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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