The Wait is Over

It was at the AGM in 2015 that the club decided to enter a team in the Coventry League for the first time - prompted by the urgings of Messrs Watson and Pink (oh, the irony!). Since then our finishing positions in Division 1 have been:-

2015-16 6th
2016-17 4th
2017-18 3rd
2018-19 6th (of 6!)
2019-20 3rd
2020-21 No competition  - Covid

2021-22 2nd

So with the exception of our 2018/19 struggles, we have been getting closer each year, and last season we had the most agonising of near misses, when we lost our last match against a not very strong Warwick Uni A, when a draw would have given us the title.

But thankfully, last night that long wait came to an end, and in rather strange circumstances we clinched the Division 1 title by beating Coventry A (population c325,000) by 2.5-1.5.  A very late turn of events, which had seen Warwick Uni A deducted a match point for an incorrect board order offence, meant that once again we only needed a draw to edge ahead of Nuneaton A and secure the silverware. This time, though, instead of a fellow title contestant, we were at least playing a mid-table team with nothing at stake.

There were some nerves, of course, but we had assembled a strong team and generally we always seemed to be doing enough to get at least the draw required. The wildest game was that between Jude and Francis Sagayman on Board 2, but Jude started turning the screw in the middle game and won the exchange when trapping a Black rook in the middle of the board. He then started pressing on both sides of the board and in Francis's time trouble more material dropped off, and despite missing mate in 2 (much to the watching Paul's dismay) Jude finished off a very powerful win quickly. A tremendous effort by our irrepressible Mighty Atom, fresh from a scarcely believable victory over IM Ameet Ghasi (ECF Rapidplay rating just the 2639!!)  the day before. And the next game saw us get over the line, when Mike got the title clinching win on Board 4 against Bava Manickam. Black played what Paul christened the Tortoise Defence, which seemed to involve never going over the half way line in the entire game. Mike remorselessly turned the screw, gaining space everywhere, and eventually winning material and running Bava's clock down to unmanageable levels.

The rest of the match was a bit of an anti-climax. I was slightly worse against Ed Goodwin for quite a long time, but eventually I started getting on top and managed to win a pawn, but Ed held a rook and pawn ending where my 3 against 2 and then 2 against 1 advantage was not good enough to win, as all the pawns were on the king side. (To avoid any confusion amongst future readers of this report, I should confirm that this is the same Ed Goodwin who has played 10 games for Kenilworth this season.) And then to cap it all off, Javier rather surprisingly went down on top board against Joshua Pink after a game where I possibly mistakenly thought Javier was making most of the running, but luckily the match was already won and the title clinched. (To avoid any confusion amongst future readers of this report, I should confirm that this is the same Joshua Pink who has played 11 games for Kenilworth this season.)

Which meant that to the above list we can now add:-

2022-23 1st

So many thanks and congratulations to the 8 people who turned out for Kenilworth in the Coventry League this season:-

Mike and Me - 9 appearances
Jude - 7 appearances
Ben - 5 appearances
Javier - 3 appearances
Bernard C, Phil and Bruce B - 1 appearance

And everyone who appeared contributed to our points tally. Truly a team effort.

And it would be remiss of me not to thank Paul and Bernard R for their support at last night's crucial match.  So, the wait is over and we have won the Coventry League Division 1 title - by one point from Nuneaton A. Who ever would have thought that after our chastening 3-1 loss to them in the first match of the season - the infamous Covidgate match!?

I guess the lesson from this is that if you wait long enough, there will be a sunny day!