WECU Inter-County Jamboree 2015

A quick look at the team lists before the start of play showed that Somerset were making a big effort to wrest the Open trophy from Devon’s grip of recent years. The top half of their team were all graded higher than Devon’s No. 1, the new County Champion, John Stephens, with a Grandmaster and International Master among them. Their team total grade exceeded Devon’s by 118 points, or 10 points per board on average. The only chink of light for the holders was that Devon slightly out-graded Somerset on the bottom 3 boards, and by way of a gallows humour, there was a view that if the top boards could get a few draws, while the bottom ones could harvest a win or two, all might not be lost. But there wasn’t much conviction in the way it was said.

However, as the first results came in, the “plan” (if it could be so called) seemed to be taking shape. After a quick win for Rudd, early draws from the middle order were recorded, including Hurst, Regis, Underwood, Hui and Paulden. In fact the draws continued to roll in, while in the bottom 3 games, Wheeler and Fraser notched up the hoped-for wins. With 5.5 points in the bag and 3 games still in progress, it was team captain Brian Hewson’s win that took his team past the winning post. Devon’s last 2 games were against Grandmsters: John Stephens had taken the view from the start that all-out attack was the best policy, and he reached a rook & pawn endgame with 3 & 2 pawns on the same side of the board, and his rook kept Turner’s king from taking part in the action, so a draw was agreed; Stephens’ best-ever result. Alan Brusey was last to finish, with another rook & pawn ending against Grandmaster Christopher Jones (problem composer). With the match won, there was no pressure but neither player made any mistakes and an amicable draw agreed.

Amazingly, Devon’s “plan” had actually come about, and there was some incredulity in the room that such a strong team as Somerset had, could only win the one game. It has to be recorded, too, that Gloucestershire had also made a great effort to turn out a competitive team, which was their strongest for some years.

There was some compensation for Somerset captain, Roger Knight, in that in the Grade-limited section, Somerset S & E romped home with 8 points, a clear win against 3 very closely matched teams.

Full details:

Bd	Devon	Grd	Glos.	Grd	Somerset	Grd
1	John Stephens	196	Joey Stuart	200	Matt Turner (GM)	238
2	Lorenz Hartmann	190	Michael Ashworth	190	Jack Rudd (IM)	216
3	Jon Underwood	186	John Jenkins	185	Arturo Wong	202
4	Tim Paulden	185	Nigel Hosken	184	Thomas Goldie	201
5	Mark Hui	185	Paul Masters	182	Ben Edgell	199
6	Alan Brusey	184	Chris Jones (GM)	180	Pat Krzyzanowski	197
7	Kevin Hurst	181	Mike Levene	179	Matthew Payne	192
8	Dave Regis	183	Kajetan Wandowicz	170	Peter Chaplin	186
9	Mark Abbott	180	Phil Meade	169	Dave Littlejohns	182
10	John Wheeler	178	Robert Ashworth	145	David P-Kooiman	173
11	John Fraser	177	Barry Whitelaw	137	Gerry Jepps	167
12	Brian Hewson	176	Ainsley Killey	128	Andy Gregory	166
		2201		2049		2319

Bd		White	Grd				Black	Grd
1	D1	J. K. Stephens	196	½	½	S1	M. Turner	238
2	S2	J. Rudd	216	1	0	G1	J. Stuart	200
3	G2	M. Ashworth	190	½	½	D2	L. Hartmann	190
4	D3	J. Underwood	186	½	½	G3	J. Jenkins	185
5	G4	N. Hosken	184	½	½	S3	A. Wong	202
6	S4	T. Goldie	201	½	½	D4	T. Paulden	185
7	D5	M. Hui	185	½	½	S5	B. Edgell	199
8	S6	P. Krzyzanowski	197	½	½	G5	P. Masters	182
9	G6	C. Jones	180	½	½	D6	A. W. Brusey	184
10	D7	K. J. Hurst	181	½	½	G7	M. Levene	179
11	G8	K. Wandowicz	170	½	½	S7	M. Payne	192
12	S8	P. Chaplin	186	½	½	D8	D. Regis	183
13	D9	M. V. Abbott	180	½	½	S9	D. Littlejohns	182
14	S10	D. P-Kooiman	173	½	½	G9	P. J. Meade	169
15	G10	R. Ashworth	145	0	1	D10	J. F. Wheeler	178
16	D11	J. Fraser	177	1	0	G11	B. Whitelaw	137
17	G12	A. Killey	128	1	0	S11	G. N. Jepps	167
18	S12	A. Gregory	166	0	1	D12	B. W. Hewson	176

