Worcester
& District Chess League
Ball Cup Results for 2009-10 Season
Updated 6 December 2010
Junior Ashley Davis Wins delayed final!
Results of Qualfying Games, Triangular Play-off and Draw for Final Stage
The groups were generally closely fought. Sadly, the nearest thing to a "cup shock" (based on grades) was the Controller's failure to head his group, but he lives to fight on squeezing into second place. See below for final tables of the Qualifying stages.
Structure of the Competition
The competition
will run on the following basis to give players a minimum of 4 games.
• Three all-play-all groups of 5 players each [see results below];
• The winner of each group qualifies automatically for
the first knockout phase (semi-final);
• The runner-up from each group will take part
in a triangular all-play-all phase, the winner of which will also qualify
for the semi-finals;
• The winners of the semi-finals will compete in the final to
determine who wins the Cup.
Qualifying Stage Results 2010
The draw for the qualifying groups was carried out by ranking the players in grade order and then ‘slicing’ the list into five sets of three. A name was drawn at random from each of these five sets and placed in each qualifying group. In this way, the strength of the three groups should be roughly similar, but the spirit of a Cup competition (the “luck of the draw”) was retained. After this had been done, the initial allocations of who should play with the white pieces was also decided by lot. The tables were completed by ensuring that each player had two games with white and two with black. John Clark had to withdraw for personal reasons from pool A. Pool reports based on Andrew Farthing's e-mail to competitors.
Ball Cup Pool A |
Grade | JV | AD | GS | CV | Total | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Varilone (Kidderminster) | 139 | = | 1w | 1w | 2½ | 1st | |
| Ashley Davis (Headless Cross) | 136 | = | 1b | = | 2 | 2nd |
|
| Giles Stanton (Redditch) | 125 | 0b | 0w | 1w | 1 | 3rd | |
| Colin Vernon (Worcester City) | 79 | 0b | = | 0b | ½ | 4th |
Pool A suffered from two uncompleted fixtures. Although players tried arrange the games, it was clear that the games could not be completed within the next few weeks. Since the competition needed to move forward, the Controller took the decision to split the points in each instance John Varilone therefore scored the most points, but his available time for chess was extremely limited and he has decided to concentrate on the Bennett Cup where he has also qualified for the semi-finals. John stepped aside, to allow someone else to continue in the competition. The outcome of the group is as follows: Automatic Semi-Final place Ashley Davis and Next stage qualifier Giles Stanton..
Ball Cup Pool B |
Grade | JG | AF | RC | MH | Total | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Gittus (Kidderminster) | 126 | ½w | 1b | 1w | 2½ | 1st | |
| Andrew Farthing (Worcester City) | 146 | ½b | ½b | 1w | 2 | 2nd | |
| Richard Collett (Greenlands) | 112 | 0w | ½w | 1b | 1½ | 3rd | |
| Mark Hore (Headless Cross) | 106 | 0b | 0b | 0w | 0 | 4th |
Pool B produced a convincing first place for John Gittus. The defending champion never looked like winning either of his two drawn games and was therefore fortunate to be able to hang on to the second qualifying place. Automatic Semi-Final place: John Gittus Next stage qualifier: Andrew Farthing
Ball Cup Pool C |
Grade | RM | DR | JC | RB | PS | Total | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Mitchell (Redditch) | 140 | 1w | ½w | 1b | 1b | 3½ | 1st |
|
| David Richardson (Headless Cross) | 128 | 0b | 1b | ½w | 1w | 2½ | 2nd | |
| Jason Cole (Redditch) | 123 | ½b | 0w | 1b | 1w | 2½ | 3rd | |
| Rob Bricknell (Redditch) | 125 | 0w | ½b | 0w | 1b | 1½ | 4th | |
| Philip Smith (Worcester City) | u/g | 0w | 0b | 0b | 0w | 0 | 5th |
Pool C was very hard fought as might be expected with little to separate the players' grades. Several of Phil Smith's opponents commented that they felt fortunate to win so it is clear that every player helped make this a tight fight. In the end, Robert Mitchell came top of the pile, but David Ricahrdson progresses only after using tie-break. Automatic Semi-Final place: Robert Mitchell Next stage qualifier: David Richardson.
Triangular All-play-all for Last Semi-Final Place
All players scored one point and the lowest graded, Giles Stanton, goes forward. Congratulations to Giles, who took advantage of Farthing's greed to win that game in fine style. The first pawn was safe enough to grab but the second had a distinct whiff of poison. Against Richardson, Giles disdained a likely perpetual - when all he needed to qualify was a draw - in a sporting effort to go for the win, but it didn't come off.
Player |
AF |
GS |
DR |
Total |
Andrew Farthing |
0w |
1b |
1 |
|
Giles Stanton |
1b |
0w |
1 |
|
David Richardson |
0w |
1b |
1 |
Semi-final Draw
Player with White named first: Ashley Davis
Semi-final Results
Both games have been played: Robert Mitchell beat John Gittus with the black pieces. In the second game, junior Ashley Davis beat Giles Stanton.
Final Results
The final showdown between Robert Mitchell and Ashley Davis, was much delayed, because players were unable to meet during the summer. The fixture was eventually played on 30 November and junior Ashley Davis was the winner.
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