Category: Ilford Chess

Ilford 1 …. 5-3 ….. Upminster 2
Essex Div 2, 4 March 2019
Report by Jef Page

Grade	Ilford 1	Score	Upminster 2	Grade
166	Tom BARTON	½ – ½	Les CRANE	157
168	Neville TWITCHELL	0 – 1	Steve KELSEY	174
166	Hassan MUGALU	½ – ½	Aidan CORISH	151
153	Anthony KENT	½ – ½	Robert IANNETTA	156
137	Jason KLIMACH	1 – 0	Steve ABBOTT	141
138	Syd KALINSKY	1 – 0	Mustapha RAHAMAN	140
132	Jef PAGE	1 – 0	Peter BIGGS	124
96	Marshall TUTU	½ – ½	Nick PELLING	120

A good win for Ilford which lifts us off the bottom of Essex division 2 and up the table (for the moment). This was a rare win in the old Ilford style: holding the top boards but scoring 3½ out of 4 on the lower ones. From not being sure if I had a full team on Sunday to even having a reserve available on Monday.

Upminster’s top board Les Crane plays for Ilford in the London League (LL). Tom was put under pressure by his Schliemann defence but played nicely to win R for B but well down on the clock he was content enough to take a draw. Similarly on board 3 Aidan also plays for us in the LL and he calmly held his game together against Hassan. Iannetta forced Tony Kent to defend with his pieces unable to break-out and advance, but Robert was unable to break in as Tony defended accurately.

Marshall arrived late giving away 30 minutes on this clock but easily held old member Nick Pelling. Biggs’s opening was poor and I should have won a piece with all my bits developed nicely. But I allowed him to wriggle on and as the board cleared I made no mistake a 2^nd time and won a Bishop. Kalinsky always had the better development against Rahaman and similarly Jason won well, but on board 2 Neville can’t buy a win at the moment with Steve Kelsey mopping up the ending with Rook and winning pawns versus Knight plus pawns.

Ilford next face division 2 leaders Brentwood on March 25^th.

Current league positions: Brentwood, Upminster II, Ilford, Loughton, Barking II, Wanstead III.

Ilford 1 v Barnet Elizabethans 1
North Circular Chess League, Division A
Monday 26/02/2019
Report by Jef Page

Ilford ___ 2 – 4 ____ Barnet

Grade	Ilford 1	Score	Barnet Elizabethans	Grade
166	Tom BARTON	½ – ½	Tom VILLIERS	206
168	Neville TWITCHELL	0 – 1	Roy SAGALL	194
153	Anthony KENT	1 – 0	Alexandros ETHELONTIS	198
138	Syd KALINSKY	0 – 1	Jon RUBECK	167
132	Jef PAGE	0 – 1	Phil MYERS	165
96	Marshall TUTU	½ – ½	Mike JONES	121

Ilford always struggled in this match but the score was almost respectable- a big improvement on the away match at Barnet when they easily beat us 5½-½.

I blundered in the opening and Myers easily picked off a Bishop & although I threw everything into a K-side pawn attack it was never enough. Similarly Kalinsky got nothing out of his opening against Rubeck & struggled.

Neville’s Queen went on a fruitless queenside foray and got itself trapped which eventually led to loss of material, but in the other games we did well with good personal results. Marshall easily held off Mike Jones when the pieces were swapped off, ViIliers was forced to defend doubled c-pawns to save his ending against Tom, and Anthony Kent went one better when Ethelontis rashly sac’d a rook and Tony (calmly/quickly?) won the end game with a double-rook & bishop checkmate.

With 2 matches left to play in this league – both against Wanstead, we now take a break away from the NCCL to play Essex League matches. But if we want to avoid relegation from the A division we need to win at least 1 of them.

Barking 1 v Ilford 1
North Circular Chess League, Division A
Thursday 14/02/2019
Report by Jef Page

Barking I ____ 4 – 2 _____ Ilford I

Grade	Barking 1	Score	Ilford 1	Grade
203	David SANDS	½	Tom BARTON	166
197	Jeff GOLDBERG	1 – 0	Neville TWITCHELL	168
172	Peter JASZKIWSKYJ	0 – 1	Anthony KENT	153
141	Gholamreza ANSARI	½	Jef PAGE	132
.	John WHITE	0 – 1	default	.
.	G ANSEN	0 – 1	default	.

