Wimbledon C 4 Ealing B 2
: Created:28 Jan 2010 , by Alastair JohnstoneIn the ongoing saga of battles with our rivals from south of the river, Wimbledon this time came out on top.
| Thames Valley League Division 2 | 24th January 2010 | ||||
Bd | Gd | Wimbledon C | Ealing B | Gd | |
1 | 162 | Ivanishchak, Ivan | p | Wells, Tony D | 182 |
2 | 155 | Wilcox, R John | 1-0 | Grozdanic, Nevenko | 150 |
3 | 154 | Weston-Lewis, Dominic | 0.5-0.5 | Stevic, Malinko | 145 |
4 | 153 | Prescott, Laurie W | 0.5-0.5 | Healeas, Simon | 151 |
5 | 150 | Foster, David | 1-0 | Harvey, John T | 157 |
6 | 146 | Hughes, Anthony | 0-1 | Gibbons, C Dale | 148 |
7 | 143 | Williams, Michael D | 1-0 | Johnstone, Alastair G | 133 |
4-2 | |||||
In years gone by, it was not unheard of for FA Cup matches to go to a second, third or (on one famous occasion) even a fifth replay before the tie was settled. Through a curious quirk of the Fixture List, it seems as though this chess club has reverted to those times as, for the sixth time in the last nine matches, an Ealing team faced-off against a Wimbledon team, last Monday night. With seven teams between us in the Thames Valley League, this is perhaps unsurprising, but a more varied diet would certainly be welcome.
All matches in this series have been closely fought and on this occasion it was Wimbledon who took the spoils, finishing the night with an unassailable 4-2 lead, with Tony Wells' game on top board adjourned.
Dale Gibbons was the solitary Ealing winner on the night, taking full advantage of the White pieces to press home an ultimately decisive attack. Milenko Stevic arguably enjoyed the better half of his draw but had insufficient advantage to press for a win. On Four, Simon Healeas was solidity personified, with another draw the outcome.
Elsewhere however a trio of losses determined the match result. Nevenko Grozdanic was two pawns down at a relatively early stage of his game and resigned when time was called. John Harvey's game had also gone west by this time.
My own game was an instructive example of the need to balance material vs. dynamic activity. Although I won the exchange on move 16, my opponent always had good compensation and while my rook remained a virtual bystander throughout the game, White's knight was the key piece in deciding the game. Although I adjourned on the night, on revisiting the position, it became immediately apparent that White's attack was unanswerable and resignation promptly followed.
The final outcome of this team's two earlier matches with Wimbledon still wait on adjournments, although we are guaranteed at least a draw in one match.
One final match with our friends from SW19 remains, although happily not for a couple of months yet! Perhaps in future we should resort to penalty shoot-outs to speed things along...!