Worcester & District Chess League

David L Roberts wins 2012-3 Bennett Cup

Structure of the Competition

There were 12 entries for the 2012-13 competition and he arrangements are shown below

• Four all-play-all pools of 3 players each;
• The winner of each group qualified automatically for the first knockout phase;
• The knockout phase consisted of quarter finals, semi-finals, and final.

Knockout Stages

Final - Played 20 and 28 June

Jim Friar (167) ½ - ½, ½ - ½ David L Roberts (158)

Andrew Farthing reports: Jim won the toss for the Armageddon tie-break and elected to play black with the advantage of the draw, but with only five minutes on the clock compared with David's six. In a fluctuating game, David fell the exchange behind but retained an advantage on the clock. With time running out, Jim allowed one of David's passed pawns to advance to the 7th rank. At this point, Jim's flag fell, but by now his position on the board was also lost. David Roberts is therefore Bennett Cup champion at his first attempt. Congratulations to him, and commiserations to Jim Friar, who has found himself in the unfortunate position of being the losing finalist two years in a row.

Semi-finals

David Roberts (158) ½ -½, 1 - 0 John Wrench (171)
Brian Turner (179) ½ - ½, 0-1 Jim Friar (167)

Quarter-finals

Matthew Jordan (168e) 0 - 1 Brian Turner (179)
Ray Collett (141) 0 - 1 David L Roberts (158)
Jim Friar (167) 1 - 0 (default) Andrew Farthing (143)
John Varilone (129) 0 - 1 John Wrench (171)

Pairings, pools and results

Players with names on oragne background qualified for the knock out stages.