Essex Chess League Div 2 Monday 27th February, 7.30pm
Redbridge Social Centre. Barking white on odds.
ILFORD 5½ – 2½ BARKING II
1. NEVILLE TWITCHELL 172 ½ COLIN RAMAGE 158
2. TOM BARTON 170 1-0 KEN CLOW 151
3. ANTHONY KENT 153 ½ MIKE CRESSWELL 138
4. JASON KLIMACH 147 ½ GHOlAMREZA ANSARI 140
5. SYD KALINSKY 148 ½ VLADIMIR CHYTM 137
6. JEF PAGE 137 1-0 ROBERT STEBBINGS 113
7. GRANT GERICKE 139 ½ TONY LOH 105
8.LEONARDO STEFANONI 116 1-0 ALEX BOWHILL 86
A good result for Ilford against Barking: 5 draws and 3 wins so no Ilford players lost (edited from Jef’s notes).
It’s been an exceptional period for Ilford since November. Ilford have been unbeaten in the Essex League (played 5, won 5) and the North Circular League, where having played 10 so far this season, won 7, drew 3- still unbeaten.
The match started well for us and we were never losing. Bowhill’s Caro Kann was quickly demolished as Leonardo soon caught Alex in a classical smothered mate (not quite a miniature, but only 17 moves)- something rarely seen over the board in a match. Kalinsky played a neat opening and won a pawn, but having to nurse 2 sets of doubled pawns of his own proved too much, and Vladimir Chytm adroitly tied Syd down. On the top boards, Ramage v Twitchell played into a level middle game. Anthony Kent had a very tame Black Lion and could not make any progress. Klimach had an interesting accelerated Dragon, but again honours even. Tpm Barton made his space advantage tell. He won a pawn against Ken Clow’s Sicilian and with a queenside majority, Tom cleverly sacrificed a Rook for a Knight and another pawn, to push his passed pawns home to victory. The oddest game of the night was Grant Gericke’s. He won a Knight playing the Modern Defense but then missed the chance to win a Bishop as well. This proved costly as suddenly Loh went pawns ahead and began to push them up the board. Both players were desperately short of time & rushing their moves, and Tony tried to checkmate Grant with a Rook, Bishop and King, only to blunder and stalemate Grant- so only a draw. Jef always had Stebbings under pressure. He declined Jef’s Morra Gambit, but Jef obtained a strong queenside position and with a knight dug in on b6 hampering his development won a Rook for a Knight, quickly wrapped the ending.
This puts us back on top of division 2 but only because we’ve played one more match than our nemesis Southend who are 2nd.
The clash on Boards 1 & 2, Boards 3 & 4, and 7 & 8.
Ilford Chess Club 