King's Head A 5.5 - Ealing A 2.5
: Created:21 Jan 2009 , byA second win for champions King's Head over Ealing in division one of the Middlesex league.
'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days Where destiny with Men for Pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays. And one by one back in the Closet lays. Edward Fitzgerald - The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam King's Head spent the weekend before our match successfully defending their 100% record in division two of the NCL but they showed little sign of exhaustion on Monday as once again they thwarted Ealing's attempt to beat them on their own ground. A glance at the team sheets at the outset showed that this year, there was little or no grading differential between the teams. A few years back our board one (me!) was graded lower than King's Head's board eight but this time I did not even make the starting line-up for Ealing. This was our third away fixture in a row but we were in good spirits having beaten Willesden and Muswell Hill on our travels. The next fixture is at Hackney where, once the welcoming pleasantries are over, probably will be just as tough as this one. Jochen Wittman wheeled out an old Bent Larsen idea 4.Qg4 in a Bishop's/Vienna Opening against Martin Smith on board three. Martin never looked comfortable and shared the same fate as Lajos Portisch in 1966. Unfortunately Ealing also went down on board six where Adrian Ociepka's tactical response to Jim Stevenson's aggressive Open Defence to the Ruy Lopez (9...Bc5!?) went awry. Adrian has had splendid results for us this season and this was his first loss. Simon Randall's opponent had an initiative in the middle-game but Simon defended well to force a draw. One board further up John Quinn was having an exciting tussle with Simon Spivak after choosing an h3, Bg5 attack against Simon's King's Indian. John chose not to castle and inevitably the complications mounted. Just when Simon seemed to be getting on top, John found some very smart defensive moves and a draw was agreed. Score at half-time King's Head 3 Ealing 1 However on board seven, a ray of sunshine was developing because Veljko Stanisic who is having an annus mirabilis season, was getting on top against Steven Coles. Even when two pawns down Steven fought back but Veljko prevailed and his outstanding performance proved to be the highlight of Ealing's evening. On the top two boards there were grand fights to the finish, well-worthy of top-of-the-league chess. Alan Perkins adopted a theoretically strong response (7.Bf4) to the blockade Dutch Defence of King's Head's captain Rick McMichael. A small advantage to White was my view of the opening but after an interesting middle-game, exchanges left Alan with some pawn weaknesses to defend. Alan showed excellent technique to contain Rick's aggressive rook on the queenside but sadly with all pawns on one side of the board, Rick prevailed in the ending. Board one saw Ealing's Jim Poulton and King's Head's John Pigott in a heavyweight conflict after Jim's positive choice of the Benko Gambit and there was plenty of manoeuvring that resulted in the players running short of time. Eventually with the clock's hanging the players baled out into a draw. Many times I've paid tribute to Sainbayar Tserendorj's competitive qualities. Ealing were four-one down when he approached me to inform that his opponent Jim Falzarano had offered a draw which of course would have won the match for King's Head. As he was a pawn down with very few opportunities I let him make the decision. With a smile he replied, "I must fight on". Over-pressing he lost but I thank him from the bottom of my heart for his effort. Are we down heartened? Of course not, because like Baden-Powell, we intend to keep right on to the end of the road and every Ealing player knows his duty. Scout's honour! King's Head were White on odd boards. King's Head v Ealing 19th January 1. J Pigott 0.5-0.5 J Poulton 2. R McMichael 1-0 A Perkins 3. J Wittman 1-0 M Smith 4. S Spivack 0.5-0.5 J Quinn 5. R Thomas 0.5-0.5 S Randall 6. J Stevenson 1-0 A Ociepka 7. S Coles 0-1 V Stanisic 8. J Falzarano 1-0 S Tserendorj