Oxford wins!

129th Varsity Chess Match: Oxford University v Cambridge University, 5 March 2011

Report by John Saunders: The 129th Varsity Chess Match between Oxford University and Cambridge University takes place at the RAC Club, Pall Mall, London on Saturday 5 March 2011. The match sponsor is Henry Mutkin, as generous and genial a host as any match could hope to have. The match arbiter is David Sedgwick.

Captains were Yangshi Yu (Oxford) and Alexander James Gordon-Brown (Cambridge). The match commenced at 12.30pm, with the time control set at 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by one hour for all remaining moves.

First result at 4.20pm – all the games involved time scrambles to some degree. Just around the four-hour mark, Oxford went into a 2½-½ lead and not long thereafter completed their victory 4½-1½. Cambridge won the final two games, on board seven and eight, to narrow the gap but in truth it might have been a more comfortable win for Oxford had they taken all their opportunities. The Bob Wade prize went to the Armenian player David Zakarian, while the best game prize went to the draw between Athanasios Tsanas and Christopher Graw on board four.

The overall scores in the series (which started in 1873) are Cambridge 56 wins, Oxford 53 wins and 20 drawn matches.

http://www.bcmchess.co.uk/news/varsity2011.html

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