ECA 0.5 Marple B 5.5

Ouch! ECA came crashing down to earth on Wednesday night against a crazily strong Marple B team. With GM Keith Arkell added to their A team Sarah Hegarty was now their number 5 player and able to play for the B team. Even so we should have been able to score more than half a point but it was just one of those nights.

1. Phil 0 - 1 S Hegarty (195)

Despite my strange move order tricks the game headed for a mainline Sicilian Dragon. In order to avoid mainline theory I played some inferior moves and soon ended up under a severe attack. I gave up a pawn in order to swap off a dangerous Bishop and then suddenly my pieces came alive and I had a good position. I had the choice of swapping off to a decent endgame or playing an aggressive move with my Queen. Given my perilous clock situation I should have chosen the endgame but I couldn't resist the Queen move. This won my pawn back with a better position. However the game was complicated and in the end I lost on time in a major piece endgame.

2. John 0 - 1 M Fernandez (177)

This game was almost a carbon copy of John's previous match against Michael this season. John outplayed Michael in the opening and early middlegame and got a big positional advantage. However Michael managed to complicate matters and, short of time, John went astray.

3. Dave N 0 - 1 G Trueman (166)

Dave seemed to always be on the back foot against Glenn's anti-Sicilian system. Dave used up a lot of time to stay in the game and eventually missed a threat.

4. Lembit 0 - 1 P Kirby (178)

Lembit played a quite system against the Najdorf and got a lifeless position. Lembit ended up with a backward pawn on the C file and eventually succumbed to the constant pressure.

5. Dave B 0 - 1 N Garrido (130 est)

Dave played enterprisingly in the open and managed to keep his opponent's King in the centre at the expense of a pawn. However Nadio eventually consolidated his position and won another pawn.

6. Tudor 0.5 - 0.5 T Cowling (144)

Tudor played sensibly against the Albin Counter Gambit and got a nice position but Terry played some tricky moves and eventually Tudor had to bale out with a draw.

And there concludes our last home match of the season. We finish with slightly easier matches against Denton B and Stockport B.

Macc B 0 ECA 6

ECA registered their most comfortable win of the season on Tuesday night: 6-0 and no swindles!

1. Phil 1-0 A Brough (133)

My "confusion" move order did the trick. After 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 my opponent erred with 2. ... Nf6?! This allowed my to transpose to a good Queen's Gambit position with 3. cxd Nxd5 4. d4. Now White is going to play e4 and grab the centre. Black made things worse with 4. ... e6, blocking in his White squared bishop and I went on to win comfortably with a Kingside attack.

2. John 1-0 R Pomeroy (138)

On the Black Side or the Ruy Lopez John built up a comfortable position with the Bishop pair and control of the dark squares. However his opponent kept playing good moves and managed to put John under a bit of pressure. John kept his cool and won a couple of pawns in the late middlegame.

3. Dave N 1-0 B Woodhall (109)

Another Stonewall for Dave and once again his opponent didn't really know how to counter it. Dave built up a strong attack on the Kingside and his opponent had to give up a piece to avoid mate.

4. Tudor 1-0 T Robson (83)

Playing a slow King's Indian Tudor built up a huge lead on the clock. In the end Tudor was up a rook against a couple of connected past pawns but his opponent had no time to work things out and got mated.

5. Paul 1-0 D Styles (80)

Paul played the closed system against the Sicilian and manage to get a protected passed pawn on c6 which eventually won the day.

6. Nick 1-0 E Nathan (70)

Playing the Sicilian Nick outplayed his opponent in the middlegame, got a winning ending and ended it with a snap checkmate.

So a nice confidence building match in preparing for our title slug against Marple B next week.

ECA 5.5 Denton B 0.5

ECA cruised to another easy victory last night against a weakened Denton B team. Apparently Denton had two other matches on the same night so they sent out more of a "C" team with a predictable result.


1. Phil 1-0 P Boyd (131)

Via a very strange move order we ended up playing a Sicilian Sveshnikov! My opponent seemed unfamiliar with the ideas and ended up with the typical lifeless position White can easily get if he is not ambitious enough in the open Sicilian. I entered complications too soon, losing control of the position somewhat but I managed to win a pawn and hold on to it. In the end my opponent badly misplayed the endgame and I won on time just before checkmate.

