Inter County Terriers Team (U100) 2008/9

Match report by Paul Clapham:
Staffs Terriers travelled to Roade Village Hall in Northamptonshire to play Kent in the quarter-finals of the National U100 competition. My thank to Alan Evans, the Kent Captain, and his wife who organised the venue, provided the equipment and set up the hall. Due to circumstances Staffs ended up a player short and had to default the bottom board, not a good start to the day. We won the toss which gave us white on the odd boards. On first inspection the match looked as though it could be close but as the results came in Kent forged into a 5½ to ½ lead. That half point coming from Cheddleton's Matthew Wyza, who has been undefeated for the County this season. The final result was a Kent win by 9 - 3. Our only win of the day was on board 6 by Cheddleton's Karol Gryzbowski.

My thanks to all the players for the support through the season, special thanks to Newcastle's John Day who set up the chess club for the home fixtures.

Regards Paul Clapham

Bd Grade Kent Score Score Terriers Grade
1 98 Robin East 1 0 J Day 99
2 96 Kevin Homden 1 0 P Shaw 99
3 91 Teddy Wickham 1 0 D Nesbitt 96
4 98 Robin Thompson ½ ½ R Dolan 94
5 91 Baven Balendren ½ ½ J Montague 93
6 94 Henry Cove 0 1 Karol Grzybowski 88
7 91 Nick Allen ½ ½ Matthew Wyza 85
8 90 Alan D Evans ½ ½ Paul Clapham 82
9 88 Stephen Bond 1 0 Carl Mustafa 73
10 87 James Robertson 1 0 Danny Torbica U/G
11 76 Matthew Gazes 1 0 Dave Johnson 62
12 82 Alan Fraser 1 Def Default
TOTALS 9 3

Shropshire 5½ - 6½ Terriers
Match played 28 March 2009 at Trinity School, Ford, Shropshire.

Match report by Andrew Davies:
At the start of today's U100 Inter-County matches, Paul Clapham's Terriers team had a one point lead over the Bulldogs. A win against the Shropshire juniors team should secure their place as third team in the national stages. As our rivals today were all junior players, I hope none of you will mind me finding space to praise them here.

Good play from ungraded Angelica Dean and Matthew Best (grade 37) secured early wins for both Shropshire players, and a win for Terriers player Matthew Wyza secured his perfect record this season. He has played in all the Terriers games this season, with a win every time. - Well done Matthew.

The Terriers soon went into a 4 - 2 lead. Good play from the Shropshire players meant the next three games finished as draws. The score stood at 5½ - 3½. The winning line seemed so close for the Terriers players, but the tension was raised about 20 minutes later when Shropshire's Nathanial Paul beat Steve Burndred. The Terrier's finally achieved a winning lead when Dennis Nesbitt won a very good match against Huw Davenport.

Last game to finish was board one. The position looked close but half an hour after everyone else had finished, a better pawn structure for Peter Mellor gave him the edge and secured the final point for Shropshire.

Well done to the Terriers on their 6½ - 5½ win over the rapidly improving team of young players from Shropshire. All the Shropshire players earned a great deal of praise and respect from their Terriers opponents.

Subject to confirmation from the MCCU, Paul Clapham can look forward to taking the Staffordshire Terriers players through to the national stages.

Well done to all the players - on both teams.

Bd Grade Shropshire Score Score Terriers Grade
1 85 Peter Mellor 1 0 N Mclean 96
2 78 Athar Mehmood ½ ½ J Day 99
3 65 Nathanael Paul 1 0 S Burndred 99
4 59 Mark Richards 0 1 P Shaw 99
5 56 Huw Davenport 0 1 D Nesbitt 96
6 49 Francis Rooney 0 1 R Dolan 94
7 49 Jonathan Newey ½ ½ J Montague 93
8 37 Matthew Best 1 0 P Shelley 92
9 35 Jamie Allen ½ ½ K Grzybowski 88
10 29 Joe Mellor 0 1 M Wyza 85
11 23 Matthew Mellor 0 1 C Mustaffa 73
12 Ung Angelica Dean 1 0 J Gater 72
TOTALS 5½ 6½

Terriers 7½ - 4½ Warwickshire
Match played 7 March 2009 at Newcastle Bridge Club, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Match report by Paul Clapham:
Staffs Terriers were hosts to Division leaders Warwickshire in the U100 section at Newcastle Bridge Club today. The venue also hosted Leics v Gtr Manchester in the U150 section. In all there were 28 boards playing chess which made for a congress type feel to the fixture. My thanks to John Day and Martyn Harris who had set up the playing areas,numbered the boards and ensured the smooth running of the fixture.

