Ilford 1 v Thurrock 1, Monday 24 October 2022.
6 board match, G80 + 10
Jef Page, captain.
ILFORD I 4½ – 1½ THURROCK I
1. 1930 TOM BARTON ½ BARRY SHEPPARD 1810
2. 1965 NEVILLE TWITCHELL ½ IAN WOODWARD 1805
3. 1644 JEF PAGE 1-0 JIM ARBUCKLE 1733
4. 1556 ADHAR JAISWAL ½ MATHEW WILSON 1530
5. 1575 TAHA UNDRE 1-0 MALCOLM CRANE 1488
6. 1600 MUHAMMED FAHEEM 1-0 RUDI VAN LITSENBORGH 1550
1713 Average grade 1653
Toss won by Ilford, White on odd boards.
On one of the worst nights for quiet and concentration in chess matches with bangers & rockets going off overhead during Diwali (the other is Guy Fawkes night) the last thing you want is a player dropping out at 7pm. So a quick text from Tom brought an answer from Faheem who made his instant debut for Ilford and rapid promotion for the bottom 3 players who were instantly promoted. Muhammed got into trouble, as he dropped pawns facing Van Litsenborgh’s Queen & Rook, but he completely outplayed Rudi in the ending to force a queen promotion. With Taha winning a Knight we soon went 2-nil up but the other games were much closer.
I played a very passive and restrained (for me) 3-N‘s opening but after fiddling around trying o develop my pieces I decided I’d had enough of that, gambled, and attacked. It paid off when I won a N, only to blunder it back minutes later in the time scramble, but when I offered Arbuckle an exchange of Q’s (who declined a draw offer) he made another move and I picked off his Q for nothing. Neville strong opening yielded a N for 2 pawns but as Woodard’s pawns dangerously advanced down the board Nev thought it best to return the bit and a draw was agreed. On top board Tom had the attack out of a Dragon Sicilian opening but couldn’t quite find the winning combination to break through Sheppard’s K-side. So we race to the top of the table. Let’s hope we can stay there. Thanks to everyone who played.
Ilford Chess Club 