Surbiton A team in the Thames Valley Division 1 and Knock-Out Competitions Season 2013-14 Review
Rather later than I had originally intended, here is my captain's report for the Thames Valley first team for the 2013-2014 season. No excuses really other than the need to spend a little time on my chess (with mixed results sadly)!
Anyway, let's start with the final Thames Valley League 1 table for 2013-2014:-
P
P
W
D
L
U
BD
De
Pts
Richmond A
12
10
0
2
0
26
0
10
Ealing A
12
9
1
2
0
24
0
9½
Surbiton A
12
7
2
3
0
29
0
8
Wimbledon A
12
6
1
5
0
11
0
6½
Richmond B
12
3
2
7
0
-35
3
4
Kingston A
12
2
2
8
0
-23
4
3
Wimbledon B
12
0
2
10
0
-32
0
1
We came third for the third season in a row. The 8/12 points gathered this time around compare favourably with last year's 9/14 (Maidenhead A's late withdrawal meant two less matches in Div 1 this season). However that is only part of the story. Looking at our net board score we actually ended up winning more chess games than any other team. When we won, we really rolled over the opposition and got six or more points from a match seven times in the season. When we were at our best we were really flying and were in contention right up until the end, which was very pleasing. Unfortunately in this league you really pay for your errors and our home 3-5 loss against what was, on paper (or gradings at least), not the strongest Richmond A side was a big blow. Right at the death we also lost heavily away to Ealing A (who won all of their home matches) and that finally put paid to any chances we had of winning the league.
So we were very close this time around but Richmond A and Ealing A deservedly finished above us. For whatever reason there have always been a couple of matches in each of the last few seasons where we just cannot raise anything like our strongest side, especially away from home. If we can find a way to cope better with that issue we can give ourselves a genuine chance to win the league for the first time in our 66 year history.
Nevertheless, to more than make up for missing out on the league title, we did win the Thames Valley Knock-Out Cup. I think that was just reward for what was a really good team effort during the season. Overall we scored 67% as a team in all competitions this season compared to a recent historic average of 53-57%. That is real performance progress. I have reported on the great cup victory elsewhere.
I am not going to drone on too much about individuals this time around as everyone involved in the team played their part and all should be proud. However I do remain especially grateful to the core members of the team who played in the majority of the matches. Namely, Nick Pelling, Ian Henderson, Steven Jones, Koby Kalavannan, Paul Durrant, Angus James, Chris Briscoe and Stef Bruzzi. Without you guys It would not have been possible to run the team.
