Witham v Ilford 1, Wednesday 16 November 2022.
Essex D2, 6 board match, G80 + 10, Ilford won the toss: White on odd boards
Jef Page, captain.
WITHAM 1½ – 4½ ILFORD
1865 JAMES STEELE 0-1 TOM BARTON 1935
1829 NATHAN BARNES 1-0 RAHUL GHOSE 1929
1582 LYN STIFFELL 0-1 NEVILLE TWITCHELL 1965
1566 SIMON WHITE 0-1 VENKATESH SUBRAMANIAN 1801
1561 BARRIE WHITE 0-1 JEF PAGE 1644
1278 MICAEL HARRISON ½ ADHAR JAISWAL 1556
1605 Av grade: 1805
Full details see the ECF LMS: https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/125086
On an awful windswept, sodden rainy night we traveled to our most distant venue this season. Ilford’s players made it in good time to pull off a valuable away win against a weaker than expected Witham. Newcomers to the Essex League, they’re trying to provide more competitive games for their members. But Ilford were in no mood to be generous.
I rearranged the board order a bit to promote Rahul who has done well this season. It didn’t quite work out as Barnes won pawns and held his K-side together as Ghose strived to put in an attack but when Queens were about to be forcibly traded the game ended. Neville meanwhile benefited. Witham’s Captain Lyn Stiffell’s French Defence got nowhere as he was never able to develop his pieces properly. Quin completely missed the point of my attack as I picked off an undefended Knight and then upgraded that to go a Rook up. Adhar won a pawn but in an opposite colour Bishop ending he couldn’t quite force the win. On top board Steele was reduced to having a Knight languishing on a8 as Tom threw up his King and Queen-side pawns, went a vital pawn up, and then was able to mount the coup-de-gras threatening mate.
Thanks to everyone who made the journey to play. We are currently top on 3/3, but we have the strongest teams in division 2 to play next year.
Ilford Chess Club 