We are the Champions! U8750 Cup!

 

The Winning Team: - (l-r) Dylan, Dan, Ben, Paul, Dhairya

In the beginning, there were five... This was more or less how I started a recent Chess Magazine article, which focussed on Frank Marshall. In Marshall's (historically dubious) telling of the story, there were originally five Grandmasters.  Just as the names of Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall will live forever in the chess world, future Kenilworth historians will doubtless want to acknowledge the efforts of Badger, Pandya, Graff, Davies and Bayliss in more or less the same breath.

We not only defended the U8750 Cup last night against Shirley, but also managed to do so having played the same team in every round. 

We started out with a 1-4 win away to Solihull on a cold January night. This had been followed by a nail-biting semi-final against Stratford in March, which we edged 2-3. Yesterday we were on the road again. All finals are at a neutral venue, and we lined up against Shirley in Olton.

 

The match was played in a really good spirit, with lots of friendships existing between the teams. As someone who plays for Shirley in the Birmingham League, I have reflected on the fact that the two biggest games of the season for the C and U8750 teams both came against the club (other than Kenilworth of course) that I most have a soft spot for and relationship with - but needs must. I'll get the drinks in when I attend the Shirley AGM!

I would love to be able to give a blow by blow account of all the games, but I can't, as my own battle was the last to finish. So I will share what I can... Things started exactly as they had last year, with me losing the toss. Dylan finished first with an excellent draw against Arnold Peace. It looked to have been very solid throughout. Last year Dylan was in the U1600 cup final team and his promotion and delivery at a higher level is testament to his progress. An excellent end to a great season.

Paul then went down on Board 1 against Darren Whitmore. It sounds like both players had their chances, and Darren is always a tough opponent. So a good struggle, but it meant that we were losing the match. I would like to thank Paul for all his efforts this season as he has been our key player on so many occasions, but this wasn't his night.

Dhairya rounded off his superb season by beating Keith Ingram on Board 2 to bring us level. We are so blessed with fantastic juniors and just like Dylan, Dhairya has grown and grown as the season has progressed. He really is a special talent. 

Dan has also been a revelation this year, and he did a great job of bringing the full point home against Kim Gilbert on Board 5. I am glad from a blood pressure perspective that I didn't see the end of this one, as Dan told me afterwards that he had been below 20 seconds at one point. But he got the job done, and Dan has been a major find for the club this year.

All of which meant that we were winning 2.5 - 1.5, but I needed to draw with Gordon Christie or we would lose on board count. I can't in all honesty say it was my best ever game. I wasn't happy with how I played the opening (although Fritz thinks it's OK) and I was certainly losing at one point. I dug deep and managed to completely turn the tables, not only beating back Gordon's attack but also picking up a pawn in the process. I seemed to be in full control, but it was Gordon's turn to play well. Fritz has highlighted that I did miss a win, but we were both below 3 minutes at that point, and even now I can see why a human would have played what I did, so I can't beat myself up too much. Ultimately we ended up knight and 3 (me) vs knight and 2 (Gordon) but all the pawns were on the same side of the board. I still had in my mind that I should win (because of the earlier position rather than what I had now, which Fritz scores as dead level), but clearly there was nothing doing. Even when Gordon offered me the draw I hesitated, but I certainly wouldn't have been happy if someone else turned down a  draw that would have won us the cup, so I took it. We were the U8750 Champions!

It's been a great team effort. Dan and Dhairya both scored 3/3 on our cup run. I also clocked in with 2.5/3, which is somewhat better than my contribution to last year's cup triumph when I lost in the semi-final and final. That's the beauty of chess, when things go wrong, there will always be another opportunity.

I'm so proud of our team, all of whom (along with others) also contributed to the C team success in the League. They say that it is better to travel than to arrive, and that's probably true, but let's enjoy the moment. I doubt we'll ever do a quadruple again, but next season will bring with it new opportunities and new adventures. So here's to that, and a bit of a holiday first, to contemplate all that we have delivered.