Stourbridge Chess Club

On Monday the second team faced a strong Rushall team away in the Wolverhampton league. The team lost 4-2 with Eric Horwill and Julie Wilson both winning their games. The team is now mid-table and probably have enough points already to avoid relegation.

On Wednesday, the first team faced top of the table South Birmingham ‘A’ and were heavily out graded on every board except board 1 where grandmaster Keith Arkell was playing for Stourbridge. Due to illness, Stourbridge were also forced to field 2 reserves. First to finish was reserve Dave Scriven. His opponent capitalised on a mistake made in the opening and quickly won. On board six, Julie Wilson also misplayed the opening slightly but managed to claw her way back into the game and force a draw by what was close to perpetual check.

This was followed by Stourbridge losses on boards 3 and 4. This left the 2 Arkell brothers still fighting. End-game specialist Keith successfully won a pawn in a bishop and pawn endgame and brought home the win while brother Nick lost from a wild position in a time scramble. This made the final score 1½-4½. Stourbridge remain bottom of division 1 with only four matches remaining and need to start winning matches to avoid relegation.

The Birmingham league division 4 team are in even greater danger of relegation and travelled to Solihull ‘A’ on Wednesday not expecting to get much out the match. Jeremy Humphries, Colin Woodall and rapidly improving Martin Berridge got draws making the final match result 4½-1½. The team is now three points adrift of safety with three matches remaining. The only hope is the fact Stourbridge still have to play the other two relegation contenders.

If you are interested in playing chess at Stourbridge chess club, contact Dave Scriven on 01384 423642 for more information or visit www.stourbridgechess.f9.co.uk.