A week of improvement

Redditch finally got off the mark in Division Two of the Birmingham League on Tuesday with a 3-3 draw at home against Mutual Circle before following up last Friday's draw with Malvern in Division One of the Worcester & District League with a resounding 4-0 at the Kidderminster Pawns on Wednesday.

Searching for their first point of the season in BDCL2, Reddith got off to a poor start on the lower boards when Steve Crockett lost on Board 6 against Mark Paffard before another defeat swiftly followed for Jason Cole on Board 5 against Christopher Evans. Andrew Wiggins drew on Board 6 against Robert Hollows to leave Redditch trailing 2.5-0.5 and Mutual Circle looked like they would consign Redditch to their fifth successive defeat. Redditch, however, had other ideas. Dave Spowart won a piece against Mark Tallis on Board 3 and then calmly defended his opponent's spacial advantage before the extra piece would prove decisive in his own attack. Tom Robinson followed up on Board 2 establishing a positional advantage against Edward Huang before delivering checkmate with Queen and Rook to level the match. By this point, Dan Lambourne was two pawns ahead in his match on Board 1 against Robin Huq but facing counterthreats. Dan picked up a third pawn but his opponent's counterplay proved too strong for Dan to pursue his attack and a draw was agreed to secure Redditch's first point of the season ahead of their final match before Christmas next week.

Having taken an excellent draw off Malvern last Friday, a full-strength Redditch were in a confident mood for their trip to newly promoted Kidderminster Pawns on Wednesday. Outgrading their opponents on every board, Redditch recorded their first win of the season in style. Victories for Dan Lambourne, Tom Robinson, Dave Spowart and Jason Cole against Mark Riley, David Close, Tim Yates and Clive Billinge gave Redditch a 4-0 victory to haul themselves off the foot of the table and head into Christmas on a real high.

Redditch conclude their pre-Christmas campaign with a trip to Sutton Coldfield in Division Two of the Birmingham League on Monday before the rapidplay tournament enters its second week.


Closing thought: "Your body has to be in top condition. Your chess deteriorates as your body does. You can't separate body from mind." - Bobby Fischer