Rise of the Romulus Empire

They came, they played, and they conquered.

Similarities between the empire and the club were plentiful as Romulus conquered all in the recently concluded University practice league G30.Even the ides of March did not slow them down. The part of Marc Anthony played by Tony Yearwood who was perfect on board 1 and with Allan Caesar Herbert in command of the legions (they played 8 players in the 3 rounds) all were forced to render unto Caesar!

The first round saw a showdown of QEH vs. the Romulus club while the Power Pawns met University of The West Indies (UWI).QEH was missing one doctor (He called in sick!!) and Doctors Carlos Chase, Areti and Nanduri along with Mr. John Clarke could not find a cure for the scourge of Romulus’ Tony Yearwood, Martin Hall, Stephen Gittens, Dr. Ronald Moseley (the traitor!!) and Allan Herbert and went down 5 – 0.Power Pawns meanwhile were schooling the UWI team with Dr. Philip Corbin, Rawle Polius,V Callender, W Wilson and S. Niles charging up for an electrifying 4-1 win over a UWI team not fielding the 3 top boards (Perhaps held up after their electricity was cut off mysteriously!).Women’s champ Rosamund Holder and Brian Vaughan held on with Rosamund pulling out the only point for UWI.

Round 2 saw Romulus’ legions take on UWI and Justin Blackman Michael Barker and Rohan Garnes subbing on boards 2, 4 and 5 against the still depleted UWI only Brian Vaughan could stop the ‘miseducation ‘ of UWI as they went down 41/2 – ˝.. Power Pawns kept the current flowing by overcharging the QEH team 4 1/2 – ˝ with only John Clarke able to hold on for a draw against the freshly subbed Medford coming in for Wilson.

Round 3 was a nail biter! With the Power Pawns only 1 point behind the gods looked to be about to play a cruel trick on the Romulus empire. After quick consultation it was obvious that something must be done. Romulus called out their secret weapon. The Roach!!! The Empire was striking back! Power Pawns were clearly taken aback and only hoped his absence would mean a default loss. Instead Philip Roach made a triumphal return to chess and inspired headlines of “Roach crushes man” as Power Pawns experienced a power outage and went down 41/2 – ˝  with only a draw between Wilson and Rohan Garnes to show after their previous high voltage performances. UWI and QEH drew 21/2 – 21/2 with default wins for QEH on board 1 and UWI on 5 but with Kofi Hinds and Amilton Wilson turning up for boards 2 and 3 respectively for UWI. Dr Y Areti won against Kofi Hinds while John Clarke drew with Amilton Wilson and Rosamund was again in winner’s row against Dr Nanduri.

Final Standings:

Romulus       14 / 15

Power Pawns 9

UWI              4

QEH             3

Despite some early challenges (the room was changed at the last min and when we arrived the door was locked) leading to a 3.30 (scheduled for 3.00) start I think the event went smoothly. The short time control (game in 30 minutes) and the team format generated great camaraderie and the event was clearly about more than chess. It was good to see some of the old faces like Frank Jordan, Philip Roach, Stephen Gittens, Martin Hall and even Ronald Moseley. Make no mistake ratings or no ratings this was a competitive affair and I’m sure we will hear about Tony’s win over Corbin for years (or longer!) to come. Afterwards Philip Roach demonstrated how the newest young star of bajan chess (Tony Yearwood!) avoided Corbin’s attempts by using matrix like evasion techniques! I think I left some Combermerians reminiscing about old times in the room. They might still be there today…