Aigburth 2  ½-5½  Atticus, John Ripley Final, Aigburth CC, May 9 2012

Adding to our victories in Divisions One and Two, Atticus last night retained the John Ripley Cup. It was a match of reverses - at least as far as openings went. Andrej faced a reversed Leningrad Dutch, Dave Lawson played a reversed Sicilian Kan, while my game morphed into a reversed King's Indian Attack. There were some more conventional openings too: First to finish was Luke - his brisk demolition of the Taimanov is annotated below -while Dave James was surprised, but not floored, by Nick unleashing the Classical Dutch. Not quite so conventional was Charlie's attempt to play a proper Noteboom which his opponent chose to cross with an odd mixture of e4 and g3. Charlie achieved a stable pawn advantage but faced difficulties in the conversion phase, when a theme of opposite-coloured bishops emerged. It was, then, a somewhat one-sided match, although Aigburth 2 fought hard against the odds, as they had done all season in Division One. 

Atticus take on Aigburth 2 in the Final of the John Ripley Cup this Wednesday at Aigburth Chess Club, St Charles Club, 222 Aigburth Road.

Please come along and support the team in what promises to be an exciting climax to the season.

 Waterloo  4½ -3½  Atticus 1, Wednesday May 2 2012

Matching the achievements of our colleagues in Division 2, Atticus 1 have won the League. Before the match against Waterloo we realised that, although Aigburth (our nearest rival) had equalled our score in match points, they could not surpass our tally of game points. That took some of the pressure off this tie. Nevertheless, we did want to win and Waterloo did a good job of stopping us. Their club had a tough start to the season but, in recent months, they have had better results. On Board 1, Charlie was edged out in an unorthodox French against Gary. Dave Lawson was better very quickly on the Black side of his Kan Sicilian, rapidly achieving both ...d5 and ...e5. I seemed to have a big position against Joe in the English Four Knights but, after some drifting, only won in the time-scramble. Dave James was one of the first to finish, taking a quick draw in a Bb5+ anti-Sicilian. On Board 8, Dave Hurley fell victim to a somewhat accelerated Grand Prix Attack. Vojtech appeared to have real chances from his Bishop's opening but lost a difficult ending. Brian had another nice victory, but the key game was on Board 5: Nick had been winning for a long time with something like four pawns for a piece when he made the mistake of blitzing in his opponent's time trouble. Two pawns dropped off and soon he did not have enough for the piece. So, a downbeat ending to a great league campaign. But the season is not yet over and we have good chances in some of the remaining competitions.

Individual results can be found on the Atticus 1 team page.

 Atticus 3   4½-2½   Prescot, Monday April 23, 2012

Division 2 champions Atticus 3 won their final match of the season in brisk fashion. The match was competitive but Prescot were at a disadvantage in having to default on board 7.  While credit for their success this year should go to the Atticus 3 team as a whole - and to Tom's captaincy -  it is worth noting that Luke has had an outstanding season, scoring 11½/13, while Jim Wiseman and Dave Healiss have also been heavy hitters. Individual results can be found on the Atticus 3 team page.