First, the match details
November 29 2016, Essex Chess League Division 2 at Brentwood Baptist church
Board BRENTWOOD I 2½-5½ ILFORD
1 169 TREVOR COOTE 0-1 NEVILLE TWITCHELL 173 w
2 162 MALCOLM KINGSLEY ½ TOM BARTON 167 b
3 162 GAVIN STRACHAN ½ ANTHONY KENT 153
4 158 RONALD ADAMS 1-0 SYD KALINSKY 148
5 128 ROB DAVIES ½ JEF PAGE 130
6 119 RUSSELL FISHER 0-1 GRANT GERICKE 128
7 103 CHRIS PHILLIPS 0-1 UMAR YUNIS 118
8 Default 0-1 LEONARDO STEFANONI
A good win for Ilford considering the night started with a mix up before setting of from Gants Hill. So, a few us arrived late, but Brentwood’s top board could not make it. So, they moved all of their players up one board and without a substitute defaulted the bottom board so starting the match 0-1 down. Unfortunately, Leonardo meanwhile had to sit out the evening with no opponent to play.Unfortunately it didn’t have a happy ending for Syd as in a minor piece Rooks and Knights ending, Syd blundered away a knight whilst defending a difficult position.
We won in the classic Ilford style: holding the top boards and mopping up points at the bottom. Umar won a neat endgame against Phillips who erred badly. Grant got his queen and rook in behind Fisher’s Kingside, who never really developed his pieces properly. Jef’s Morra Gambit Accepted was well defended by Rob Davies, and he never got anything out of the opening, so a draw was agreed.
On the top boards, Anthony Kent had a decent opening but took a half with all 16 pawns still on the board. Tom Barton seemed to have the better position against Kingsley but also shared the spoils. In a tough encounter was played out on board 1, Neville Twitchell’s favourite d4 line led to Trevor Coote sacrificing a Bishop for pawns, but in the end Neville’s extra piece paid dividends.
This win puts us on top for the moment but Southend, who beat us, have games in hand, and are the divisional favourites.
Finally, pictures from Anthony’s journey to and from the match.
Ilford Chess Club 