Cambridge emerged victorious at the 125th Varsity Match, held yesterday in lavish surroundings at the RAC clubhouse, Pall Mall. After a balanced opening session, Cambridge raced into a 4-1 lead at the end of the first time control, and Elizabeth Roberts scored the crucial half-point to secure victory, the final score being 5-3 to Cambridge.
After the short journey down from Cambridge, the opening ceremony was held at 12:00. After a somewhat unusual method of determining colours, which fortunately secured for us black on odd boards, which we agreed beforehand we wanted. Then, at 12:30 play was underway, as we sought to avenge last years narrow defeat.
After a mixture of fairly standard openings and some rather more unconventional stuff (the board four game commencing 1.e4 c5 2.a3), first blood was drawn on board two, when reigning Jamaican champion Duane Rowe scored a short, sharp victory over WM Olena Boytsun to give Cambridge the lead, and also earned himself the Cambridge best game prize. This lead was shortlived however, as Richard Mycroft's unusual opening choice failed to pay off, and after a tactical struggle Tom Eckersley-Waites forced checkmate to level the scores at 1-1, for which he was awarded the Oxford best game prize.
This remained the state of play up until the time control, when out of seemingly-level positions Cambridge won three more boards, with Adam Eckersley-Waites, Gustav Holzegel and Tom Nixon defeating Robert Heaton, Steffen Schaper and Alvar Kangur in time scrambles. Tom's win was especially nice as it was a defeat to the same opponent in time trouble last year which cost Cambridge the match.
So, as if out of nothing Cambridge led 4-1. Shortly after the time control this was 4-2, as the experience of Grandmaster Luke Mcshane paid off in a clinical victory on board one. This left boards seven and eight to determine the match, both in positions which looked rather drawish but with winning chances for Oxford. Thus it remained for another hour, with the tension rising amongst both the players and the crowds of spectators around both boards. Finally Elizabeth Roberts, the Cambridge board eight managed to force a draw by repetition, and the match was won, causing much rejoicing amongst the Cambridge team. With the result of the match determined, the players on board seven were playing just for pride, and agreed a draw a couple of moves later to leave the final score 5-3 to Cambridge.
Speaking after the match, Oxford captain Herve Hansen expressed thanks to the sponsors and the arbiters, and congratulated Cambridge on winning "a thrilling match". He added, "it was a dramatic turnaround just like last year - unfortunately, unlike last year, it was a turnaround for the worse."
Cambridge captain Sean Lip also thanked those who made the match possible, his Cambridge team for doing a "good job", and the Oxford team for a good match. This victory leaves the scores over the history of the match as 56 to Cambridge, 51 to Oxford, with 18 draws.
Oxford 3 - 5 Cambridge GM Luke McShane 1 - 0 David Hodge WM Olena Boytsun 0 - 1 NM Duane Rowe Alvar Kangur 0 - 1 Tom Nixon Tom Eckersley-Waites 1 - 0 Richard Mycroft Robert Heaton 0 - 1 Adam Eckersley-Waites Steffen Schaper 0 - 1 Gustav Holzegel Chris Rawlinson DRAWN Andreas Werner Edward Stembridge DRAWN Elizabeth Roberts
Cambridge Captain Sean Lip with the Varsity Match Trophy
The victorious Cambridge team, minus Adam who had to leave early