Sunday saw the much-anticipated return of Cuppers Chess, in the form of an eight-team, four-board, 15 minute tournament held at Keble. The teams were divided into two groups of four for a round-robin group stage, which would be followed by semi-finals and a final.
In group A, a three-way battle between the strong teams from Exeter, Univ and Merton for the two qualifying berths ensued. Merton’s lower-board strength resulted in draws with both Exeter and Univ, but the decisive result proved to be Univ’s 3 – 1 victory over Exeter, sending them through top of the group.
Group B was dominated by pre-tournament favourites Keble, who scored 11 out of 12 to set up a semi-final with Merton. Second place went to Blackfriars, who defeated both St. Catz B and Merton Magic, who ran away with prize for worst name in the competition.
In the semi-finals, the surprise package, Blackfriars, came extremely close to toppling Univ, losing only on the tie-break rule. In the other semi final, Merton knew they would have to perform exceptionally to have any chance against the all-conquering Keble. It looked as if a shock might be on the cards when Merton won board 4, but Keble’s top three players showed their class to ensure they would face Univ in the final.
First, however, third place had to be decided. Blackfriars drew first blood when board 1 Patrick Mitchell checkmated Merton’s George Raptis with a nice combination. But with the other three games going Merton’s way, Ben Waugh soon levelled the score with a fine win, while Eoin Devane won on board 2. The match would thus come down to board 3, where Alex Antao had a winning position but was desperately low on time. This told, and David Baird capitalised on a mistake by Antao to seal the victory for Blackfriars on the tie-break rule.
Having dropped only two points in the entire tournament thus far, Keble were favourites to win the final against Univ. Indeed Ting Xu soon gave them the advantage with a win on board 4.
However, despite taking a 2-0 lead, things were far from over. Ben Kirollos was looking dominant on 3 and the mercurial Mike Healey looked to have the stronger position against Tom Eckersley-Waites on 1. If both boards went against Keble, Univ would win on tiebreak. Once again, time proved significant; Kirollos’ flag fell, giving Keble the victory. There was still time, however, for a grandstand finish between Healey and Eckersley-Waites with both players having fewer than 2 seconds remaining when Healey won. Thus, Keble won the first Chess Cuppers of this Century. I dare say, given the success of the event, that it will not be the last.
