One Hour/Maiden Tournament
Round 5 results:
Cameron De Vere 1 Brian Thomas 0
Debbie Jenkins ½ Andrew Robinson ½
Marty Chadwick ½ Ray Adams ½
Tony Howes 1 Shane Martin 0
John Curran 1 Gordon Powell 0
Mark Taylor 0 Garvin Gray 1
Ellis Markson v Tom Szekely – postponed to August 11
Greg Colwell 1 Tim Johnson 0
Brian Thomas’ winning streak came to an end but only after a torrid game full of drama. Cameron held his own against Brian quite well into the middle game, but some of the observers felt that his time disadvantage would cost him the game. With time running down for both players, but critically for Cameron, the position saw rooks and opposite coloured bishops with an even number of pawns. Cameron made his second draw offer (his first at move 11) but Brian responded by making a few moves that seemed to be aimed at eating away Cameron’s remaining time. Eventually Brian gained an advantage that saw his h file pawn sprinting to glory unobstructed until Cameron managed to have his rook and bishop concentrated on it. A third draw offer was also rejected, probably with Brian calculating that if he pressed on he would achieve at least a draw. The game continued past move 70 with both players having less than 30 seconds on the clock. At around this point Brian did a sacrifice and emerged from the flurry with a bishop and a pawn against bishop. Cameron pushed his pawn and Brian’s flag fell as he realised the pawn could not be caught, while his own pawn could not progress. This result opens up the tournament, although Brian can still gain the title off his own bat by winning his last two games.
Debbie and Andrew agreed to a draw at move 21 in a game that (as is often the case) both players were more concerned about losing than winning. Debbie had a chance to win a knight and bishop for a rook and pawn (with f4 at move 16) but declined considering it too risky.
Marty and Ray continued further into the night than Debbie and Andrew, but with the same result.
The second upset of the night occurred when the methodical John capitalised on a mistake from Gordon to wrest the advantage and an early win.
Mark and Garvin played right down to the wire and were playing simultaneously with the board one game. Garvin appeared to have the edge going into a rook endgame with Mark’s rook passively protecting pawns. Then Mark’s king made a break down towards the corner at a8. Unfortunately for Mark, Garvin was able to manufacture what he called a “swindle” that ended with Garvin’s pawns streaming down the middle files towards victory.
Tim was down a piece to Greg and then at a critical juncture had Greg’s queen and bishop bearing down on a pinned bishop threatening to go two pieces up. Greg’s only worry was Tim’s rampaging queen which was checking Greg’s opened up king. At one point Tim could have recaptured the bishop with his queen and this would have ended with Tim having Bishop v Rook but a couple of pawns to the good and an interesting endgame. He missed this opportunity, went two pieces down and the game was all over.
One Hour/Maiden: Current standings
All players to play 7 games
|
No. |
NAME |
POINTS |
PLAYED |
|
1 |
Brian Thomas |
4 |
5 |
|
2 |
Andrew Robinson |
3.5 |
5 |
|
3 |
Debbie Jenkins |
3.5 |
5 |
|
4 |
Marty Chadwick |
3.5 |
5 |
|
5 |
Cameron De Vere |
3.5 |
5 |
|
6 |
Tony Howes |
3 |
5 |
|
7 |
Ray Adams |
3 |
5 |
|
8 |
Garvin Gray |
3 |
5 |
|
9 |
John Curran |
3 |
5 |
|
10 |
Gordon Powell |
2 |
5 |
|
11 |
Shane Martin |
2 |
5 |
|
12 |
Mark Taylor |
2 |
5 |
|
13 |
Greg Colwell |
2 |
5 |
|
14 |
Peter Hiller |
1 |
4 |
|
15 |
Ellis Markson |
1 |
4 |
|
16 |
Tom Szekely |
1 |
4 |
|
17 |
Tim Johnson |
1 |
5 |
|
18 |
James Hiller |
0 |
4 |
One Hour / Maiden tournament 2006 in detail
Quote of the night
“I’m not going to sit down to a plate of poo” – Debbie showing solidarity with the voters in Toowoomba who last weekend rejected a referendum proposal to use recycled water.
“Don’t these people realise that our reservoirs are surrounded by cow paddocks?” – Ray batting for the other side.