Archived News Report by Phil Borman Hertford make it 3 in a row as they retain Russell It was a repeat of last year's final and once again Hertford overcame Watford. Out graded on average by nearly 10 points a board we won by the convincing margin of 4-2. Simon had a crushing victory on board 1. Stephen got his usual complications resulting from the Modern, pinched some material and resisted white's attack. Paul didn't look so good in the middle game but managed to simplify into a tricky knight and pawn ending a pawn down with all pawns on the kingside which Stone couldn't do much with. Phil had a promising position out of the opening (another Modern) and with knights on b4 and g4 at one stage should have gone in for favourable complications. Quiet play lead to a quiet conclusion, however Rudge missed an opportunity right at the death to make things difficult with a breakthrough attempt (see position below). Barry had the better of his game the whole evening but with the top two already have done the business agreed a draw which won us the match. Chris played a blinder against a much higher graded opponent using the Icelandic gambit as black. Chris won back the gambit pawn with interest and got a great position in the middle game. In the ending Chris however unfortunately made a slight blunder which meant he could only draw. Do we get to keep the Cup now? 1. S. Knott (w) (217) 1-0 V. Tiruchirapalli (214) 2. S. Swanson (187) 1-0 3. P. Byway (189) 0.5-0.5 A. Stone (184) 4. P. Borman (172) 0.5-0.5 J. Rudge (181) 5. B. Cheal (164) 0.5-0.5 M. Boyce (180) 6. C. Luscombe (144) 0.5-0.5 R. Lancaster (170ish) Total (grade average 179) 4 - 2 (grade average 187) 
Rudge playing white missed f5! Summer Bash! . . This Tuesday (12th June) at the club - 7:30pm for a Club Meal New Talking Chess Computer for sale . . A 93 year old gentleman, with whom I play chess, has asked me to arrange the sale of his "DELUXE TALKING TOUCH CHESS" miniature computer, which has choices from beginner to a high standard of play and can also be set to clock timing of moves. He purchased it only recently on 13/2/07. Unfortunately, due to a deterioration in his sight he found that he could not use it. I have the receipt for his purchase for the sum of Ł85.95 that I will show to the person giving the highest offer. The receipt also gives the name and address of the gentleman, to whom the buyer can send the payment directly. D.S. Luscher 49 Calton Avenue Hertford Herts SG14 2ER Tel: 01992 584759 Hertford U125 Final - We lost! . . Match Report - kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the report Stevenage Stuffing . . Match Report and position - kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the report Hertford 4 - St Albans disaster! . . Match Report and position - kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the report Hertford 4 - Borehamwood - position . . Match Report and position - kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the report Hertford 4 - draw with Welwyn . . Match Report - kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the report Hertford 2 Reports from Barry . . Hertford 2 v Letchworth2 Against the team which we have given the only match point they have won all season an invigorated team crushed the opposition this team with a fairly easy 5-0 ( played ) result. Hertford 2 v Stevenage Not quite the result that we had planned for. Barry won fairly quickly on board one and with solid draws from Gordon and Andrew they match looked well won. Chris though blundered and as we go to press Ian has a tricky ending which could go either way. So 2-2 with any result possible. Hertford 2 v Watford 3 Watford only turned up with 4 players so we were of to a good start which got even better When Gordon's opponent gifted a piece on move 5 !!!. Andrew had a nice win where he was always in control. Dave , our new board 5 secured a draw and Barry tortured Simon Charles in a quick play finish, to bring in another fine result of 4.5-0.5. Hertford 2 v Barnet 2 Barnet rang up on the day before the match and defaulted 5-0. With two matches to play this is the state of play. Ian's outstanding game is not crucial. We have to draw against Bishops Stortford and win our last game OR We beat Bishops Stortford and the league will be won with a game to play. So this match is a real crunch match. Hertford U125 Excitement! . . Cup Match Report - kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the report New 'ChessHere' Online site - see LInks Hertford 4 downs and ups . . Two new match reports kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the reports Hertford 4 march on . . Three new match reports kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the reports Junior Section Starts Again! . . Jill Sutherland and Des Luscher have kindly agreed to supervise the juniors once more at the club. They will meet as before from 6:30pm to 7:45pm at the club - STARTING THIS TUESDAY - and we would encourage ALL members to show some inbterest and help out where possible. We wish Jill & Des lots of luck with the venture. See Junior Section for dates from now until May 2007 ... South Herts Chess Congress . . 31st March - see Notices ... New site . . See the links page for a new site that lets you create / input chess positions and then a diagram is created which can be saved or emailed to you ... ...for free! Hertford 2 Reports . . Kindly sent in by Barry Hertford 2 v
Watford 3 Our intended march to the league summit came off
the rails in this match. Although our entire team outgraded theirs we conspired to lose 3-2 , and it could have been worse. Chris arrived late after struggling with the
traffic from the Watford / Sheffield Utd. match, and within 5 minutes was a pawn down and in trouble from which he never recovered. Brian had a solid draw and Andrew failed to reach the time control when he had had chances earlier of winning. Gordon slowly ground down his opponent who resigned after the match. I managed to win a pawn which was worthless in an opposite coloured bishop endgame, so had to draw. So four games played and only 5 points earned, great
title form. Hertford 2 v Bishops Stortford
1 Up against another team with promotion prospects,
the early signs were not promising.
In the early stages most games were level except for mine, where I had managed to lose a pawn. Then a series of draws from Simon, Ian and Andrew suddenly put pressure on Gordon and myself to come up with the goods. Gordon was better but I was now in serious trouble with 2 pieces versus a rook and three pawns. Fortunately I set my opponent some tactical twists in his time trouble, with the result that he failed to reach the time control. Gordon then converted his advantage to secure the win - and we had ended with a very unlikely 3.5-1.5 victory. Hertford 2 v Welwyn Hatfield
2 At last the form book was confirmed.
A very solid performance from the lower boards meant that at the time control Chris, Andrew and Brian had already won and Gordon agreed a draw with a slight advantage. I meanwhile was trying to repeat my feat of the previous week and trying to pressure my opponent into losing on time or at least blundering. He though, was having none of it, so a draw was agreed. Another fine performance from the team and a 4-1 victory. Ryder
Bishops Stortford have just beaten Watford so after half of the season we are just on top on board count, so the second half of the season means anyone of three teams still has the chance to go up including us. Brentwood Congress - 17th February - See Notices . . Hertford 4 romp at Borehamwood! . . Kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the report Herts Congress - See Notices Hertford 4 fall at Rothamsted . . Kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the report Hertford U125 Victory ! . . Kindly sent in by Duncan Click here for the report Hertford 2 battle with Stevenage . . Kindly sent in by Barry Cheal Stevenage 2 vs Hertford 2, Mon Nov 20th Creeping up the table. Hertford 2 are quickly getting the recognition of being the Chelsea of the third division. This time with our strongest team we are inching ourselves past Stevenage 2. Barry on board 1 again proved that he can play down to the level of his opponent and completely blocked the position, leading to a fairly inevitable draw, with ALL !!! the 32 pieces still on the board. Ian gained the advantage but then did not press it home leading to draw number 2. All the while Chris , who obviously hadn't read the team orders, played a very nice combination which forced his opponent to resign. So 2-1 to us with Gordon and Andrew both a pawn up with chances of winning in both cases. Both will need to be played on. Current game statistics for the season are played 15, won 3, drawn 9 and 3 to finish. |