Telepost have reclaimed the Shropshire rapidplay trophy with just 12 seconds to spare in a dramatic climax to the tournament held in Telford.
With the running score 2-2 in the final, all eyes were on the top board where Nigel Ferrington and Francis Best were going head to head in the last game to finish and which in the circumstances had become a winner-takes-all encounter.
Best had what looked like a dangerous passed pawn but Ferrington had it under guard with his knight. As so often, Ferrington showed how adept he is at playing with only a few seconds to spare on his clock, and turned the situation round, queening a pawn and delivering checkmate in ultra fast order.
It meant Telepost won the title they last held in 2013. They did have some extra help as they turned up at the tournament at the Wrekin Housing Trust premises a player short, and Mark Keady of Brewood, who came along to the event in the hope of getting a game, was roped in to make up the numbers.
The other Telepost players were Phil Zabrocki, Matthew Clark, and John Bashall.
Six teams took part in the competition in which the time limit of 15 minutes to complete all the moves of the game saw some fast and furious chess.
Third place was taken by Newport A - Shropshire Star 02/06/2015
SUMMER TEAM QUICKPLAY 2015
Entries have now closed for the Quickplay tournament on Sunday, May 31, at Wrekin Housing Trust in Telford.
There are five entries - Newport A, Newport B, Telepost, Shrewsbury, and Telford.
That means a bye for one team in every round. So to keep the 'hangaround' time as short as possible for the team having the bye, I've gone for a short time control of 15 minutes, and games will be played on a 'home and away' basis. So during the tournament teams will face each other twice, once at home (black on top board) and once away (white on top board).
That means ten rounds in a league, followed by a semi final and final.
With luck there will be enough extra players who turn up on the day to make up a sixth team, i.e. a mixed, scratch team. That would mean no byes.
Clock starting time for the first round is is 10am prompt.
Toby 24/05/2015
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This year's summer quickplay team competition will be held on Sunday, May 31, 2015, at the Wrekin Housing Trust premises in Telford starting at 10am.
Exact format and time control etc will depend on the number of entries but the intention will be to get as much chess for everybody as possible, so it will be a league followed by semi final and final involving the leading teams.
Time limit is likely to be either 15, 20, or 25 minutes.
Please can clubs let me know by Friday May 22 if they are entering a team or teams.
As last minute pullouts would complicate the organisation, it would be better to enter only that amount of teams you know you can support, rather than extra teams and then cross your fingers hoping that you'll have enough players – clubs will be able to operate a ‘squad' system anyway.
There will be a lunch break with chef-cooked food available (please eat up and keep us in with the management!)
As last year, if a player wants to play, but their club has not entered a team, they will be permitted to play as a “guest” for another club.
Rules below.
1 Teams will be of FIVE players.
2 In each round team captains will toss for choice of having the white pieces on board one.
3 Players can only play for ONE team in the competition.
4 Subject to the above rule, teams can play substitutes from their club ranks during the competition. The intention of this is that if, say, a club has six or seven players interested in playing, those ‘extras' will have, at their captain's discretion, a chance to play in later rounds.
5 Time control will depend on number of entries, and will be announced later, but is likely to be 15, 20, or 25 minutes.
6 In the case of time control disputes, the arbiters in the first instance will be the two team captains. If they are actually involved in the dispute, the arbiter will be the competition organiser, consulting and taking advice as necessary from experienced players. (My default interpretation of the rules will be that a player whose flag falls automatically loses unless: 1. The opponent does not have mating material – and a pawn is mating material as it could promote; 2. The opponent is not trying to win i.e. is just messing about running the clock down).
7 Draws are permitted in the group matches (i.e. no need for board count tiebreaker). Leading teams from the league stages will go through to the semi finals. ‘Goal difference' will be used to separate teams on equal points. If points and goal difference are identical, the teams will play a five minute blitz decider.
8 In the semi final and final, if the match result is a draw, the result on the bottom board will be discounted, repeatedly if necessary, until a decisive result is achieved. If all the games are drawn, the team which played black on board one will be declared winner .
