|
|
Ilford |
R1 |
R2 |
Thurrock |
|
1 |
Neville Twitchell 162 r (B, W) |
1-0 |
1-0 |
Ian Woodward 154r (W,B) |
|
2 |
Tom Barton 154 r |
0-1 |
1-0 |
Joe Derrett 160 s |
|
3 |
Jef Page 138 r (146B s) Hassan Mugalu 161 r |
1-0
|
1-0 |
Miroslaw Wysocki UG |
|
4 |
Anthony Kent 144E r |
½-½ |
1-0 |
F Butterworth-Parr 142r |
|
5 |
Syd Kalinsky 147E r |
0-1 |
1-0 |
Malcolm Crane 112r |
|
|
2½-2½ |
5-0 |
||
|
|
Ilford |
7½ – 2½ |
Thurrock |
|
Essex Rapidplay Plate semi-final
Monday 23 July 2018
This match looked easy on paper and I was supposed to have the rare luxury of being non-playing captain, but it got very scary, particularly in round 1, as even though I had picked a strong team, Hassan failed to arrive and I subb’ed for him. So we started late, and of course he arrived minutes after we’d started the clocks.
Tom lost a pawn in the opening and never really recovered and with Syd also losing it looked like we we’re going to do poorly in round one. But as last to finish, I won leveling the match when I held off Wysocki’s attack, and in the mad time scramble he made a terrible mistake and I picked off his Queen. So breathing a sigh of relief, we reached the interval at 2½-2½.
After a short break for tea we restarted and this time our quality showed through as Hassan Mugalu took my place. On top board our only winner of both his games was Neville as he outplayed Woodward in the opening and with his better R,N & B won the ending- forcing a pawn home to queen. Syd likewise made it difficult for Malcolm Crane to develop his pieces & Syd won his Queen for a R&B. This time around normal service was resumed as Tom caught Derrett’s King in the centre of the board as Derrett went for an all-out, but futile attack, and Tom also won his opponent’s errant Queen. This win sealed the match for us but it was followed up by both Tony and Hassan winning. In one of his usual ‘creeping’ positional attacks which saw white’s development stifled, when Kent won control of the h-file with his Queen, Butterworth-Parr’s cramped kingside collapsed. And finally Mugalu won a cheap pawn for nothing and with Wysocki also unable to develop his pieces properly, the win was never in doubt- a rare 5-nil rout in round 2.
We now go into the final which wil probably be in mid-September. Our opponents as yet unknown, either: Wanstead A or Upminster B.
Thanks to everyone who played. It shows what we can achieve with a strong team playing.
Jef Page.
Ilford Chess Club 