North Circular Chess League, Ilford v Wanstead 1 20 June 2022
2 games with reversed colours. Rapid time control 20+10
Tom Barton (21.06.2022)
I was captain for the evening as Jef was off sick with Covid and late in the day Rahul also advised he was sick, diagnosed later as chicken pox! The Baum league default board count is 4, with an increase by agreement. This match had been agreed to be 8 boards but very sportingly Mark Murrell (Wanstead captain) agreed a reduction on the night to a 7 board match.
Wanstead turned up with a strongish team (average grade 1897) and I expected a tough evening but the team played really well and pushed Wanstead all the way. In round 1 Dlawar, up against Artur Sygulski (IM, 2336 rapid grade, world rank 3994), played really well to get Artur into time trouble and win his game. Venkatesh also won but Neville and I struggled. The bottom three drew so at the end of round one the score was 3.5-3.5 with everything to play for. In round 2 the games appeared to be going in our favour causing some concern to Mark as a spectating non-playing captain. Venkatesh made it 2 from 2, Neville had a plus but had to agree a draw in an opposite coloured bishop endgame. I got crushed by Ashley but Anthony appeared to be winning as was Daniel. Anthony lost his way somewhere for a draw, Anurag lost and Daniel converted to a win. The match hung on top board but this time around Artur showed technique to open Dlawar’s closed pawn position up and win. So a second round loss 4-3 and overall loss just 6.5 – 7.5.
A very good evening for Dlawar, Venkatesh and Daniel who is improving fast.
The full match result can be found here: https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/98340
Ilford Chess Club 