No shame last week in a reverse to an Altrincham team who played well and seem strong candidates to win the division this year (though I reserve the right to reuse that line for our next loss!)
On Board 4, Edwin seemed to be sliding gently towards a draw, but with no Hamlet moment materialising this time alas, a blunder at a critical point was terminal for him. In Ian’s game, without much apparent counterplay and two pawns down in a late middlegame, Ian made what seemed a slightly cheeky draw offer. His opponent refused, but Ian made serious inroads in the endgame, and his opponent breathed a huge sigh of relief as Ian finally had to resign.
In Keith’s game:
"An early swap off of queens forced by my opponent weakened my development and defences immediately and put me on the back foot. By this time I was one pawn down and struggling to develop my remaining pieces. His development of his two rooks and knight caused me all sorts of problems resulting in my knight being trapped alongside my king for which I had no answer with a potential mate looming. No choice but to resign. A good strong player which belied his current grading."
As ever, mine and Bill’s slightly more measured/plodding playing pace meant our games were last to finish.
My game ebbed and flowed, with an early queen swap off allowing me to gang up on and win a doubled pawn, from which point he got the better of the middle and endgame, and in the end, short on time and with his extra pawn on the 6th rank, I was glad to put the handbrake on with a well-placed bishop and slink off with a draw.
Bill's opponent played a strong opening, and Bill chose to cede a pawn with a view to freeing up his slightly tangled position. His opponent won a piece but couldn't hang onto it, and with his opponent still in the ascendancy, Bill wriggled very nicely to come away with a draw.
Saturday, 15 November 2014
Friday, 7 November 2014
ECA 4 Chorlton 2
ECA had their first match of the season on Wednesday night. Chorlton are one of the teams we might be able to score points against. Would we be able to get our season off to a flying start?
1. Phil 0-1 P Olbison (181)
As Black I achieved a comfortable position out of the opening but then dithered about trying to find a concrete plan. Should I try to create some counterplay on the Queenside or try to exploit the holes on the Kingside? In the end I achieved neither as my opponent managed to open the f file, triple his heavy pieces on it and win material. I am settling well into my new role as cannon fodder.
2. John 0.5-0.5 C Vassiliou (176)
John once again encountered a Dutch and didn't seem to get any advantage out of the opening. When his opponent offered a draw there was no reason not to accept it.
3. Dave N 1-0 R Doney (182)
Possibly Dave's best game for a while. In Dave's words "I won a piece for 2 pawns in the opening then as you saw I voluntarily gave up my fianchettoed bishop to leave him with tripled pawns on an open file. He attacked my King but later in the game I gave up a Rook for his well placed Knight nullifying all his attacking chances and leaving my pieces all active and his totally disconnected. A few moves later he was either getting mated or giving up more material and he chose to let me mate him."
4. Tudor 1-0 D Owen (163)
A fantastic positional masterpiece from Tudor. In a sort of Queen's Gambit Declined Exchange Variation Tudor executed a perfect minority attack, creating pawn weaknesses on the Queenside and steadily pressurising them. His opponent tried to create Kingside counterplay but in the end Tudor had a central passed pawn and a Kingside attack of his own. His opponent lost on time while trying to work out the complications.
5. David T 1-0 A Beresford (156)
David wheeled out his trusted French Defence and achieved a solid position out of the opening. His opponent then allowed David to win a Rook. In David's words: "I missed the opportunity to take another piece. I got very anxious about the amount of time I had left, so I played very conservatively and concentrated on not making a blunder (just missed stalemate when I queened that pawn!). Fritz found several other blunders of course....." David duly forced checkmate with several minutes still on his clock.
6. Alan 0.5-0.5 K Khockar (121)
Alan didn't seem to achieve anything out of the opening and eventually accepted a draw offer in an inferior position.
So 4 - 2 to ECA! Apart from the captain ECA seem to be firing on all cylinders. Holmes Chapel will provide a stern test next week but we will not go down without a fight.
Wednesday, 15 October 2014
Stockport 4 East Cheshire 2
East Cheshire A kicked off their season on Tuesday night with a tricky Charnley Cup tie against Stockport. With six of their seven strongest players in the team this was not going to be an easy night. However, we had a decent team as well. Could we create an upset?