A bad night for Ilford nursing 2 defaults but with some very good personal results against a strong Barking team.

Tom’s long, strategic, queenside pawn chain backed up by Bishops and Queen easily held off David Sands who soon offered a draw.
My Caro-Kann was solid enough to discourage Ansari from trying anything fancy and he also quickly offered to share the spoils. But these halves were not enough to save the match in spite of Tony Kent playing really well with a sort of reversed Leningrad Dutch with the white pieces – holding the centre and then wiping out Jaszkwiskyj’s queenside pawns and threatening to win more material.

Our only loser over the boards was Neville. Although he went into the long, drawn-out, pawn endgame with level material, his pawns were split and with his King unable to defend them adequately, Jeff Goldberg invaded Neville’s position to queen a pawn and secure the match win for Barking. With only 1 win in this League so far we need at least 1 more to avoid relegation.

North Circular League Div A – 4 Feb 2019
Ilford 1   3½-2½   Wanstead 2
Report by Jef Page

Grade	Ilford 1	Score	Wanstead 2	Grade
166	BARTON Tom	1 – 0	CHIREA-FLORICA T Alin	177
168	TWITCHELL Neville	0 – 1	STANILAND Paul	170
166	MUGALU Hassan	1 – 0	MURRELL Mark	164
153	KENT Anthony	½ – ½	JONES Keith S	150
138	KALINSKY Syd	½ – ½	SMITH David	132
132	PAGE Jef	½ – ½	HARTE Ben	130

Brexit, Trump, the weather. Forget about them! At last a real headline: Yes! Ilford win a match for the 1^st time this season in the North Circular League.

We’ve broken our duck in the tough A division and dragged ourselves, kicking and screaming- off the bottom of the table to be replaced by Wanstead II – well at least for the moment as they have matches in hand on us.

It was a match of two halves. We won 2 out of 3 games in the top 3, and drew all the bottom 3 boards.

I wriggled out of a weak Dutch Defence to sac’ a pawn but with Harte unwilling to risk a piece sac’ follow-up or try for a lengthy endgame win, he too easily took my offer of a draw. And mine of course was the match winning draw! Kalinsky got no advantage against the steady play from Dave Smith’s Pic Defence and likewise Tony Kent couldn’t again any advantage either from his opening against captain Keith Jones.

But on the top boards the games were sharp. Hassan forced Marc Murrell’s King out from the centre to win Marc’s Queen for a Rook whilst Tom was all over Chirea-Florica completely surrounding his King- caught in the centre to sweep home with a powerful attack of a Q, R & B checkmate. Only Neville suffered as Paul Staniland gained complete control of the centre with a strong d and e pawn wedge & even though Neville held off the threat of being mated and won R for B, he couldn’t hold back the tide of pawns in the end.

It will be touch and go as to who get’s relegated out of this division- but a win is a win for us- at last. Thanks to everyone who played!

Ilford 1 2.5 – 7.5 Hammersmith 1
30 Jan 2019 – London League Div 2
Tom Barton

Ilford 1	GRADE	SCORE	Hammersmith 1	GRADE
Tom Barton	166	0 – 1	Chris Skulte	188
Julian Hudson	176	1 – 0	Carsten Pedersen	197
Gideon Vecht	160	0 – 1	Thomas Bonn	193
Neville Twitchell	174	½ – ½	Bajrush Kelmendi	190
Les Crane	156	0 – 1	Sylvian Eche	190
Aidan Corish	156	0 – 1	Marios Kouis	180
Anthony Kent	151	0 – 1	James AB Stevenson	174
Malcolm Gesthuysen	139	0 – 1	Paul Kennedy	159
Jason Klimach	137	1 – 0	Pavel Nefyodov	154
Jef Page	139	0 – 1	Charles Sturt	136

Ilford were heavily outgraded (average grades of 176.1 to 155.4) in this match so a positive result was unlikely and so it transpired. Good wins for Julian and Jason. Julian caught his opponent in the opening and was always winning. The other games were well contested but apart from Neville’s draw we failed to pick up any other points.

