1st Team 2018-19

Essex League 1^st Team
2018-19

Essex League Division 2

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
10	4	4	2	12

To see match report, click on score, or scroll down.

Day	Date	Venue	0pponents	Result
Thu	1-Nov-18	Away	Barking II	W 6-2
Wed	21-Nov-18	Home	Ilford	L 3½-4½
Wed	5-Dec-18	Home	Wanstead III	D 4-4
Tue	11-Dec-18 7.15pm	Away	Upminster II	D 4-4
Wed	2-Jan-19	Home	Upminster II	D 4-4
Thu	7-Mar-19	Away	Wanstead III	D 4-4
Wed	13-Mar-19	Home	Barking II	W 5-3
Tue	23-Apr-19	Away	Brentwood	L 1½-6½
Mon	20-May-19	Away	Ilford	W 4½-3½
Wed	29-May-19	Home	Brentwood	W 4½-3½

Match reports

St Margaret's Church Centre, Barking Thur 1^st Nov 2018

	Barking II			Loughton I
1	Ramage, Colin R	172	0-1	Bowmer, Kevin	185
2	Barr, Steven G	153	0-1	Stirling, William J	184
3	Wickham, Michael	149	½-½	Kershaw, Graham J	141
4	Clow, Kenneth W	145	½-½	van Tol, Martin	142
5	Berkley, Stephen W		0-1	Stiffell, Lyn
6	Ansari, Gholamreza	134	½-½	Moth, Simon C	138
7	Blagianu, Mihaita		0-1	Groce, Ken	131
8	Chtym, Vladimir	112	½-½	Jones, Barry E	120
			2-6

Loughton opened their campaign with an excellent 6-2 away win over Barking II at their much improved new venue. The hosts paid us the compliment of fielding their strongest side this year.

Simon was first to finish with a quick draw.
Ken won quickly soon after with a convincing performance.
Lyn’s excellent form continued – his opponent overstretched in the middle game and Lyn pulled out an exchange sacrifice that led to victory shortly afterwards.
Martin’s position always looked drawish.
Barry won a piece but couldn’t convert the Q & N vs. Q ending that ensued.
Graham was under the cosh but his opponent became short of time and a draw was agreed.
Kevin faced the Morra Gambit and came under the usual pressure. However, he won a 2^nd pawn and won the endgame comfortably, despite being short of time.
Bill had a really interesting game where he had a Rook, Bishop and Pawn for a Queen. A dynamic equilibrium was established where his opponent could have forced a draw by repetition of moves. But, he pushed for more, came under time pressure and eventually blundered. A nice win for Bill.

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 21^st Nov 2018

	Loughton I			Ilford
1	Bowmer, Kevin	185	½-½	Twitchell, Neville H	174
2	Stirling, William J	184	½-½	Barton, Tom A	166
3	Faulkner, David J	157	0-1	Kent, Anthony R	151
4	Kershaw, Graham J	141	½-½	Kalinsky, Syd M	141
5	Van Tol, Martin	142	½-½	Gesthuysen, Malcolm	139
6	Stiffell, Lyn		0-1	Page, Jeffrey	139
7	Moth, Simon C	138	½-½	Tutu, Marshall	94
8	Groce, Ken	131	1-0	Pakovlevas, Aleksandras
			3½-4½

Prior to this match, we had six consecutive Essex league wins against Ilford. With a grading advantage on almost all boards, what could go wrong ?
It did and ended our sequence of six wins across all teams this seaon.
Congraulations to Ilford on an excellent result.

see Ilford report.

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 5^th Dec 2018

	Loughton I			Wanstead III
1	Bowmer, Kevin	185	1-0	Jones, Keith S	151
2	Stirling, William J	184	½-½	Burtt, Laurie J	147
3	Kershaw, Graham J	141	½-½	Siddo, Charlton	144
4	Van Tol, Martin	142	0-1	Collyer, Alex	143
5	Stiffell, Lyn		½-½	Keehner, John R	137
6	Moth, Simon C	138	½-½	Nickals, Peter A	131
7	Groce, Ken	131	1-0	Smith, David	131
8	Jones, Barry E	120	0-1	Mulay, Tejas	114J
			4-4

Early wins for Ken and Kevin, together with draws for Graham and Lyn and a perpetual in Bill's game gave us a good start. However, after two defeats it all came down to Simon's game. Simon was close to winning, but Peter defended well for a drawn game and match.

