Open Midweek AC Advanced Tournament

Although the tournament was initially over-subscribed, following a number of late withdrawals the entry was reduced to 13 on the day, which made the original plan to run two independent blocks impractical. It was therefore decided to have instead just a single block using a semi-flexible Swiss format, biased where practical to match players with handicaps above zero against each other, with the winner going to the player with the largest percentage of wins from a minimum of 5 games, and which included a virtual 'B' block with the prize going to the player with handicap above zero with the largest net index point gain.

The first day was played in fine, sunny weather. It started with an upset when the defending champion Nigel Polhill lost his first game to Charlie Martin. Nigel's woes then continued a little later when faulting a slightly hampered roquet after 2-back in the middle of a tp against Simon Hathrell. This allowed Simon an easy start for his own attempt at a tp, which he duly completed. Meanwhile Bryan Harral had a solid run, including a crucial +12 against David Marsh, to end the first day as the only player on 3 wins.

The weather forecast had suggested that wet weather gear would probably be needed for the second day, but to everyone's surprise it remained dry all day, and the sun even managed to put in a few brief appearances. Bryan extended his lead with a convincing +24 win over Charlie Martin while Nigel despatched Geoff Johnson, and so Bryan and Nigel met in the next round. This proved to be a close encounter in which Bryan pegged out one of Nigel's balls to leave a 3-ball ending with Bryan on 1 and peg vs Nigel on 4-back and box. Nigel missed several long shots while Bryan made steady progress with his backward ball, eventually picking up a 3-ball break. He approached rover off Nigel's ball... and failed a short angled hoop. So Nigel picked up a simple 3bb with which he finished to win +3 and give Bryan his first loss.

Meanwhile John Gosden, one of the two highest handicappers in the entry, was having a particularly good tournament. By the last round he was on 3/4, his only loss having been against Nigel on the first day, while Bryan was still in the lead on 4/5. David Marsh was also on 3/4 but had lost to Bryan on the previous day, so David took on Nigel and a game between Bryan and John G would be the other critical contest since all the others had at most 2 wins. David beat Nigel with a comfortable +25tp, breaking a run of failed tp attempts, and set up a potentially awkward situation to determine the winner if John could beat Bryan. A tie-breaking analysis concluded that John would win the title by a narrow margin on the third tie-breaker if he beat Bryan. Given the big difference in handicaps Bryan was the clear favourite, but John was on top form and defied expectations to keep a lead, eventually making it to 4-back and peg while Bryan still trailed on 4-back and 1, until Bryan finally picked up a break which he managed to take round and peg John out. John's shooting was excellent, and twice he hit in with long shots, but twice failed to run 4-back from his approach, so in his second consecutive 3-ball ending Bryan eventually won to take the title. John's consolation was that he had still done enough to win the virtual 'B' block anyway.

Report by Simon Hathrell

Results: Results vs.: BH DM CM JG NP JN SH JSi HB JSa GJ SM RT SCORE W-L % MATCH POINTS WIN QLTY NET INDEX POINTS Bryan Harral   +12 +24 +4 -3     +6 +7         5-1 83% - 2.87 +28 David Marsh -12       +25tp +18   +6   +10       4-1 80% - 1.87 -3 Charlie Martin -24     -10 +13     +6 +9   +21     4-2 67% - 1.70 +27 John Gosden -4   +10   -11         +19 +3     3-2 60% - 1.40 +38 Nigel Polhill +3 -25tp -13 +11     -7tp       +21   +19 4-3 57% - 1.76 -23 John Noble   -18         -15 -23 +8 +14 +18     3-3 50% - 1.13 +20 Simon Hathrell         +7tp +15               2-0 40% 5 1.07 +12 Jonathan Smith -6 -6 -6     +23           +21   2-3 40% 5 0.70 -23 Heather Bennett -7   -9     -8           +10 +25 2-3 40% 1 0.20 -5 John Smallbone   -10   -19   -14           +20 +5 2-3 40% 1 0.20 +7 Geoff Johnson     -21 -3 -21 -18           +18 +17 2-4 33% - 0.20 -18 Stephen Mills               -21 -10 -20 -18   +15 1-4 20% - 0.00 -26 Robin Tasker         -19       -25 -5 -17 -15   0-5 0% - 0.00 -34 WINNER Bryan Harral Participants Name Club H'cap David Marsh Wrest Park -1½ Nigel Polhill Hurlingham -1 Simon Hathrell Watford -1 Bryan Harral Wrest Park -½ Jonathan Smith Ryde -½ Charlie Martin Ramsgate 1½ John Noble Letchworth 2½ Heather Bennett St. Albans 2½ Geoff Johnson Watford 2½ Stephen Mills St. Albans 3 Robin Tasker Chester 4 John Gosden Guildford & Godalming 4½ John Smallbone Watford 4½ Handicap change: Robin Tasker 4 to 4.5. John Gosden won the Cassiobury Salver. Click on image to enlarge