Nottinghamshire County Championship 2008
Robert Richmond
The entry of 48 was up on last year, and there were sufficient entries to run separate Championship and U150 sections.
David Coates is the new and worthy County Champion, taking the title on Sum of Progressive scores ahead of Mike Barnes. Rather uncharitably perhaps the best game is the win by Mike in their individual encounter, since it doesn't reflect the overall quality of play by David (and his 4/4 in other games). White conducts a pleasing attack with a nice sacrificial finish - it is hard to see where black went wrong.
The All-play-all format of the U150 produced a rather cagey tournament, with a high proportion of draws. Stephen Foster proved the most consistent. Phil Morgan and Nick London raced away from the field in the U125, and their draw in the final round was no great surprise.
My thanks to Nottingham High School for the venue and for assistance from John Swain.
Championship
| Name | Club | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Coates | Grantham | 4 |
| 2 | Mike Barnes | Gambit | 4 |
| 3 | Alex Combie | Newark | 2.5 |
| 4 | Brian Thompson | West Bridgford | 2.5 |
| 5 | David Levens | West Nottingham | 2 |
| 6 | Pete Mercs | Gambit | 2 |
| 7 | Richard Webster | Ashfield | 2 |
U150
| Name | Club | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Foster | 3.5 | |
| 2 | Phil Court | Navigation | 3 |
| 3 | Jonathan Day | West Nottingham | 2.5 |
| 4 | Daniel Lin | West Nottingham | 2.5 |
| 5 | John Tassi | Gambit | 2.5 |
| 6 | John Collins | West Nottingham | 1 |
U125
| Name | Club | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Morgan | Ashfield | 4 |
| 2 | Nick London | Radcliffe & Bingham | 4 |
| 3 | Janos Wagenbach | Mansfield | 3.5 |
| 4 | Keith Roper | Gambit | 3 |
| 5 | Marcel Taylor | Radcliffe & Bingham | 3 |
| 6 | George Murfet | Radcliffe & Bingham | 2.5 |
| 7 | Eamonn Lim | West Nottingham | 2 |
| 8 | Ray Sayer | Ashfield | 2 |
| 9 | Stephen Thacker | West Nottingham | 2 |
| 10 | James Thomson | 2 | |
| 11 | Robert Willoughby | West Nottingham | 1.5 |
| 12 | Terry Norris-Hunt | Ashfield | 1 |
U100
| Name | Club | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Dunne | West Nottingham | 4 |
| 2 | Chris Sargeant | University | 4 |
| 3 | Michael Zhang | West Nottingham | 4 |
| 4 | Allan Brown | Gambit | 3.5 |
| 5 | George Seabridge | Long Eaton | 3.5 |
| 6 | John Crawley | West Nottingham | 3 |
| 7 | Robert Garnett | West Bridgford | 3 |
| 8 | Andrew Garside | West Nottingham | 3 |
| 9 | Ben Hobson | Gambit | 3 |
| 10 | Arun Maini | West Nottingham | 3 |
| 11 | Ross Mackay | West Nottingham | 3 |
| 12 | Andrew Sutton | Navigation | 3 |
| 13 | Ken Heath | Gambit | 2.5 |
| 14 | Alan Kenyon | West Nottingham | 2.5 |
| 15 | Lukasz Kacprzak | Navigation | 2 |
| 16 | James Kenyon | West Nottingham | 2 |
| 17 | Mark Kenyon | West Nottingham | 2 |
| 18 | Neel Kothari | West Nottingham | 2 |
| 19 | Harry Croasdale | 1.5 | |
| 20 | Sarwas Mehan | West Nottingham | 1.5 |
| 21 | David Somers | West Nottingham | 1.5 |
| 22 | Charlotte Attwood | Radcliffe & Bingham | 1 |
| 23 | Graham Garside | West Nottingham | 0 |
Other Prizes
U16 Champion - Daniel Lin (Best grading performance by a junior)
Junior Prize - 1st Michael Zhang, 2nd George Seabridge
Senior Prize - 1st = Janos Wagenbach, Allan Brown
Slow Starter prizes - Ross Mackay, Stephen Thacker, Eamonn, Lim
Best Game Prizes
M.Barnes - D.Coates (as discussed above)
R.Garnett - C.Sargeant - The black attack is very smooth after 9. h4? gives him a target to open the h-file.
With an honourable mention to:
N.Kothari - R.Garnett - The exploitation of the c-file by black is simple and impressive.
Mike Barnes – David Coates
Nottinghamshire County
Championship, Round 4, 2.11.2008
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5 Nd4 6. 0-0 Nxb5 7. Nxb5 d6 8. d3 a6 9. Nc3 b5 10. Qe1 Bb7 11. f5 Nf6 12. Bd2 0-0 13. Qh4 b4 14. Ne2 a5 15. Bh6 Bxh6 16. Qxh6 Ng4 17. Qh4 Ne5 18. Ng5 h5 19. fxg6 fxg6 20. Ne6 Rxf1+ 21. Rxf1 Qd7 22. N2f4 Rc8 23. Qg5 Kh7 24. Nxg6 Qxe6 25. Qxh5+ Kg7 26. Nxe5 dxe5 27. Rf5 Rg8 28. Qg4+ 1-0
Bob Garnett – Chris Sargeant
U100, Round 5, 2.11.2008
1. Nf3 d5 2. d3 Bf5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. 0-0 e5 6. Nd2 Bc5 7. h6 Qd7 8. Nb3 Bb6 9. h4 h6 10. c3 0-0-0 11. d4 e4 12. Ne1 Ne7 13. e3 g5 14. hxg5 hxg5 15. f3 Bh3 16. fxe4 Nxe4 17. Qf3 Bxg2 18. Qxg2 Rh7 19. Nf3 Rdh8 20. Ne5 Rh1+ 21. Qxh1 Rxh1 22. Kxh1 Qh3+ 23. Kg1 Qxg3+ 24. Kh1 Nf2+ 25. Rxf2 Qxf2 26. Bd2 Nf5 27. Rg1 Ng3+ 28. Rxg3 Qxg3 0-1
Neel Kothari – Bob Garnett
U100, Round 4, 2.11.2008
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 h6 5. Nc3 e6 6. h3 Nd7 7. Bf4 a6 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 c5 10. b3 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Rc8 12. 0-0 Bb4 13. Ne2 Ne7 14. a3 Bc5 15. b4 Bxd4 16. Nxd4 0-0 17. Qg3 Ng6 18. Rdc1 Nxf4 19. Qxf4 b5 20. Ra1 Rc4 21. Qe3 Qc7 22. f4 Rc8 23. Ra2 Nb8 24. Rf2 Nc6 25. Nxc6 Qxc6 26. Qd3 Qb6 27. Kf1 Rc3 28. Qd2 Qc6 29. Qd2 Qc4 30. Rb2 Rxa3 31. Re2 Rc3 32. Kd1 c5 33. bxa5 Qa4 34. Qc1 Qxa5 35. Qb1 R8c5 36. g4? Rxh3 37. c3 Qxc3 38. Rbd2 Rh1+ 39. Rxe1 Kxe1 40. Qe3+ Re2 41. Qh1+ 0-1