Post date: 26-Apr-2011 15:30:25
The season finished with a win for Cowley 1 over Banbury in a tussle between two under strength sides. This was sufficient to raise the 1st team to 3rd place in Division 1, just 1 point ahead of Cowley 2. The decision to play two sides of equal strength in this league was a bold one and illustrates the Club’s strength in depth. The 3rd team took the honours this season finishing top of Division 3 and only conceding one point in the process. The 4ths propped up the 4th Division but introduced several youngsters to competitive chess which should help both them and the Club in future years.
The Division 1 teams saw strong performances from Jason McKenna, Jon D’Souza Eva and Rod Nixon for the 1st Team and from Will Burt and Maria Wang in the 2nds. Gerard O’Reilly also started the season in superlative form, including the defeat of GM Peter Wells from Witney. Both sides were strengthened by new players, notably David Zakarian playing on board 1 for the 1sts and Douglas Stanley who played consistently well for the 2nds before returning to the United States at Christmas.
The star of the 3rd team was undoubtedly captain John Taylor who achieved an exceptional 100% record with 10 wins out of 10 matches (plus a default!), closely followed by Ruby Marsden with an excellent 7 points from 9 matches. The 3rd team are able to put out a strongly competitive all ladies side which reflects a particular strength of the Club. The side was strengthened by newcomers Adrien Banuls and Pawel Cichy who performed consistently well on the top boards later in the season and also played in the Division 1 teams.
For the 4th team players it was largely a learning experience this season but congratulations go to Simon Ottino with 2.5 points from 3 matches. With player strength as it is are we now ready to play a stronger 4th team to compete for honours and perhaps a 5th side?
All the results can be seen here.