In a surprising start to the week, Westminster actually returned to play 2 adjournments in Birmingham league division 5 for what appeared to be a futile exercise. We led 2.5 – 1.5 and were ahead in each adjournment to such a degree that at least one should have been resigned. It never works out that way with Jeremy Humphries only drawing his apparently won position, but Colin Woodall managed to convert his better position into a win. 4-2 Stourbridge still look good for with promotion with the potential title showdown on Tuesday against Redditch.

Tuesday was the Terrill semi-final. Our Birmingham league division 3 team were playing at Olton division 1. South Birmingham 1’A’ had won the other semi-final the previous night. Could we get through a very tough challenge to meet the Midlands strongest team in the final? Stourbridge have had teams in the last three Terrill finals and have lost all of them. South Birmingham 1’A’ have beaten us twice, including three years ago against our division 3 team. Could we beat Olton and get a re-match?

We had a healthy 3.5 point handicap advantage, but we knew that this would be tough.

The match got under way, and we put up a good show all round, despite being heavily out graded, and it was well past the 2-hour mark before any decisive action took place. Dave Scriven was first to finish on board 2; His opponent played a winning rook sacrifice and Dave resigned.

Next to finish was Steve Jukes on board 1, who resigned when his Queen was pinned to his King by Holt's bishop; it had seemed fairly even up to that point, but that was clearly decisive. We were now 2-0 down and needing 1.5 from the remaining four boards. John Foxall had been playing aggressively on board 4, but Smith had countered strongly and was looking good; then we got the break we were looking for - John found a winning resource and his opponent resigned. Brilliant!!

Paul Sharrat’s opponent gained an early positional advantage in an English opening but Paul defended well, if a little desperately at times. Sadly, it was to no avail and Paul’s position reached virtual zugzwang before Lloyd ended the struggle with a Queen sacrifice late in the day making it 3-1 to Olton.

On board 5 Eric Horwill had looked to be in dire straits early on, no fewer than 4 pawns down. But Eric is a tough competitor, and battled on undaunted to improve both his position and the material deficit by the close. Adjourned with an open game, he still has chances against Batchelor.

On board 6 Tony Shaw had started quietly against Rich Reynolds, but by the time they adjourned he had built a very strong position and was looking good for a result (and a draw is all we need to take the match).

On the night everyone played well and we did Stourbridge proud - we can still make the final if things go well with the adjournments. Well done all!

With our Wolverhampton league division 1 title defence struggling, but with our challengers also dropping unexpected points, we hosted Walsall Kipping knowing we really had to win to keep alive our hopes. Stourbridge Walsall Kipping J. Fallowfield 0-1 D. Anderton N. Arkell 0.5-0.5 N. Roberts N. Fallowfield 0-1 D. Pritchard G. Dyett 0.5-0.5 M. Groombridge T. Shaw 0.5-0.5 L. Walijewski R. Evans 1-0 D. Anderton The first team had a disappointing loss in Wolverhampton league I against Walsall Kipping. First to finish was Ron who was the grateful recipient of his opponent's blunder dropping a rook. When Tony drew soon afterwards, making an excellent return from the two reserves, all looked on course for a positive result. Nick agreed a draw with a 'draw specialist', Nick Roberts on board 2, and soon after that Greg agreed a draw.

This left just father and son Nic and Jeremy Fallowfield still playing. Jeremy was up against it as Black on board 1 against David Anderton but had done some good preparation earlier in the day on a sharp line of the King's Indian Defence involving a pawn sacrifice. Nic came out of the opening with a slight edge and was confident enough to decline a draw offer on move 17. Six moves later, realising that the match was going our way, Nic offered a draw but unfortunately in doing so played a really poor move which immediately led to difficulties. The offer was declined. Then in the quick play finish, trying to play too quickly Nic left a piece en prise and had to resign. It was at about this time that Jeremy also succumbed to some powerful play from his opponent and we ended up losing the match by the narrowest of margins.

Mathematicians will tell you we can still defend our title. Reality predicts otherwise. Stafford lead the table, are capable of fielding a phenomenal team, and visit us on Monday knowing a single point takes us out of contention and improves their own chances. Even if we win against Stafford the odds are still against us. All we have left is hope.

On the same night as the disappointment in Wolverhampton league division 1 our Wolverhampton league division 3 team produced a similarly disappointing result. After travelling all the way to Stafford with a team that should have been able to put up a good match, only Sam Bradley and Colin Woodall troubled the scorers, each drawing to give a final 4-1 loss.

If you are interested in playing for Stourbridge or would just like to improve your game, phone Dave Scriven on 01384 423642 or visit www.stourbridgechess.f9.co.uk for more information about the club.