St Laurence Minor Hall, Upminster Tue 11^th Dec 2018

	Upminster II			Loughton I
1	Corish, Aidan T	156	0-1	Bowmer, Kevin	185
2	Crane, Leslie J	156	0-1	Stirling, William J	184
3	Iannetta, Robert	153	½-½	Faulkner, David J	157
4	Abbott, Stephen J	140	½-½	Kershaw, Graham J	141
5	Rahaman, Mustapha	139	½-½	Van Tol, Martin	142
6	Kelsey, Stephen J		1-0	Stiffell, Lyn
7	Rosenfeld, Paul	134	½-½	Moth, Simon C	138
8	Biggs, Peter	130	1-0	Groce, Ken	131
			4-4

Graham came out of the opening with two weak pawns, but put pressure on his opponent's sole weak pawn and a draw was agreed.
Martin was next to finish. Although he was a pawn down his opponent offered him a draw which he correctly accepted.
Ken won a pawn, but later lost a knight and with it the game, so was unable to maintain his 100% seasonal record for the 1^st team.
Lyn, whose daughter had a baby during the previous night, went down when he lost a piece.
Simon after a big swap off won a pawn. Unluckily he was unable to prevent an exchange of the "a" file pawns, before he could create a pawn majority with his doubled pawn on the other side of the board. The resulting Knight & pawn ending was a dead draw.
David played well to be a pawn up albeit a doubled pawn. However his opponent managed to get his queen into his defence for a forced draw.
Bill played the game of night, with a knight and pawn controlling key squares around Black's king, before finishing off with an excellent king side attack.
Kevin was last to finish. With only a microscopic advantage in rook and pawn ending, he somehow managed to reach a won king and pawn ending before winning on time and drawing the match.

A lucky escape and our third consecutive 4-4 draw against Upminster II.

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 2^nd Jan 2019

	Loughton I			Upminster II
1	Bowmer, Kevin	189	1-0	Crane, Leslie J	157
2	Stirling, William J	182	½-½	Corish, Aidan T	151
3	Faulkner, David J	157	½-½	Iannetta, Robert	156
4	Spear, Brian J	142	0-1	Abbott, Stephen J	141
5	Kershaw, Graham J	136	0-1	Kelsey, Stephen J	174
6	Stiffell, Lyn	136	½-½	Rahaman, Mustapha	140
7	Moth, Simon C	139	½-½	Rosenfeld, Paul	134
8	Groce, Ken	132	1-0	Biggs, Peter	124
			4-4

Note - New January grades.

A very close exciting match as always against Upminster II.

The match started with four draws, but a win on board five gave Upminster the lead.
Kevin accepted a gambit pawn, consolidated and won with a king side attack.
Ken won a rook and pawn ending despite being low on time.
Brian was last to finish. Despite being a piece down he miraculously won a pawn to give some faint drawing chances. However in the end, the extra piece told and the Upminster captain won via zugzwang to equalise the match.

Our third consecutive Essex league 4-4 draw and our fourth consecutive 4-4 draw against Upminster II.

Wanstead House Thur 8^th Mar 2019

	Wanstead III			Loughton I
1	Barclay, Paul R	149	½-½	Bowmer, Kevin	189
2	Jones, Keith S	150	0-1	Stirling, William J	182
3	Collyer, Alex	141	½-½	Faulkner, David J	157
4	Lu, Andy W H	143	1-0	Van Tol, Martin	142
5	Rawlings, David J	145	0-1	Spear, Brian J	142
6	Nickals, Peter A	139	1-0	Kershaw, Graham J	136
7	McCarron, Peter D J	135	½-½	Moth, Simon C	139
8	Smith, David	132	½-½	Stiffell, Lyn	136
			4-4

Bill had a good win but after we lost two games, Brian equalised the match by converting a rook and pawn ending two pawns up.

What are the odds of four consecutive 1^st team 4-4 draws ??

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 13^th Mar 2019

	Loughton I			Barking II
1	Bowmer, Kevin	189	½-½	Ramage, Colin R	169
2	Stirling, William J	182	½-½	Wickham, Michael	148
3	Faulkner, David J	157	½-½	Clow, Kenneth W	139
4	Van Tol, Martin	142	½-½	Ansari, Gholamreza	141
5	Moth, Simon C	139	½-½	Figgins, John A	132
6	Kershaw, Graham J	136	½-½	Monk, George H	120
7	Stiffell, Lyn	136	1-0	Chtym, Vladimir	109
8	Groce, Ken	132	1-0	Blagianu, Mihaita	81
			5-3

Ken was first to finish for his 5^th !! win of the season for the 1^st team.
Simon had a solid draw, followed by draws by Dave and Graham.
Kevin drew by perpetual and although we were 3-2 up, the match was very much in the balance.
Bill had a complex position and offered a queen sacrifice. His opponent turned down the sacrifice and when the dust settled there was a rook and opposite coloured bishop ending which was agreed drawn.
Martin gave up a pawn in attempting to open up his opponent's king. His opponent had a passed queen side pawn but Martin held the draw.
Lyn was a pawn up in a bishop vs. knight ending. His opponent seemed to have established a blockade but Lyn broke through to win and clinch the match 5-3.

At last, the run of 4-4 draws was ended.

