North Circular Chess League, Division A, 16 January 2019
Barnet 5½-½ Ilford
Report by Jef Page
Grade BARNET 5½ – ½ ILFORD Grade
209 T GAVRIEL 1-0 JULIAN HUDSON 176 
197 A ETHELONTIS 1-0 NEVILLE TWITCHELL 174 (b)
195 R SAGALL 1-0 TOM BARTON 168
168 J RUBECK ½ TONY KENT 151
158 P MYERS 1-0 SYD KALINSKY 141
125 M JONES 1-0 MALCOLM GESTHUYSEN 139
The rare luxury of being non-playing captain wasn’t worth anything as Ilford suffered a grim night against a very strong team.
The match started badly for us as Malcolm Gesthuysen played into a poor opening but worse, suffered a quick defeat in barely 13 moves as Mike Jones checkmated him with just rook and knight. This was followed by Julian Hudson allowing Gavriel to swiftly bring his queen into the attack and then Julian erred badly missing a check that cost him a rook and the game. Ethelontis and Sagall both had good positions and wore down their opponents. Neville could never break out of his cramped position and Tom held on into the endgame as well but a final passed pawn left Sagall a clear winner.
Only 2 of our players had plus positions. Kalinsky’s delayed King’s Gambit type opening and development was fine but he lost control and a knight. Rubeck sac’ed a bishop for a rook which gained him no advantage but Tony Kent had to take care and with time running short on both clocks they agreed draw.
We are still seeking our first match win in the North Circular League this season.
Jef Page.
Ilford Chess Club 