"Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing" -- Robert HUBNER

Imperial College 4.5 Ealing 2 3.5

: Created:06 Feb 2009 , by Alastair Johnstone

Ealing's Middlesex League second team shaded in a close contest.

Middlesex League, Div.2 5th February 2009

Bd

Gd

Imperial College 1

Ealing 2

Gd

1

171

Casaschi, Paolo

1-0

Shalabayev, Syrym

148

2

141

Fuller, Tom

1-0

Sanchez, Miguel

140

3

U/G

Luo, Alan

0.5-0.5

Winterbotham, Mark

133

4

U/G

Franciosi, Felipe

0.5-0.5

Harvey, John T

126

5

140

Ghoussain, Steven

1-0

Shalabayev, Salim

125

6

120

Tsoukalas, Angelos

0.5-0.5

Healeas, Simon

125

7

U/G

Default

0-1

Johnstone, Alastair G

122

8

U/G

Wood, Stephen

0-1

Grewal, Harvey

112

4.5-3.5

A combination of sub-arctic conditions in the match room in the absence of any heating and a constant bass pulsing from the disco below created what may politely be termed sub-optimal playing conditions. However, aside from the occasional involuntary calisthenic spasm to keep blood in circulation, there were no complaints from Ealing's battle-hardened warriors: stoicism won the day.

At the chess board, Ealing were gifted an early lead when yours truly, deputising as captain for the indisposed Chris Greenshields, bagged an early point courtesy of the non-show of an opponent.

Demonstrating extraordinary journalistic dedication (ahem), rather than sloping off to the welcoming warmth of a nearby tavern, I decided to stay and follow the exploits of my teammates.

The early prognosis for Harvey Grewal's game was not promising: two pawns down with no obvious compensation. Waking up fifteen minutes into a chess game is not to be recommended but wake-up Harvey clearly did and after harrying his opponent's queen, Harvey not only recovered the material deficit but generated a potent and ultimately winning attack to deliver Ealing's only bona fide win of the evening.

It was not, sadly, one of the better nights for the Shalabayev brothers. On top board, Syrym conceded the bishop pair in an open position and succumbed with atypical abruptness to his opponent's attack. In a French Advance variation, brother Salim, meanwhile, invested a couple of pawns in developing an attack of his own, but his siege was calmly rebutted.

On 2, Miguel (a late substitute for Chris) looked on course for a win, after gaining the exchange, but in a closed position he erred and the advantage passed to the other side.

Simon Healeas deployed a solid-looking response to his opponent's Closed Sicilian but, after sustaining some hits in the middlegame, Simon showed great tenacity to achieve a draw. Simon says it was a swindle, I'd prefer to call it technical legerdemain.

As far as I could make out, John Harvey's game revolved around a game-long battle to defend his pawn at c6. With little scope for king-side play, both players seemed to settle into trench warfare for this key square I confess I did not see the final denouement, but as a draw resulted, it would appear that the impasse was not surmounted.

Finally, on 3, Mark Winterbotham fought earnestly to recover from the early loss of a pawn to achieve a technically drawn endgame.

So, a well-fought contest resulted in a narrow loss on the night but, happily, no Ealing player succumbed to frostbite on a bitterly cold night!