20th March, 2003

THE opulent surroundings of the RAC Club in Pall Mall, London, played
host last weekend to the cerebral equivalent of the Boat Race, as Oxford
and Cambridge met up for the 121st Varsity Chess Match.

First contested in 1873 at the City of London Chess Club, chess
luminaries such as Howard Staunton and Wilhelm Steinitz encouraged and
supported the fixture in its early days by attending the annual match
between the two famous universities - which is now firmly established in
the record books as the oldest traditional fixture in the chess world.
Former alumni from Varsity Match of the past have included Kingsley
Martin, who went on to become editor of the New Statesman, astronomer
Fred Hoyle, and polymath Jacob Bronowski. This year, it was the turn of
former old boys Barry Martin and Henry Mutkin to keep the tradition
going by generously agreeing to sponsor the event.

The "glittering prize" this year went again to the Light Blues of
Cambridge, led by Scottish IM Eddie Dearing (Peterhouse College) on top
board, who easily retained the Margaret Pugh Gold Cup with an emphatic
6.5-1.5 victory over Oxford. Cambridge now leads the historic series by
a margin of 54 wins to Oxford's 49, with 18 matches drawn. David Hodge
(Trinity College) completed the rout for Cambridge by winning the best
game prize for his victory on board five over Oxford's Erik Tonning
(Lincoln College).

It's now been five years since Oxford last won the Varsity Match;
however next year they look to be firm favourites to do so with a
dramatic strengthening of their squad. Not only will they be acquiring
the services of top GM Luke McShane, they will also have at their
disposal Eddie Dearing, who is defecting from Cambridge to continue his
legal studies at the rival university.

Oxford 1.5-6.5 Cambridge
1 IM R Palliser (Worcester) draw IM E Dearing (Peterhouse); 2 B Merim
(Wadham) draw WGM H Hunt (St John's); 3 A Bigg (Jesus) 0-1 J Vigus
(Clare); 4 K Ozeren (Balliol) 0-1 J Conlon (Christ's); 5 E Tonning
(Lincoln) 0-1 D Hodge (Trinity); 6 H Meyer (Lincoln) 0-1 D Garner
(Peterhouse); 7 M Buckley (St. Hilda's) draw A Domnick (St John's); 8 D
Gunlycke (Merton) 0-1 P Wallden (St John's)
D Hodge - E Tonning
121st Varsity Match, (Bd.5)
French Tarrasch
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 c3 Nc6 7 Ndf3 cxd4 8 cxd4
Qb6 9 a3 a5 10 b3 Be7 11 h4 f6 12 Bd3 Nf8 13 h5 Bd7 14 Ne2 0-0-0 15 Rb1
Rg8 16 b4 axb4 17 Bd2 Qa5 18 axb4 Bxb4 19 0-0 Bxd2 20 Nxd2 Be8 21 Nb3
Qa7 22 Nc5 b6 23 Na4 Nd7 24 Bb5 Kb7 25 Bxc6+ Kxc6 26 Qc2+ Kb7 27 Rfc1
Kb8 28 Qc6 Nc5 29 Rxb6+ Nb7 30 Qc7+ Ka8 31 Qc8+ 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON