Essex League 1st Team
2019-20
Essex League Division 2
| Played |
Won |
Drawn |
Lost |
Points |
| 7 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
To see match report, click on score, or scroll down.
| Day |
Date |
Venue |
0pponents |
Result |
| Wed | 30-Oct-19 | Home | Ilford | W 7-1 |
| Fri | 29-Nov-19 | Away | Southend I | L 2-6 |
| Wed | 11-Dec-19 | Home | Southend I | L 3½-4½ |
| Mon | 20-Jan-20 | Away | Ilford | D 4-4 |
| Wed | 29-Jan-20 | Home | Thurrock I | W 8-d |
| Wed | 05-Feb-20 | Home | Upminster II | L 2½-5½ |
| Wed | 19-Feb-20 | Home | Wanstead III | L 3-5 |
| | | Away | Upminster II | Post |
| | | Away | Thurrock I | Post |
| | | Away | Wanstead III | Post |
Match reports
|
| |
| |
Loughton I |
|
|
Ilford |
|
| 1 | Eames, Robert S | 206 | 1-0 | Barton, Tom A | 162 |
| 2 | Bowmer, Kevin | 188 | ½-½ | Twitchell, Neville H | 166 |
| 3 | Stirling, William J | 182 | 1-0 | Kalinsky, Syd M | 141 |
| 4 | Faulkner, David J | 155 | 1-0 | Subramanian, Venkatesh | |
| 5 | van Tol, Martin | 147 | 1-0 | Page, Jeffrey | 128 |
| 6 | Spear, Brian J | 141 | ½-½ | Undre, Taha | |
| 7 | Moth, Simon C | 142 | 1-d | Dee, Fault | |
| 8 | Groce, Ken | 135 | 1-d | Dee, Fault | |
| |
7-1 |
|
A convincing start to the season. However, the margin of victory was harsh on our visitors.
Ilford started off at a big disadvantage defaulting two boards but all the remaining games were well fought and included one
win on time for us in an unclear position.
|
| |
| |
Southend I |
|
|
Loughton I |
|
| 1 | Sutherland, Neil A | 175 | 0-1 | Bowmer, Kevin | 188 |
| 2 | Grist, Howard | 171 | ½-½ | Stirling, William J | 182 |
| 3 | Corfield, Julian E | 173 | 1-d | Faulkner, David J | 155 |
| 4 | Wedlock, Stephen L | 161 | 1-0 | Van Tol, Martin | 147 |
| 5 | Davis-Loades, Alex | | ½-½ | Moth, Simon C | 142 |
| 6 | Saunders, Michael J | 146 | 1-0 | Stiffell, Lyn | 129 |
| 7 | Newton, Colin M | 146 | 1-0 | Groce, Ken | 135 |
| 8 | Styles, Luke M | 156 | 1-0 | Pintegne, Chris | |
| |
6-2 |
|
It really was a Black Friday.
- We got off to an unfortunate start. Dave appeared at the venue on time and as the game was about to start got a call about a domestic emergency.
He had to drive home immediately without playing any moves.
- Kevin won a rook and pawn ending.
- Bill and Simon both drew.
- Martin had a good position for most of the game and at one point had a three pawn advantage.
However short on time, he blundered a rook and lost. A hard defeat and his opponent graciously said Martin was unlucky.
- Chris made his first team debut and did decently.
Southend won all the other games and fully deserved their win.
|
| |
| |
Loughton I |
|
|
Southend I |
|
| 1 | Bowmer, Kevin | 188 | ½-½ | Sutherland, Neil A | 175 |
| 2 | Stirling, William J | 182 | 1-0 | Grist, Howard | 171 |
| 3 | Faulkner, David J | 155 | ½-½ | Wedlock, Stephen L | 161 |
| 4 | Van Tol, Martin | 147 | ½-½ | Corfield, Julian E | 173 |
| 5 | Moth, Simon C | 142 | 0-1 | Styles, Luke M | 156 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Graham J | 130 | 0-1 | Newton, Colin M | 146 |
| 7 | Stiffell, Lyn | 129 | ½-½ | Lacey, Nick | 132 |
| 8 | Groce, Ken | 135 | ½-½ | Whitefield, Fred R | 129 |
| |
3½-4½ |
|
A disappointing result. Kevin, Martin and Ken all had good positions but failed to convert. Bill was our only winner.
One curiosity was that queens were exchanged early on every single board.
|
| |
| |
Ilford |
|
|
Loughton I |
|
| 1 | Twitchell, Neville H | 166 | 0-1 | Bowmer, Kevin | 182 |
| 2 | Kent, Anthony R | 149 | ½-½ | Stirling, William J | 183 |
| 3 | Kalinsky, Syd M | 136 | ½-½ | Faulkner, David J | 160 |
| 4 | Subramanian, Venkatesh | 142 | 1-0 | van Tol, Martin | 145 |
| 5 | Klimach, Jason W | 145 | ½-½ | Moth, Simon C | 145 |
| 6 | Page, Jeffrey | 123 | 0-1 | Groce, Ken | 136 |
| 7 | Ainkaran, Lavanan | 133J | 1-0 | Kershaw, Graham J | 131 |
| 8 | Undre, Taha | 102 | ½-½ | Stiffell, Lyn | 125 |
| |
4-4 |
|
Having spent our Monday evening amongst the delightful cobbled streets and thatched roofs of Ilford, here's a quick report on our latest first-team escapade.
