Ealing 2nds 4.5 - King's Head 2nds 3.5
: Created:08 Oct 2009 , byEaling began their division two, Middlesex League campaign with a close win over a good King's Head side.
Captain Chris Greenshields writes:
Our first match of the season was against King's Head 2 at home. The early
stage of play was interrupted when John Harvey knocked his pint all over Dale Gibbons at the
next board. 5 minutes later play resumed after the board, table, pieces,
chair, table and Dale had been dried off. The interruption must have distracted
John who then dropped a piece to a queen fork and then dropped another
piece. 1-0 to King's Head.
Alastair Johnstone on board 8 showed sporting behaviour by not stopping the clocks and claiming victory when his
opponent failed to turn up in the first 30 minutes of play. Without offering an apology his opponent arrived 5
minutes later and won convincingly (his words, not mine).
Dale, however, recovered from the earlier soaking to score a good win and Mike Lamb
capitalised well on an error by his adversary in the middle-game with play that impressed the
onlookers. On board 6, Mark Winterbotham accepted the offer of a draw to leave us 2.5-2.5
with 3 games to decide the match.
On board 1, Sainbayar Tserendorj's opponent made a rash exchange of pieces that left his
king exposed and several pieces en prise. Analysis after the game seemed to
show Sainbayar missed a clear win but instead he got into difficulty with some
good counterplay from his opponent. After the queens left the board, we were
left with a drawn position and the players shook hands.
On board 7 we had John Torrance making his debut for the 2nd team. I did not
see the game at all - sorry John - but the result was a draw. (DE - John played excellent chess and was on top throughout but could not land the finishing punch. Fritz analysis shows the knock-out was there.)
My match was the last one to be decided. The game was a slow affair with the
first piece leaving the board on move 19. My position had begun to deteriorate
by the time control but in time trouble my opponent missed a move that lost him
the exchange. I was left with a fairly simple ending where, with so many pawns
on the board, my rook was considerably more powerful than his knight. I won,
with several onlookers breathing down my neck.
So a winning start for the season. 4.5-3.5