Wins for SASCA A and D
SASCA A and SASCA D both had good wins tonight; the A team fielded a full-strength team for the first time this season and defeated Stannington 4.5-1.5 in an entertaining match whilst SASCA D beat Nomads E by a score of 4-2.
Stannington were second in the table before tonight's match with SASCA in third position. SASCA remain third, two points behind Stannington with two games in hand.
Gordon Stables played on board 1 for the A team as Jonathan Arnott was late travelling back from London. Gordon faced a Bb5 Sicilian from Ryan Burgin, and grabbed a pawn which ultimately proved costly.
Jonathan Arnott had a slight advantage throughout on board 2, but failed to break through before the first time control and eventually won in a complex position.
Louis Brijmohun eventually converted a massive space advantage on board 3, whilst Miles Edwards-Wright had a comfortable win from a Maroczy bind against his opponent's Sicilian on board 4. Evie Hollingworth drew on board 5, whilst Steve Gibbs won easily on board 6.
With the score 3-2 to SASCA D, the D team match was decided when James McClure won a rollercoaster game on time in a tight endgame.
Record night for SASCA?
Monday night saw one of the busiest SASCA nights in many years, with no fewer than five SASCA teams in action at the same time - leading us to wonder whether this is a record. Even in bygone days more than two decades ago where 6 SASCA teams were operating, can we really have ever had 5 of them all playing at once?
The night was complicated as the power had been cut across half of the venue, meaning that teams had to play in classrooms dotted around the school.
SASCA A played one of the toughest sides in the division, Phoenix A. But whilst the early signs looked good, the bottom boards struggled and the team eventually went down to a 4-2 defeat. Jonathan Arnott maintained his 100% record in the league this season after just managing to outplay Carl Walker in a rook and pawn ending, Gordon Stables had to settle for a draw against Farshad Ai, as did James Kirk against John Mercy - James Kirk playing his first match of the season for the team. But there was disappointment as Miles Edwards-Wright lost from a promising position and Tom Wills lost having been an exchange and a pawn up in the opening (but with pieces hopelessly misplaced, allowing his opponent to generate swift counterplay). Steve Gibbs lost.to Tristram Cole from a position where Tristram controlled the centre of the board well.
SASCA C fared somewhat better against Phoenix C, with a comfortable 4-2 victory following wins from Stephen Lee, James McClure, Isaac Stables and Byron Hemingway.
SASCA E played two matches on the same night, with one 'E' team travelling to play Woodseats D whilst a separate team of players faced SASCA D. Both SASCA D and Woodseats D came out on top, each winning 6-0.
First 6-0 win of the season for SASCA A
22-11-11
On Monday night, SASCA A and SASCA B both travelled to Woodseats to face Woodseats B and Woodseats C respectively.
The B team had a tough night, despite being strengthened by Steve Gibbs playing for them rather than the A team. Steve Gibbs won his match, but the team still went down 4-2 as John Fryer was unlucky to get nothing from his game.
SASCA A had a team of Jonathan Arnott, Louis Brijmohun, Miles Edwards-Wright, Evie Hollingworth, Tom Wills and James McClure. The top SASCA team usually includes some of the adults who coach, so it was actually quite unusual for the first team to contain 5 juniors (a sign of just how far the team has progressed).
Evie Hollingworth demolished her opponent on board 4 with a massive central attack, whereas on all the other boards the SASCA players slowly outplayed their opponents. Louis slowly strangled his opponent in an Exchange French; Miles doing likewise with the Black side of a Modern Defence in which queens came off early.
Jonathan Arnott's opponent put up most resistance on board 1 but eventually blundered trying to defend a tricky queen ending with just a minute remaining on his clock.
The 6-0 scoreline reflected SASCA's domination of the match but Woodseats B were perhaps unlucky not to scrape a couple of draws.
Top SASCA juniors in 4NCL
12-11-2011
Top SASCA juniors will experience life in Division 2 of the internationally-rated 4NCL (Four Nations Chess League) this year. Bradford DCA Knights, who were promoted to Division 2 last season, include amongst their ranks SASCA juniors Louis Brijmohun and Miles Edwards-Wright. In the first roung their team faces a strong Pandora's Box side which was relegated from Division 1 last season, and is expected to have two International Masters - Slaby and Crouch - on high boards. It will undoubtedly be a tough match for the Bradford team, who are weakened by the loss of key players.
Meanwhile, coach Jonathan Arnott will be playing for White Rose 2 in the same division, and the two sides have been drawn in the same pool - so the teams are certain to face each other early in the new year.
Two good wins for SASCA sides
The SASCA sides had an impressive week last week.
Once again, SASCA A self-weakened slightly against Woodseats B and allowed Tom Wills to play for the C team on Monday but Martin Lau and James McClure both played well on boards 5 and 6 to earn a draw and a win respectively, with Martin Lau perhaps unlucky to face a player of Bill Ward’s strength on Board 5. James McClure played impressively throughout and won convincingly.
Jonathan Arnott, who arrived late, dropped to Board 2 due to losing time on his clock. He was the second player to finish, winning in 19 moves with a variation on the Greek Gift theme (see a forthcoming coaching session at SASCA)!
Louis Brijmohun and Steve Gibbs were always in control of their games on boards 3 and 4, but Gordon Stables had a tough time on board 1 and eventually succeeded in provoking a mistake from his opponent just after the time control.
The 5.5-0.5 scoreline reflected SASCA A’s total domination of the match.
Miles Edwards-Wright is now back in the country so the team will hopefully be back to full strength soon!
On the same night SASCA C had a hard-fought draw with Clay Cross B. Tom Wills, Stephen Lee, Sam Cobbold and Imogen Stables all drew – whilst James Allsop won to earn SASCA C the draw. Tom Wills had a tough game on top board and was relieved to have the chance to escape with the half-point.
SASCA D travelled to Nomads E later in the week and earned a well-deserved 5-1 victory (though not without a couple of time scrambles) with Imogen Stables, Stephen Lee, Miles Hemingway, Gordon Stables and James McClure earning SASCA the points!