Ealing Chess Club

Albany came to the Harvester last night as the only side to have defeated Ealing 2 in the Middlesex League this season.

The first result of the night was on board 8 where James Pack won fairly quickly, extending his already impressive record for Ealing 2. Half an hour later there was a flurry of results with Simon and Alastair recording wins on boards 6 and 7 and Michael losing on board 4. 3-1 to Ealing.

On the board next to me, Syrym found himself in a lot of trouble against the Alekhine-Chatard attack against his French Defence (1 e4 e6; 2 d4 d5; 3 Nc3 Nf6;4 Bg5 Be7; 5 e5 Nfd7; 6 h4). I suspect this is a difficult line where black is probably best to accept the gambit. In response to Syrym's 6... h6, white played 7 Qh5, giving him a lot to think about. Syrym's opponent took a decisive advantage from the opening which ultimately led to a very good win to reduce the deficit to 3-2.

However, at the same moment, John recorded a win on board 5 to take the match score to 4-2. With my and Mark's games both winning, the outcome of the match was not in doubt. My game saw kings castled on opposite sides of the board. I was able to push the pawns down the board to my opponent's king, while he had little opportunity for counterplay. With his king ultimately exposed, defence was very difficult and I won the game.

After some strong play, Mark reached an ending B+3P v N+P. With both players short of time, Mark grabbed his opponent's h-pawn allowing his opponent to win a pawn back. With his opponent getting his king behind Mark's h-pawn, then giving up his knight for the other pawn, he managed to reach a drawn position - Mark's bishop being of the wrong colour to make the all important check on h8. Hard luck to Mark, but well done to his opponent on such a resourceful defence.

So the final score was 5.5-2.5. This puts Ealing 2 on 5/7 for the season, with promotion to division 1 an increasingly possible and frightening prospect!