Wilmslow 1 ECA 5

Wilmslow currently only have one point from 6 matches so ECA were strong favourites going into this match. An easy game for everyone then? Let's see...

1. C Mills (155) 0-1 John

John's opponent played the Queen's Gambit Accepted and broke all the rules, moving his Queen early to keep hold of pawns. John recovered all his pawns and got a huge advantage that his opponent could not squirm out of.

2. K Moran (142) 1-0 Phil

Do I have to remember this game? In a Sicilian Dragon where neither of us knew a lot of theory my opponent achieved a Knight on d5 that absolutely killed me. After defending carefully for some time I cracked and allowed a mate in one. Oops.

3. C Guffogg (134) 0-1 Tudor

In a Queen's Gambit Tudor's opponent managed to advance some Queenside pawns quite menacingly but managed to get his Queen trapped.

4. R Warhurst (115) 0-1 Dave N

Dave played a kind of King's Indian against Robin's solid setup and eventually managed to create complications and outplay his opponent.

5. A Flynn (95) 0-1 Keven

Keven created a weird position in a Trompovsky Attack. Despite Keven's King being on the Queenside both players seemed determined to attack on the Kingside. Eventually Keven confused his opponent into throwing away a lot of material.


6. M Garvin (87) 0-1 Paul

Paul's trusty Modern Defence gave him a solid position where he gradually advanced and outplayed his opponent.

So 5-1 to ECA! We have a rather sterner challenge next week in the shape of Marple C.

East Cheshire 5 Altrincham 1

East Cheshire chalked up a comfortable victory on Wednesday night in the quarter finals of the Charnley Cup. My plan to give us Black on odds went to pot when we won the toss and I was told that that meant we had to have White on odds. That meant John, Dave B and I all had to have colours we weren't expecting but we managed to cope.

Here is how it went:

1. Phil 1-0 R Clucas (158)

This was an unusual Karpov-style win for me, play a very quiet opening and gradually accumulating positional advantages to win the endgame. My opponent had a bad Bishop so I just swapped off all the active pieces until it was good Knight against bad Bishop and then it was goodnight! (Bad pun alert.)

2. John 0-1 K Lockett (155)

Karl played a weird English system where a White pawn appeared on b5 very early on but John played sensibly and rapidly acquired the initiative. However Karl fought like a caged tiger and ultimately John's lack of time proved to be his downfall when Karl launching a winning attack.

3. Tudor 1-0 M Whalley (149)

Tudor won his opponent's Queen quite early on and then resolutely ground him down. A thorough demolition.

4. Dave N 1-0 D Hughes (124)

Dave was able to play his much-loved Accelerated Dragon opening and quickly equalised. However his opponent played sensibly and it wasn't until the King and Pawn endgame that Dave managed to outplay him.

5. Dave B 1-0 S Douglas (99)

Dave bravely stuck his Queen on the Kingside where it was rather exposed but looked threatening. However his opponent didn't manage to take advantage of Dave's bravado and eventually Dave's killer Bishop on b2 won the day.


6. Nick 1-0 Default

Thanks for showing up Nick!

See you on Wednesday for the Christmas social.

Stockport B 2.5 East Cheshire A 3.5

ECA got the win last night against a strong Stockport side. Tudor got an early win, Keven got a solid draw and then late wins on the top two boards brought us home.

1. M Taylor (169) 0-1 John

Playing against the Tarrasch Defence John gained space on the Queenside and it looked like he would be battling on that side of the board while Mike attacked his King. However John switched to a Kingside attack, gave up a pawn on the Queenside and broke through convincingly against Mike's King. A very nice win.

2. M Tunstall (156) 0-1 P Ramsey

I played a kind of Modern Defence with a King's Indian setup and got an equal position out of the opening. I then decided to roll the dice and attack on the Queenside allowing my opponent play in the centre. As a result I ended up with a passed Rook's pawn and when I managed to exchange off the pieces this pawn won the day, deflecting his King to the side of the board to stop it while my King went to the Kingside to eat some pawns.

3. D Sheppard (157) 1-0 Dave N

Dave built up a very strong attack against his opponent who seemed to be without counterplay or hope. However once again the clock was not on Dave's side and he eventually had to resign as he had run out of time.

4. M Crowther (158) 0-1 Tudor

Playing a sideline against the Alekhine's Defence Tudor's opponent blundered a piece early on and Tudor didn't give him any way back into the game.

5. J Mason (153) 0.5-0.5 Keven

Keven played his solid Trompowsky Attack and achieved an equal position. However both players were attacking on the same side of the board so eventually a draw was offered.

6. A Coe (151) 1-0 Dave B

Dave accidentally played a system he does not usually play against the English and ended up being crushed out of the opening. One to put down to experience.

This was definitely our best result so far the season and should cement our position in the top half of the table.

Next up: Home to Altrincham in the cup next Wednesday.

ECB 2.5 ECA 3.5

In the second head-to-head match of the season the result could have gone either way as the top two games were decided at the death. In the end the A team won narrowly but the B team put up a sterling fight.

1. Phil 1-0 Paul

I decided to attempt to destroy Paul's Modern Defence with the "150 attack". This involved Be3, Qd2, castling Queenside and a quick pawn storm on the Kingside. However Paul was careful not to commit his King too soon and after some cagey manoeuvring got a good position. I struggled to find a plan but eventually won a pawn and then when things opened up on the Kingside managed to bamboozle Paul in the time scramble with some weird tactics. It looks like Paul would have achieved a winning position if he had taken a different route.

