Essex League – Loss Against Loughton

Another defeat in the Essex league (starting to sound like an old vinyl record with a jumping needle) to finish off the season. Loughton have become a bit of a bogey team for Ilford, even in our good seasons, and we have not taken points off them in quite a while.

Essex Chess League 2017/2018 Division 2
Date: Monday 30 April 2018 Venue: Redbridge Social Centre

Board		Ilford		Loughton
1	154	Mugalu, Hassan	½-½	Bowmer, Kevin	180
2	151	Kent, Anthony R	0-1	Stirling, William J	177
3	149	Kalinsky, Syd	d-1	Faulkner, David J	156
4	143	Klimach, Jason W	1–0	Kershaw, Graham J	140
5	146	Page, Jeffrey	½-½	Van Tol, Martin	137
6	132	Gericke, Grant	0-1	Moth, Simon C	131
7	126	Chauhan, Anurag Singh	0-1	Groce, Ken	121
8	93	Tutu, Marshall	1–0	Newby, Jonathan	114
			3-5

(From Jef’s notes) Bill Stirling got the better of Anthony Kent with pressure down the h-file and central control. Bill was a pawn up and the Rook and Pawn endgame win for him was never in doubt. Grant got Simon Moth in an early tangle but slowly Moth managed to free and develop his pieces, force Grant back and he too couldn’t hold the ending being pawns down. Chauhan found Groce too tough and with his control of the open board, Anurag’s queenside defences became overloaded and he lost a Bishop.

The other games were more pleasant to watch. Mugalu had a tough time on board 1 controlling Bowmer’s attack ,but Hassan calmly held a level Rooks, N & pawns endgame.

Klimach had his pieces pinned down close to his back rank and seemed to be having difficulty developing them properly but Kershaw was in a similar problem. When Jason finally won control of the c-file and the white squares around Kershaw’s uncastled King the win was assured.

Jasonloughton

Our final winner, long overdue after many defeats, was Marshall. Even though he arrived 30 minutes late, did well to beat Newby by crippling his kingside and winning pawns to secure a won endgame.

Marshallloughton

A disappointing end to a dismal season in the Essex League where our cumulative defaults have been highly damaging, and this match was no better. We can only hope for better things next season, particularly with some new players on board.