Nottinghamshire County Championship 2009
Robert Richmond
The Championship produced a grandstand finish, with the top two games the last to finish. Stubborn defence by Pete Mercs prevented Alex Combie from converting his extra pawn, and both finished on 3½. The last game to finish was fittingly between the two highest graded players, with Pablo Padilla Cabero needing to beat Mike Barnes for the title. This was looking unlikely until deep into the blitz finish, since he was the wrong side of R vs N + P. However Mike went wrong in the complications and Pablo squeezed through to become the new County Champion.
The U160 was a University clean sweep, with Tim Poole and Keith Walters sharing 1st place. Andrew Garside and Adam Riley (in his first tournament) were the runaway winners of the U135 and U100 respectively, with Andrew also becoming Junior Champion. Second place went to Mark Kenyon (Age 9) in the U135 and brother James (Age 11) in the U110. John Buttery took the senior prize and Louise Brace, George Seabridge and Raghav Sudarshan sharing the junior prizes.
Best game prizes, one in each section, awarded to Pablo Padilla, Keith Walters, Mark Kirtley and George Seabridge. The Championship award was a bit of a toss up between Pablo and the shock win in round 1 by Richard Webster over Mike Barnes, but I like the finish in Pablo's game. Keiths' tactics are brief but spectacular. Marks' game is wild, but black always seems to be in control. George has a convincing K-side attack. Play through the games
The entry was 55, up from 48 last year, with the grading changes producing more even spread of numbers in the various sections. My thanks, as always, to the High School for the venue and for assistance from John Swain.
Championship
| Name | Club | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pablo Padilla Cabero | Ashfield | 4 |
| 2= | Alex Combie | Newark | 3½ |
| Peter Mercs | Gambit | 3½ | |
| 4= | David Coates | Grantham | 3 |
| Richard Webster | Ashfield | 3 | |
| 6= | Brian Thompson | West Bridgfod | 2½ |
| Michael Barnes | Gambit | 2½ | |
| Peter Kirby | Copperworks (Yorks) | 2½ | |
| 9= | Derek Jarvis | Ashfield | 2 |
| Steven Burke | Ashfield | 2 | |
| 11 | Terence Nabbs | West Bridgford | 1½ |
U160
| Name | Club | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1= | Tim Poole | University | 4 |
| Keith Walters | University | 4 | |
| 3= | Stephen Foster | Nottingham Central | 3 |
| Daniel Broughton | West Bridgford | 3 | |
| Peter Gorecka-Marshall | Gambit | 3 | |
| 6= | Robert Taylor | Ashfield | 2½ |
| Ivan David | Grantham | 2½ | |
| Nick London | Radcliffe & Bingham | 2½ | |
| Keith Roper | Gambit | 2½ | |
| Robert Willoughby | West Nottingham | 2½ | |
| 11= | John Collins | West Nottingham | 2 |
| George Murfet | Radcliffe & Bingham | 2 | |
| 13= | Philip Morgan | Ashfield | 1½ |
| James Thomson | West Nottingham | 1½ | |
| 15 | Janos Wagenbach | Mansfield | 1 |
U135
| Name | Club | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Garside | West Nottingham | 4½ |
| 2 | Mark Kenyon | West Nottingham | 4 |
| 3 | Peter Brace | Spondon | 3½ |
| 4= | Gary Hopkinson | Gambit | 3 |
| John Buttery | Radcliffe & Bingham | 3 | |
| 6= | Michael Nailard | Radcliffe & Bingham | 2½ |
| Ray Sayer | Ashfield | 2½ | |
| Mark Kirtley | Gambit | 2½ | |
| Ben Hobson | Gambit | 2½ | |
| David Dunne | Nottingham Central | 2½ | |
| 11= | Alan Kenyon | West Nottingham | 2 |
| Ross MacKay | West Nottingham | 2 | |
| 13= | Michael Zhang | West Nottingham | 1½ |
| Christopher Cumbers | Grantham | 1½ | |
| 15= | Neel Kothari | West Nottingham | 1 |
| Andrew Sutton | Nottingham Central | 1 | |
| 17 | Arun Maini | West Nottingham | 0 |
U110
| Name | Club | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adam Riley | West Bridgford | 4½ |
| 2 | James Kenyon | West Nottingham | 4 |
| 3= | George Seabridge | Long Eaton | 3 |
| Charlotte Attwood | Radcliffe & Bingham | 3 | |
| Louise Brace | Spondon | 3 | |
| Raghav Sudarshan | 3 | ||
| 7 | Russell O'Brien | West Nottingham | 2½ |
| 8= | Harry Croasdale | West Nottingham | 2 |
| Kenneth Heath | Gambit | 2 | |
| Graham Garside | West Nottingham | 2 | |
| 11 | Steve Baker | Radcliffe & Bingham | 1½ |
| 12= | Scott Edwards | Nomads | ½ |
| David Somers | West Nottingham | ½ | |
| 14= | Saraas Mehan | West Nottingham | 0 |
| Ken Cairney | Nottingham Central | 0 |
Other Prizes
Junior Champion - Andrew Garside
Senior Prize - John Buttery
Junior Prizes - George Seabridge, Louise Brace, Raghav Sudarshan
Best Game Prizes
County Championship Game Prize - Pablo Padilla
U160 Game Prize - Keith Walters
U135 Game Prize - Mark Kirtley
U110 Game Prize - George Seabridge