We drew the match. Although Ilford put out a stronger team at home than they do away, we had a grading advantage for this match.
So maybe a draw wasn't quite what we were aiming for, and we only just got that.
- Martin played a captain's role and lost. He was black, playing Dutch Defence against d4.
Made a slight mistake in the opening and had to swap off lots of pieces to recover things. So, the game quickly progressed through its middle game.
Later, white got his queen in amongst black's Q-side pawns and got an advantage which black was unable to recover.
- Then came quite a lot draws and a loss for Graham. One or two players felt sorry they didn't manage to make more of it.
And before we knew it, we were 4-2 down with just Ken and Kevin left to finish.
Lucky for us, two players who are having quite a good season so far ... but we needed both to win.
- Luckily Ken had quite a deadly attack and won his game.
- Kevin was down on time in his game, but was a couple of pawns up, with a pawn and rook on the seventh rank.
His opponent's rook pair were stuck on back rank. Kevin's attack forced his opponent's king out into the middle of the board and
he won it with about a minute left on the clock.
Match drawn. Our blushes saved. Phew.
see Ilford report and pictures.
|
| |
| |
Loughton I |
|
|
Thurrock I |
|
| |
8-d |
|
Thurrock had difficulties raising a team and conceded the match in advance.
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| |
| |
Loughton I |
|
|
Upminster II |
|
| 1 | Bowmer, Kevin | 182 | 0-1 | Kelsey, Stephen J | 169 |
| 2 | Stirling, William J | 183 | 1-0 | Crane, Leslie J | 155 |
| 3 | Faulkner, David J | 160 | ½-½ | Iannetta, Robert | 154 |
| 4 | Moth, Simon C | 145 | 0-1 | Corish, Aidan T | 141 |
| 5 | Spear, Brian J | 139 | ½-½ | Abbott, Stephen J | 144 |
| 6 | Groce, Ken | 136 | 0-1 | Foley, Phil T | 136 |
| 7 | Kershaw, Graham J | 131 | 0-1 | Biggs, Peter | 122 |
| 8 | Stiffell, Lyn | 125 | ½-½ | Estall, Kevin | 111 |
| |
2½-5½ |
|
|
| |
| |
Loughton I |
|
|
Wanstead III |
|
| 1 | Stirling, William J | 183 | 0-1 | Murrell, Mark R A | 156 |
| 2 | Faulkner, David J | 160 | ½-½ | Jones, Keith S | 141 |
| 3 | Van Tol, Martin | 145 | ½-½ | Barclay, Paul R | 152 |
| 4 | Moth, Simon C | 145 | ½-½ | Rawlings, David J | 139 |
| 5 | Groce, Ken | 136 | ½-½ | Siddo, Charlton | 143 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Graham J | 131 | ½-½ | Swales, Andrew | 140 |
| 7 | Stiffell, Lyn | 125 | 0-1 | Harte, Ben | 143 |
| 8 | Pintegne, Chris | | ½-½ | Smith, David | 129 |
| |
3-5 |
|
Two quite closely matched teams ... we had higher grades on higher boards, they had higher grades on lower boards. In the middle we were about equal.
- Bill (white, Dutch Defence). Bill had a good attack going and managed to force exchange of his opponent's queen for his rook and knight.
He was better coordinated than his opponent too. However, a late blunder cost him the game.
It's a cruel game and we've all done it. 0-1
- Dave (black, Alekhine's Defence). Dave pushed well and got a pawn up. He got himself into a better position but ended up very strongly down on time. In the circumstances taking a draw was probably the correct thing. Draw.
- Martin (white, Scandinavian Defence). An opening Martin knows how to play safely against, but not how to get an advantage from it.
The game saw a strong exchange of pieces, emerging into a position with each player having two rooks, opposite-coloured bishops and lots of pawns.
One small pawn weakness each. Back to the drawing board to work out what to do against this opening. Draw.
- Simon (black, Bird's Opening (1. f4). Not a common opening. White got a knight and bishop almost behind the lines and put Simon in an uncomfortable position. Simon proved he's difficult to break down. Draw.
- Ken (white, English Opening). Probably the most interesting game of the evening. Ken occupied space in the centre in a closed game.
He got a pawn up, although his opponent had a central passed pawn which he managed to push the seventh rank.
Somehow this game ended up with Ken's two pawns versus rook. Ken got his two pawns to the seventh rank, but his opponent found just the correct move every time. Draw.
- Graham (black, French Defence). A very tight closed game, in which the opponent got a pair of aggressive penetrating knights. Don't remember much from this one, but it ended up as a draw.
- Lyn (white, opening unknown). Lyn ended up sharply down on time. His opponent managed to manufacture an attack on Lyn's castled king, which forced the king to go for a walk in the middle of the board. 0-1
- Chris (black, Sicilian Accelerated Dragon). Chris played this very well and got a pawn up early on.
He went into a rooks and pawns endgame with a pawn advantage, better position and big time advantage, but slipped and emerged a pawn down.
However, the time advantage was so great that his opponent eventually conceded a draw.
At a meeting of the Essex league teams, it was decided to abandon the remainder of the 2019-20 season.
As clear leaders, Southend I were awarded the 2nd division trophy. 🏆
Congratulations to them.