KENT HOME (SCCU STAGE)
WANSTEAD HOUSE
14 OCTOBER 2000

Two evenly matched teams contested the opening U175 fixture of the season. In recent seasons Kent have suffered from defaults in away matches but their new captain Mark Finch (who kindly drove Neville Twitchell to the match) deserves credit for organising not just a full sixteen (for the first time in this fixture since the spring of 1995) but a very strong side that for much of the afternoon seemd likely to shade the match.

The afternoon started badly for Essex when after just 40 minutes Fred Dorn suffered a 14 move catastrophe of the type that comes to every chess player from time to time. Fred's opponent Mark Brougham commented in the refreshment area that these tend to even themselves out over the course of the season; on this occasion the evening out process only took a further 40 minutes as Ivor Smith also won in 14 moves when his opponent, having already shedded a queen for two bishops was faced with the loss of a further piece. Essex were already on the scoreboard by this time following a relatively quick draw by Colin Ramage, and picked up a further half point when Julian Winkworth drew on his debut for the team. In what was to be a recurring pattern Kent retook the lead when Tim Hebbes on top board went astray after a promising opening, only for Mark Weighell to level matters up. Paul Barclay was the next to lose, when he came up against an opponent who knew how to play against Englund's gambit, and it looked as if Essex were about to go two points behind as John White was struggling, an exchange down in the ending. However, John played on to the bitter end under team orders, and by the time he was forced to concede George McNally had picked up the full point in his ending, and thanks to draws as Black by David Millward and Dave Pearse, Essex were only 6-5 down.

The match turned decisively in Essex's favour at 5.41 when within seconds of each other Neville Twitchell and Martin McCall won on adjacent boards. Neville had picked up a piece and finished his opponent off with a small combination to win further material, while Martin had established an overwhelming grip on the position and forced the win of a piece with the first move after the time control. 1½ points were now needed from the three games left in play. One of these was a joy for the captain to watch as Ian Hunnable, who had won a pawn on move 20 set about exploiting his advantage in a double bishop ending. Taking all the time in the world, Ian slowly but surely advanced his passed pawn while allowing his opponent no counterchances. This pawn, having started life at a2 and captured on b3 on move 24 reached b4 on move 50 and b5 on move 59. Ian was organising his forces to enable the next step to be made when his opponent, by now in time trouble, lashed out with a rash move that was answered by a devasting en passant capture with check. While this had been going on, Larry Marden had secured a draw so the match was now secure, and the remaining spectators were able to enjoy Ivan Myall clinching victory in the last game to finish.

Ivor Smith v David Barnes

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 f5 4.d4 fxe4 5.Nxe5 Nf6 6.Bg5 d5 7.Be2 Bf5 8.Qa4 Qd6 9.Na3 a6 10.Bf4 Rc8 11.Ng6 hxg6 12.Bxd6 Bxd6 13.Nc2 Nh5 14.g4 1-0

Robert Everson v Ivan Myall

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 b6 5.e3 Bb7 6.Nf3 Ne4 7.Bd3 f5 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.bxc3 0-0 10.Nd2 Qh4 11.f3 Nxd2 12.Bxd2 d6 13.e4 f4 14.e5 dxe5 15.dxe5 Nd7 16.Rfe1 Nc5 17.Rad1 Rad8 18.Bf1 Rf5 19.Bc1 Rdf8 20.Qf2 Qh5 21.Rd4 Rxe5 22.Rxf4 Ref5 23.Rxf5 Qxf5 24.Ba3 Rd8 25.Qe3 Kf7 26.Qe5 Qxe5 27.Rxe5 Nd3 28.Re3 Nf4 29.g3 Ng6 30.Bh3 e5 31.Kf2 Ba6 32.Bf1 Rd2+ 33.Re2 Rd1 34.Re1 Rd7 35.Ke3 c5 36.Bh3 Rd6 37.Bf1 Ne7 38.Bc1 Kf6 39.Kf2 Bb7 40.f4 e4 41.g4 Nc6 42.Bg2 Na5 43.Bf1 Bc6 44.h4 g6 45.Be2 Ba4 46.Rh1 Bc2 47.h5 Kf7 48.g5 Bd3 49.Bg4 Nxc4 50.hxg6+ hxg6 51.Kg3 e3 52.Re1 Bf5 53.Be2 Nd2 54.Kg2 Re6 55.Rd1 Bc2 56.Re1 Be4+ 57.Kg3 Bd5 58.a3 Bc4 59.Bg4 Rd6 60.Rxe3 Nf1+ 0-1

McCall,M - Titmas,P [A08]

