Author: tombarton50

East Ham 1 v Ilford 1 – 9 October 2019
Tom Barton

Ilford lost this opening match of the 2019-20 season 4.5 – 5.5.

With the average grade of the teams being 152.9 (East Ham) to 151.3 (Ilford) a tight match could be expected and was duly delivered. The top three boards halved out fairly early so the attention was on the lower boards. There was some back and forth on those but in the end draws happened on all boards except bottom which proved to be the match decider.

This match also marked the use of a new incremental time control for the London League of 75 mins plus 15 seconds per move. This seemed fine for the first match.

East Ham 1	GRADE	SCORE	Ilford 1	GRADE
Nigel Fleming	177	½ – ½	Russell White	188
Peter Jaszkiwskyj      (b)	167	½ – ½	Chris Fegan	187
Colin Ramage	158	½ – ½	Julian Hudson	168
Matthew Baker	158	½ – ½	Tom Barton	162
Jack Sheard	153	½ – ½	Venkatesh Subramanian	e150
Peter Rose	151	½ – ½	Aidan Corish	146
Martin Baker	150	½ – ½	Jason W Klimach	145
Roland Glotzer	148	½ – ½	Malcolm Gesthuysen	139
Edison Figueroa	143	½ – ½	Jef Page	128
Leon Cotter	124	1 – 0	Taha Undre	e130

Essex Summer Knockout Rapidplay- Plate ¼ Final
Tuesday 23^rd 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 1^st 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 2^nd 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.

Ilford v Barking A
Essex Summer Rapid Team Knockout
Monday 24 July 2019

Barking won this thriller by 7 – 12 on board count after the match score was tied on 5-5.

Despite conceding an average of 28 points per board Ilford gave Barking a real run in this match with the evergreen Syd Kalinsky halving out over the two rounds and Ilford new recruit Venkatesh doing very well against John White. Unfortunately for Ilford, Jeff Goldberg steadily out-played Neville on board 2 and this was key for Barking to win on board count.

The team now go into the Plate and will face either Wanstead B or Thurrock.

Ilford	R1	R2	Barking A
Tom BARTON (166r)      (W, B)	½ – ½	½ – ½	Dave SANDS (209r)      (B, W)
Neville TWITCHELL (153r)	0 – 1	0 – 1	Jeff GOLDBERG (191r)
Syd KALINSKY (154r)	0 – 1	1 – 0	Peter JASZKIWSKYJ  (175r)
Venkatesh SUBRAMANIAN (e.150r)	½ – ½	1 – 0	John WHITE (165r)
Jason KLIMACH (121r)	1 – 0	½ – ½	John FIGGINS (145r)
Round Scores	2 – 3	3 – 2
Final Score	5 – 5
Sum of board count by round	5 – 5	7 – 2
Final sum of board count	12 – 7

Essex Chess League  Division 2
Monday 20^th May, Redbridge Social Centre
Report by Jef Page

                            ILFORD   3½ – 4½   LOUGHTON

166 TOM BARTON  0-1  R EAMES 206
168 NEVILLE TWITCHELL 0-1  KEVIN BOWMER  189
166 HASSAN MUGALU 0-1  BILL STIRLING  182
153 TONY KENT 1-0  DAVID FAULKNER  157
136 JASON KLIMACH   ½   GRAHAM KERSHAW  136
138 SYD KALINSKY   ½   LYN STIFFEL  136
132 JEF PAGE  1-0  BARRY JONES  117
e120 VENKATESH SUBRAMANIAN   ½   MICHAEL SMITH 86

A sad way to finish the season after our great wins over Wanstead and Upminster. But it was a match of two halves: Loughton’s team were very strong at the top winning the top 3 boards (we always seem to draw the strongest players against us) but we won the bottom half- but not by enough.

Syd got nothing out of the opening and with Queens quickly exchanged the endgame was always level whilst Jason held on as Kershaw went for an early attack. Venkatesh set out for a quick attack himself but he got a bit too clever but was still able to adroitly convert the position into an endgame he could hold. I by comparison always had the better of Jones’ French Defence. I never let him develop his queenside bits and eventually the pressure told as I pounced on a mistake which won me a Rook & the endgame.

Tom Barton dropped a pawn for which he never had enough compensation against Eames, Neville found Bowmer equally ruthless but Hassan, in a wild game against Bill Stirling where both players attacked open Kings, had the chance to go for a draw by repetition but missed it and Bill queened a pawn to win. Tony held his game together as Faulkner rushed his pawns home to victory, but he miscalculated and Tony queened his pawn first- a big steal.

We finished the season with 5 wins & 5 losses, 10 match points, but our 5 defaults was the worst in the division. However in the previous 2017-18 season we finished with only 2 wins, after penalties 1 match point, but 12 defaults- so some improvement this season. A few clubs still have matches to play but Brentwood look like they will win the division. Barking II are bottom and may be relegated.