Warwickshire captain Pauline Woodward won the toss so Warwickshire played white on the odd numbered boards. The Terriers had a fine start with John Day winning on board 2. Carl Mustafa made a draw on board 11 and John Gater had a win on board 12. As the results came in the Terriers always seemed to have the edge. Wins by Oliver Horrocks, from the Alsager club, and the Cheddleton trio of Nick Mclean, Matthew Wyza and Karol Grzybowski eased the Terriers to a 7½ to 4½ win.

Thanks to all the players for a fine team win.

The division is now closer than ever and we now look forward to our away fixture against Shropshire on the 28th March.

Regards, Paul Clapham

Bd Grade Terriers Score Score Warwickshire Grade
1 96 N Mclean 1 0 M Phipps 99
2 99 J Day 1 0 S Bowen 97
3 99 S Burndred 0 1 M Al-Samir 95
4 99 P Shaw 0 1 P Hodkinson 92
5 96 D Nesbitt ½ ½ D Horsley 91
6 94 R Dolan 0 1 P Thompson 90
7 93 J Montague ½ ½ J Green 89
8 88 K Grzybowski 1 0 K Wise 88
9 85 M Wyza 1 0 G Gee 84
10 80 O Horrocks 1 0 P Woodward 84
11 73 C Mustafa ½ ½ J Pakenham 84
12 72 J Gater 1 0 P Kearns u/g
TOTALS 7½ 4½

Terriers 7½ - 4½ Worcestershire
Match played 10 January 2009 at Newcastle Bridge Club, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Match report by Paul Clapham:
The match started off with three draws and promised to be a close fought match. However with fine wins from Nick Mclean, Ray Dolan, John Montague and John Gater the Terriers took a 6-4 lead, only needing a draw from the last two matches to secure the win. Matthew Wyza offered his opponent a draw but this was declined as his opponent knew this would lose the match for his county. Matthew went on to win the game and seal the match for the county. A fine win for the Terriers.

We now have a break from county chess for two months until the 7th March. When we play a home fixture against Warwickshire at Newcastle Chess Club.

Regards Paul

Bd Grade Terriers Score Score Worcestershire Grade
1 99 John Day ½ ½ Michele Clack 89
2 99 Peter Shaw 0 1 Maureen Clark 92
3 96 Denis Nesbitt ½ ½ Rob Bricknell 91
4 96 Nicholas Mclean 1 0 Richard Turner 89
5 94 Ray Dolan 1 0 Richard Collett 88
6 93 John Montague 1 0 Tony Taylor 62
7 92 Paul Shelley ½ ½ Kevin Day ug
8 85 Matthew Wyza 1 0 James Friar ug
9 80 Oliver Horrocks ½ ½ John Holmbery 63
10 75 Stuart Hull 0 1 Joyce Evans 33
11 73 Carl Mustafa ½ ½ Krzysztof Krowicki ug
12 79 John Gater 1 0 Joseph Friar ug
TOTALS 7½ 4½

Nottinghamshire 7 - 5 Terriers
Match played 13 December 2008 at Sherewood Community Centre, Nottingham.

Match report by Paul Clapham:
Struggled to get a side together for this match. By Friday I only had 11 players. On saturday matters took a turn for the worse when two players called off. Nevertheless 9 players made it to Nottingham to try and defy the odds.

As a playing captain I couldn't spend as much time watching the games as I have in the last two games.

Matthew Wyza and Nick Mclean started us off well with two early wins to pull back some of the deficit but we never managed to get back to equality. Paul Shelley was the other winner for the Terriers making it 3 wins out of 3 for the Cheddleton players.

With two boards left playing we were behind 5½ to 4½, still in with a chance but alas it was not to be . We could only pick up half a point from the boards and lost 7-5.

Thanks to John Montague, who had a 12 hour round trip to play.

My thanks to all for a spirited effort. Look forward now to the match against Worcs on the 10th January.