1.g3 d5 2.Bg2 Nf6 3.d3 e6 4.Nf3 c5 5.0-0 Be7 6.Nbd2 Nc6 7.e4 0-0 8.Re1 Qc7 9.c3 dxe4 10.dxe4 e5 11.Qc2 Be6 12.Nf1 Rfd8 13.Ne3 Rac8 14.Ng5 Bd7 15.Nd5 Qb8 16.f4 h6 17.Nf3 Re8 18.f5 Nh7 19.h4 Bd8 20.Bd2 Nf6 21.Rad1 Be7 22.Nxf6+ Bxf6 23.Be3 Qc7 24.Rd5 b6 25.Qd2 Nb8 26.Nh2 Bc6 27.Ng4 Qe7 28.Rd6 Nd7 29.Rd1 h5 30.Nf2 Red8 31.Bg5 Bxg5 32.hxg5 Bb5 33.f6 Qf8 34.Bh3 Rc7 35.Qd5 Qe8 36.c4 1-0

John Lewin v Neville Twitchell

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Be2 Bg7 6.0-0 0-0 7.c4 Nb6 8.exd6 cxd6 9.Nc3 Nc6 10.h3 Bf5 11.Be3 d5 12.cxd5 Nxd5 13.Nxd5 Qxd5 14.Qa4 Bd7 15.Rfd1 Rad8 16.Qa3 a6 17.Rac1 Rc8 18.Rc5 Qd6 19.Qb3 b5 20.Qc3 Rfd8 21.Qd2 Bf5 22.Bf4 e5 23.Bg3 Nxd4 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.Nxe5 Bxe5 26.Bxe5 Qxe5 27.Bg4 Bxg4 28.hxg4 Ne6 29.Re1 Qf6 30.Qd6 a5 31.Qd7 Rb8 32.Qa7 Qd8 33.Qe3 Qd4 34.Qg3 Rd8 35.Qb3 Qd5 36.Qc3 Nf4 37.Qg3 Ne2+ 0-1

George McNally v Mark Finch

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 4.Nbd2 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.e3 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Rc1 Bd7 9.Bb1 cxd4 10.exd4 Rc8 11.Qe2 h6 12.Bh4 e5 13.dxe5 Bxe5 14.Qd3 g6 15.0-0 Bf5 16.Qe3 Bxb1 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.Qxe5 g5 19.Bxg5 Ng4 20.Bxd8 Nxe5 21.Bf6 Nd7 22.Rxb1 Nxf6 23.Nb3 Ne4 24.f3 Nc5 25.Nxc5 Rxc5 26.Rfe1 Rc7 27.Re5 Rd8 28.Rd1 Rcd7 29.Rd4 Rd6 30.Kf2 Kg7 31.Re7 R6d7 32.Rxd7 Rxd7 33.c4 Kf6 34.cxd5 Ke5 35.Ke3 Rxd5 36.Rxd5+ Kxd5 37.Kf4 Ke6 38.Kg4 Kf6 39.Kh5 Kg7 40.f4 Kh7 41.g4 f5 42.g5 hxg5 43.Kxg5 1-0

Ian Hunnable v David Morris

1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 d6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.e4 g6 7.Be3 Bg7 8.h3 0-0 9.Be2 a6 10.0-0 Bd7 11.f4 Rc8 12.Qd3 Qa5 13.Rac1 Rfd8 14.Nxc6 Bxc6 15.b4 Qc7 16.b5 Bd7 17.bxa6 bxa6 18.Nd5 Nxd5 19.cxd5 Qa5 20.Qxa6 Qb4 21.Qd3 f5 22.exf5 Bxf5 23.Qb3 Qxb3 24.axb3 Bb2 25.Rxc8 Rxc8 26.Bc4 Kf7 27.Rf2 Bc3 28.Ra2 Rb8 29.Ra6 Bc2 30.Rb6 Rxb6 31.Bxb6 h6 32.Kf2 Bd1 33.Ke3 Bc2 34.Ke2 Be4 35.g3 Bf5 36.h4 Bg4+ 37.Kf2 Bd1 38.Be3 Kf6 39.Bc1 Bb4 40.Bb2+ Kf7 41.Bd4 Bd2 42.Kf1 Bg4 43.Bf2 Bh3+ 44.Ke2 Bb4 45.Be1 Bg4+ 46.Kf2 Bc5+ 47.Kf1 Bh3+ 48.Ke2 Bg4+ 49.Kd3 Kf6 50.b4 Bb6 51.Kc3 Bf3 52.Bb3 Be2 53.Bc2 Bb5 54.Bd3 Bd7 55.Kc4 Kf7 56.Be4 Ba4 57.Bd3 Bd7 58.Kb3 Bd4 59.b5 Bb6 60.Kb4 Bc8 61.Ka4 Bb7 62.Be4 Kf6 63.Kb4 Bc8 64.Kc4 Bb7 65.Bc3+ e5 66.dxe6+ 1-0

Mark Weighell v David Heath

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.d3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 d4 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.c4 Bb4+ 9.Kf2 0-0 10.Be2 Re8 11.Rb1 Qe7 12.Rf1 Bc3 13.Kg1 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Qxe5 15.Bh5 g6 16.Bf3 c6 17.Bh6 Ba5 18.Be4 Bc7 19.g3 f5 20.Re1 Ba5 21.Bd5+ cxd5 22.Rxe5 Rxe5 23.Qf3 dxc4 24.Rxb7 1-0

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