North Circular Chess League  Division A
Thursday 16 May, Wanstead House E11.
Report by Jef Page

               WANSTEAD I  3½ – 2½   ILFORD

213       ARTUR SYGULSKI  ½    NEVILLE TWITCHELL
192        PAVEL SYGULSKI 1-0  TONY KENT 
185 M PEREZ CARBELLO  0-1  JASON KLIMACH
183                   V PAROLS   1-0  SYD KALINSKY
176     DAVE SPEARMAN   1-0  JEF PAGE
165                   KYAN BUI  0-1  VENKATESH SUBRAMANIAN

Although we lost our final match this season in the A division, Wanstead accorded us the accolade (not wanted) of turning out their strongest team including an IM. Maybe we don’t need any more accolades like this, but we actually all played really well with some excellent individual results. The match result was tight, none of us blundered our games away and we introduced a debutant player who more than held his own and won- the first time for ages a new player has had such a great baptism for Ilford.

Although Neville wanted the white pieces as usual I lost the toss but as black he successfully held off Artur Sygulski’s (IM) attack and calmly stayed equal into the level minor piece and pawns endgame. A draw against an IM in the Essex League is no mean result. Tony Kent found brother Pavel Sygulski no easier and once it went down to a R and pawn endgame the result was not in doubt. Syd likewise did well to hold off Parols into the Bishop and pawns ending but Syd’s B was tied down and useless and slowly but surely Parols advanced to queen a pawn. I likewise stopped Spearman breaking through easily (who usually plays on board 1- just shows how they brought in even far stronger players) but I couldn’t hold him back in the centre and queenside as his Queen & pawns broke through. But there were two good results for us. Jason was under tremendous pressure on the kingside as Perez-Carbello attacked down the h-file but suddenly Perez overlooked a simple mate threat and Jason took is chance. On bottom board Venkatesh Subramanian made his debut for Ilford against a top team (he just walked into the club a few weeks ago and asked to play) but out of a Sicilian Dragon opening he got control of the c-file and rising star Kyan Bui suffered the indignity of losing his Queen.

It shows what we can do when we turn out a strong, full team. We will probably drop down into the B division (not too willingly- if Loughton take promotion) which may suit us and gives us a bit of respite care.

Ilford 1 v East Ham 1 ………………. 4 – 6
London League Div 2 – 1 May 2019
Report: Tom Barton

Ilford 1 (white on odd boards)	GRADE	SCORE	East Ham 1	GRADE
Julian HUDSON	176	½ – ½	Nigel FLEMING	182
Neville TWITCHELL	174	½ – ½	Bill STIRLING	184
Tom BARTON	166	0 – 1	Peter JASZKIWSKYJ	172
Aidan CORISH	156	0 – 1	Colin RAMAGE	172
Chris ROGAL	153	½ – ½	John DAVENPORT	169
Anthony KENT	151	1 – 0	Peter ROSE	158
Andrew MEDWORTH	146	1 – 0	Martin BAKER	153
Malcolm GESTHUYSEN	139	½ – ½	Steve BARR	153
Jef PAGE	139	0 – 1	Roland GLOTZER	150
Jason KLIMACH	137	0 – 1	Karol POLAK	e140
Total		4 – 6

The match started OK with quick draws on the top boards but although Andrew and then later on, Anthony won, we lost on four boards and hence lost the match. With all our matches complete this result sees us in the second relegation spot of the London League division 2 with a worse games difference than Kings Head 2 who finish on the same number of points. Depending on what happens with the Drunken Knights teams for next season there is a possibility we may be asked to stay in division 2 but on that we’ll have to wait and see.

UPMINSTER II  3½ – 4½   ILFORD
Toss won by Ilford- White on odd boards
Essex Division 2 – 30 April 2019
Match report – Jef Page

157               LES CRANE 0-1  TOM BARTON 166
174          STEVE KELSEY 0-1  NEVILLE TWITCHELL 168
151        AIDAN CORISH   ½  TONY KENT  153
156 ROBERT IANNETTA 1-0 JASON KLIMACH 136
141        STEVE ABBOTT   ½  SYD KALINSKY 138
140          M RAHAMAN   ½  JEF PAGE 132
134  PAUL ROSENFELD   ½  LAVANAN AINKARAN 131
126       J HANNAFORD    ½  HOWARD BERLIN 118

A good win for Ilford in a very tense match. It shows what we can do when we put a full team out even against a slightly stronger graded team.

The match stated quietly with 4 quick draws, the wildest of them being Abbott v Kalinsky with bits on all sorts of unusual squares. Steve asked Syd for a daw but Syd, not hearing Steve’s enquiry, returned the offer & they quickly agreed to halve the game. I soon followed suit as did an equally careful Tony Kent and Howard Berlin, none of us wanting to make a blunder. It was good to have Howard back for us again after a long absence.

Syd played his famed Kalinsky Gambit* which I shall explain later.                                                                                                                                                               Halving the bottom boards was good strategy as we had plusses on 3 of the other 4 boards. Our only loser was Jason Klimach as Robert Iannetta crashed into Jason’s kingside making castling and his piece development impossible and Robert easily won an undeveloped Bishop. But on the top boards Tom’s control of the centre was solid, and going a Bishop up Tom won well against Les Crane whilst Neville won an exchange of Rook for Bishop against Kelsey’s open, undefended King. Lavanan had the edge over Hannaford but couldn’t quite convert his Rook and Pawn endgame advantage but took a well-earned draw to win us the match.

