Blayney Chess Club 2007 NSW Country Reserve Team Champions   

Bathurst victorious in 7th Inter-Club match

With Blayney being reduced in numbers due to study commitments, sporting commitments, and injury to another, the match proceeded as a six player per side contest. Another close match between two very even teams followed with Bathurst emerging narrow but deserved winners 3.5 – 2.5. As in all sporting contests, Blayney may say “but if”, and Bathurst can respond, “look at the scoreboard”.

Blayney got off to a great start with Mick Hendricks scoring a smart win over Jamie Davidson on Board Three. This was a classic mismatch with Mick being the typical ‘uneducated’ player who has gained his knowledge from many thousands of games against a representative of the booked up theoretical school, Jamie. In an entertaining game, Mick played boldly, and after a few inaccuracies by Jamie, Mick grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and never let go.

Bathurst then levelled the scoresheet with youngster Evan Stroeve scoring a very nice win over Glen Mann. Evan outplayed his opponent for the entire match and Glen was unable to find the right resources to resist the young gun’s determination.

The next match to register a result did nothing to clear up the situation, as Bathurst’s Naum Todoroski and Phil Bourke soon played into a tight position where neither could press for the win so the game was a draw. While many people see a draw as being a nothing result, true chess lovers realise that if both sides play well, a draw is the most likely result and appreciate the players fine efforts in not making the mistakes that allow the other player to win.

Blayney then edged ahead with Fritz Van der Wal once again displaying faultless technique in his game against John McLoon. John appeared to have the advantage, but deeper analysis soon showed that was a deception as Fritz established some strong points, negated all of his opponent’s threats and John facing an unavoidable defeat, took the honourable path and resigned.

The Blayney camp was now feeling a little confident as with two games to finish, it looked as though they would be shared with both sides winning one each. Unfortunately, chess is a game that isn’t over till it is over, and on Board Four, Garry Mann went from the brink of victory to the despair of defeat with some inaccurate play. Chess isn’t fair as even being material up isn’t a guarantee of a win, it really boils down to what are the best pieces on the board, and even if you have fewer pieces, they can be doing much more than your opponents larger army. Rod McPhee is one of those players that have learnt their lessons well, and after making a mistake that gave up a material advantage, he set out to utilise his remaining pieces as effectively as he could and in a typical sporting lesson, the side with less players played more energetically to secure an unexpected win.

The last game to finish was the Board Six match between Bathurst’s Chris Dowling and Blayney’s Brian Patten. It was the reverse of the preceding game, Chris was the one to have the advantage here and it was Brian doing his utmost to get back into the game. After a prolonged battle, Chris managed to navigate his way through the labyrinth to secure a win for himself and the Bathurst team.

These matches have been a great source of enjoyment for both Clubs and players from all sides look forward to re-engaging in friendly battle next year.

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Last modified: 24/10/2008