Ouch! (ECA vs Stockport C)

Ooof that hurt!

ECA can crashing back down to earth with a painful defeat to Stockport C. Stockport's captain had observed our lofty league position and decided to do the other teams in the league a favour by fielding his strongest team. Although grading-wise we were about equal most of us just weren't at our best last night. Here is the damage:

1. Graham Ball 1-0 J Mason (153)

Graham defended the Advance French and played solidly, reaching an opposite bishops endgame where he was slightly better. Our resident endgame wizard then steadily outplayed his opponent to take the full point.

2. Phil Ramsey 0-1 A Coe (148)

Oh dear. This was one of those games where I couldn't find a good plan, dithered for a few moves and missed most of my opponent's threats. Trying the English opening I didn't get anything special from the opening and then allowed a sudden attack against my King. Hopefully my brain will work better next Wednesday!

3. Dave Newall 0.5-0.5 P King (146)

Dave gave his good old Dutch Leningrad another outing. However his opponent seemed to know how to meet it (it is rumoured that Stockport has a database of all our openings!) Dave sacrificed a couple of exchanges for in order to get two very powerful Bishops but then offered a draw after his opponent defended well.

4. Keven Holton 0-1 L Smith (146)

Keven had the chance to play against his favourite opening - the Modern Defence. However after castling Queenside his opponents attack came first and Keven was left about 4 pawns down.

5. Dave Broadbent 0-1 V Rushworth (139)

Another Black, another French for Dave. However his opponent played well and Dave ended up with a thoroughly miserable position, resigning shortly after the time control.

6. David Taylor 0-1 D Preen (131)

David, playing his favourite Reti, seemed to get a pleasant enough position from the opening but then went astray and ended up a piece for a pawn down. His opponent made hard work of winning but eventually forced David's resignation.

The B team play Stockport C next week. Good luck!

Frozen but victorious in Chorlton also

On Tuesday East Cheshire C ventured out in the snow to visit Chorlton B and won 3.5 to 1.5. Andy Walker captained. The scores were
Alan Stokes 1 0 Evan Wood
Bill Tait 1 0 Howard Hughes
Mike Cunnane 1/2 1/2 E Patten
Andy Buckley 0 1 P Noel
Andy Walker 1 0 M Fullerton

Alan was playing the white side of a Queen's gambit accepted. It was even until the middle of the game; he later managed a winning king side attack with an exchange sacrifice.
Bill achieved a precarious advantage and managed to promote a centre pawn for a timely win. The drive home was difficult, said Bill.
Andy W says, "Many thanks gents - a convincing win in less than ideal conditions!"

Frozen but Victorious in Denton

Last night ECA braved the snow and the cold to take on Denton at their venue in Guide Bridge. Unfortunately the playing venue was little warmer than outside as the heating had only just gone on. Therefore we were all hoping for some "fire on board" to warm things up. Here is what happened:

1. Graham Ball 0-1 Dave Toole

Graham was outplayed by the in-form Toole who clearly has been playing the Black side of the Sicilian Najdorf longer than Graham has been taking it on.

2. Phil Ramsey 1-0 John Lysons

John played his favourite Smith-Morra gambit against my Sicilian. However I didn't fancy defending for two hours so I declined it and played for a solid position. John didn't come up with any ways to trouble me and I gradually built up a Queenside attack and then won the endgame.

3. Dave Newell 0.5-0.5 Kamran Ahmadi

Playing his favourite Dutch Reversed Dave managed to trap his opponents Knight. A quick win then? Maybe not as his opponent wriggled and squirmed like an eel. Dave was eventually easily winning but had only seconds left on his clock. Dave then lost on time but Kamran only had his King left which meant the result was a draw due to insufficient mating material.

4. Keven Holton 0-1 Dave Holt

Keven achieved a solid position in the Scandinavian Defence but went astray in time trouble.

5. David Taylor 1-0 Stan Bradley

David played his normal Reti but both players seemed reluctant to advance past the halfway line! Stan spent rather too long thinking and eventually froze while in time trouble, allowing his flag to fall. David was winning anyway apparently.

6. Alan Stokes 1-0 Dave Cook

Playing the Sicilian Alan stirred up complications that were too much for Dave to handle and Alan quickly won a piece and then the game.

So a 3.5 - 2.5 victory for ECA! That is 6 out of 6 for ECA!

She is in Dubai so I will have to do this. Here is last nights game against DB, another tight one hinging on small decisions.

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3 5. bxc3 b6 6. Bf4

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(The game Explorer on chess.com gives ....6 .... OO here, but only one game and a white win so Bf4 seems largely untested, cant be bad)

6 .... Bb7 7. e3 d5 (maybe 7 .... d6 is more solid)

8. Nf3 OO 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. Bd3 ( probably 10. cxd5 first is more accurate)

10. ... dxc 11. Bxc4 Be4 12. Bd3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3

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My thoughts on this positionin the game :-

1. Its pretty level

2. Dont get check mated on h7

3. Best winning chance is the c and d files

4. a Knight for bishop exchange would be useful

13 ..... h6 14. OO Nh5 15. Bg3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 (think I would have played fxg3 here)

16. .... Nf6 17. c4 c5 18. Rfd1 cxd 19. exd Rac8. Reasonably happy now as have achieved 1-4 above

20. a4 Qc7 21. Ne5 Rfd8 22. Qf3 (stopping my planned Nd7)

22. ...... Nh7 23. Qe3 f6 24. Nf3 ( and the game swings slightly my way, I had wondered if Ng6 might happen but its hard to see what it might do from there)

24. ..... Qxc4

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I am a pawn up but all the heavy artillery is still on, dificult win if it stays on, if the artillery comes off then the end game is won, so was not too unhappy when DB started offering exchanges

25. Rdc1 Qd5 26. Rxc8 Rxc8 27. Rc1 Rxc1 28. Qxc1 Qd7 29. Qc4 Nf8

30. Nd2 Qd5 31. Qc3 Kf7 32. f3 Ke7 33. Kf2 Nd7 34. Qb4+ Qd6

35. Qc3 e5 36. Nb3 a5

DB had less than a minute left at the time control, I think time has been significant in both our games

37. dxe fxe. (this broke up my pawns a bit but I felt it was important to keep Dave's horse off d4)

38. Ke2 Nc5 39. Nxa5? bxa5 40. Qxa5 Qa6+ 41. Qxa6 Nxa6 42. Kd3 Kd6

43. Ke4 g6 44. f4 Nc5+ 45. Kf3 exf 46. gxf Nxa4 47. g4 Nc5

White Resigns