A very good outing for Ilford.  This result sees us leap back to 2^nd place over Upminster:  Brentwood 12 match points, Ilford 10, Upminster 10. Loughton 8, Barking 6, (played all 10), Wanstead 6- played 9, 1 match in hand and so can overtake Barking.

*The Kalinsky Gambit. The usual move sequence is knocking a cup of coffee all over the board and your opponent. But this was a new, to me, advanced variation. As I was making a cup of tea well away from the board Syd knocked the scalding water all over me. I’ll have to give this more analysis.

Streatham & Brixton 2 … 3 – 6 Ilford 1 … One game adjourned
Ilford white on odd boards
10 April 2019
Report – Tom Barton

	Streatham & Brixton 2	GRADE (Jan 19)	SCORE	Ilford 1	GRADE
1	Liam HYLANDS	184	1 – 0	Tom BARTON	166
2	Gabriel BARR	164	0 – 1	Julian HUDSON	176
3	Jagdip PATEL	169	0 – 1	Gideon VECHT	160
4	Martin SMITH	168	Adj	Neville TWITCHELL	174
5	Aniello ATTIANESE	165	½ – ½	Les CRANE	156
6	Anthony HALL	158	½ – ½	Anthony KENT	151
7	James FOX	140	0 – 1	Chris ROGAL	153
8	David VARLEY	146	1 – 0	Jef PAGE	139
9	Michael CHUNG	e120	0 – 1	Andrew MEDWORTH	146
10	Stuart McCORMACK	093	0 – 1	Jason KLIMACH	137

Ilford had a welcome win against Streatham last night. With a full team we finally had a London League match that swung our way. The match also saw a warm welcome to Chris Rogal who won on his first game for Ilford.

Les Crane agreed an early draw in a gambit line where black is a pawn up after accepting it but then opted for a known repetition line where white had no real choice but to allow 3 times and a draw. After that most of the team won including Julian who seemed to have a horrible position but still managed to create play and gain a win. I didn’t see much of the other games as I had a complicated Sicilian to play which I lost in a rook and pawn endgame after going a pawn down.

London League  – Division 2
Wednesday 27^th March

WANSTEAD & WOODFORD 4.5 – 3.5 ILFORD 2 adjourned

Ilford white on odd boards

David SPEARMAN	183	½ – ½	Tom BARTON	166
Ian HUNNABLE	170	Adj	Julian HUDSON	176
Steve RIX	174	1 – 0	Gideon VECHT	160
Ian REYNOLDS	163	Adj	Neville TWITCHELL	174
Terry WHITTON	167	1 – 0	Anthony KENT	151
Mark MURRELL	164	½ – ½	Gary THURSTON	163
Steven GILMOUR	160	0 – 1	Andrew MEDWORTH	146
Keith JONES	151	½ – ½	Malcolm GESTHUYSEN	139
Jay SHARMAN	121	0 – 1	Jason KLIMACH	137
walkover	.	1 – 0	forfeit

An entertaining evening of chess. Jason had a very sharp Sicilian from which he came out better. A good win for Andrew but Anthony and Gideon were under pressure from the opening. Tom was doing very well on board one but missed opportunities to win and bailed out for a draw by repetition with the clocks on under a minute left.

For the two adjourned games, from a quick glance Neville’s game looks a draw at best. There is a lot of play left in Julian’s game so there is still a faint hope of getting something from the match but a the lack of a full team is once again hurting.

Essex Chess League  – Division 2
Monday 25^th March

ILFORD  1.5 – 6.5 BRENTWOOD

Ilford white on odd boards

Grade	Ilford 1	Score	Brentwood 1	Grade
166	Tom BARTON	½ – ½	Trevor COOTE	184
166	Hassan MUGALU	0 – 1	Ron ADAMS	165
168	Neville TWITCHELL	½ – ½	Malcolm KINGSLEY	161
153	Anthony KENT	½ – ½	Gavin HUGHES	158
131	Lavanan AINKARAN	0 – 1	Aidan McGEE	138
132	Jef PAGE	0 – 1	Rob DAVIES	129
96	Marshall TUTU	0 – 1	Chris PHILLIPS	106
.	default	0 – 1	David D’CRUZ

Another disappointing drubbing for Ilford in the Essex league. Ilford started a default down but the average grade on the remaining boards was 144 to 148 so could have hoped for better than three draws. Tom took an early draw after deciding to avoid a very sharp line an instead bottling the position up. Hassan came under a strong attack and couldn’t hold out; Neville drew in a rook, knight and pawn endgame and Anthony also drew despite being an exchange down. On the bottom boards Jef came unstuck after Rob Davies played an exchange sac; Marshall was holding under positional pressure but it all fell apart in the time scramble and Lavanan lost his king and pawn endgame.