Worcester & District Chess League
Paul Sharratt wins 2015-6 Ball Cup at first attempt
Introduction
The Ball Cup is a trophy for the best league player graded under-150. Entry is free for anly player of a club affiliated to Worcester & District Chess League. The tournament controller is Andrew Farthing ( e-mail or telephone 01905 358 949).
The 2014-5 winner was Tony Shaw (Malvern) and you can see the names of previous winners since 1947 on the roll of honour. Unfortunately Tony is unable to defend his title because of work and other commitments this year.
Final
The final was between Ray Collett (Worcester) and Paul Sharratt (Stourbridge). Colours were decided by the total number of goals scored (excluding penalty shoot-outs) in the Wembley FA Vase match tie between Hereford FC and Morpeth on Sunday 21 May. Five goals were scored and Paul had the white pieces. The two players have already met this season in a league match and the result was a draw. Play followed the earlier game in the preliminary stages of the competition with Sharratt using the Four Pawns Attack against Collett's King's Indian Defence. In the early middlegame, Collett allowed white to advance his pawn to e5 and exchange queens. There was a an interesting queenless middle game and white won the exchange. Black still had active play and white had to work for his win, made easier when black missed a chance to set up a fortress when both players had less than five minutes left to finish. This was Paul's first cup win in this competition at his first attempt.
Semi-finals
The controller asks that these games be completed by 20 May
David L Roberts (Worcester) 0 -1 Ray Collett (Worcester)
Ian Truscott (Greenlands) 0 - 1 Paul Sharratt (Stourbridge)
The first named player is white in the first game.
Group stage
| Groups A Players | DR | PS | RS | GS | MB | Total |
| David L Roberts 149 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
| Paul Sharratt 134 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Rob Sutton 134 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Giles Stanton 113 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Michael Butcher 103 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Group B Players | MJ | RaC | IT | RiC | CV | Total |
| Matthew Jordan 143 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 2 | |
| Ray Collett 135 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| Ian Truscott 130 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 3 | |
| Richard Collett 107 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Colin Vernon 101 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 2 |
Timetable
- Please ensure that you complete your Group games by 15 March 2016
- The semi-finals should be completed by 15 April 2016
- The final should be completed by 15 May 2016.
Please don’t leave your games until the last minute! I’m sure we all know how hard it can be to fit in fixtures at times, so the sooner the better. Due to the possibility of a replay in the knockout stages, any time gained earlier in the event can come in handy.
Format
The competition is of similar form to last year and ensures everyone can play five games.The preliminary rounds are run as all-play-all tournaments for small groups of players so that every entrant gets at least two games. The winners of the groups compete in the knock out stages.
- Two all-play-all groups of 5 or 6 players each;
- The winner and runner up of each group qualify automatically for the knockout phase;
- The knockout phase will consist of semi-finals and final.
- Please report results to the controller, Andrew Farthing and copy them to Ray Collett for publication here.