Redditch's struggles continued in Division 2 of the Birmingham Leage on Tuesday as they went down 4-2 against Shirley & Wythall but managed to maintain their 100% record in Division 2 of the Worcester & District League with a 2.5-1.5 win at Worcester Pawns on Thursday before securing a 2-2 draw in Division 1 away to reigning champions Malvern.
Redditch's match against Shirley & Wythall began badly with defeat for Dave Spowart against John Freeman on Board Two. Further defeats followed for Michele Clack and Richard Turner to Jon Asbury and Mike Warden on Board Five and Six respectively left Redditch 3-0 down with three games left and hoping to draw the match at best. Despite the building up of pressure, however, Tom Robinson was unable to capitalise against Dave Thomas on Board One and had to agree a draw to allow Shirley & Whythall to secure the win. With the match decided, Jason Cole agreed a draw with Frank Jiminez on Board Four but Andrew Wiggins recorded an excellent individual victory over Gordon Christie to hand Redditch their only win in a result that leaves them still bottom of Division 2 with no points from their opening four matches.
The other two games this week were fortunately much better. Worcester Pawns put out a strong side on Thursday and would surely have been considered favourites before their home advantage was taken into account. Redditch had other ideas. Jason Cole drew with Andrew Farthing on Board One and Michele Clack made a mockery of her 25 point grading deficit to draw with Ray Collett on Board Two. Ian Clack also drew against Phil Smith on Board Three but Richard Turner beat Roger Yates on Board Four to claim Redditch's third win from their opening three games in the Worcester & District League Division Two and will be hoping to continue that run after Christmas.
With two defeats from their opening two matches in Division One of the Worcester & District League, a trip to Malvern to face the team that has won the last three titles was an even more daunting prospect than usual, although the availability of Dan Lambourne certainly made a difference. After building up some early pressure against Brian Turner on Board One, he declined the opportunity to make an unclear sacrifice and a draw was soon agreed. Andrew Wiggins played a Stonewall Attack on Board Three against John Knee that offered few options to either player and a draw was also agreed. Unfortunately, Peter Seeley was unable to continue the run of draws for Redditch against Geoffrey Herbert on Board Four. After initially repelling Geoffrey's Torre Attack, he gave up a bishop for three pawns to give himself a 4-1 pawn majority on the kingside. He was unable to get the pawns rolling however and Geoffrey used the open files to for the win of a pawn and followed it up with a rook to send Malvern ahead. By this point, Tom Robinson had withstood an early onslaught on Board Two against Ian Clarke's Smith-Morra Gambit before Ian erred in time pressure to leave Tom two pawns ahead. Pressing to salvage the result, Ian dropped a third pawn before conceding the match to Tom, giving Redditch an excellent draw against a full strength Malvern team.
Redditch will be hoping to make further strides on their draw with Malvern on Wednesday as they travel to Kidderminster Pawns in the Worcester & District League the evening after they host Mutual Circle in Division Two of the Birmingham League.
Closing thought: "The hallmark of the artist is simplicity." - Larry Evans
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