Essex Knockout Final – Unique double and Wanstead hat-trick
Played 19 September 2023, at Wanstead
| Board | WANSTEAD A | R1 | R2 | BARKING A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hodgson, John H 2118 (W, B) | 1-0 | ½-½ | Goldberg, Jeff A 2146 (B, W) |
| 2 | Gill, Oliver 2086 | 1-0 | 1-0 | Ismailov, Roman 2107 |
| 3 | Spearman, David 2034 | 1-0 | ½-½ | Jaszkiwskyj, Peter 1958 |
| 4 | Cawdery, John 2027 | 1-0 | ½-½ | Robinson, James M 1863 |
| 5 | Mulay, Partha 2001 | 1-0 | 0-1 | Ramage, Colin R 1844 |
| Average: 2054 | 5-0 | 2½-2½ | Average: 1984 | |
| 7½-2½ | ||||
When John Hodgson accepted Jeff Goldberg’s draw offer in Round 2, Wanstead completed a unique Cup and Plate double, the B Team having beaten Loughton – also by 7½-2½ – in the Plate Final two weeks earlier. Unique double. Never been done before.
On the accepted way-of-the-world, that Wanstead-Barking matches are always close – we’re talking ‘the odd point’, ‘draw’ and ‘board count’ here – what happened in Round 1 of this latest encounter, defied reason. A whitewash. Barking needed to reverse the result on every board in Round 2 to force a replay. Such was Barking’s plight that it was Jeff who offered the R2 draw, having succumbed to a searing Hodgson K-side attack in R1, which decided the match. Colin reversed his R1 defeat, while Boards 3 and 4 were agreed, leaving Ollie to complete the only win-win double of the match and Barking to retrieve some self-respect sharing the points in R2.
And the hat-trick? Well, it’s a “Wanstead” hat-trick: Wanstead B defeated Wanstead A in the 2019 Final, Wanstead A beat Barking A in 2022 (the only competition since 2019 due to covid) and the above Wanstead A repeat success.
A short slideshow…
EKO Final, Board 1, Jeff Goldberg v John Hodgson and Board 2 Ollie Gill v Roman Isamilov [Photo: Ian Hunnable] 
EKO Final, Board 4 John Cawdery v James Robinson and Board 5 Colin Ramage v Partha Mulay [Photo: Ian Hunnable] 
EKO Final, Boards 1 and 2 [Photo: Ian Hunnable] 
EKO Final, Boards 1 and 2. [Photo: Ian Hunnable]
ECA website: KO Page | KO Tables | KO on ECF LMS