In the final of the Frank Wood Shield (FWS), first division University 1 defeated second division Witney 1 by 4.5 – 1.5. A convincing enough scoreline; but, because of the FWS handicap system, Witney needed only 2.5 points to retain the shield. So, it was a tight match and the University needed to hold its nerve in a number of close games. Eighty players took part in the Oxford University Congress, held last weekend at Lincoln College. The open section was graced by British Ladies Champion Jovanka Houska. Although the top-rated player by some margin, Jovanka faced strong opposition from the likes of International Master Richard Tozer, Chesham’s Paul Georghiou and Oxford City’s Jon Manley.

Indeed, she was held to a draw by Georghiou in round three while, at the same time, Tozer was defeating Manley in fine fashion as shown below.

Things got worse for Jovanka when, in round four, she carelessly dropped a pawn to Richard Tozer and he ground out a win.

In the final round, Giorghiou and Tozer agreed a quick draw to share first place ahead of Houska and Manley in joint third.

The Major section — for those graded under 170 — was won jointly by two Reading players: Jim Stayt and Ted Matthewson. The under 125 Minor was won, jointly again, by Carl Boni and Yi Ming Lai.

White: Richard Tozer Black: Jon Manley 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0–0 6.Bg5 White’s Averbakh System is aimed against the immediate 6…e5 which gets hit by 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Nd5 winning material.

6…Na6 7.Qd2 c6 Actually, now Black can play 7...e5 because 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Qxd8 Rxd8 10.Nd5 Rd6 is nothing to fear.

8.h4!? e5 9.d5 Nc5 10.f3 Qa5 Jon unpins his knight; but maybe 10...Qb6 was a better way to do it. Better still would be to play 10...a5 and later …a4 and …Qa5.

11.Rb1! Qb4!? 12.g4 White could try to exploit Black’s queen foray with 12.a3 Qb3 13.Bxf6 Bxf6 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.Qxd6; but one can understand Richard’s reluctance to follow this anti-positional line.

12...cxd5 13.cxd5 a5 14.Nh3 Bd7 15.Nf2 Rfc8 16.h5 Be8 17.Be3 a4!? 18.Nb5 Qxd2+ 19.Kxd2 Bf8 20.Rbc1 Nfd7 21.Rc2 Nb8!? 22.Kc1 Bxb5?! The beginning of a faulty plan. 22...Nba6 was much better when Black should hold the endgame.

23.Bxb5 a3?! 24.b4 Nb3+ 25.Kb1 Jon was obviously hoping for 25.axb3 a2 when he’s on top; but White’s answer was too easy to find and now Black’s position is very poor.

25...Rxc2 26.Kxc2 Nd4+ 27.Bxd4 exd4 28.hxg6! This way, Black is denied any hopes of playing …Bh6 and controlling c1 before White grabs the file.

28…hxg6 29.Kb3 Na6 30.Rc1 Bh6 31.Rc4 Be3 32.Nd3 Kf8 33.Bxa6 bxa6 33...Rxa6 34.Rc7 is no improvement 34.Kxa3 f5 35.gxf5 gxf5 36.exf5 Ke7 37.Rc7+ Kf6 38.Rd7 Kxf5 39.Rxd6 Bd2 40.Kb3 a5 41.b5 a4+ 42.Kc4 a3 43.b6 1-0