Essex Summer Knockout Rapidplay- Plate ¼ Final
Tuesday 23rd July, 7.45pm
Report by Jef Page
THURROCK 2½-7½ ILFORD
Rnd 1 Rnd 2
158r JOE DERRETT 1-0 0-1 TOM BARTON 167r
145r F BUTTERWORTH-PARR ½-½ 0-1 NEVILLE TWITCHELL 156r
100r ANDREW OFFORD 0-1 0-1 HASSAN MUGALU 151r
104s DEREK REYNOLDS ½-½ ½-½ SYD KALINSKY 157r
RICHARD BALL 0-1 0-1 JEF PAGE 143r
---- ----
2-3 ½-4½
2½-7½
Toss won by Ilford, White on odd boards Round 1.
What started off as a tense match ended easily for Ilford. A serious traffic accident in front of us almost closed the road but once we got around that delay we arrived in good time on a very hot night. The 1st round was very close as Tom lost control in a Scotch opening but we did just enough to get ahead as Syd held out a pawn down in a tricky R&P ending and I came up with a combination that worked but not in the way I had planned. We played 20 minutes plus 10 seconds a move and I only had barely 1 minute left.
Hassan played well in both games overwhelming Offord. In Round 2 he got his Q&B strongly lined up against Reynolds’ undefended King and eventually the pressure told and Hassan won a piece and the ending. Tom had already won quickly and Neville won Butterworth-Parr’s Queen for 2 Rooks and whilst Francis might have held out, a check threatened a Rook and he resigned, unwisely and prematurely! In the first game Ball played very defensively but in the 2nd he came at me with a quick speculation Knight sacrifice but failed to follow it up correctly and when he overlooked my Knight fork on both his Rook’s I won easily. The evening’s funniest moment was when Reynolds accidently made an illegal move- his Bishop retreated by jumping over a pawn! Syd’s howl of astonishment and complaint “What kind of move do you call that?!” could be heard in Ilford.
We now reach the semi-final of the Plate competition. It will be against Upminster 1, at Ilford, on a Monday in August, date to be agreed.
