News Archive 2007

Phil Holt Simultaneous Display

Club Champion Phil Holt did a simultaneous display for the club on Tuesday 31st July. Thirteen people took part and despite the challenge presented before him, Phil did pretty well.

There were draws for Robert Reynolds and Steve Chadaway, who both had good positions early on. Steve held on well, while Robert's game was more tricky to draw. Meanwhile, Phil was struggling against Dave Stockwin, who eventually agreed a draw a Pawn up.

Most impressive of all was the draw achieved by Mick Kerr. Mick put up a strong defence to record a well-earned half point, while others around him floundered.

Leamington League AGM

This took place at Kenilworth on Tuesday 8th May. Robert Reynolds was there to collect the League Trophy and Phil Holt's Lightning trophy.

Friendly - Olton v Shirley & Lucas

This took place at Shirley's venue on Thursday 16th August. Olton scored a rare victory, but the match was very close. Andy Cottom lost quickly and Bram Garner's default levelled the score. There were some good performances on the higher boards. Mark Cundy's game was a mess asusual, but he came through with a win. Richard Smith had 15 moves to play in just over a minute and won on time.

The full result appears below.

Friendly - Olton v South Birmingham

This was played over 22 boards and was again a comprehensive win for the visitors. They did bring in a grandmaster to play on board, though, so they must have been worried. Phil Holt was able to gain an early advantage against GM Danny Gormally, though and eventually drew.

This was the 21st consecutive match between the two teams, although other matches had been played previously. Up until the last ten years, honours had been more or less even, but South Birmingham have had the upper hand in recent years, winning the last 10 matches.

Olton scored just 6½ points in the match, mostly on the top boards. Alan Lloyd finally remembered where the Olton club was and won on board 2. Mark Cundy had a good draw on three against Pablo Padilla and Rob Wallman drew on board 6. Richard Reynolds came back after a difficult opening, but missed a game-saving combination at the time control and went on to lose.

Paul Hodgskin playing against his old club drew on board 10 and Dave Cheshire drew on eight. Lower down, only John Asbury on board 15 and Pete Singh on 19 were the only contributors, both scoring wins. Bill Yeomans on bottom board also managed a win.

Despite the result, this was a great curtain raiser on the season and a chance to dust away the cobwebs before the first League matches. Here is the full result.