2nd Team 2018-19

Essex League 2^nd Team
2018-19

Essex League Division 3

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
10	8	0	2	16

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

Day	Date	Venue	Opponents	Result
Fri	12-Oct-18	Away	Southend II	W 4-2
Wed	28-Nov-18	Away	Thurrock II	W 4-2
Tue	08-Jan-19 7.15 pm	Away	Upminster III	W 5-1
Wed	30-Jan-19	Home	Thurrock I	L 2½-3½
Wed	06-Feb-19	Home	Wanstead IV	W 4-2
Wed	13-Feb-19	Home	Thurrock II	W 3½-2½
Wed	20-Mar-19	Away	Thurrock I	W 4-2
Wed	27-Mar-19	Home	Upminster III	L 2-4
Wed	10-Apr-19	Home	Southend II	W 3½-2½
Tue	30-Apr-19	Away	Wanstead IV	W 4-2

Match reports

Thorpe Bay Bridge Club, Southend Fri 12^th Oct 2018

	Southend II			Loughton II
1	Saunders, Michael J	142	½-½	van Tol, Martin	142
2	Haggerty, Steve J	106	0-1	Stiffell, Lyn
3	Wray, Christopher	97	0-1	Moth, Simon C	138
4	Thompson, Dennis M	79	0-1	Newby, Jonathan	123
5	Aggarwal-Stanbridge, Isha A	76J	1-0	Jones, Barry E	120
6	Billson, Peter H	72	½-½	Clarke, Gordon	90
			2-4

Well done to everyone, who made the longest away game of the season on a Friday night.

St Thomas Church Social Club, Grays Wed 28^th Nov 2018

	Thurrock II			Loughton II
1	Bradford, Michael D	129	0-1	Van Tol, Martin	142
2	Maynard, Dominic	134	0-1	Jones, Barry E	120
3	Groombridge, Leslie J	96	1-0	Newby, Jonathan	123
4	Walker, Harrison	81	1-d	(default)
5	Mahoney, Pat		0-1	Smith, Michael	86
6	Coseru, Matei		0-1	French, Harvey	63
			2-4

Martin had a tight closed game, but got his queen in a good aggressive position, when his opponent blundered a piece. Opponent made a good stab at a bishop and pawns ending, with a bishop down, but couldn't avoid defeat.
Barry struggled for a while, although his opponent (in his first competitive game) admitted to losing concentration later on.
Jonathan was late and his opponent sportingly agreed to play a game on reduced time.
Gordon uncharacteristically failed to make it.
Mick: didn't see much of this game, I'm afraid.
Harvey had a rather violent sharp game against a young opponent, but came out on top.

St Laurence Minor Hall, Upminster Tue 9^th Jan 2019

	Upminster III			Loughton II
1	Biggs, Peter	124	0-1	Van Tol, Martin	142
2	Hannaford, Jamie	126	0-1	Moth, Simon C	139
3	Pelling, Nicholas J	120	0-1	Groce, Ken	132
4	Johal, Satnam S	110	0-1	Jones, Barry E	117
5	Estall, Kevin		1-0	Smith, Michael	86
6	Hood, John K	103	0-1	French, Harvey	63
			1-5

Note - New January grades.

A really good night for the second team, beating Upminster III by 5-1. Upminster fielded a marginally weaker side than in past games, but the whole team clearly had a good night.

Harvey got the first win, in really quick time. He has built a fine record for a player starting out.
Simon made it two, as his opponent blundered as black in a Sicilian Defence and got destroyed by two connected knights.
Barry put us 3-0 up. I'm afraid I didn't see anything of that one.
Martin made it 4-0. Playing black with a Dutch Defence. A relatively closed game, in which black controlled a long diagonal, and got a breakthrough with not much time left on the clock.
Mick was the one player to lose, although in a very close game.
Ken finished the evening, with a well played end-game, with his opponent finally blundering under time pressure.

The second team is now on three wins out of three, and all away from home. A great start.