2. John 1-0 I Urwin (130)

On the White side of a sort of Czech Benoni John steamrollered his opponent who was clearly making things up. After his opponent had wasted sufficient tempos John managed to break through in the centre and subject Urwin's King to a vicious attack.

3. Dave N 1-0 G Lombardo (120)

Another day, another Dutch for Dave! Dave won a pawn in the middlegame and had a winning position but used up most of his time. Fortunately he had enough time to work things out and beat his opponent comfortably.

4. Tudor 1-0 S Bradley (124)

Playing the White side of a Tarrasch Defence Tudor ended up with an Isolated Queen's Pawn and a fairly lifeless position. Fortunately he found a way to complicate things while significantly ahead on time and Bradley could not work  things out in the time available. That is 9/11 for Tudor this season!

5. Dave B 0.5-0.5 D Cook (108)

Dave once again got a promising French Defence position but he didn't make the most of it and his opponent managed to trap a rook, leading to a move repetition and a draw.

6. Paul 1-0 A Ryder (101)

No King bashing today from Paul! Playing a slow closed system against the Sicilian Paul gradually outplayed his opponent and then used a pin to win a piece. A nice solid way to beat a weaker opponent.

So on to Macc B next week. They were recently beaten by ECB so I think a quiet confidence is acceptable.

ECA 5 Wilmslow 1

ECA returned to winning ways last night with a comfortable win over a weakened Wilmslow side. Two early gifts of pieces eased the pressure and with two wins on time and a late win by Lembit we won 5-1.

1. Phil 1 - 0 C Mills (147)

My opponent arrived half an hour late and to save time played a solid Stonewall system. I played a similar system on the light squares and the position became very stodgy. Colin kept playing slowly however so in the end I only had to keep the position complicated in order to win on time in the middlegame.


2. John 1 - 0 R Warhurst (120)

On the eighth move of a Nimzo-Indian Robin got confused and left a piece en prise. He played the game out to the ending but John played solidly and never gave an inch.

3. D Newell 0 - 1 M Palmer (110)

Dave played a nice Dutch opening and got a middlegame with two Bishops against two Knights. However Mike played solidly and in time trouble Dave lost a piece and the game.

4. L Saar 1 - 0 A Weinburg (110)

Another tense game for Lembit! The Four Knights opening is normally solid for White but Weinburg threw the kitchen sink at Lembit, sacrificing a Knight for a nasty pin against the King's Knight. Lembit had to play very carefully but eventually unravelled his position and won easily.

5. D Broadbent 1 - 0 M Garvin (83)

Dave's opponent played a solid Queen's Pawn opening but played slowly. Dave didn't have much advantage but kept enough tension in the position to allow his opponent to lose on time.

6. P Bamford 1 - 0 T Horrocks (50)

Paul's game left theory on move 3! You won't find the moves 1. e4 e5 2. d4 Nf6!? 3. Bg5!? in any opening databases. After 3. ... exd 4. e5 Qe7 5. Qe2 Black could have saved the piece with 5. ... h6 but gave it up with 5. ... Nc6??

After that it was plain sailing for Paul.

So a nice win but Denton B should be a harder challenge next week.

East Cheshire A 2.5 Altrincham A 3.5

After our exciting match at Marple this home match was a bit of a disappointment. Despite being the stronger team on paper some unexpected defeats meant that we lost the match. Perhaps that talk of promotion was premature!

1. P Ramsey 0 - 1 Y Kolodiy (168)

Yaroslav is a bit of a nemesis of mine. I think my score against him is 0.5 out of 4. This time I played an obscure King's Indian sideline against his Four Pawns Attack. I managed to get a decent position but then allowed him to exchange off into a very difficult endgame for me. Despite my best efforts I was unable to hold the balance.

2. D Newell 0 - 1 K Lockett (160)

Dave had another good Bird's opening and built up a strong attack. However in time pressure Karl started to play some tricky moves and eventually Dave fell for a bit of a trap.

3. L Saar 1 - 0 T Tomkins (137)

This win was probably the highlight of the evening. Lembit played a symmetrical English and had a solid position. He gradually built up an advantage and then finished the time scramble in fine style, outplaying his opponent in the endgame.

