Norfolk & Suffolk Cup Final
Last weekend Bury St Edmunds Chess Club travelled to Norwich to play against Broadland Chess Club (recently voted ECF club of the year) for the Norfolk & Suffolk Cup; an annual event that sees the best team from Suffolk play a six board match against the best team in Norfolk. This year, to make the journey easier for the away team, the final was held in the Virgin Money Lounge in Norwich city centre; a very nice venue indeed. The playing room was pretty fancy, but also quiet, and conveniently adjacent to an airport-style lounge area that provided unlimited tea, coffee (from a decent machine) and a selection of biscuits and fruit.
The home team won the toss for colours and decided to have White on the odd numbered boards. After about twenty minutes into the match, Broadland defaulted on board 2, so Bury went one-nil up with only around a dozen moves played on each of the five remaining games. Despite Bury being handed a big advantage, Broadland eventually went onto win the trophy by half a point:
| Broadland | 3½-2½ | Bury St Edmunds | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1) | Richard Polazek, IM (216) | 1-0 | Edmund Player (206) |
| 2) | Default | 0-1 | John Peters (195) |
| 3) | Ken McEwan (185) | ½-½ | Mark Le Vine (187) |
| 4) | Roy Hughes (190) | 1-0 | Stephen Ruthen (173) |
| 5) | Gerald Moore (190) | 1-0 | Jonathan Collins (165) |
| 6) | Steve Pullinger (169) | 0-1 | Jaden Jermy (165) |
Bury’s only winner was Jaden Jermy, one of Suffolk’s promising juniors, who has annotated his game (below). Both players managed to get through the opening unscathed after which the game became fairly tactical. Eventually the players reached a knight v bishop endgame. Jaden managed to control the endgame very well by placing his remaining pawns on opposite-coloured squares to his opponent’s bishop, which allowed his knight to jump around the board with joy, pestering his opponent’s remaining King, bishop and pawns.
The Bury St Edmunds team (from left to right):
Stephen Ruthen, John Peters, Mark Le Vine, Jon Collins, Edmund Player and Jaden Jermy.
