A visit to Stourbridge, a local derby and the visit of a grandmaster

Redditch came up short in their opening match of the season in Division One of the Worcester & District League against Headless Cross on Tuesday with a 2.5-1.5 defeat. first result of the evening came early as Ashley Davis beat Dave Spowart in just 19 moves on board 2. As the evening progressed, Andrew Wiggins and Ian Clack had to settle for draws on boards 2 and 4 against Dave Richardson and Terry Radford respectively. As the evening drew to a close, it was down to the final match on board 1 between Daniel Lambourne and Glenn Cox. Daniel seemed to have some initiative but was ultimately unable to find a way through and Glenn was able to record a draw to seal the match for Headless Cross.

The Division Two side was able to record a 2.5-1.5 win, however, at Stourbridge on Wednesday. Michele Clack succumbed to Paul Sharratt on board 1 and Ian Clack drew with Colin Woodall on board 2. Stourbridge's new players Sam Bradley and Helen Kirkby were beaten on boards 3 and 4 by Derek Abrahams and Richard Turner to record a victory for Redditch

The main event of the week was a visit on Tuesday by grandmaster and English number 15 Keith Arkell. Arkell recently released his autobiography and signed copies for present members before performing a simultaneous exhibition. Ten players took him on and it initially seemed that Arkell was on course for a clean sweep. Michele Clack lost early on and further defeats followed to leave Arkell with seven wins from seven. However, advancing the king into enemy territory a move or two too early when a pawn up in a winning position allowed Peter Seeley to mate in two moves and record a thoroughly unexpected victory. He recorded his eighth victory of the evening before sitting down to complete his final match against Dave Spowart. An apparently equal endgame was reached before Arkell seemed to have crafted a winning position. However, he missed an intermediate move and played a pawn sacrifice one move too early again, allowing Dave the chance to salvage a draw - a chance that was eagerly snapped up. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and one can only hope that such an evening may be had again at some point.



League campaigns contine next week against Hagley in the Worcester & District League Division Two on Tuesday, Kidderminster Knights in the Worcester & District League Division One on Wednesday and Warley Quinborne in the Birmingham League Division Four on Thursday.


Closing thought: "Have you got me?!" - Keith Arkell to Peter Seeley when realising he was to be mated on his next move