1. A Smith (204) 0.5-0.5 John
John was relieved to get his favoured White pieces, possibly less so to see a Dutch on the board. However, careful play allowed him to reach an endgame only a doubled pawn down and with time running low for both sides a draw was agreed.
2. P Cawley (185) 0.5-0.5 Steve
This transposed into a sort of Classical Dutch. Steve was under pressure in the middlegame but defended carefully and in the end achieved a well earned draw.
P Siddall (191) 1-0 Phil
This was a typical game against a stronger opponent. I was outplayed strategically in the middlegame, ending up with a collapsing position and my time running out. I decided to do the noble thing and resign although the post mortem unveiled a way I could have complicated things for a while.
A Reeve (186) 1-0 Tudor
Playing against an English system that his opponent knew inside out Tudor fought bravely but in the end the complications went against him.
D Toole (171) 0-1 Alan
Alan "nerves of steel" Stokes ended up in a passive position against Dave's favoured King's Indian. However Dave spent too much time trying to press home his advantage and Alan calmly continued making good moves while Dave ran out of time. Well done Alan!
M Taylor (171) 1-0 Paul
Mike seemed to have a good system against Paul's Benko Gambit. Paul managed to create some activity on the Kingside but Mike's passed A pawn won the day before Paul could create enough threats.
So Stockport win 4-1. A respectable result from a very tough match.
1. A Smith (204) 0.5-0.5 John
John was relieved to get his favoured White pieces, possibly less so to see a Dutch on the board. However, careful play allowed him to reach an endgame only a doubled pawn down and with time running low for both sides a draw was agreed.
2. P Cawley (185) 0.5-0.5 Steve
This transposed into a sort of Classical Dutch. Steve was under pressure in the middlegame but defended carefully and in the end achieved a well earned draw.
P Siddall (191) 1-0 Phil
This was a typical game against a stronger opponent. I was outplayed strategically in the middlegame, ending up with a collapsing position and my time running out. I decided to do the noble thing and resign although the post mortem unveiled a way I could have complicated things for a while.
A Reeve (186) 1-0 Tudor
Playing against an English system that his opponent knew inside out Tudor fought bravely but in the end the complications went against him.
D Toole (171) 0-1 Alan
Alan "nerves of steel" Stokes ended up in a passive position against Dave's favoured King's Indian. However Dave spent too much time trying to press home his advantage and Alan calmly continued making good moves while Dave ran out of time. Well done Alan!
M Taylor (171) 1-0 Paul
Mike seemed to have a good system against Paul's Benko Gambit. Paul managed to create some activity on the Kingside but Mike's passed A pawn won the day before Paul could create enough threats.
So Stockport win 4-1. A respectable result from a very tough match.
Tuesday, 19 August 2014
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
ECA 6 Denton B 0
We needed a big win last night to give us a chance of winning the league and thanks to a weakened Denton B team and a bit of luck we got the perfect result. Now it is down to Denton B to score some game points against Marple next week and we could just stay top.
1. John 1-0 D Boulden (152)
John played his normal Bg5 system against the Nimzo-Indian and a strange position ensued where both players castled Queenside. John's opponent blundered a pawn and then the exchange and then ended up a Rook down but with some nasty threats. John gave up his Queen to stave off the attack but had two Rooks and a Bishop to compensate. After a few shaky moments John finished things off with a mating attack.
2. Phil 1-0 D Holt (136)
I played a decent opening and ended up with a French Defence type position. I created some pressure on the Queenside but then completely missed a move which should have won a piece for Dave. While I was trying to squirm out of my predicament Dave seem to panic a bit at the thought of winning and let me off the hook. I then ground out the endgame.
3. Steve 1-0 P Boyd (128)
This was a very smooth grind for Steve, winning a pawn out of the opening and then gradually increasing his advantage for the rest of the game.
4. Dave N 1-0 I Urwin (121)
Dave opponent played a sort of Wing Gambit against the Sicilian but Dave kept hold of the extra pawn and then won tactically in the middle game.
5. Keven 1-0 E Lesnik (108)
Keven won a pawn early on and smoothly ground out the endgame.
6. Tudor 1-0 D Cook (107)
Tudor achieved one of his favourite positions with a Queenside pawn storm against his opponent's King. He managed to open lines against the King forcing resignation.
