Many congratulations to Paul who kept the County Individual title in Bedford hands for the fourth (I think?) year in a row. In typically modest style he supplies the report below and shares a nice game. Thanks to Adrian Matthews for the photo.
I managed not to mess things up this year. I beat Richard Freeman in the morning and Graham Borrowdale beat Adrian Matthews. In the afternoon the top final round results were
Borrowdale(4) 0-1 Valentine(3.5)
Whiteside(3) 0-1 Habershon(4)
Freeman(3) 1-0 Matthews(3)
Ledger(2.5) 1-0 Williamson(3)
My game was the first to finish (see below) so I was guaranteed first place (5/6) but had to wait to see if Graham could catch up. However, Brian Valentine completed a good tournament by winning that game and finishing second on his own with 4.5.
Marc Obi scored 2 and Jan Laming drew with Adrian Elwin in the morning and then won his last game v Ben Pike to finish on a creditable 3 points.
Gerry Nolan. Started the day on 1.5/4. He had tough pairings but drew with Ledger and Elwin to finish on 2.5.
My last three title wins are rather spaced out: 1988, 2007 and 2016.
At 70 I must be the oldest winner, certainly since 1969 when I first came to Bedford. I can’t vouch for what happened before then. Poignantly Branko Pribanich was the previous candidate with his win in 2003. He died (recently) with his record intact.
Paul Habershon, 9th May 2016