CXL Varsity Match 2022

[J T Melsom]

Historic winners here. https://www.bucachess.org.uk/winners. Nothing to suggest that the tournament won't revert to over the board in future years.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Thanks, impressive by Warwick, perhaps broadly comparable at the top with Oxbridge then.

[MartinCarpenter]

Thanks, impressive by Warwick, perhaps broadly comparable at the top with Oxbridge then.

I did always wonder about that when at Warwick - OK the organisation will of course come and go - but their player base should be pretty close to Oxbridge in principle. They get loads of very good maths people.

Or are Oxford/Cambridge simply numerically bigger when you combine all the colleges?

We did pretty well in the bridge when I was going through, winning the year after I left. Oxbridge do dominate that much more strongly though.

[John Upham]

A gallery of 53 items from the match has been published at


https://johnupham.smugmug.com/Chess/Varsity-Matches

vcm_7148_lv.jpg

[JustinHorton]

Is Speelman all right?

[John Upham]

Is Speelman all right?

You could Tweet him that query: I'm sure he would appreciate your concern.

https://twitter.com/JonSpeelman

[LawrenceCooper]

Is Speelman all right?

Is there any reason for asking? He's been in good spirits at the recent 4NCLs.

[JustinHorton]

He doesn't look great in his photo, nothing more than that.

[David Sedgwick]

Is Speelman all right?

Is there any reason for asking? He's been in good spirits at the recent 4NCLs.

He seemed to be fine when I spoke to him at the match.

[John Upham]

He doesn't look great in his photo, nothing more than that.

I never look great but I presume that is the difference.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

some concerns on board three for Cambridge where their former advantage has not played with computer like precision, and whilst Cambridge are still winning on board eight, the computer's assessment of that probability probably does not accord with human experience. This is why one wants points on the board already.

Were these boards key in the end? They ended up drawn, but could have been wins for Cambridge, which would have resulted in a 4-4 scoreline? Or would Cambridge have needed more?

Thanks to John Saunders for his 'live commentary' at the BritBase site:

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/2 ... iewer.html

The games are also up on there (though not had a chance to look at them properly yet).

[Christopher Kreuzer]

A gallery of 53 items from the match has been published at


https://johnupham.smugmug.com/Chess/Varsity-Matches

Nice photos, John. Loved the ones of Michael Stean and the one of Matthew Sadler with 'his' car!

[Jonathan Rogers]

some concerns on board three for Cambridge where their former advantage has not played with computer like precision, and whilst Cambridge are still winning on board eight, the computer's assessment of that probability probably does not accord with human experience. This is why one wants points on the board already.

Were these boards key in the end? They ended up drawn, but could have been wins for Cambridge, which would have resulted in a 4-4 scoreline? Or would Cambridge have needed more?

Thanks to John Saunders for his 'live commentary' at the BritBase site:

https://www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/2 ... iewer.html

The games are also up on there (though not had a chance to look at them properly yet).

Yes, they did prove to be critical. It would have been impressive if Cambridge had won both but they probably relied on a win on board eight in order to get a draw. In the event, the game on board eight continued to be played well for a long time for Cambridge, but was blown at more or less the last opportunity to go wrong (Kxg5?? when either g3 or g4 would have concluded the game safely).

But these things happen when a team leaves its needed wins until the last few minutes of play ...