So a successful season for ECA, finishing either 1st or 2nd depending on Marple C's result next week. Thanks to the addition of Steve we have a decent front line and should not be fearful of the A division. Gulp.
1. John 1-0 D Boulden (152)
John played his normal Bg5 system against the Nimzo-Indian and a strange position ensued where both players castled Queenside. John's opponent blundered a pawn and then the exchange and then ended up a Rook down but with some nasty threats. John gave up his Queen to stave off the attack but had two Rooks and a Bishop to compensate. After a few shaky moments John finished things off with a mating attack.
2. Phil 1-0 D Holt (136)
I played a decent opening and ended up with a French Defence type position. I created some pressure on the Queenside but then completely missed a move which should have won a piece for Dave. While I was trying to squirm out of my predicament Dave seem to panic a bit at the thought of winning and let me off the hook. I then ground out the endgame.
3. Steve 1-0 P Boyd (128)
This was a very smooth grind for Steve, winning a pawn out of the opening and then gradually increasing his advantage for the rest of the game.
4. Dave N 1-0 I Urwin (121)
Dave opponent played a sort of Wing Gambit against the Sicilian but Dave kept hold of the extra pawn and then won tactically in the middle game.
5. Keven 1-0 E Lesnik (108)
Keven won a pawn early on and smoothly ground out the endgame.
6. Tudor 1-0 D Cook (107)
Tudor achieved one of his favourite positions with a Queenside pawn storm against his opponent's King. He managed to open lines against the King forcing resignation.
So a successful season for ECA, finishing either 1st or 2nd depending on Marple C's result next week. Thanks to the addition of Steve we have a decent front line and should not be fearful of the A division. Gulp.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
ECA 3.5 Altrincham 2.5
ECA beat a strong Altrincham team last night.
Here is the scorecard:
1. Y Kolodiy (168) 0.5 - 0.5 John
2. R Clucas (158) 0 - 1 Phil
3. K Lockett (155) 0 - 1 Steve
4. M Whalley (149) 1 - 0 Keven
5. N Lowe (135) 0 - 1 Dave N
6. B McCartney (130) 1 - 0 Tudor
Tudor's game finished first. Tudor lost a piece but had some vague attacking changes. However his opponent defended carefully and Tudor ran out of attacking material.
Keven had a cramped game with a backward e pawn and ultimately had to resign.
Dave had a nice win when his opponent wasted a lot of moves in the opening and left his King in the centre. In Dave's words: "My opponent resigned on move 20 having played very passively against the Colle and his king was stuck in the middle with his kings bishop and rook still not having moved and unable to move without losing more material."
John drew a sharp game where he gambited a pawn for a promising position but then misplayed it and had to fight for a draw.
This left the match at 2.5 - 1.5 to Altrincham. Dave takes over the commentary from here:
"This being my only home match of the season (I live 5 mins from Altrincham) I had decided to stay and watch until all the games had finished. With 2 games to go it did not look good! Alti were 2.5 to 1.5 up with Phil and Steve still playing on boards 2 and 3 respectively.
Steve's was the easier game to assess as he was in a rook and pawn ending, a pawn down, and short of time. Some drawing chances but no prospect of a win. Phil's game was more difficult to come to a conclusion about (unclear!!!). Both players were short of time in a sharp position. Phils opponent seemed to be applying most of the pressure but Phil was countering accurately.
Steve's opponent then contrived to voluntarily swap off the rooks in a position where he was losing his extra pawn and leaving Steve with the more active king. John Reed left at this stage and we were agreed that with best play it was now a drawn game. How wrong we were! Steve applied pressure and his opponent crumbled allowing Steve's king to mop up pawns and a pawn race ensued with Steve queening and then then playing very accurately to prevent his opponent queening.
Over to Phil's game with both players having about 3 mins left on their clocks. Major pieces were exchanged and Phil's opponent offered a draw which was quickly refused as now it was Phil applying pressure. Thinking for 30 seconds over a move when you have only 3 min left is not a good idea (trust me I know!) and down went white's flag leaving East Cheshire winners 3.5 to 2.5. A fantastic result and such an exciting finish that I had to get a bottle of wine to take home to celebrate."
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