DEVON (BCF QUARTER FINAL)
HOOK
11 MAY 2002

The Essex U175 team's previous encounters with Devon in the National Stages had both been tight matches suggesting that the true playing stength of the Devonian players was significantly higher than their published grades. A flattering 9½ - 6½ margin in the 1998 semi-final had been followed by "the McNally final" in 1999 when George McNally won a seemingly unwinnable game to give Essex the title. Nothing was therefore to be taken for granted when the exchange of team lists at the neutral venue of the Village Hall, Hook in Wiltshire showed Essex as significantly stronger on paper. The early exchanges favoured Devon. After Sid Kalinsky agreed a quick draw, Chris Fegan found his opponent's passed pawns too much to cope with and Essex were one down after 2½ hours play. The only game to finish within the next half hour was Tim Hebbes' draw as Black on board 1, but then came a rapid flurry of results. Ivor Smith levelled the match with a forced mating sequence involving a rook sacrifice, but after Martin McCall's draw in a complicated game Devon retook the lead at the expense of Paul Williamson. Neville Twitchell, half an hour late arriving thanks to Great Western Trains, levelled matters up again after finding a tactic to exploit his opponent's weak back rank, and after draws by David Millward and Peter Doye (who had missed two winning opportunities) Dave Pearse put Essex in front for the first time with 3½ hours gone. Dave, who demonstrated the superiority of a bishop over a knight in an ending with pawns on both sides of the board, was the only winner with the White pieces on either side.

One up with six to play was not an especially healthy position for Essex as Ian Reynolds, whose position had looked promising at one stage with a passed pawn, went astray and was by now two pawns down although he fought on to the bitter end before losing on time in the last game to finish. With board count heavily favouring Devon in view of the Essex wins on boards 15 and 16 a win was needed from one of the remaining games. For a long time it had looked as of George McNally, making his first appearance of the season for the team, might once again be the hero against Devon. However, his opponent gave up his bishop for George's last two pawns and successfully defended the ending of king and rook against king, rook and knight. John White and Bobby Payne also had to accept draws making it one up with three games inplay. The best chance for Essex had seemed to be Ken Clow's game, as Ken had a passed pawn in the ending to try to exploit, although it was far from easy to make progress. However, the necessary Essex win was provided from the somewhat unexpected source of Ian Hunnable. Ian had been in considerable difficulty at one stage, and had his opponent spotted a possible Nxg7 capture two moves earlier than he did the match result could have been very different. However, the endgame that was reached gave Ian some chances and after declining a draw offer in view of the match situation he made full use of the remaining material to set up a position where his opponent resigned when faced with mate in two.

This turn of events meant that Ken Clow only needed to draw and a message to that effect was communicated to the player. At this juncture his opponent gave up a piece to capture Ken's passed pawn and a second pawn and promptly (and without consulting his captain) offered a draw even though acceptance would concede the match. After some deliberation Ken accepted and Essex had negotiated an extremely difficult match to clinch a semi-final against defending champions Warwickshire.

P Langdon v Ivor Smith

1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 d5 4.Bb5 Bd6 5.f4 Qe7 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Nf6 9.Nc3 a6 10.Bxc6+ bxc6 11.Ne2 exf4 12.Nxf4 Ne4 13.0-0-0 Ba3 14.Nd3 a5 15.Nf2 a4 16.Nxe4 dxe4 17.Qf5 axb3 18.axb3 g6 19.Qf4 0-0 20.d3 f5 21.g4 g5 22.Qf2 fxg4 23.Qg3 Bxb2+ 24.Kxb2 Qa3+ 25.Kc3 Qc5+ 26.Kb2 Ra2+ 27.Kxa2 Qc3 0-1

M Sapiecha v Ian Hunnable

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.f3 Nh5 7.Nh3 f5 8.Bg5 Nf6 9.e3 0-0 10.Bd3 Qe8 11.0-0 d6 12.Qe2 Nbd7 13.e4 fxe4 14.fxe4 e5 15.Rf2 Bb7 16.d5 Qg6 17.Raf1 Rf7 18.Rf5 Raf8 19.Bd2 Qg4 20.Ng5 Qxe2 21.Bxe2 Re7 22.Ne6 Rc8 23.Bg5 c6 24.R1f3 h6 25.Bh4 Ba6 26.Nxg7 Rxg7 27.Bxf6 Rg6 28.Bh4 cxd5 29.exd5 Bxc4 30.Bxc4 Rxc4 31.Rf7 Rg7 32.Rxg7+ Kxg7 33.Be7 Rc5 34.Bxd6 Rxd5 35.Be7 Rd1+ 36.Kf2 Rd2+ 37.Kg3 b5 38.Bb4 Nf6 39.Kh3 e4 40.Rg3+ Kf7 41.c4 Rd3 42.cxb5 Rd5 43.Rc3 Rh5+ 44.Kg3 Rg5+ 45.Kf2 e3+ 46.Kf1 Rf5+ 47.Ke1 Nd5 48.Rc5 h5 49.g3 Ke6 50.h3 Rf3 51.g4 hxg4 52.hxg4 Nf4 53.Rc6+ Kd5 54.Rc5+ Kd4 55.Rf5 Kd3 56.a4 e2 0-1

Ivor Annetts v Neville Twitchell

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nc6 5.Nf3 cxd4 6.cxd4 e5 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.Bd2 Bxc3 9.Bxc3 e4 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Ne7 12.Qh5 0-0 13.Rd1 Qe6 14.b3 Qg4 15.Qxg4 Bxg4 16.Be2 Be6 17.Bb4 Rfe8 18.Bb5 Nc6 19.Bxc6 bxc6 20.Bd6 a5 21.Rd4 Bd5 22.0-0 f6 23.exf6 gxf6 24.Rc1 Kf7 25.Rc3 Ke6 26.Bg3 Re7 27.Ra4 Rb7 28.Rd4 Rb4 29.Rxb4 axb4 30.Rc2 Bxb3! 31.Rxc6+ Kd5 32.Rb6 Rxa2 33.Kf1 Bc4+ 34.Ke1 b3 0-1

Ken Clow v John Gorodi

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Be3 Qc7 10.Qe1 b5 11.a3 Bb7 12.f3 Nbd7 13.Qf2 Rac8 14.Rfd1 Bd8 15.Rac1 Be7 16.Nd2 d5 17.exd5 Bxd5 18.Nde4 Bxe4 19.Nxe4 Nxe4 20.fxe4 Nf6 21.Qf3 Bc5 22.Kh1 Bxe3 23.Qxe3 Qc6 24.Bf3 Rfd8 25.Rd3 Rxd3 26.Qxd3 h6 27.h3 Qb6 28.Re1 a5 29.Re2 b4 30.axb4 Qxb4 31.c3 Qb6 32.Rd2 Rb8 33.Qc4 Qe3 34.Qe2 Qf4 35.Rd1 h5 36.Qd2 Qxd2 37.Rxd2 g6 38.Kg1 Kf8 39.Kf1 Ke7 40.Ke2 Nd7 41.Kd1 Nb6 42.Be2 Rc8 43.Kc2 f6 44.b3 a4 45.bxa4 Nxa4 46.c4 Nc5 47.Bf3 h4 48.Rd5 Ne6 49.Kc3 Nd4 50.c5 Rb8 51.Bd1 Rb1 52.Ba4 Rd1 53.Kb4 Rb1+ 54.Ka5 Ra1 55.Kb4 Rb1+ 56.Ka5 Rb2 57.c6 Nxc6+ 58.Bxc6 Rxg2 ½-½

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