Merry Christmas
Regards Paul

Bd Grade Nottinghamshire Score Score Terriers Grade
1 98 Allen Brown ½ ½ John Day 99
2 97 Ben Hodson ½ ½ Peter Shaw 99
3 96 Robert Parker 0 1 Nicholas Mclean 96
4 96 Michael Zhang ½ ½ John Montague 93
5 95 Chris Sargeant 0 1 Paul Shelley 92
6 90 Ric Dawson 0 1 Matthew Wyza 85
7 87 Derek Cronshaw ½ ½ Paul Clapham 82
8 80 Andrew Garside 1 0 Carl Mustafa 73
9 74 Len Morrell 1 0 Steven Cooper 68
10 1 0 Default
11 1 0 Default
12 1 0 Default
TOTALS 7 5

Terriers 7½ - 4½ Leicestershire
Match played 15 November 2008 at Newcastle Chess Club, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Match report by Paul Clapham:
The match started off badly for the Terriers losing the first three games. Denis Nesbitt winning on board 4 gave us our first win of the afternoon and Matthew Wyza's win on board 8 started to gnaw away at the deficit. A fine endgame finish by Richard Mansell on board 12 and draws by John Montague and Robert West put the teams all level again.

Wins from Steve Burndred and John Day gave us a 6-4 lead and at least a share of the points. Ray Dolan on board 6 gave us the win to secure the match.

My thanks to all the Staffs players for a fine team win.

Thanks to Richard Davies and his Leics players. Richard is in his first season as captain as well and between us we had a few nailbiting moments waiting to see the outcome of the matches.

Regards Paul

Bd Grade Terriers Score Score Leicestershire Grade
1 99 John Day 1 0 Barrie Cooper 97
2 99 Peter Shaw 0 1 Ian Farquharson 94
3 99 Steve Burndred 1 0 Cyril Johnson 95
4 96 Denis Nesbitt 1 0 Charles Eastlake 94
5 96 Nicholas Mclean ½ ½ Grant Hammond 93
6 94 Ray Dolan 1 0 Michael Busby 91
7 93 John Montague ½ ½ Mike Thornton 88
8 85 Matthew Wyza 1 0 Steven Preocanin 87
9 80 Oliver Horrocks 0 1 Stuart Hollingsworth 90
10 73 Carl Mustafa 0 1 Richard Davies 91
11 70 Robert West ½ ½ George Winterton 83
12 u/g Richard Mansell 1 0 Ray Beach 68
TOTALS 7½ 4½

Terriers 5½ - 6½ Bulldogs
Match played 8 November 2008 at Newcastle Chess Club, Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Match report by Paul Clapham:
The match was close all the way. The Terriers took an early lead but as the games were finishing the Bulldogs seemed to have the advantage. After eleven boards had finished the Terriers had cancelled out the advantage and we were left with an even game 5½ to 5½, leaving the top board the decisive board. Draws were offered by both contestants but declined, both players going for the win that would take the full two points for their team. Peter Broomhall eventually took the win on board one and the match for the Bulldogs.

A tightly fought match all the way through. My thanks to all the players and well done to the Bulldogs for their win.

We now look forward to our fixture against Leicestershire next week.
Regards Paul

Bd Grade Terriers Score Score Bulldogs Grade
1 99 John Day 0 1 Peter Broomhall 99
2 99 Peter Shaw ½ ½ Michael Page 93
3 99 Steve Burndred 0 1 Manpreet Sangha Ung
4 96 Denis Nesbitt 0 1 Richard Dawson 91
5 94 Ray Dolan 0 1 Robert Brodie 90
6 93 John Montague ½ ½ Paul Walters 90
7 92 Paul Shelley ½ ½ Peter Crozet 88
8 85 Matthew Wyza 1 0 Kevin Moore 79
9 83 Dave Tindley 1 0 Simon Jones 75
10 83 Oliver Horrocks 1 0 Paul Guest 75
11 80 Carl Mustafa 1 0 David Buckley 75
12 Ung Richard Mansell 0 1 Peter Evans 68
TOTALS 5½ 6½

Additional notes by Andrew Davies:
Although Paul Clapham was involved with organising the Terriers for last year's national quarter final match against Suffolk, this Terriers v Bulldogs match was his first as team captain. This was a very good afternoon of chess. Well played to all the players on both teams! And of course, well done to Paul for his debut as Terriers captain.

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