The MSL KO team played their first match of the season against Brighton & Hove on Wednesday. The teams were very closely matched in terms of aggregate grading, so no handicap applied. Paul Richardson and Brian Howard were losers in the first 2 games to finish, but Anthony Higgs then won on top board. I had knight and pawn for a rook, but felt I had some positional compensation for the slight material deficit. However, with time running out for each of us in the mandatory QPF of the KO competition, neither of us could establish a clear advantage and we agreed a draw. All was then down to Roger Waddingham. I calculated that had Roger won, we would have won on board count, but alas the clock was a significant factor in his game also and he lost.
Brighton & Hove had already knocked out the Args in a preliminary round where we had a bye. They go on to play either Woodpushers or Crowborough in the semi-finals.
Full results were:-
Robin Jones 0 - 1 Anthony Higgs
Michael Hamilton 1 - 0 Paul Richardson
Michael Cain 1 - 0 Brian Howard
Robert Counsell 0.5 - 0.5 Julie Denning
Sue Chadwick 1 - 0 Roger Waddingham
Julie