Tuesday 10 June 2014


The Big Chess Match…  Drunken Knights vs Wood Green

Setting the scene...

There are around 12,000 chess players in England who pay annually to register with the English Chess Federation so that they can compete in chess tournaments (either individually or as part of a club team). In addition there are many thousands in England who play more casually at home, at school, University, work, pub or in local clubs. There are many who play purely on the internet at sites such as FICS  and chess24.com. Someone who recently “came out” about his interest in chess is Richard Branson

Chess at a more senior level is organised in the many clubs and leagues in England, the strongest local league is probably the London ChessLeague. This league is currently dominated by two clubs, the largely professional Wood Green, and the strong amateur club “The Drunken Knights”. Traditionally, their fixture is held back to the very end of the league season (September to June) as it is nearly always the match that decides who wins the league.

The London League has 12 teams in the top division and 6 divisions. Teams are promoted and relegated dependent how well they do. Each team in the top division has 12 players scoring 1 for a win 0.5 for a draw and nothing for a loss. Yesterday was the day that the Drunken Knights play Wood Green for the 2013/14 London League Championship.

The Club...

Before I give the result let me say a little about the Drunken Knights Chess Club and its venue. It meets on a Monday evenings at the Plough pub on Museum Street close to the British Museum. Next season it will have 3 of the 10 places in the first division of the league as its third team has just won promotion from division 2. The club is organised by the charismatic Harrovian, Nevil Chan. 

Match Captain Nevil Chan

Nevil’s parents lived in Northumberland Road, North Harrow. He attended Salvatorian College and then Cambridge. He’s currently National Coordinator for the charity Chess in Schools and Communities and President of Harrow Chess Club.

The Drunken Knights gets the whole of the first floor from the Plough for free, in addition The Plough provide a buffet for the players on match nights, for free.  All this is done on the power of Nevil’s negotiating skills which was described to me the last time the pub changed its landlord as:

New Landlord: “So Nevil what’s the arrangement with the chess Club”
Nevil: “We get the first floor on Monday nights for free and you provide a hot buffet”
New Landlord: “Ho Ho pull the other one – so what’s the real arrangement”
Nevil: “Try it for three weeks and then see if you want to change it”
New Landlord (after first match): “Yes, we can do business".

Nevil asks me to play in the third team despite the financial risk I present to the club by being only an occasional half knight.

The Match...

Sadly this year, as in most years, Wood Green won and therefore came first in the league with the Drunken Knights in their customary second place.

Below is the email Nevil sent out this morning with the report and result of the match. I think that the tone of the email may indicate that the sponsorship of Wood Green by their match captain, Brian Smith, irks just a tad:

The 9 dart check-out is a rare sporting achievement, often compared with snooker’s 147 maximum break. http://tinyurl.com/DK-darts

Last night, Wood Green produced an impressive 12 board cheque-out at Plough to win the London League championship for a twelfth consecutive season. Their 8-4 victory over DK1 was facilitated by captain Brian Smith enlisting the services of eight GMs. Knights line-up, which included one GM on beer retainer, was the highest rated in the club’s 44 year history.

The match went to the wire; DK trailed 1-2 going into final 30 minutes, after Eddie had held the current British champion on top board and John M had drawn with a former British champion on bottom board (!) Wood Green however proved just too strong on the knights, and pulled away with 4 wins in the quickplay stage; John R provided a consolation DK win.
Thus ends another season, with the hire team still the higher team. Drunken Knights finish runners-up for the fifth time, a position that might not change whilst Brian is in the black.

The result:

Drunken Knights
Grade
Rank
Result
Wood Green
Grade
Rank
IM Edward Dearing
233
21
0.5 – 0.5
GM David Howell 
266
4
GM Simon Williams 
233
21
0.5 – 0.5
GM Nicholas Pert 
251
6
IM Thomas Rendle
233
21
0.5 – 0.5
GM Stephen Gordon
245
8
FM Peter Sowray
226
45
0 - 1
GM Jon Speelman
237
13
IM Gabor Pinter
224
47
0 - 1
GM Bogan Lalic 
233
21
FM John Richardson 
223
49
1 - 0
GM Neil McDonald 
233
21
FM Peter Robinson
222
51
0 - 1
GM John Emms
225
46
FM Daniel Bisby
217
69
0.5 – 0.5
IM Andrew Greet
228
33
IM Karl Mah
216
73
0 - 1
IM Richard Pert
231
26
FM Chris Duncan 
216
73
0 - 1
IM Sophie Millet
223
49
FM Guillaume Camus
216
73
0.5 – 0.5
FM David Haydon
215
84
John Merriman
206
151
0.5 – 0.5
GM Chris Ward
224
47
Score
4 - 8


I've shown the national grade of the player and where ranked on the list eg. David Howell is rated the fourth highest player on the list and & Karl Mah is rated 73rd highest.

Some Photos (click to enlarge)...

Players and spectators gather
Wood Green team photo before the match
Drunken Knights team photo 
The Buffet
(hmmm.... A different venue next year perhaps?)


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