Customs Chess Club 2003-2004

Hadleigh and High Farce

The first two Perriman Cup fixtures involving the Customs Club took place at Hadleigh's venue on 6th October, where our third team were obliged to take on the might of Hadleigh I, but our seconds had a considerably easier task against Hadleigh II. The first team travelled to Basildon where they met the current League Division 1 Champions on 9th October.

Outgraded massively, the third team began well with a win by default, Hadleigh having the problem of fielding two home teams on the same night. Such was the grading difference between the two sides that any draw on any board would see the third team through. Sadly this was not to be, although debutant Liam Raybould gave a very good account of himself against Stan Harwood and Rhys Lloyd, also on his debut, played on valiantly in spite of being eight pawns down against Michael Bridger.

The second team had no problems at all, however, Lloyd Carter being the recipient of a free point when his opponent failed to arrive. Graham Walker had already secured his point by the time the default was claimed, winning a piece against Paul Houghton and eliciting a move 9 resignation, although Michael Bridger remarked drily on seeing the final position "Which side were you?". Frank Gulley played a very odd variation of the American Defence to the Queen's Gambit, persuading Bill Latto to resign before move 20. 3 - 0 to Customs, and since the teams' total grades were identical on 599, Customs needed only a draw on any remaining board to win. Melvin Pool soon won a piece and not long afterwards the game to secure a place in the next round. Daniel Hedges agreed a draw with Tony Drake to give our team a 4½-1½ win.

The First Team's visit to Basildon was always likely to be fraught with difficulty and in the end we were 134 grading points behind them, giving us a 1½ point bonus. We therefore needed to score 2½ points over the board, a tall order indeed. Matters took a turn for the worse as both Matthew & Nicholas Jellett were in some difficulties on boards 2 & 3. Nicholas seemed to give himself just too many dark-squared holes around his king-side and Paul Savin, a very experienced campaigner, occupied them with unstoppable mating attacks. Matthew dug his way out of trouble and may have even had an edge at one stage, but Josiah Lutton plugged away and eventally exchanged into a winning pawn ending, persuading Matthew to resign. My game against Ezra did not go so well as last season's encounter, in which Ezra missed a clear win but then was grateful to hang on for a draw. With both players storing up a lot of time trouble, I may well have been winning at one point, but Ezra was able to keep the pressure on and, with only a few seconds available for my 30th move, I blundered in a position in which I was losing anyway.

That brings us to the amazing game between Daniel Hedges and Kyle Bennett. Kyle had allowed Daniel to win material, under the impression that his attack would crash through. There then followed the remarkable sequence of moves in which Black played Qxe3+ and white replied Kxe3. Kyle instantly resigned, overlooking the fact that Kxe3 was illegal on account of the black bishop on g5. He had clearly been thrown because White was pinning this bishop with the rook on g1. Observers were nonplussed by this turn of events, unsure whether Daniel was merely play-acting in capturing the queen but placing his king in check, but it appeared not, and his confident manner so demoralised Kyle that he resigned with no thought at all towards the position in front of him.

The rules on this point are pretty clear: resignation ends the game and is not retractible. However, Daniel sportingly stated that he didn't want to win like that and after a fair bit of confabulation between the Basildon captain and his player, an amicable draw was agreed. Jim Grigg won well against Arnold Lutton so at the adjournment Graham Walker needs to win an interesting R & 5Ps v R & 5Ps ending against Daniel Hardy-Wallace for Customs I to overcome the top side. Watch this space!

Customs I eventually defeated Basildon I after Graham secured a tricky win in a rook & pawns ending. The adjournment position was:-

34 Rf8 (sealed) Kg7 35 Ra8 Kf6 36 Ra7 Ke5 37 c5 Kf6 38 d6 cxd6 39 Rxe7 Kxe7 40 cxb6 Kxe6 41 b7 Kf5 42 b8=Q h4+ 43 Kg2 g4 44 Qxd6 1 - 0
Thanks to all the players - a brilliant team effort to dispatch the League Champions in Round 1! We are at home to Southend II in the next round.