Wiltshire v Somerset - Nov 03

A solid team performance eased Wiltshire to 9-7 victory

over local rivals Somerset on November 8. The match

started 20 minutes late due to the late arrival of the

Somerset captain. His team eventually sorted themselves

into order but without leaving a space for the captain's

passenger. Consequently Gary Tanner on board 16 was

faced with an opponent graded 28 points above him who

should have been on board five. Gary was untroubled by

this, and like Tim Woodward the only other out-graded

Wiltshire player, had much the better of a draw. Andrew

Law, an off-colour Tim Headlong, Nick Wingfield and

Dave Ward, in his first competitive game for six months,

produced relatively uneventful draws. Andrew Cooper

castled into an attack while David Tomboline and

Charles Cobb blundered in unclear but probably

favourable positions. Although this put us 3-6 down, it

was no cause for alarm, as we had genuine winning

chances in all seven remaining games. Richard Haydon,

Peter Richmond , David Bareham, Daniel Hall and Gordon

Chapman duly converted while Mark Jones and Fenella

Headlong settled for draws rather than risk time scrambles.

A grading advantage of 20 points per player should in

theory have produced 5½ points from the top half of the

team. To score only 4½ was disappointing, but even

potential Grandmasters suffer the occasional hiccup.

The lower half were evenly matched so did well to score

4½. If the bottom boards continue to produce then

Wiltshire should become West of England County

Champions for only the third time.

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 Diagram #2   Tim Headlong (black to play) at the recent

Weymouth Congress. Being three pawns up, anything

sensible should win in the end. Tim produced an incisive

finish which ended the game in three more moves. What

did he play?

 Answer here

Thanks to Peter Richmond for the report.