On 17th Nov we narrowly won 5.5 - 4.5 against Wallington in the Alexander Cup Quarter Final.

This was, in my opinion, a fantastic team effort from all concerned! Indeed, we were 3.5 - 4.5 down with 2 tight, though better, games remaining. Nick Pelling won against Peter Lalic on board 3 with 2 pawns Vs rook when Peter ran out of time. The real hero was Mark Hogarth, winning a difficult bishop ending against an opponent of similar grade, when he had to keep very calm under pressure and keep probing for the breakthrough which always seemed to elude him until the very end.
 
Thanks be, to Mark Hogarth!! Well done, mate!
 
Full result of the match can be found on the Surrey website - Alexander Cup page
 
Paul Durrant substituted for Mark Josse. Mark is on call, and if something comes up will have to cancel late, that is the nature of his job and we all understand that. Paul Durrant was up for a tough game on board two against Peter's mother, Susan and gave the IM a decent game before the wheels finally came off.
 
The third Lalic was on board 1, Bogdan! I was his fodder... In fact, this is almost definitely the best team that Wallington have ever put out. The fact that we beat them, minus 4 of our star players in Mike Basman, Mark Josse, Edgar Flacker and Stefano Bruzzi, says a hell of a lot about all of us, as far as I am concerned. Again congratulations to all, and thanks for playing - and playing well!
 
As previously mentioned, this match was a quarter-final (us having a bye in the frst round), and now we will be away to South Norwood in the Semi's. In their quarter final match, they won 9 - 1 and fielded a 225 on top board, and a 200+ on 2. This is a great opportunity for both sides to make the prestigious Alexander Cup Final and we will need to be at our best to win, and thus make it. Wallington's captain, Mark Daniels, realized this yesterday and came heavily armed. Likewise, South Norwood will do the same. It is a long away match, and thus I will promise to give you all good notice for this game.

To conclude, both Paul Durrant and myself lost on 2 and 1 respectively, wins were secured by Nick Pelling(3), Mark Hogarth(9) and also Nick Inglis (10) (Nice one!). The others all weighed in with draws, Ian Henderson, Paul Shepherd, Angus James, Heiko Cassens and Malcolm Groom. Well done to all of these...  

Chris Briscoe 5 December 2010