Ealing B 2 Hammersmith 5
: Created:12 Feb 2010 , by Alastair JohnstoneEaling B were well-beaten in last night's match in Thames Valley Div.2
| Thames Valley League Division 2 | 11th February 2010 | ||||
Bd. | Gd. | Ealing B | Hammersmith | Gd. | |
1 | 175 | Greenshields, Chris | 0-1 | Pederson, Carsten | 194 |
2 | Grozdanic, Nevenko | 0.5-0.5 | Ahmad, Ari | 168 | |
3 | 164 | Sanchez, Miguel | 0.5-0.5 | Price, Michael C | 157 |
4 | 151 | Healeas, Simon | 0-1 | Collard, Amel | 151 |
5 | 148 | Gibbons, C Dale | 0.5-0.5 | Woolley, John H | 149 |
6 | 147 | Winterbotham, Mark | 0-1 | Birhane, Dawit | 145 |
7 | 133 | Johnstone, Alastair G | 0.5-0.5 | Chrabaszcz, Maruisz | |
2-5 | |||||
No excuses for this one - we were well beaten on the night.
Despite three team changes in the days running up to the match, Ealing was still able to field a competitive team. But it has been the story of our season so far that, even with relative parity in grading, we have struggled to compete.
Chris Greenshields has had some close encounters with Carsten Pederson in recent years, but even with the White pieces for a change, Chris dropped a pawn in the early stages of last night's game and was methodically ground down.
Nevenko and Miguel (a late substitute, naturally) both obtained commendable draws to keep the match prospects alive, but an unfortunate oversight by Mark led to a second loss. Picking up his queen to deliver check Mark overlooked that the move would leave his own King in check and was therefore illegal. The touch and move law led to an irreversible loss of material and the game point.
My own game on Board 7 was quite enjoyable although doubtless replete with inaccuracies. Some days slow manouevering simply doesn't cut it and, tempted beyond endurance by my opponent's insistence on leaving his King uncastled in a Najdorf, I swapped off a knight for two pawns on b5. In the ensuing chaos, although I enjoyed considerable initiative I couldn't find a killer blow.
Dale Gibbons has been playing John Woolley (and drawing with him) for as long as I can remember. I did suggest to John that they should perhaps just agree the draw at the start of the evening and adjourn to the bar, but he wasn't having any of it. Anyway, a draw it was.
Finally, on Board 4, Simon at one stage looked to have an edge in his game, but in a quickplay finish, White's rooks combined with an advanced passed pawn to seal another win for the visitors and a decisive victory on the night.