U175 NATIONAL CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
The Club has generally entered one team in the BCF National Club Championship, with the section entered depending upon the gradings of the available players. This page takes up the story from 1998/99, when the U175 section was entered.
1998/99
18 teams entered. The Club was captained by Paul Barclay.
Round 1 - 29 November 1998
A very impressive awayday. Wanstead had a grading advantage on all boards which was really made to count.
| MAIDSTONE | WANSTEAD | ||||||
| Board | Colour | Home team | Grade | Score | Away team | Grade | Score |
| 1 | W | Alvin Kissoon | 163 | 0 | George McNally | 172 | 1 |
| 2 | B | Nick Mackett | 161 | 0 | Ian Stables | 170 | 1 |
| 3 | W | David Heath | 159 | ½ | Ian Hunnable | 166 | ½ |
| 4 | B | Peter Titmas | 146 | ½ | Paul Barclay | 165 | ½ |
| 5 | W | Robert Lane | 145 | 0 | John Philpott | 155 | 1 |
| TOTAL - Home | 1 | TOTAL - Away | 4 | ||||
Robert Lane v John Philpott
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nbd2 d5 5.e3 0-0 6.Bd3 c5 7.c3 Qb6 8.Qb3 Nc6 9.h3 Re8 10.0-0 e5 11.Qxb6 axb6 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Rxe5 14.Nf3 Re8 15.Rfd1 Bd7 16.Bf4 Bc6 17.Bc7 Nd7 18.Bc2 Rac8 19.Bg3 b5 20.Bb3 Nb6 21.Rab1 Nc4 22.Bxc4 dxc4 23.Rd2 b4 24.cxb4 cxb4 25.Rc1 c3 26.bxc3 bxc3 27.Rd6 Bxf3 28.gxf3 Red8 29.e4 Rxd6 30.Bxd6 c2 31.e5 Bh6 0-1
Round 2 - a bye, in common with all but two of the teams.
Quarter final - 6 February 1999
An amazing victory on board count. I had visited the match in late afternoon to find the Club 2½ - 1½ down to a Northampton side far outperforming their published grades, with Ian Stables playing on in an ending where there did not seem the slightest prospect of victory. I was amazed to learn of the outcome from Paul Barclay.
| WANSTEAD | NORTHAMPTON | ||||||
| Board | Colour | Home team | Grade | Score | Away team | Grade | Score |
| 1 | George McNally | 172 | 0 | Alan Brown | 172 | 1 | |
| 2 | Ian Stables | 170 | 1 | Paul Pribanich | 154 | 0 | |
| 3 | Ian Hunnable | 166 | ½ | A Lucas | 152 | ½ | |
| 4 | Paul Barclay | 165 | 1 | T Goodchild | 102E | 0 | |
| 5 | Keith Jones | 152 | 0 | B Pormozafari | 96 | 1 | |
| TOTAL - Home | 2½ | TOTAL - Away | 2½ | ||||
Semi-final - 23 May 1999
The long trek to Eastbourne proved to be a fruitless despite an edge on paper. 3½ - 1½ sounds like a very clear margin, but Paul Barclay was winning at one stage, and had he clinched the full point this would given Wanstead the match on board count. Eastbourne were shaded out 3 - 2 by Guildford in the final.
| EASTBOURNE | WANSTEAD | ||||||
| Board | Colour | Home team | Grade | Score | Away team | Grade | Score |
| 1 | W | Michael Reddie | 170 | ½ | George McNally | 172 | ½ |
| 2 | B | J Herbert | 164 | ½ | Ian Stables | 170 | ½ |
| 3 | W | Gino Scamardella | 153 | ½ | Ian Hunnable | 166 | ½ |
| 4 | B | M Finch | 153 | 1 | Paul Barclay | 165 | 0 |
| 5 | W | Roy Harper | 151 | 1 | John Philpott | 155 | 0 |
| TOTAL - Home | 3½ | TOTAL - Away | 1½ | ||||
1999/2000
15 teams entered. The Club was captained by John Philpott
Round 1 - 5 December 1999
A disastrous visit to Rainham for a match that on paper should have been won comfortably. Terry Whitton blundered on top board and Ian Hunnable, who had been clearly better earlier on, lost on time in a position where he was not worse, leaving their team-mates just too much to do in a 5 board match.
