Ealing Chess Club

Last 5 Results

Team	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result
EAJ2	12 Mar	Richmond 'C'	(A)	W: 5.5-0.5
MDX2	10 Mar	Muswell Hill '2'	(A)	L: 2.5-5.5
EAJ1	09 Mar	Kingston 'A'	(A)	W: 4.5-3.5
TVL1	09 Mar	Richmond 'A'	(H)	L: 2.0-6.0
TVL2	09 Mar	Richmond 'D'	(H)	W: 3.5-2.5

Next 5 fixtures

Team

Date

Time

Opponent

Venue

We entered the match intent on a reasonably good result to move us into third place above Athenaeum who had finished their season with seven points. Hackney had even more at stake because with ten and a half points already, a clear win over us, would enable them to challenge for the championship against King's Head, today, Thursday 1st May.

An excellent early start came from Veljko Stanisic who showed good early positional judgement with the minor pieces before outcombining his oppponent. Soon afterwards Sainbayar Tserendorj confused yet another foe with his non-development defensive strategy based on the Robatsch/Modern Defence. Sainbayar's king stayed in the centre and this proved to be a safe place for the monarch whereas the Hackney's players king came under heavy attack on the queenside. 2-0 to Ealing.

Unfortunately we lost on board three where the Grand Prix Attack claimed another Sicilian victim. Syrym Shalabayev, fearless as ever offered a piece sacrifice against an opponent who unwisely left his king in the centre and despite Sainbayar's unorthodox approach, traditional castling is still usually right. A flurry of tactics enabled Syrym to claim the full point and my win on board six ensured us of least a draw.

Amid great excitement Mike Lamb escaped from the positional bind created by his opponent's English Opening to establish tactical threats. Under pressure his opponent went wrong and lo and behold, we had won the match. Sadly close struggles on boards one and two went Hackney's way enabling them to lessen the margin of defeat.

So we achieved our aim of a third place finish which equals Ealing's best performance in the Middlesex league, two seasons ago. Hackney's challenge for the Middlesex crown is ended and King's Head are champions for the third (or is it fourth?) successive year. We congratulate Rick McMichael, the captain of King's Head and his colleagues on their continued success.

The current league table reads: