Torbay Chess League Division 4, Season 2013-2014
South Hams Chess Club fielded a team in Division 4 of the Torbay Chess League. This entailed home and away matches against Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Teignmouth, Torquay and Torquay Boys' Gammar School. Games played in the TDCL are submitted to the ECF grading database.
In this division, teams consist of four players, the maximum team grade is Under 420, and the maximum individual grade is 120. The rate of play is 35 moves in 75 minutes, followed by a 15 minute Quickplay finish. The away team has white on the odd-numbered boards.
Please visit the Torbay Chess League web page for the team standings, and our fixtures and results page for the 2013-2014 season.
Here are the player statistics for South Hams players in Division 4 over the 2013-14 season:
| Name | Grade | ECF | P | W | D | L | Ave Op | Perf | % | Points |
|---|
| Wheatley, Owen | 0 | 295204L | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 77 | 127 | 100.0 | 1.0 |
| Fowler, James | 99 | 277497F | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 87 | 121 | 83.3 | 5.0 |
| McConnell, Phil | 107 | 285386D | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 101 | 110 | 58.3 | 3.5 |
| Russell, Dennis | 110 | 214868H | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 112 | 95 | 33.3 | 1.0 |
| Greenhalgh, Roy | 118 | 134641G | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 94 | 94 | 50.0 | 1.0 |
| Sweetman, Barry | 58 | 285526E | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 68 | 100.0 | 1.0 |
| Best, Barclay | 102 | 233494L | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 92 | 42 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Collins, Tony | 85 | 173334F | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 88 | 38 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Ashby, Ken | 83 | 181837F | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 78 | 28 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
The team's detailed match record for the 2013-14 season was as follows.
Overall Team Statistics
| Matches Played: | 6 |
| Matches Won: | 2 |
| Matches Drawn: | 2 |
| Matches Lost: | 2 |
| Match Points: | 6 |
| Percentage: | 50 |
| Average South Hams Team Grade: | 386.2 |
| Average Opponents Team Grade: | 345.5 |
TCL Division 4: South Hams v Newton Abbot 7 Nov 2013
Match Report
Author: Phil McConnell
Date: 15 Oct 2014
This was our first Division 4 match of the season.
Board 1 was a tight tussle, with material equal going into the end game. Phil's young opponent played slightly more accurately and was able to queen his a pawn, while Phil's g pawn only got as far as g2 - hence the win.
On Board 2, the Newton Abbot player was absent ill, so this was a win for South Hams by default.
On Board 3, James gained a pawn in the early exchanges and was able to force a win.
On Board 4 Owen, playing his first league match for the club, managed to get two minor pieces ahead with the added bonus of getting his g pawn to g7 relatively early in the middle game. He had too many threats for his opponent to survive long.
A pleasing team win to open our account.
TCL Division 4: Teignmouth v South Hams 10 Dec 2013
Match Report
Author: Phil McConnell
Date: 10 Dec 2013
A 4-0 win leaves the team with two wins from two matches. However this result wasn't as glorious as the headline suggests, since we all out-graded our opponents by a wide margin.
On Board 1, Roy fended off an attack from his opponent before counter-attacking and ending up a rook to the good.
On Board 2, Phil's opponent exchanged pieces at every opportunity, leaving Phil with an advantage of just one pawn - which was enough to force a win.
On Board 3, James gained two pawns early on, and converted this advantage into a win before the tea-break.
Barry says he played brilliantly on Board 4, but the reality is that he was much more experienced than his opponent and achieved a comfortable win (ask before the tea break).
Top of the table - for now, at least!
TCL Division 4: South Hams v Plymouth 30 Jan 2014
Match Report
Author: Phil McConnell
Date: 31 Jan 2014
On Board 1, Dennis gained a material advantage (two rooks and a pawn against a queen) but at the expense of a cramped position and an exposed king. He might possibly have been able to weather the storm and let the material advantage tell, but in the event he made a move while his opponent had left the room which was a blunder. "Blunder!" he commented almost as soon as he'd made the move. His opponent, on returning to the table, immediately spotted how to exploit the blunder, and the game was soon over.
On Board 2, Phil played the Kings Gambit (the opening so much loved by Ben), and his opponent declined to take the pawn. On move 15 Phil sacrificed his dark square bishop in return for two pawns and an strong attack on Black's king. The computer shows that Black had options to make his position defensible (but these options were not easy). Phil's opponent didn't find any of these options, and resigned on move 20 facing mate in two. This was Phil's revenge for a defeat by Tony Tatam in Division 3 earlier in the season.
Board 3 was the last game to finish, with James needing a win to tie the match. From a position which looked lost, James fought back to create a material advantage (a rook, knight and pawn vs a rook and two isolated pawns), and the game was effectively over when his opponent allowed James to fork his opponent's king and rook with the knight.
Board 4 was looking like a draw at the tea break, but Tony's opponent gained a two pawn advantage (both of them passed pawns) and the game as effectively over when his opponent queened one of these pawns.
We'll happily settle for a match result of 2-2, as a 3-1 defeat was looking highly likely at one stage of the evening. Still unbeaten, still top of the table!
TCL Division 4: Newton Abbot v South Hams 6 Feb 2014
Match Report
Author: Phil McConnell
Date: 7 Feb 2014
Our team of oldies found ourselves playing four keen youngsters.
On Board 1, Dennis decided to "go for it" and sacrificed a Rook and a minor piece in order to launch an attack on his opponent's King. His attack enabled one of his pawns to Queen, forcing his opponent to trade a Rook for the newly-promoted Queen, while Dennis, still with a material deficit, pressed on with the attack. Unfortunately his opponent managed to get his King to the (relative) safety of the queenside, and Dennis was unable to press his attack home.
Board 2 was closely fought until Phil's opponent erred on move 31, losing a Knight and leaving Phil with what should have been a straightforward win. Phil, however, moving too fast under a modicum of time pressure, carelessly allowed his opponent to counter-attack and force a draw by threefold repetition.
Board 3 was also close, and at one point Barclay decided against forcing a draw by threefold repetition. When asked why he eventually lost, Barclay replied "She was just better than me!".
On Board , James' opponent was out graded by a wide margin and James had a fairly straightforward win.
Our first defeat of the season - but we are still handily placed in Division 4.
Phil
TCL Division 4: Plymouth v South Hams 10 Mar 2014
TCL Division 4: South Hams v Teignmouth 27 Mar 2014
Match Report
Author: Phil McConnell
Date: 5 Oct 2014
On Board 1, Roy resigned after succumbing to a strong attack by his opponent who had two central rooks on open files and two fianchettoed bishops.
On Board 2, Phil's opponent played the Pirc Defense but allowed the d file to open up, allowing Phil to exchange queens, with Black's King unable to castle after 3. ... K x d8. Later Phil won the exchange by forking king and rook with his knight, and after most of the queenside pawns were cleared his c pawn was able to queen.
On Board 3 James pulled off a successful Bishop sacrifice to win his opponents Queen.
On board 4, Ken found himself down by the exchange and two pawns, and was unable defend this material inferiority.
A closely fought match.
Phil