| RAINHAM | WANSTEAD | ||||||
| Board | Colour | Home team | Grade | Score | Away team | Grade | Score |
| 1 | B | Tom Stonehouse | 159 | 1 | Terry Whitton | 166 | 0 |
| 2 | W | Andy Waters | 150 | 1 | Ian Hunnable | 164 | 0 |
| 3 | B | Robert Springett | 140 | ½ | Paul Barclay | 156 | ½ |
| 4 | W | Peter Lloyd | 120 | 0 | George McNally | 147 | 1 |
| 5 | B | Barry Roles | 97 | 0 | John Philpott | 150 | 1 |
| TOTAL - Home | 2½ | TOTAL - Away | 2½ | ||||
Andy Waters v Ian Hunnable
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.Bd3 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.e5 Nd7 7.Ne2 Qb6 8.Nf3 cxd4 9.cxd4 f6 10.exf6 Nxf6 11.0-0 Bd6 12.Qc2? Nb4 13.Qb3 Nxd3 14.Qxd3 0-0 15.Ne5 Bd7 16.Nxd7 Nxd7 17.Re1 Kh8 18.Nc3 Ne5 19.Qd1 Ng6 20.Qg4 Rae8 21.Re2 Nf4 22.Bxf4 Rxf4 23.Rxe6 Ref8 24.Qg3 Qxb2 25.Rae1 Re4 26.f4 Bxf4 27.Qf3 Rxe1+ 28.Rxe1 Qb4? [28...Bd6 29.Qe3 Bb4 and at the very least Black wins a second pawn.] 29.Qd3 Rc8 30.Re6 Kg8 31.Nxd5 Rc1+ 32.Kf2 Qf8 33.g3 Bg5+ 34.Kg2 Qf7 35.Qe2 Rc2 36.Qxc2 Qxe6 37.Nc7 1-0. Black played 37...Qd7 but his flag fell before the move was complete. After 38.Qc4+ Kh8 there is no reason why Black should lose.
Plate round 1 -27 February 2000
Against much stiffer opposition from Maidstone, the club managed a far better showing. It was the two players who had lost in the Rainham match who achieved victory on this occasion to see Wanstead home. Four of the Madstone team had travelled to Wanstead the previous weekend for the Essex v Kent U175 match; Mackett v Hunnable was a rematch with the same colours. Although Nick Mackett had been successful in the U175 match and avoided any prepared improvement by switching from 1 d4 to 1 e4, Ian managed to reverse the result after looking in some difficulty.
| WANSTEAD | MAIDSTONE | ||||||
| Board | Colour | Home team | Grade | Score | Away team | Grade | Score |
| 1 | W | Terry Whitton | 166 | 1 | David Heath | 163 | 0 |
| 2 | B | Ian Hunnable | 164 | 1 | Nick Mackett | 157 | 0 |
| 3 | W | Ian Stables | 161 | 0 | Terry Godwin | 156 | 1 |
| 4 | B | Paul Barclay | 156 | ½ | Alex Stille | 146 | ½ |
| 5 | W | George McNally | 147 | ½ | Robert Lane | 146 | ½ |
| TOTAL - Home | 3 | TOTAL - Away | 2 | ||||
Plate semi-final 9 April 2000
There was to be no re-run of the cliffhanger against Northampton from the previous season as the visitors turned in the sort of performance that they ought to have managed against Rainham in the main competition. Terry Whitton had a tough pairing on top board against the Northampton captain and did well to draw after being two pawns down, but the remaining members of the team won convincingly enough.
| NORTHAMPTON | WANSTEAD | ||||||
| Board | Colour | Home team | Grade | Score | Away team | Grade | Score |
| 1 | B | Alan Brown | 169 | ½ | Terry Whitton | 166 | ½ |
| 2 | W | Paul Pribanich | 150 | 0 | Ian Hunnable | 163 | 1 |
| 3 | B | Peter Crouch | 133 | 0 | Ian Stables | 161 | 1 |
| 4 | W | B Pourmozafari | 112 | 0 | George McNally | 165 | 1 |
| 5 | B | BM Neeson | 117 | 0 | John Philpott | 150 | 1 |
| TOTAL - Home | ½ | TOTAL - Away | 4½ | ||||
Plate final 9 July 2000
Wanstead unexpectedly found that they had home advantage for the final, as your webmaster, when asked by Cyril Johnson to find a venue in the London area for the finals of the Open, Open Plate, Major and Major Plate, could think of nowhere more appropriate than Wanstead House. Not that this made the club favourites; word of the strength of the Southbourne line up had been received from Andrew Smith, David Smith's son, whose Cosham team had been brushed aside in the semi-finals. Furthermore, Terry Whitton was unavailable to play on top board, so a debut in the team was given to the newly-crowned Club Champion Julian Winkworth.
