MALVERN Chess Club ended their three year title drought when they won the Worcester and District League knockout cup by beating Kidderminster Knights in the final.

The only major scare on the way to the final came against the defending champions Kiddermin-ster Rooks in the second round.

As the Rooks are in the second division they are awarded a 1 point advantage so that Malvern had to win by a clear two points. With only one game unfinished, Malvern led by two wins to one but Ken Durnell had made use of the advantage of the white pieces to achieve a drawish endgame against Geoffrey Herbert on board three.

However a slight lapse of concentration cost him a pawn allowing Geoffrey to win and secure Malvern's place in the semi-finals.

There was nearly an all Malvern final as Kidderminster Knights had to work hard to overcome Malvern's second team in the semi-final. Malvern lost on boards one and four. Maurice Ginger had a draw on board two and the match depended on board three. A win here with the 1 point bonus would have given Malvern the match.

Peter Yates came under heavy pressure from Edward Nesbitt but just managed to hold on for a draw with only two minutes left on his clock.

Malvern were the underdogs in the final as the Knights were the league champions and had won the previous four encounters.

The results were as follows Malvern players first. Malvern had black on the odd boards.

1) B Turner 1, J Friar 0; 2) I Clarke , M Bissell ; 3) G Herbert 1, J Wrench 0; 4) S Tombs 0, F Pickett 1.

Malvern got off to a good start with a quick win on board three. In a hyper-accelerated Dragon opening, Geoffrey delayed the fianchetto of his black squared bishop. John overlooked the possibility of the bishop being developed on the other diagonal and lost on move ten when it pinned the white queen against the king.

The Rubinstein variation of the French Defence was played on board two. Both players played carefully, several pieces were exchanged and a draw was agreed.

On board one Brian played the Petroff Defence and Jim Friar countered with a dangerous 19th Century gambit, following it up with a piece sacrifice to strengthen his attack. However Brian remained cool, calm and collected in the face of the onslaught and gradually diffused the white threats. Eventually Jim's attacking potential was exhausted and as he had not managed to regain his sacrificed material he resigned, giving Malvern the game and the cup.

The game on board four was the last to finish, with the advantage swinging from side to side in the middle game. The game could have gone either way but in the queen and pawn endgame Frank Pickett managed to grind out a win giving Kidderminster a consolation point.

See Malvern's web site on http://www.communigate.co.uk/worcs/malvernchess.