Essex Chess League Division 2
Monday 21^st January
Report by Jef Page

ILFORD I    6 – 2   BARKING II

166	Tom BARTON	½	Colin RAMAGE	172
174	Neville TWITCHELL	1-0	Ken CLOW	145  (b)
164	Hassan MUGALU	1-0	K. POLAK	UG
151	Anthony KENT	½	Gholamreza ANSARI	134
141	Syd KALINSKY	1-0	John FIGGINS	134
137	Jason KLIMACH	1-0	George MONK	125
127	Lavanan AINKARAN	1-0	Vladimir CHTYM	112
094	Marshall TUTU	0-1	M. BLAGIANUI	UG

Ilford made some slight improvements for this return home match against Barking II, like putting out a stronger team, tweaking the board order and not having a default this time. If we can solve these little problems consistently we can do far better. And again the luxury of being non-playing captain- for 2 matches in a row. Amazing!

The match stated well for us as Neville’s good development allowed him to sac’ a pawn to pressurize Clow’s position and when Ken overlooked an undefended knight the game didn’t last much longer. Kent & Ansari agreed a quick grandmaster draw but Ramage began to put pressure on Barton’s centre and queenside. Taking the top spot for a change to give Neville a rest, Tom held his concentration and calmly did enough to hold his position together.

On the lower boards we overwhelmed Barking winning 3 of the bottom 4. Kalinsky always had the better of Figgins and a strong K-side attack won Syd a bishop. Lavanan likewise set up a strong pawn-centre and after he won a knight, with queen, rook and extra knight he mated Chtym. Klimach won an errant pawn and so dominated the opening and after wiping out George’s queen-side pawns raced one of his own home to victory although George rather gave it away tamely allowing his extra king-side pawn to be easily captured. Mugalu finally won a game for Ilford but Polak also rather gave it away as well wasting his strong queen-side pawn attack sacrificing rook for knight and then losing on time. Our only loser was Tutu who whilst he won a knight had opened up files against his castled K-side position and as he was well down on the clock found it too difficult to avoid losing.

Brentwood lead division 2 followed by Upminster II and Loughton. This result takes us off the bottom in our efforts to avoid relegation – for the moment at least.

North Circular Chess League, Division A, 16 January 2019
Barnet  5½-½  Ilford
Report by Jef Page

Grade BARNET  5½ – ½   ILFORD Grade
209        T GAVRIEL 1-0  JULIAN HUDSON  176
197 A ETHELONTIS 1-0  NEVILLE TWITCHELL  174 (b)
195          R SAGALL 1-0  TOM BARTON 168
168          J RUBECK   ½  TONY KENT 151
158           P MYERS 1-0  SYD KALINSKY 141
125          M JONES 1-0  MALCOLM GESTHUYSEN 139

The rare luxury  of being non-playing captain wasn’t worth anything as Ilford suffered a grim night against a very strong team.

The match started badly for us as Malcolm Gesthuysen played into a poor opening but worse, suffered a quick defeat in barely 13 moves as Mike Jones checkmated him with just rook and knight. This was followed by Julian Hudson allowing Gavriel to swiftly bring his queen into the attack and then Julian erred badly missing a check that cost him a rook and the game. Ethelontis and Sagall both had good positions and wore down their opponents. Neville could never break out of his cramped position and Tom held on into the endgame as well but a final passed pawn left Sagall a clear winner.

Only 2 of our players had plus positions. Kalinsky’s delayed King’s Gambit type opening and development was fine but he lost control and a knight. Rubeck sac’ed a bishop for a rook which gained him no advantage but Tony Kent had to take care and with time running short on both clocks they agreed draw.

 We are still seeking our first match win in the North Circular League this season.

Jef Page.

North Circular Chess League   Division A
Monday 7^th January
Report by Jef Page

At 7pm I had a full team but at 7.15 I found I had lost a player so again we started a match a player down. But even with this default Barking, with a strong team out, only just scraped by us 2½ – 3½

Grade	Ilford 1	Score	Barking 1	Grade
174	Neville TWITCHELL	0 – 1	Jeff GOLDBERG	200
166	Tom BARTON	½ – ½	Peter JASZKIWSKYJ	172
141	Syd KALINSKY	½ – ½	John WHITE	170
137	Jason KLIMACH	1 – 0	Colin RAMAGE	172
139	Jef PAGE	½ – ½	John FIGGENS	134
	default	0 – 1	Ken CLOW

I and Figgins played into a dismal Alekhine’s opening where Queen’s are swapped off early with no advantage to either of us. But for here on the games got tasty. 

