Visit to Berlin 2009
Visit date: Thursday, 19th - Sunday, 22nd February 2009
A team of nine players from St Albans club played three of the city’s premier chess clubs. On Thursday the team arrived at London City airport, only to find that their outward flight was cancelled due to snow in Berlin. The team eventually arrived in the city 5 hours later than scheduled, having been diverted via Munich.
S.C.Keuzberg (Friday, 20th February)
The first match was on Friday 20th Feb was against S C Keuzberg in West Berlin, with a 3 hour playing session (90 minutes per player). Our hosts fielded 3 players rated above ELO 2200 (ECF 200) and won the match 6 - 3. The match was closer than the result would indicate, when both J.Fraser-Mitchell and I.Gooding had winning chances in their drawn games. L.Isella saved the team’s blushes with a win.
| Bd | S.C.Kreuzberg | Result | St Albans | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N.Sprotte | 1 - 0 | C.Majer | |
| 2 | L.Steinhardt | ½ - ½ | J.Fraser-Mitchell | |
| 3 | M.Pflantz | ½ - ½ | I.Gooding | |
| 4 | W.Lohr | 1 - 0 | P.Lawrence | |
| 5 | M.Hazic | 0 - 1 | L.Isella | |
| 6 | U.Giese | 1 - 0 | I.Cross | |
| 7 | B.Grosse-Honebrink | ½ - ½ | R.Claret | |
| 8 | H.Bindewald | ½ - ½ | T.Douse | |
| 9 | M.Glienke | 1 - 0 | P.Baker | |
| 6 - 3 |
Rotation Pankow and Schachfreunde Nord-Ost (Saturday, 21st February)
On Saturday the team ventured through the snow to visit the premises of the Rotation Pankow club in East Berlin, who co-hosted the chess event with a second East Berlin club Schachfreunde Nord-Ost. The event was a 4 round Swiss tournament, with each player playing 40 minutes per game (20 minutes per player). The result was a comprehensive victory for our hosts by 27 - 9. Rotation Pankow in particular fielded a very strong team, having several titled players. The Team’s individual scores are shown below.
| Bd | St Albans | Rnd 1 | Rnd 2 | Rnd 3 | Rnd 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C.Majer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2 | J.Fraser-Mitchell | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 3 | I.Gooding | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 4 | P.Lawrence | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 | L.Isella | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 6 | I.Cross | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | R.Claret | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | |
| 8 | T.Douse | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 9 | P.Baker | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1½ | |
| 1½ | 3 | 3 | 1½ | 9 |