D3 match – long trip to Southend.

Essex D3 match – Southend 2 v Ilford 2 – Friday 3 March 2023.
5 board match, G80 + 10
Tom Barton, captain.

A long trip to Southend is not conducive to playing a game of chess and it seemed to affect the Ilford players who didn’t get off to a good start. Muhammed dropped a piece coming out of the opening, Euan lost two queenside pawns after falling to a clever tactic coming out of the opening, and was under pressure, and Biel’s opponent gained a favourable position and took a tactical opportunity to win an exchange. Euan and Muhammed lost so we were two down.

Jef had the much better position against Mick Saunders French but couldn’t find a way to exploit the advantage and fell well behind on the clock. Taha had a complex position with interesting possibilities.

Biel fought back to get the exchange back and managed to hold the rook and pawn endgame for a draw. Jef launched an attack but he couldn’t find the right moves under time pressure and he lost on time trying. Taha and his opponent reached a position where neither was sure of having an advantage and agreed a draw. They analysed the position as given here

It looked like White should play h4 to break up the pawns protecting Black’s King, and indeed computer analysis says this is the best move and that White has a clear advantage.

The final score was 4-1.

Result with latest OTB grades on LMS
Board                   Southend II                        Ilford II            
1 (B)       1671      Saunders, M. J.  1 – 0       Page, Jeffrey   1674
2      1657      Lacey, Nick J       ½ – ½      Undre, Taha      1597
3 (B)       1612      Clancy, Mark      ½ – ½               Obiols, Biel         1576
4      1536      Davis, Joshua     1 – 0               Faheem, Muhammad     1496
5 (B)       1528      Duke, Taylor       1 – 0               O’Connell, Euan 1233
                                                              4 – 1