2. Dave N 0-1 Nick

Dave quickly assumed the initiative on the Black side of a Benoni and eventually won an exchange. However Dave used up a lot of time finding the best plan and a time scramble ensued. When Nick had about 15 seconds left on his clock and Dave about 60 it looked like a certain win for Dave but Nick found some great attacking moves and Dave lost on time trying to find a defence.

3. Tudor 0-1 Alan

Tudor struggled to create an attack against the stodgy Czech Benoni and eventually blundered in a complicated endgame.

4. Dave B 0.5-0.5 David T

Dave B took a poisoned pawn and ended up down a Bishop for two Pawns. However his connected passed pawns seemed to be enough to prevent David making any progress.

5. Keven 1-0 Roger

Keven kept on winning Queenside pawns and smoothly rolled home for the first win of the night.


6. Bill 1-0 Myles

Myles got a good lead in development out of the opening but let Bill back into it. I didn't see how this one ended but gather that it was a close game.

A hard-fought and enjoyable match.

ECA 3 Wilmslow 3

I think it would be safe to say that ECA are not firing on all cylinders yet! Maybe we had too much sun over the summer or maybe the dark evening are getting us down?

Either way this was a match we should have won comfortably. Wilmslow defaulted on the bottom two boards and we easily out-graded the four that turned up. Ooops.

1. Phil 1-0 C Mills (155)

I played my favourite King's Indian setup against a sort of Colle system. My opponent seemed unsure what to do against it and wasted a couple of moves, allowing me to win a couple of advanced pawns. My opponent dropped another pawn in the middlegame allowing me a straightforward ending.

2. Dave N 0-1 K Moran (142)

Dave once again got a promising position out of the opening with chances of a Kingside attack and no counterplay for his opponent. However his opponent managed to mix things up a bit and eventually win a pawn. Dave didn't have enough time on the clock to hold the ending.

3. Tudor 0-1 R Warhurst (115)

Tudor seemed to have a great opening and had a crushing attack against his opponent's King. However in the heat of the moment he took a pawn with his Queen that was defended by a distant Bishop. Although Tudor noticed his mistake as he made the move he had already touched the pawn so it was game over.

4. Keven 0-1 A Flynn (95)

Keven seemed to have a lot of space after the opening and was executing a sort of minority attack on the Queenside. However his King was slightly exposed and this ultimately led to his downfall.

5. D Broadbent 1-0 Default

6. P Bamford 1-0 Default

ECA vs ECB

After last season's debacle in one of the head-to-head matches where ECB won, ECA made sure of a strong team this time around. This time the match went by the form book and the B team only managed two draws.

1. Phil 0.5 - 0.5 Paul

I played an obscure Benoni system which I am quite familiar with and gained a lot of time on the clock but had a cramped position. When Paul chose to push some Kingside pawns rather than advance in the centre I had the time to break free on the Queenside and free my game. Eventually Paul's attack petered out and I managed to win a piece but did not have enough time to convert my advantage.

2. Tudor 1-0 Nick

Tudor seemed to get nothing out of the opening but managed to win a couple of pawns in the endgame and easily converted his advantage.

3. Keven 1-0 Geoff

Despite having White Geoff invited Keven to attack him and Keven gradually advanced his pawns and pieces to win comfortably.

4. Alan 0.5 - 0.5 Keith

Playing the Queen's Gambit Declined this game looked very even for much of the game. Alan eventually gained an advantage but then had to bale out into a drawn ending.

5. Bill 1-0 Myles

Bill played a strong Nimzo-Indian defence and gradually took over the board.

6. David T 1-0 Ian

David played a solid Reti and steadily won material until Ian had no tricks left to try.

So a 5-1 win for ECA and hopefully a fun evening for all.

ECA 2 Marple 4

D'oh!

The team and I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of a draw last night against a decent Marple team.

1. Phil 0-1 I Lentzos (160 est) 

My young opponent launched a speculative attack right out of the opening but I repulsed it and then countered with a strong attack of my own. Lentzos didn't defend carefully and I soon went four pawns up with his King on the run and a big time advantage.

However I couldn't find a clinical way of finishing him off and then he managed to get some counter-play. I blundered away a piece but still had four pawns for his Bishop. However I didn't have enough time to find the right plan and he won the endgame.

2. Dave  N 0-1 P Kirby (158)

Dave played a sort of Colle system and built up a useful Kingside attack. However the clock kept ticking away and eventually Dave lost on time in a very good position.

3. Tudor 0-1 N Livesey (147)

Tudor played ambitiously on the Black side of an English, playing c5 and d5 early on. However this opened up the game for White's Bishop on g2 and ultimately this was Tudor's undoing.

4. Keven 1-0 T Kay (141)

Keven played aggressively from the outset, castling Queenside and flinging his Kingside pawns forward. I thought he was losing the exchange and the game but apparently Keven had it all worked out and eventually his connected passed pawns on the g and h files won the day.

5. Paul 1-0 C Baker (126)

This was an impressive win with the Black pieces. Paul seemed to have no problems out of the opening, exchanged of White's fianchettoed Bishop and launched a Kingside attack that won the Queen.


6. Nick 0-1 T Cowling (125)

Nick played sensibly against Terry's Albin Counter Gambit and seemed to have a good position with advancing pawns against Terry's Queenside castled King. However Nick lost the endgame somehow.

3-3 would have been a fair result. 2-4 was painful.

ECA take on ECB next week. See you there.