Brentwood Baptist Church Tue 23^rd Apr 2019

	Brentwood			Loughton I
1	Haydon, David L	232	1-0	Bowmer, Kevin	189
2	Coote, Trevor D	184	0-1	Stirling, William J	182
3	Adams, Ronald F	165	½-½	Faulkner, David J	157
4	Kingsley, Malcolm P	161	1-0	Van Tol, Martin	142
5	Hughes, Gavin J	158	1-0	Moth, Simon C	139
6	Weaver, Timothy	153	1-0	Kershaw, Graham J	136
7	Johnson, Roderick S	139	1-0	Stiffell, Lyn	136
8	Davies, Robert J V	129	1-0	Jones, Barry E	117
			6½-1½

League leaders Brentwood fielded their strongest team in recent history and won easily. Our only bright spot was Bill's victory with a heavy pieces attack.

Redbridge Social Centre Mon 20^th May 2019

	Ilford			Loughton I
1	Barton, Tom A	166	0-1	Eames, Robert S	206
2	Twitchell, Neville H	168	0-1	Bowmer, Kevin	189
3	Mugalu, Hassan	166	0-1	Stirling, William J	182
4	Kent, Anthony R	153	1-0	Faulkner, David J	157
5	Klimach, Jason W	135	½-½	Kershaw, Graham J	136
6	Kalinsky, Syd M	138	½-½	Stiffell, Lyn	136
7	Page, Jeffrey	132	1-0	Jones, Barry E	117
8	Subramanian, Venkatesh	120e	½-½	Smith, Michael	86
			3½-4½

While Martin and Simon were away on holiday ...

Mick had a good draw against a higher rated opponent.
Kevin had a better ending but his task was simplified when Neville's king got trapped in a checkmating attack.
Graham had slightly the better of a draw with control of the only open file.
Barry was in difficulties when Jeff broke through in the centre and Barry never recovered.
Bill won a piece but the position became complex with both kings under attack. Eventually the extra material told.
Lyn had a slightly worse ending but managed to exchange pieces into a drawn opposite coloured bishop ending.
Bob won a knight and pawn ending winning a key h pawn.
Dave fought back well from a difficult position but then lost the pawn race.

see Ilford report.

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 29^th May 2019

	Loughton I			Brentwood
1	Bowmer, Kevin	189	½-½	Kingsley, Malcolm P	161
2	Stirling, William J	182	1-0	Adams, Ronald F	165
3	Faulkner, David J	157	0-1	Hughes, Gavin J	158
4	Moth, Simon C	139	½-½	McGee, Aidan F	138
5	Kershaw, Graham J	136	0-1	Davies, Robert J V	129
6	Stiffell, Lyn	136	1-0	Phillips, Chris C	106
7	Newby, Jonathan	120	1-0	D'Cruz, David	86
8	Jones, Barry E	117	½-½	Ellis, Colin	99
			4½-3½

Bill and Jonathan both won. The latter after having a drawn offer turned down.
Lyn was last to finish. He achieved a bind, won a piece but lost a little coordination. He then won with a king side attack and won us the match.

Congratulations to Brentwood who had already won the league. We finished second.

Season Review

The Team started with an encouraging win away to Barking ll, but then we had a disappointing close defeat to Ilford. There followed four draws home & away to Wanstead lll & Upminster ll. We got back on track with another victory over Barking ll . This meant we lined against title favourites Brentwood with a chance of winning the division if we could beat them. They had suffered a couple of losses so there was some hope as we travelled to Brentwood. However, they fielded by far their strongest team of the season which resulted in a convincing win for them. The last two matches turned out to both be close wins against Ilford & Brentwood where we got our revenge on home soil. This meant we clinched 2^nd place in the League with 12 points, 1 point behind Brentwood.
Thanks to everyone who played.

Top of the averages was Ken with 83% closely followed by Bill with 80%.

Player	Games	Win	Draw	Loss	Score	%

Groce, Ken	6	5	0	1	5	83%
Stirling, William J	10	6	4	0	8	80%
Bowmer, Kevin	10	5	4	1	7	70%
Stiffell, Lyn	10	3	4	3	5	50%
Moth, Simon C	9	0	8	1	4	44%
Faulkner, David J	8	0	5	3	2½	31%
Kershaw, Graham J	10	0	6	4	3	30%
van Tol, Martin	7	0	4	3	2	29%
Jones, Barry E	5	0	2	3	1	20%

Eames, Robert S	1	1	0	0	1
Spear, Brian J	2	1	0	1	1
Newby, Jonathan	1	1	0	0	1
Smith, Michael	1	0	1	0	½

Total	80	22	38	20	41	51%

	Matches				Points	Position

Team	10	4	4	2	12	2^nd/6

Essex League 1st Team2018-19

Essex League Division 2

Match reports

Season Review

Player of the Season - Ken

Essex League 1^st Team
2018-19