Position before 28 Qxb8! 28.Qxb8! Rxb8 29.Rxb8+ Qxb8 30.c7 Qc8 31.Ba6 Qxa6 32.c8Q+ Qxc8 33.Rxc8+ Kh7 adjourned and subsequently resigned
| Bd | Col | Hadleigh I | 1½ | 2½ | Customs I |
| 1 | W | Michael Bridger | 1 | 0 | Peter Walker |
| 2 | B | Ken Clow | ½ | ½ | Mike McDowell |
| 3 | W | Stan Harwood | adj | Nick Jellett | |
| 4 | B | Howard Norton | 0 | 1 | Ellen Walker |
| 5 | W | Laurie Collin | ½ | ½ | Matt Jellett |
| 6 | B | Andrew Kochen | 0 | 1 | Graham Walker |
We're probably going to win this match and, just as some of us got into good positions against Wickford a couple of weeks ago and then got out of them, it was Hadleigh's turn to hit the self-destruct button.
My game against Michael Bridger started off OK: I had a good centre and, according to Fritz, a slight edge. However, after a series of exchanges I totally misjudged the position, made an inferior knight move and then had to lose a pawn by force. Another mistake and I might have resigned. I played on thinking that Michael had to make another three or so moves with his flag hanging but found that I couldn't even count the moves accurately as to my complete surprise he told me he had made it to 30. There was nothing for it but resignation.
Mike's QGD went quietly on its way with many exchanges, but Ken has 2 v 1 on the queen side and with the only other pieces being a bishop and knight each. It's fairly level - maybe Black has a slight pull - but given the situation on the other boards, Ken is likely to want to play on. Nick seemed to get into a horrible mess and lost a piece but, somehow, reached the time control with a very promising position, an extra pawn, Q for R & B and, so far as I could see, a safe king.
If Nick's position was bad, Ellen's was worse. Suffering from a cold and, apparently, falling asleep at the board, she allowed BxN and the bishop was attacking both rooks for good measure. Too disinterested to resign, she played a few quick, aggressive moves and did the Confident Body Language trick. Howard Norton, sitting with a totally won position, suddenly started to fret and, in a bit of time trouble, couldn't find the right moves fast enough. The queens were still on and Black had two rooks for two bishops. Ellen had a threat of mate but Howard simply let his flag fall. Ellen refused to let me have the score sheet, thereby depriving us of a little innocent fun.
Graham had been pressing hard and found a nice combination, giving up his queen for a rook, pushing a pawn to the queening square and forcing Black to exchange his queen for the new one and the bishop. Graham is therefore exchange for pawn ahead in a totally safe position. Matt is also the exchange up... shh... don't say a word...
24th March: Mike drew with Ken after 3 further moves.
21st April: I learn from Stephen Wedlock (?!) that Andrew Kochen has told Ken Clow that he has resigned. I will now go and tell Graham.
30th April: Nick finishes in style to win the match for Customs. A very fine game.
Bridger,M - Walker,P [A04] S&DCL [Walker,Peter] 1.Nf3 d6 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 Nbd7 4.Bg2 e5 5.d4 Be7 6.0-0 c6 7.b3 e4 8.Ne1 d5 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Nc2 Nb6 11.Ne3 Be6 12.cxd5 cxd5 13.Bb2 Qd7 14.f3 Bh3 [ 14...exf3 15.Rxf3 Rac8] 15.Qd2 Bxg2 16.Kxg2 Bb4 17.a3 Bd6 [ 17...Bxc3] 18.fxe4 Nxe4 19.Nxe4 dxe4 20.Nf5 Nd5? A losing blunder. [ 20...f6] 21.Qg5 g6 22.Nh6+ Kg7 23.Qxd5 Kxh6 24.Rf6 Rad8 25.Qxe4 Rde8 26.Qf3 Qc6 27.Bc1+ Kg7 28.Qxc6 bxc6 29.Rxd6 Rxe2+ 30.Kh3 Rc2 31.Bf4 Re8 32.Rc1 1 - 0
Walker,G - Kochen,A [A53] S&DCL, 15.03.2004 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4 Qc7 5.Bf4 e5 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.d5 Be7 8.Nf3 Nc5 9.Qc2 Bg4 10.Be2 0-0 11.b4 Ncd7 12.0-0 h6 13.Be3 Bh5 14.h3 Bg6 15.Bd3 Rfc8 16.Rfc1 Nh5 17.Qa4 Nf4 18.Bxf4 exf4 19.Rab1 Bf6 20.Ne2 Ne5 21.Nxe5 Bxe5 22.Qb3 Qe7 23.c5 Qd7 24.dxc6 Qxc6 25.b5 Qc7 26.c6 bxc6 27.bxc6 Rab8
Position before 28 Qxb8! 28.Qxb8! Rxb8 29.Rxb8+ Qxb8 30.c7 Qc8 31.Ba6 Qxa6 32.c8Q+ Qxc8 33.Rxc8+ Kh7 adjourned and subsequently resigned
Harwood,S - Jellett,N [D60] S&DCL, 15.03.2004 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 c6 8.0-0 h6 9.Bh4 Bd6 10.e4 Be7 11.e5 Nh5 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Qd2 c5 14.g4 dxc4 15.Bxc4 cxd4 16.Qxd4 b6 17.gxh5 Bb7 18.Ne4 Rad8 19.Qe3 f5 20.Ned2 f4 21.Qe2 Nc5 22.b4?Back to Fixture List
Position before 22... Rxd2! Nick clearly played for the simultaneous opening of the g-file and a8-h1 diagonal when he tempted Stan to win his knight on move 14 onwards. 22...Rxd2! 23.bxc5 Rxe2 24.Bxe2 bxc5 25.Rfc1 Rf5 26.Rc3 Bxf3 27.Bxf3 Rxe5 28.Rb1 Rg5+ 29.Kf1 Qd6 30.Rcb3 Qa6+ 31.Be2 Qd6 32.Bf3 Qa6+ 33.Be2 Qd6 34.Bf3 Qe5 35.Rb8+ Kh7 36.Re8 Rxh5 37.Re1 Qc3 38.Be4+ g6 39.Re7+ Kg8 40.Rb1 Qc4+ 41.Kg1 Rg5+ 42.Bg2 Rf5 43.Rb8+ Rf8 44.Rbb7 Qd4 45.Bh3 Qa1+ 46.Bf1 f3 47.Rxe6 Qc1 48.Rxg6+ Kh8 49.Rgg7 Rg8 50.Rxg8+ Kxg8 51.Rxa7 c4 52.a4 c3 53.Rc7 c2 54.h4 0-1