Basildon Chess Club

Basildon Chess Club Championship 2016-17 The 2016-17 Club Championship commenced on 14th July 2016. 16 entries were received, resulting in 4 qualifying groups of 4 players. The groups will be all-play-all twice (one white and one black). Essex League time limits apply (80 mins for all moves + 10 secs per move).
The top 2 players in each group, will qualify for the quarter finals.

The winner will be awarded the Shield (to keep for one year), plus a trophy. The runner up will receive a trophy.

Group Matches

Group A

Pts

Group B

Pts

David J Millward

1 ½

1(D) 1

5/6

Justin P Baptie

1 ½

1 1

5½/6

Arunas Gedvilas

½ 0

1 ½

1 1(D)

4/6

Sean A Clarke

½ 0

1 1

1 -

3½/5

David Flynn

½ 0

- 1(D)

2/5

Radu V Bara

0 0

1 1

2/6

Neil G Axe

0 0(D)

0(D) 0

0(D) -

0/5

Ken Laundy

0 0

- 0

0 0

0/5

Group C

DHW

Pts

Group D

Pts

Peter R Laundy

1 1

0 1

- 1

3/4

David Kraszewski

0 1

1 1

5/6

Rob Hewitt

0 1

1 0

2/4

Alaa Gamal

0 1

1 0

1 1

4/6

Daniel AR Hardy-Wallace

0 0

1 0

1/4

Paul A Savin

0 0

1 0

1 1

3/6

D Ian W Reynolds

0 -

WITHDRAWN

Anthony M Miles

0 0

0/6

Knockout Matches

Quarter Finals
03-Nov-2016	Justin P Baptie	1-0	Arunas Gedvilas
03-Nov-2016	David J Millward	1-0	David Kraszewski
03-Nov-2016	Peter R Laundy	1-0	Alaa Gamal
14-Dec-2016	Sean A Clarke	1-0 (Default)	Rob Hewitt
Semi Finals
13-Apr-2017	Sean A Clarke	1-0	David J Millward
13-Apr-2017	Justin P Baptie	1-0	Peter R Laundy
Final
27-Apr-2017	Justin P Baptie	½ 1-½ 0	Sean A Clarke

Group Reports Group A
14th July - A hard fought battle between Arunas and David ended with honours even.
28th July - Millward won the battle of the Davids to remain unbeaten.
4th August - Another impressive win by David M, this time against Neil. David F looked to have a big advantage out of the opening against Arunas, but the latter's stout defence held firm and thus another draw ensued.
11th August - Arunas capitalised on an early mistake by Neil to gain his first win.
25th August - David M beat Arunas to (more or less) clinch qualification. David F gained a win by default, due to Neil's non-appearance.
1st September - David M gained the draw against David F that guaranteed qualification as group winner.
8th September - Arunas beat David F to qualify in 2nd place.

Group B
14th July - Justin started his campaign with a win against Ken.
21st July - Justin continued his perfect start with a fine attacking performance against rising star Radu.
4th August - A marathon between Sean and Justin culminated in a B+3P v BN+2P ending which Sean did very well to hold.
11th August - Justin completed the double over Ken, while Sean got the better of Radu in a wild game where there chances for both sides.
25th August - Justin overcame Radu in a tight contest to qualify with a game to spare.
1st September - Ken played an almost superb game against Radu, winning the exchange, but then let him off the hook with a couple of mistakes that turned the tables giving Radu the win that just about keeps alive his chances of qualification.
8th September - Sean ensured his qualification by beating Radu.
29th September - Justin won the battle of the qualifiers against Sean to take first place. Radu beat Ken in the other game in this group.

Group C
14th July - Peter managed to fend off Rob's strong opening attack and turned the tables to win.
21st July - Peter added to his score with another win, over Daniel.
28th July - Peter completed his hat-trick of victories against Ian, who sadly has now withdrawn from the competition. There will still be two qualifiers from Group C but Peter's win will count for grading purposes only.
4th August - Daniel (although a piece up) looked certain to draw with Rob in a blocked ending with queens still on the board. However, from nowhere, Rob managed to walk into a mating net so Daniel gained the full point.
11th August - Rob gained revenge over Peter with a comprehensive and impressive win.
25th August - Peter beat Daniel, which means that Group B is now complete, with Peter and Rob qualifying.

Group D
14th July - Tony put up a fine performance, but Dave finally managed to find a win in a minor piece ending.
21st July - Dave survived a battering from Paul and took advantage of a time trouble blunder to keep his 100% score, while Alaa started her campaign with a win against Tony.
28th July - Alaa kept up her perfect start with a win against Paul.
4th August - Another tough game for Dave against Tony, but eventually successful to remain on track for qualification.
11th August - Late drama in both games! Dave spurned two draw offers from Alaa before pressing too hard in a level ending (not for the first time) and deservedly ended with nothing. Tony put up yet another resolute defence, this time against Paul, resulting in a dead drawn king and pawn ending, but then tragically ran out of time at the final moment.
25th August - Alaa made it 4 wins out of 4 by beating Tony and looks certain to qualify along with either Dave or Paul.
1st September - Dave gained revenge against Alaa to end her 100% score. Tony again defended brilliantly against Paul, but was once more let down by a late blunder in an equal knight and pawns ending. Paul now requires wins in his last 2 games against Alaa and Dave to force a 3 way play-off.
22nd September - Paul maintained the tension by beating Alaa, leaving one more 'must-win' against Dave.
29th September - Dave ended Paul's hopes for qualification as his nagging positional advantage finally turned into material gain. So Dave qualifies as winner and Alaa as runner-up.

Knockout Reports Quarter Finals
3rd November - Justin beat Arunas in the quarters for the second year running. David M beat the defending champion Dave K in a game that swung like a pendulum, but Dave's lack of time in the queen ending proved decisive. Peter overcame Alaa in the night's late finish, keeping his composure better in a complicated position with both players running short of time. Rob was unavailable, so the last quarter final will be played at a later date.
14th December - Unfortunately Rob had to withdraw, as he has now moved out of the area and is no longer available. So Sean proceeds to the semi-finals.

Semi Finals
13th April - Match reporter Paul Savin sent this... Sean and Dave exchanged into an equal ending, Dave pushed too hard for a win on the kingside but let his 'c' pawn drop in doing so. Sean held things together on the k-side and the passed 'c' pawn decided the issue. Justin kept the pressure up throughout with the white pieces, a queen exchange didn't change that. A pawn finally dropped but Pete could, perhaps, have held the ending with his Bishop being better than Justin's knight. A mistaken decision to liquidate the Queen side pawns left the knight able to influence all the squares that mattered and Justin's technique was more than good enough to bring home the point.

Final
27th April - A fluctuating battle ended with honours even. Firstly Justin had a 'certain' win, but mistakes then ensued with Sean ending with a won position, but offered the draw with little time left on either clock.
18th May - After another hard fought struggle, with both players using almost all of their allotted time, Justin finally prevailed and earns the title of Basildon Club Champion 2017. Congratulations to both players on an excellent performance and also to Sean for organising another successful tournament.