Ealing 5 - Hackney 3
: Created:25 Feb 2009 , byEaling maintained second place in division one of the Middlesex league with this important win
We are on the very best of terms with Hackney Chess Club but such is the list of strong players available to them, we unashamedly rejoice when we get ther better of them and yesterday we achieved our third victory in four seasons at the Harvester. Naturally we are not choosing to dwell on the whitewash of two years ago that they inflicted on us at their place.
Ealing's match strategy soon became apparent because with Hackney fielding players with grades of over 210 on their top two boards we had to score heavily lower down the order. Syrym Shalabayev got us off to a terrific start on board eight, ruthlessly punishing errors by his opponent that firstly gained Syrym a knight and not too long afterwards his Russian foe's queen.
Sainbayar Tserendorj extended our advantage with a win on six with a skillful combination of tactics in the middlegame and accurate manoeuvering in the endgame. Sainbayar and Hackney's affable John Tennyson had a lengthy postmortem afterwards that lasted until nearly closing time.
In team competitions an unselfish player keeps an eye on other boards in order to gauge his/her own strategy and I warmly thank Simon Randall for his decision to agree a draw after he assessed the positions on the bottom four boards. Mind you my own position looked decidely rocky around move twenty-three but a premature rook foray by my American opponent (Isn't London chess truly international?) enabled me to recover.
Veljko Stanisic's performances this season have been of the calibre that makes legends of people and his latest win demonstrated that he is in the form of his life. 1.d4 Nf6 looks normal enough but Vejko's 2.f3!? is unusual particularly when after 2...d5, it is followed up by 3.c4. Understandably his adversary who incidently was my team mate in last Saturday's County match (Middlesex 7.5 - Sussex 8.5. Yuk!) went wrong in the opening and shed two pawns. One had to be returned but sure-footedly Veljko restricted all attempts at counterplay to assure Ealing, a winning advantage.
I did not see a lot of boards one and two but Alan Perkins did hold a material plus of two knights versus a rook at one stage but the position was too tough to defend because of his time trouble. Adrian Ociepka was last to finish and although his king looked in mortal danger his calm defence achieved a draw. Typical of a relatively young and ambitious player he was disappointed not to win but as his captain, I was delighted with the draw which gave the final margin the appearance of a comfortable victory.
At the end of the evening I was hopeful that Ealing might return to the top of the table with this triumph but a check on February's results suggests that King's Head are the front-runners, half a point ahead of us although if they won at Muswell Hill last Thursday that lead will stretch to one and a half which at this stage of the season is significant. However we have not given up what I like to call our "title challenge" and if our best team continues to be available, we could still be in there with a shout for the first Middlesex championship in Ealing's history.
1.King's Head 7.5 from 9 - 2.Ealing 7 from 9 - 3.Hendon 6 from 11 - 4.Athenaeum 5 from 11 - 5.Hackney 4 from 7 - 6.Muswell Hill 3 from 7 - 7.West London 1 from 7 - 8.Willesden 0.5 from 9
To guard against hubristic tendencies I publish part of a poem by Macaulay and a typically trenchant opinion from George Bernard Shaw on chess.
Our plans extend, our passions rise,
Till, in our ardor, we forget
How worthless is the victor's prize.
Soon fades the spell, soon comes the night;
Say, will it not be then the same,
Whether we played the black or white,
Whether we won or lost the game?
MACAULAY
(Chess is) a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever, when they are only wasting their time.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW