Suffolk Chess

The Suffolk Final of the Norfolk & Suffolk Cup took place this evening, between Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich.

The result was as close as possible.   With the final score of 3 - 3, it was down to tie-breaks to decide the winners.   With the bottom two boards finishing as draws, it was Ipswich's win on Board 4 that gave the match to Bury St Edmunds.   Here's the winning team:

(left to right): Rob McCorry; David Spence; Mike Harris; John Peters; Ed Player; Steve Ruthen

The first game to complete - at 10.15 pm - was the draw between Rob McCorry and Ted Matthewson on Board 6.   Almost immediately, Shaun Munson resigned his top board game against David Spence.   With the scoreline 1½ - ½ to Bury, the situation soon changed around, with successive wins by Mike Cook against Steve Ruthen, and Steve Gregory against Mike Harris.   The score now stood at 2½-1½ to Ipswich!   Both the remaining games appeared to be going in Bury's favour, but Nick Savage managed to hold out, two pawns down, against John Peters, with a draw in an opposite bishops endgame.

The final game between Ed Player and Tim Lunn went down to the wire.   Earlier in the game Ed had succeeded in reaching the 30-move time control with four seconds remaining (having made his last six moves within the final minute).   With both players running very short of time, Ed managed to checkmate Tim, bringing the final result to 3 - 3.   Rule 47 decides a tied match by "elimination of bottom boards until a result is achieved."   So Bury St Edmunds go forward to play Norfolk winners Broadland, probably at the end of May.

Individual results were:

David Spence   1 - 0   Shaun Munson
Mike Harris   0 - 1   Steve Gregory
Ed Player   1 - 0   Tim Lunn
Steve Ruthen   0 - 1   Mike Cook
John Peters   ½ - ½   Nick Savage
Rob McCorry   ½ - ½   Ted Matthewson