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 30^th Jan 2019

	Loughton II			Thurrock I
1	van Tol, Martin	142	½-½	Derrett, Joe	159
2	Stiffell, Lyn	136	½-½	Woodward, Ian P	142
3	Moth, Simon C	139	½-½	Bradford, Michael D	130
4	Jones, Barry E	117	½-½	Reynolds, Derek	106
5	Newby, Jonathan	120	½-½	Crane, Malcolm K	106
6	Clarke, Gordon	90	0-1	Smith, Robin C	92
			2½-3½

We lost it narrowly against the top side in the division. Our first defeat of the season.

Martin and Lyn both achieved draws in quite sharp games.
Barry got a draw from a difficult position.

In the three remaining games Loughton players were all a piece down, so at that point it was looking bad.

Jonathan showed a lot of resourcefulness after losing an exchange to exploit a more active position.
Then Gordon went down after a long fight.
Simon was last to finish, and actually nearly won it.

Good games from players who were up against it.

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 6^th Feb 2019

	Loughton II			Wanstead IV
1	Moth, Simon C	139	½-½	Barman, Devdoot	97
2	Groce, Ken	132	0-1	De Silva, Thusitha D	107
3	Newby, Jonathan	120	1-0	Jestico, John V	103
4	Clarke, Gordon	90	½-½	Toogood, Peter R	71
5	Smith, Michael	86	1-0	Mara, Jean L	54
6	French, Harvey	65	1-0	Ali, Yusuf	J
			4-2

Harvey (bd 6, French Defence) was first to finish. A game with mistakes on both sides, but he kept his nerve and finished it well.
Jonathan (bd 3) got his pawns in a bit of a mess, but came out on top nevertheless.

So that put us 2-0 up quite quickly.

Simon (bd 1) and his opponent cancelled each other out for a draw.
Mick (bd 5, Philidor's Defence) had his opponent launch her queen into the middle of his position and make a mess of his pawns. However, he came out a piece up and eventually won the game.

So at that point we were up by 3½-½
On the two remaining boards we had a massive time advantage and were well on the attack on both games.

Ken (bd 2) launched an adventurous attack. Unfortunately, he missed the winning move, and when his opponent swapped off the last bishops, he was two pawns down and lost.
Gordon (bd 4) could not quite make his advantage work and ended up drawing.

Quite a pleasing result on the night, and an excellent start to the season for the second team, with four wins and one defeat.

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 13^th Feb 2019

	Loughton II			Thurrock II
1	van Tol, Martin	142	1-0	Bradford, Michael D	130
2	Groce, Ken	132	1-0	Offord, Andrew	110
3	Newby, Jonathan	120	½-½	Groombridge, Leslie J	96
4	Clarke, Gordon	90	1-0	Ball, Dan	99
5	Smith, Michael	86	0-1	Ball, Richard	99
6	French, Harvey	65	0-1	Whittaker, Len S C	91
			3½-2½

St Thomas Church Social Club, Grays Wed 20^th Mar 2019

	Thurrock I			Loughton II
1	Derrett, Joe D	159	0-1	Van Tol, Martin	142
2	Bradford, Michael D	130	0-1	Moth, Simon C	138
3	Reynolds, Derek	106	0-1	Newby, Jonathan	120
4	Groombridge, Leslie J	96	½-½	Clarke, Gordon	90
5	Smith, Robin C	92	½-½	Smith, Michael	86
6	Whittaker, Len SC	91	1-0	French, Harvey	65
			2-4

This was a top-of-the-table clash which would have left Thurrock winning the 3^rd division had they won the match.

Martin was first to get the scoreboard ... his opponent castled queen's side when his queen was nearly trapped and the c-file was open.
Simon's opponent made an opening blunder in a Ruy Lopez, leaving Simon a piece up. The game took a while to convert, although the result was fairly clear.
Jonathan turned up for the match exactly on time ... only at Loughton. Luckily, his opponent took a very sporting approach and agreed to let him arrive late and play the game on reduced time. Jonathan's playing technique proved better than his logistics, and he sacrificed a knight for a queen/rook mate down the h-file.
Gordon got an early draw. A useful half-point.
Mick had an eventful game, going a piece down, before recovering it a few moves later.
Harvey had a nice attack going, but unfortunately blundered his queen away. But he had some very encouraging moments in the game anyway.