Toby Neal
Organiser 11/05/2015
Toby.neal@shropshirestar.co.uk or langrishcaiger@aol.com
PREVIOUS YEARS Newport are 2014 quickplay champions The Newport team took the trophy in decisive style, ending the hopes of Shrewsbury-based Telepost of scoring a hat-trick. Telepost had taken the title in the two previous years but the Newport outfit of Nick Rutter, Gavyn Cooper, Nathanael Paul, Simon Maydew, and Chris Lewis were just too strong for the opposition, going through the tournament unbeaten. They topped the table in the league stage and then saw off Telepost 4.5-0.5 in the semi final. In the other semi final Shrewsbury beat Telford 3-2, setting up a final between Newport and Shrewsbury. Newport went into a 2-0 lead but then Matt Best pulled a point back for Shrewsbury to raise the tension. Chris Lewis' win against Ivor Salter on bottom board however put the issue beyond doubt. Six teams entered the competition and players had to complete all moves of the game in 25 minutes. The tournament was held at the Wrekin Housing Trust in Telford. Organiser Toby Neal said: "Newport were worthy winners on the day and few teams got any change from them. Chess at these time limits can get very frenetic, which is all part of the fun." Full result in the final was: Newport 3.5, Shrewsbury 1.5: N. Rutter 0.5, F. Best 0.5; G. Cooper 1, D. Everington 0; N. Paul 1, D. Lockett 0; S. Maydew 0, M. Best 1; C. Lewis 1, I Salter 0. Third/fourth place playoff: Telepost 2, Telford 3: N. Ferrington 0.5, T. Brotherton 0.5; R. Bryant 0, N. Nazif 1; J. Bashall 0, S. Tennant 1; M. Clark 1, R. Gillespie 0; K. Tabner 0.5, W. Peck 0.5. |
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| Winners Newport with the trophy: from left, Gavyn Cooper, Nick Rutter, Chris Lewis, Nathanael Paul, and Simon Maydew.
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This year's summer quickplay team competition will be held on Sunday, June 1, 2014, at the Wrekin Housing Trust premises in Telford starting at 10am. Exact format and time control etc will depend on the number of entries but the intention will be to get as much chess for everybody as possible, so it will be a league followed by semi final and final involving the leading teams. Time limit is likely to be about 20 minutes, again depending on the number of entries. Please can clubs let me know by May 24 if they are entering a team or teams. As last minute pullouts would complicate the organisation, it would be better to enter only that amount of teams you know you can support, rather than extra teams and then cross your fingers hoping that you'll have enough players – clubs will be able to operate a ‘squad' system anyway. There will be a lunch break with chef-cooked food available (please eat up and keep us in with the management!) Rules below. As last year, if a player wants to play but their club has not entered a team, they will be permitted to play as a “guest” for another club. Teams will be able to field one guest player per round (but I might have to be flexible about that if a team is still short and it's the difference between fielding a team or not fielding a team). 1 Teams will be of FIVE players. 2 In each round team captains will toss for choice of having the white pieces on board one. 3 Players can only play for ONE team in the competition. 4 Subject to the above rule, teams can play substitutes from their club ranks during the competition. The intention of this is that if, say, a club has six or seven players interested in playing, those ‘extras' will have, at their captain's discretion, a chance to play in later rounds. 5 Time control is 20 minutes per player for the group games; 10 minutes for the semi final, final, and 3 rd /4 th place playoff. (NB THIS WAS LAST YEAR. EXACT TIME LIMIT IN 2014 COMPETITION WILL DEPEND ON NUMBER OF ENTRIES) 6 In the case of time control disputes, the arbiters in the first instance will be the two team captains. If they are actually involved in the dispute, the arbiter will be the competition organiser, consulting and taking advice as necessary from experienced players. (My default interpretation of the rules will be that a player whose flag falls automatically loses unless: 1. The opponent does not have mating material – and a pawn is mating material as it could promote; 2. The opponent is not trying to win i.e. is just messing about running the clock down). 7 Draws are permitted in the group matches (i.e. no need for board count tiebreaker). Leading teams from the league stages will go through to the semi finals. ‘Goal difference' will be used to separate teams on equal points. If points and goal difference are identical, the teams will play a five minute blitz decider. 8 In the semi final and final, if the match result is a draw, the result on the bottom board will be discounted, repeatedly if necessary, until a decisive result is achieved. If all the games are drawn, the team which played black on board one will be declared winner .
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The 2013 winning Telepost team display the cup l to r Noel Kiffin, John Bashall, Kate Walker, Nigel Ferrington, and Phil Zabrocki. |
Toby Neal
Summer team quickplay organiser
toby.neal@shropshirestar.co.uk