Crowthorne double-header
It was off to Deepest Berkshire for the annual attempt to locate the Crowthorne playing venue in the megalopolis that is Wellington College. To make it harder this time, they moved to another venue on the campus which was several miles to the north. Or west. Or somewhere.
Guildford fielded two rapidplay teams, Team 1 and Team 2, against our Crowthorne equivalents in this Border League double-header. Team 1 found it harder than we were expecting when Crowthorne fielded a very strong team headed by FM Richard Webb on top board. They outrated us by 200 points a board on average. So the final score of 5–3 to Crowthorne 1 was better than we expected. Our captain, Julien Shepley, contributed most of our points with two wins against Ken Coates on board 2.
The other match revealed the strength in depth of the Guildford squad as Team 2 outrated the Crowthorne team by 100 points a board. We made the most of the rating difference with a 7–1 win overall, again better than expected. This was Germany v Brazil in the 2014 World Cup all over again.
By the time we left, Storm Ciarán had arrived and the rain was coming down in sheets. So that was a good opportunity to practise our aquaplaning skills on the drive home. It was interesting to discover that the Border League Division 3 match between Godalming A and Farnham C was called off when the away team decided it was too risky to travel. We Guildfordians are made of sterner stuff!
Guildford fielded two rapidplay teams, Team 1 and Team 2, against our Crowthorne equivalents in this Border League double-header. Team 1 found it harder than we were expecting when Crowthorne fielded a very strong team headed by FM Richard Webb on top board. They outrated us by 200 points a board on average. So the final score of 5–3 to Crowthorne 1 was better than we expected. Our captain, Julien Shepley, contributed most of our points with two wins against Ken Coates on board 2.
The other match revealed the strength in depth of the Guildford squad as Team 2 outrated the Crowthorne team by 100 points a board. We made the most of the rating difference with a 7–1 win overall, again better than expected. This was Germany v Brazil in the 2014 World Cup all over again.
By the time we left, Storm Ciarán had arrived and the rain was coming down in sheets. So that was a good opportunity to practise our aquaplaning skills on the drive home. It was interesting to discover that the Border League Division 3 match between Godalming A and Farnham C was called off when the away team decided it was too risky to travel. We Guildfordians are made of sterner stuff!