Trophy, half a point ahead of Caius Turner, whose 4 wins were all in crucial matches. These two, Phil Borman & Barry Morris, who both scored 3½, all won county ties, whilst Martin Walker, with the same score, was the only unbeaten regular player.
Kevin Clark |