The Beet Bishops came third out of nine teams in Division One. In spite of our racing start, we were never realistically going to win the League. Linton A were far too strong, regularly fielding 170+ players on Board 4, and winning 14 out of their 16 matches. For a long time we were neck and neck with Bury Cannons A, but a disappointing finish meant that we slipped behind the men from Suffolk. That said, we finished more than 10 points clear of Cambridge Choristers in fourth place, winning 9 and drawing 3 of our 16 matches.
Ironically, I (Martyn) had probably my best ever season for the club on top board, undefeated in my 15 games and scoring 11.5 points. I say “ironically” because my work commitments meant that I was often late for games, and sometimes not even sure until a short time beforehand if I was going to be able to play. I would have scored even more highly if I had managed to beat three opponents rated in the 130s/140s. My best results were wins against Ben Morgan (194) and Mike Harris (200), although in neither game was my play anywhere near perfect. Showing once again that the way to win is not necessarily to play perfectly – it can be more important to give your opponent chances to go wrong.
Mark and Richard were very much the engine room of the team on boards two and three respectively. Mark scored 6.5/13 and Richard 8.5/15. Mark’s best win was probably against Philip Fallon (171) of Cambridge Academicals, and there was no disgrace in losing to Martin Walker (200) and Kevin Clark (195) both of Linton. Richard was very solid, not managing to beat anyone rated higher than 135, but only losing three times and excellently holding Paul Kemp (179) in the big match against Linton.
Mike began the season on board 4, scoring 3.5/8. But when Jacob arrived from Poland, Mike selflessly insisted on standing aside. Jacob began with a loss against Colin Byrne (137), giving his Queen away for nothing when winning a blitz finish. His second game with Jim McWilliams (136) ended in controversy, but the players later sportingly agreed a draw rather than have the game sent for formal resolution. Then Jacob stepped up a gear, albeit against relatively weak opposition, ending on a promising 4/6. Fraser was also kind enough to turn out as reserve on a number of occasions early in the season, scoring 2.5/4.
Next season promises to be more of the same. Unless we can attract at least one more 170+ player we are unlikely to sustain a challenge for the trophy. But we fear no team and have shown that we can beat anyone on the night.