Colin Ramage went rampaging into Klimach’s Sicilian defence with a Morra Gambit Accepted but Jason blocked off the loose c-file and with Colin losing his way trying to find a winning K-side attack, Jason picked off enprise pieces. Syd played well to hold off John White who even with two outside passed pawns couldn’t force them home in a R&P endgame. Jeff Goldberg managed to isolate Neville’s c-pawn and whilst Neville held on, Jeff ground out an endgame win.

The match result hinged on Tom’s game when he wriggled out of awkward position to win a knight for a couple of pawns. But trying to force his own passed pawn home he lost it and then was reduced to having his knight halt the progress of Jaskwiskyj’s own passed pawn and whilst a draw was a good result for Tom it couldn’t save the match.

CHINGFORD  5½ – ½ ILFORD
North Circular Chess League – 17 December 2018
Based on report by Jef Page

Grade	Chingford	Result	Ilford	Grade
203	Robert Eames	1/2	Neville Twitchell	174
157	Gavin Hughes	1 – 0	Syd Kalinsky	141
156	David Brady	1 – 0	Jason Klimach	137
158	Peter Rose	1 – 0	Jef Page	139
145	Robin Oakley	1 – 0	default
146	Brian Spear	1 – 0	default

Another grim night for Ilford with no Christmas gifts from Chingford as they turned out their top player. Unfortunately, although I had a full team in the morning, by match time one player failed to arrive and Tom Barton was ill so everyone moved up a board.

Kalinsky got a good position out of the opening against Gavin Hughes- they only played each other last week – but lost a  Bishop, and then Jason lost a pawn to Brady and Klimach’s knight sacrifice to threaten mate got nowhere.

Only I and Neville really put our opponents under pressure. Burgoyne put me in glue in the opening but when I finally broke out to counter-attack with Queen &Bishop I chased his King out to g6, however, with no time left and no defence left around my own King, a slight inaccuracy allowed him to checkmate me. Twitchell playing really well got the better of Eames and as both raced to queen a pawn and win a Rook & pawn endgame, Neville had more than enough to secure his half.

A tough end to 2018.

Division 2
Date: Tuesday 11 December 2018
Venue: Brentwood Baptist Church

Board    Brentwood                       6½-1½ Ilford
1              235 Haydon, David          1-0        Twitchell, Neville 174
2              165 Adams, Ronald F     ½-½    Barton, Tom  166
3              159 Kingsley, Malcolm P 1-0      Kent, Anthony R 151
4              157 Hughes, Gavin J        ½-½    Kalinsky, Syd M 141
5               128 Davies, Robert J V      1-0      Page, Jeffrey 139
6               115 McGee, Aidan            ½-½    Tutu, Marshall 094
7               106 Fisher, Russell            1-0       Pakovlevas, Aleksandras
8               89 D’Cruz, David                1-d      Default

“Been beat up and battered ’round, Been sent up, and I’ve been shot down (Travelling Willburys, ‘Handle With Care’)    

(from Jef’s notes) A poor night for Ilford, and not so surprising a win for Brentwood- with only a slight discrepency in the grades of the players on board 1! Another default to contend with- again… Neville had a tough time against Haydon which went into the endgame with Haydon 2 Bishops & 4 pawns up against Twitchell’s lone, overworked Rook and a single pawn. Anthony lost control of the opening leading to a quick win for Kingsley, and likewise Fisher rounded up many of Pakovlevas’s pieces for a rapid victory. After a good opening, Jef blundered and allowed ex-Ilford member Rob Davies to trap and win his Bishop leading to a forced win for Rob.

Tom seemed to have Adams on the ropes but he defended adroitly to hold, whilst Syd attacked Gavin Hughes really hard and forced him, in a very sharp attack, to give up his Queen for 2 Rooks but again good defence held. Our most improved player Marshall arrived straight from work 30 minute late, but he played calmly as McGee could find no gaps to exploit and Tutu easily held for a deserved draw.

It’s a credit and compliment to us that Brentwood felt compelled to pull in a 230+ player to beat us (some sort of consolation?). But we need to find some match wins soon. Thanks to everyone who played- especially Marshall.

So, 1 win from 4 away matches. Now, 5 of the 6 remaining Essex matches in the new year are at home. Hopefully we can get full 8 man teams for all the home games and things will look up!