4. K Holton 0 - 1 R Clucas (131)

Keven played his usual solid Queen's Pawn opening but was gradually ground down by his opponent and resigned in a position where material was even but his opponent had too many threats.

5. P Bamford 0.5 - 0.5 D Hughes (129)

Paul grabbed a few pawns in the opening and seemed to be consolidating into a winning endgame. However his opponent managed to get a pawn back and draw the game.

6. A Stokes 1 - 0 W McCartney (124)

Alan managed to win a pawn in the middlegame and outplayed his opponent in the endgame for a convincing win.

So not a great match but we have a while to lick our wounds and recover - next match is at home to Wilmslow on Feb 20th.

Marple B 3 ECA 3

East Cheshire almost beat a strong Marple side on Thursday night but sadly two blunders turned 5-1 into 3-3.

1. Michael Fernandez (177) 1 -  0 John Reed

John build up a big advantage against his young opponent's Kings Indian. However in time trouble Michael created some traps and sadly John fell into one of them.

2. Paul Kirby (178) 0 - 1 Phil Ramsey

The way things are going this season I am going to have to buy a Kings Indian T-shirt. My opponent was once again left with little to do on the Queenside while I attacked him on the Kingside. My opponent buried his King on h1 and I built up the threat of a winning Bishop sacrifice that he had to give up his Queen to avoid.

3. Glenn Trueman (166) 0 - 1 Tudor Rickards

Tudor is on fire this season! Playing against the Modern Benoni Tudor's opponent seemed to have some Kingside threats but Tudor calmly refuted them and won a piece. He then avoided complications and allowed his opponent to fall on his own sword in time trouble.

4. Sean Hewitt (164) 1 - 0 Keven Holton

Playing the Modern Defence against an ex-East Cheshire member, Keven calmly walked into a pin to grab a pawn and then consolidated down to a promising endgame. Sadly a blunder gave Sean the game.

5. Andy Jenkins (141) 0.5 - 0.5 Paul Bamford

Playing against a Scandinavian Paul wasn't able to gambit anything but played solidly enough to get the draw.

6. Terry Cowling (144) 0.5 - 0.5 Nick Flaherty

Both sides fianchettoed both bishops and in the resulting calm position Nick easily held his own.

An exciting match. If we keep on winning and beat Marple B in the return fixture we will have a chance of topping the league!

Stockport 5.5 East Cheshire 0.5

The last time we met Stockport in the Charnley Cup we lost 6-0. Obviously our hard chess work in the years since has paid off as this time we only lost 5.5-0.5!

Here is how we get on against a ridiculously strong Stockport team:


1. A Reeve (199) 1-0 P Ramsey

This was painful. As White I went wrong on move 2! After 1. d4 d6 you should play 2. e4 to transpose to a Pirc or 2. Nf3 to stop 2. ... e5. After 2. c4 e5 Black is already posing problems for White. After 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 f5 5. h4? h6 6. Nh3 Qxh4 I was a pawn down for little compensation. I made further strategical mistakes and ended up with nothing to do but wait for him to kill me on the Kingside. He took his time, enjoying the slow torture, and then killed me with a positional Queen sacrifice. I don't think I managed one threat in the whole game!

2. A Smith (199) 1-0 J Reed

On the Black side of a Ruy Lopez John held his own for most of the game, only getting into trouble in time trouble towards the end of the game and losing a pawn.

From John: "Dropped the draw in time trouble. Big centre battle had evened out but just couldn't calculate endgame quick enough and played a stupid move after 3 hours of effort. Had a slight plus for a lot of the game."

3. P Cawley (190) 1-0 T Rickards

Tudor's winning streak sadly came to an end. I didn't see much of this but Tudor has a few threats to Black's King at one point but Black's threats ultimately proved to be stronger.

4. P Siddall (175) 0.5-0.5 D Broadbent

Dave got our one draw of the night with a solid French Defence against a very strong opponent.

5. S Murray (178) 1-0 K Holton

Keven used his normal "bore draw" strategy to get a solid position against Stuart. He then missed a chance to get an advantage and lost a pawn when he miscalculated a combination.

6. R English (175) 1-0 P Bamford

Paul got a slightly cramped position out of the opening and lost a pawn. He stayed in the game though and made his opponent work for the win.

That's it for 2012.

Looking forward to a promotion push next year!