Essex Chess League Division 2 Thursday 20th October, at Barking
BARKING II 4-4 ILFORD Venue: St Ethelburga Club, Barking
Unfortunately Ilford couldn’t find a last minute reserve to make a full team, but in the end, it was probably Barking who escaped with the draw.
Neville made short work of Colin Ramage who left a piece en prise. Kalinsky made a welcome return to the team after his recent operation but couldn’t end his recuperation with a win. On the bottom boards Umar Yunis created a terrific attack but went astray and lost a knight, whilst Leonardo although a pawn down, calmly held his game together so well he secured a draw.
Tom Barton clogged up Ken Clow’s queenside but couldn’t quite find the win, but Anthony Kent’s Dutch defence held off Bennett’s aggressive early e4 line creating a strong pawn chain leading to victory.
The drawn match was clinched when Jef put in an attack with two knights which won the exchange, and with his rooks controlling the centre, allowed a win in the endgame with just seconds remaining – the extra 10 seconds per move proving crucial.
Board Barking II 4-4 Ilford
1 161 Colin Ramage 0-1 Neville Twitchell 173
2 153 Kenneth Clow ½-½ Tom Barton 167
3 142 Christopher Bennett 0-1 Anthony Kent 153
4 135 Gholamreza Ansari 1-0 Syd Kalinsky 148
5 129 George Monk 0-1 Jeffrey Page 130
6 126 Vladimir Chtym 1-0 Umar Yunis 118
7 90 Alexander Bowhill ½-½ Leonardo Stefanoni 109
8 132 John Figgins 1-0 Default
Ilford Chess Club 