Open	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Devon	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	7½
Glos	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	1	5
Somerset	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	5½

Bd	Torbay	Gd	Som. S&W.	Gd	Som. E&N	Gd	Wilts
1	P. Brooks	158	D, Freeman	165	F. Felicio	165	A. Cooper	177
2	M. Stinton	158	R. Knight	157	C. Purry	160	M. Bowhay	152
3	W. Ingham	158	M. Baker	150	C. Strong	155	D. O’Byrne	149
4	A. Kinder	151	J. Fewkes	145	C. Fewtrell	145	C. S-Lumb	139
5	V. Ramesh	143	C. Mckinley	142	J. Lee	141	P. Musgrove	135
6	R. Wilby	142	S. Pickard	138	A. Champion	128	T. Cooper	133
7	M. O’Brien	126	R. Challoner	136	G. Daniel	123	G. Williams	128
8	J. Ariss	121	R. McClatchy	131	Z. Strong	121	R. Ludlow	118
9	M. Cockerton	116	I. Stringer	116	H. Fowler	121	E. Hughes	110
10	J. Dean	112	G. Greenland	108	R. Waters	110	M. Walters	107
11	C. Peach	105	M. Cooper	105	C. Fowler	95	D. Brown	98
12	A. Tatm	105	R. Fenton	104	M. Walker	70	R. Sparks	80
		1595		1597		1534		1526

Bd		White	Grd				Black	Grd
1	T1	P. Brooks	158	½	½	N1	F. Felicio	165
2	W1	A. Cooper	177	½	½	S1	D. Freeman	165
3	N2	C. Purry	160	1	0	W2	M. Bowhay	152
4	S2	R. Knight	157	½	½	T2	M. Stinton	158
5	T3	W. Ingham	158	½	½	W3	D. O’Byrne	149
6	N3	C. Strong	155	0	1	S3	M. Baker	150
7	S4	J. Fewkes	145	½	½	N4	C. Fewtrell	145
8	W4	C. S-Lumb	139	½	½	T4	A. Kinder	151
9	W5	P. Musgrove	135	1	0	N5	J. Lee	141
10	T5	V. Ramesh	143	1	0	S5	C. McKinley	142
11	N6	A. Champion	128	1	0	T6	R. Wilby	142
12	S6	S. Pickard	138	1	0	W6	T. Cooper	133
13	T7	M. O’Brien	126	1	0	N7	G. Daniel	123
14	W7	G. Williams	128	0	1	S7	R. Challoner	136
15	N8	Z. Strong	121	1	0	W8	R. Ludlow	118
16	S8	R. McClatchey	131	0	1	T8	J. Ariss	121
17	T9	M. Cockerton	116	0	1	W9	E. Hughes	110
18	N9	default					—–	116
19	S10	G. Greenland	108	1	0	N10	R. Waters	110
20	W10	M. Walters	107	1	0	T10	J. Dean	112
21	W11	D. Brown	98	0	1	N11	I. Stringer	116
22	T11	C. Peach	105	½	½	S11	M. Cooper	105
23	N12	M. Walker	70	½	½	T12	A. Tatam	105
24	S12	R. Fenton	104	1	0	W12	R. Sparks	80