On winning and not winning
Is it possible to win and lose the same match? Yes, in the Stoneleigh Trophy (the Surrey League handicap rapidplay competition). Last night Guildford took on Dorking at our home venue. This was two successive 4-board matches involving the same players. Guildford won these matches by a convincing 6–2 score overall. But we outrated the opposition by 261 points a board. Under the handicap rules, with a rating advantage of this magnitude, we needed to score 7–1 simply to draw the match. As we fell short of that, the league table shows that we scored zero match points and Dorking scored one match point. There is a certain Alice in Wonderland logic to this. Maybe we should field a team of juniors in this competition as they are the one category of players who are consistently stronger than their rating.
Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, Guildford D took on Woking B in Division 4 of the Surrey Border League. This was a straightforward fight where ratings are ratings and winning is winning. We were outrated by 70 points a board on average. So it was very satisfactory to win the match 3–2, with the result in balance until David Carpenter won on board 3 in the last game to finish.
Away from league chess, the Beginners group continued upstairs with a session led by Mike Gunn, and the internal rapidplay tournament completed stage 8 (with 24 rounds in total now played). The latest overall standings table is on the Tournaments page.
Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth, Guildford D took on Woking B in Division 4 of the Surrey Border League. This was a straightforward fight where ratings are ratings and winning is winning. We were outrated by 70 points a board on average. So it was very satisfactory to win the match 3–2, with the result in balance until David Carpenter won on board 3 in the last game to finish.
Away from league chess, the Beginners group continued upstairs with a session led by Mike Gunn, and the internal rapidplay tournament completed stage 8 (with 24 rounds in total now played). The latest overall standings table is on the Tournaments page.