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 27^th Mar 2019

	Loughton II			Upminster III
1	Groce, Ken	132	1-0	Hannaford, Jamie	126
2	Jones, Barry E	117	½-½	Pelling, Nicholas J	120
3	Newby, Jonathan	120	½-½	Estall, Kevin	115
4	Clarke, Gordon	90	0-1	Johal, Satnam S	110
5	Smith, Michael	86	0-1	Cooper, Geoffrey	109
6	French, Harvey	65	0-1	Hurst, David C	89
			2-4

Ken was first to finish, with a quick win. To be honest, I would not have bet on Ken and Jamie giving us a draw, or taking very long about it!
Barry went into a rook and pawns endgame with a pawn advantage, although got outmanoeuvred to lose the pawn and agreed a draw.
Jonathan had a position with even material but some play left. Jonathan was feeling the strain of a hard day though, and the two agreed a draw.
Gordon had a sharp and very open position in the late middle game. Though he was attacking his more open king position cost him and he lost.
Mick castled Q-side in a closed position where his opponent achieved superior numbers on the Q-side and mounted a crushing attack.
Harvey went a pawn or two down in the late middle game, but battled hard to stay in it. An encouraging game in many ways, even though he ultimately lost it.

Loughton Bowls Club Wed 10^th Apr 2019

	Loughton II			Southend II
1	Van Tol, Martin	142	½-½	Dartnell, Dennis R	154
2	Moth, Simon C	139	½-½	Saunders, Michael J	145
3	Stiffell, Lyn	136	½-½	Newton, Colin M	140
4	Newby, Jonathan	120	0-1	Whitefield, Fred R	130
5	Clarke, Gordon	90	1-0	Chapman, John R	67
6	Smith, Michael	86	1-d	Dee, Fault
			3½-2½

Mick got us off to a good start, just because he turned up and Southend defaulted the bottom board.
Martin was first to finish. A very open game where pieces got swapped quite quickly and the game boiled down to a rook and pawns ending. It seemed that Martin was walking a tight rope at times.
Lyn and Simon both drew next. Lyn had some initiative, but it also came down a pawns end-game where nobody could make progress. Simon seemed to have some slight initiative on a fairly blocked board, but not quite enough.
Jonathan was a bit unlucky. He had a superiority of pieces on the king's side, and there may have been some winning combinations he missed. But ultimately he ran short of time and his opponent's extra pawn or two came to count. He tried hard for the win ... and probably still made it in time for the pub anyway!
With scores level it was down to Gordon to score the winning point. He was a rook up from early on, so this one was actually quite safe. And his opponent ran out of time anyway.

So a narrow win (they hsve all been narrow wins). Although Southend defaulted on bottom board, they actually turned up with a very capable team. So the Loughton players still had work hard for the points.

The same evening Thurrock II played Upminster II and beat them. So that means Thurrock II are the division champions. They are a nice bunch, so well done to them!

Wanstead House Tue 30^th Apr 2019

	Wanstead IV			Loughton II
1	Wilson, Michael G A	110	½-½	Van Tol, Martin	142
2	Sharman, Jay	121	0-1	Moth, Simon C	139
3	Jestico, John V	103	½-½	Stiffell, Lyn	136
4	Fuller, Victor	101	1-0	Jones, Barry E	117
5	Toogood, Peter R	71	0-1	Newby, Jonathan	120
6	Mara, Jean L	54	0-1	Clarke, Gordon	90
			2-4

We were already guaranteed second place, but this final win made it a clear second place, and only two points behind the winners.
The team took 8 wins and 2 losses.
We used nine different players. Simon was top scorer, with 79% from 7 games. Three players scored over 70%, another two over 60%. Nobody scored lower than 50%. Four players were unbeaten for the season.
So the team played well above expectation, given that we have had several seasons of not coming anywhere near winning it. For much of the season it was really in contention to win the division and results only went against in the last couple of rounds.

Thanks to everyone who has played for the team this season and well done!

Essex League 2nd Team2018-19

Essex League Division 3

Match reports

Essex League 2^nd Team
2018-19