Thanks to winning the toss, Wanstead had the advantage of three Whites in a five board match, and this benefit was reinforced when the two home players with the Black pieces both achieved draws.Wanstead took the lead when Julian Winkworth outplayed his opponent, finally winning the Black queen through a knight fork. However, this victory was achieved on Board 5, meaning that at least one point was required from the two remaining games as board count would favour Southbourne in the event of a tied match.
Both Ian Hunnable and Paul Barclay found themselves in time trouble coming up to the first time control on move 40. While Ian failed to make the requisite number of moves, Paul scored the decisive victory despite failing to follow up an enterprising continuation accurately, when his opponent made a horrendous blunder to lose his Queen in a position where the correct move would instead have won a piece. Not the most convincing of victories, but a very welcome trophy for Wanstead at the end of the season.
Photos (kindly contributed by Derek Winkworth).
John Philpott about to shake hands with SCCU President Chris Majer.
Ian Hunnable, John Philpott and Julian Winkworth after the presentation
| WANSTEAD | SOUTHBOURNE | ||||||
| Board | Colour | Home team | Grade | Score | Away team | Grade | Score |
| 1 | W | Ian Hunnable | 164 | 0 | Chris Jenks | 167 | 1 |
| 2 | B | Ian Stables | 161 | ½ | R M Pegg | 169 | ½ |
| 3 | W | Paul Barclay | 156 | 1 | D Balfour | 166 | 0 |
| 4 | B | George McNally | 147 | ½ | Leonard Laker | 163 | ½ |
| 5 | W | Julian Winkworth | 127 | 1 | J Catchpole | 154 | 0 |
| TOTAL - Home | 3 | TOTAL - Away | 2 | ||||
Paul Barclay v D Balfour
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 e6 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Re1 a6 11.a4 Bd7 12.Ne5 Rac8 13.Re3 Rfd8 14.f4 g6 15.Nd2 Ne7 16.Qe1 Kg7 17.Rh3 Rh8 18.g4 Bc6 19.Qh4 Nfg8 20.Ndf3 h6 21.Bc2 Be8 22.Re1 Qb6 23.Nd3 Qd8 24.Qf2 Nf6 25.g5 Ng4 26.Qe2 h5 27.Nfe5 Nxe5 28.Qxe5+ Kg8 29.Nc5 Qc7 30.Qf6 Rh7 31.Rxe6!! Nf5 [31...fxe6 32.Nxe6 Rf7 33.Nxc7 Rxf6 34.gxf6 Rxc7 35.Re3!] 32.Re1 [32.Re5 should have been played] 32...Qxf4 33.Rg3 [33.Bxf5 should have been played, but with both players down to their last 30 seconds White overlooked the possibility of 33...Qd2] 33...Nxg3?? [33...Qd2 would have won] 34.Qxf4 Ne4 35.Bxe4 dxe4 36.Nxe4 Bc6 37.Nf6+ Kg7 38.Nxh7 1-0
Julian Winkworth v J Catchpole
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Qd5 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Nf6 9.Bd3 0-0 10.0-0 Qh5 11.Re1 b6 12.Be2 Qa5 13.c4 Bb7 14.Bd2 Qa4 15.Bd3 Rad8 16.Bf4 Rc8 17.Be5 Ne7 18.d5 Ng6 19.dxe6 fxe6 20.Bxg6 hxg6 21.Qd3 Qe8 22.Ng5 Nh5 23.Qh3 Rf5 24.f4 Qc6 25.Rad1 Rcf8 26.Rd4 Qc5 27.Nxe6 Nxf4 28.Bxf4 Qe7 29.Qg3 Re8 30.Rdd1 Qf6 31.Ng5 Rxe1+ 32.Rxe1 Qd4+ 33.Kh1 Rxf4 34.Re8+ Rf8 35.Rxf8+ Kxf8 36.Ne6+ 1-0