Ealing 7 - Muswell Hill 1
: Created:03 Apr 2009
, by
A comfortable win tonight for Ealing in the Middlesex league division one, keeps us in contention for the championship.
An unfortunate default by Muswell Hill on board three gave Simon Randall a walk-over and our board one, Alan Perkins soon added to our lead with a splendid fifteen move victory.
Adrian Ociepka played some of the best chess that I've seen this season in a terrific attacking win with the Black pieces against his opponent's King's Gambit. Veljko Stanisic added a valuable draw and Sainbayar Tserendorj ensured with his victory that Ealing had a insurmountable 4.5 - 0.5 advantage.
Freed from the need to maintain the draw, I found a winning attack and Mike Lamb gave us his usual time-scramble heart attacks before making the score Ealing 6.5 - Muswell Hill 0.5, admittedly with some style in the latter stages. In the final game John Quinn was very disappointed not to triumph on board two but credit is due to his youthful foe for neutralising all John's attempts to force a checkmating attack.
Ealing versus Muswell Hill
1. A Perkins 1-0 V Kumar
2. J Quinn 0.5-0.5 J Peet
3. S Randall 1-0 Default
4. A Ociepka 1-0 O Butt
5. V Stanisic 0.5-0.5 K Carter
6. S Tserendorj 1-0 G Jenkins
7. D Ebbett 1-0 W Ransome
8. M Lamb 1-0 L Arden
So where does this victory leave Ealing in the title race? We are level on match points with King's Head but they maintain a minimal board count advantage of half a point. The club's respective away matches against Hackney could decide the destination of the championship. King's Head travel to Hackney next Tuesday and we make the journey to our North-East London rivals on 12th May. We continue to be delighted at our unexpected involvement in the competion for the championship.
Current Position:
1. King's Head 10 from 12 (61.5 game points) 2. Ealing 10 from 12 (61 game points) 3. Muswell Hill 6.5 from 13 (54) 4. Hendon 6.5 from 14 (53) 5. Hackney 5 from 9 6. Athenaeum 4.5 from 13 7. West London 3 from 9 8. Willesden 1.5 from 12
The relegation struggle could be close and although Athenaeum have been in poor form recently, West London face four difficult away matches in their last five fixtures.
I'm proud of my team when they win well as in tonight's match but more important is that we play the matches in a sporting fashion. The rules are rules brigade are in danger of spoiling our lovely game at an amateur level so we didn't claim for the default until fifty minutes had passed and we had the permission of the visiting captain, and when an opponent's mobile phone went off, not a word was uttered by Ealing. Are we in a minority on these issues?
