Essex Summer Rapid Knockout 2025 – Wanstead and Woodford Chess Club

The match format for the Essex Summer Rapid Knockout is two matches of five boards at G20+10.

In the 2025 competition Essex Knockout Wanstead has entered two teams, styled EKA and EKB.

Essex KO on the ECA website | Essex KO Cup 2025 on ECF LMS | Essex KO Plate on ECF LMS

EKA

Fixtures

EKA

Player Stats

Essex Knockout – A Team @ 12 Aug 2025	Rtg	P	W	D	L	Pts	%
Steve Rix	2002	4	3	1	0	3½	87.50
David Spearman	2051	4	2	2	0	3	75.00
John Cawdery	2030	4	3	0	1	3	75.00
Partha Mulay	2117	4	1	2	1	2	50.00
Ian Hunnable	1907	2	1	1	0	1½	75.00
John Hodgson	2097	2	1	1	0	1½	75.00

6 Players		20	11	7	2	14½	72.50

EKA

Played Wednesday, 25 June 2025, Away

	Thurrock	R1	R2	W&W A
1	Ralys, Vincas 1868 (W, B)	1-0	½-½	Mulay, Partha 2123 (B, W)
2	Byram, Tye A 1719	0-1	0-1	Spearman, David 2047
3	Wilson, Mathew 1670	1-0	0-1	Cawdery, John 2027
4	Van Litsenborgh, Rudi 1650	0-1	0-1	Rix, Steven JL 2002
5	Sharma, Mridul 1839	0-1	½-½	Hunnable, Ian D 1905
	Average: 1750	2–3	1-4	Average: 2021
		3-7

Thurrock gave us a scare in Round 1, with wins on 1 and 3. But we made full use of our only two Whites of the round and had a narrow lead from our only win with Black.

Thurrock were unable to add to their scalps from Round 1 as David and Steve completed win doubles while for Thurrock Mridul had a much better game than in Round 1 to halve the point. But this was only instrumental in our taking a winning lead. John then reversed his R1 defeat to add to the WW lead and attention turned to the last game to finish, on Board 1, where Partha was defending a bishop ending (same coloured bishops) a pawn down. Once the material reduced to one Black pawn, it was odds on a draw, but Partha was playing on increments against his opponent’s 10 minutes. There were still plenty of moves to be played but Partha kept his concentration and secured the draw.

Thurrock’s top board is clearly a much stronger player than his standard rating of 1868 suggests. This, however, is related to the modest ratings of his opponents in standard rated games, against whom he has recorded 10 wins, a draw and one defeat, the first 10 of these 12 results being calculated on the P rating method for new players, which uses the average rating of his opponents. His Rapid results are just the two games above, from which he has a P rating of 2103, which gives a much better impression of his playing strength.

Here’s the Board 5 game in R1:

EKA

Played Tuesday, 12 August 2025, at Home

	Wanstead A	R1	R2	Barking
1	Mulay, Partha 2113 (W, B)	½-½	1-0	Goldberg, Jeff A 2154 (B, W)
2	Hodgson, John H 2085	½-½	1-0	Robinson, James M 1928
3	Spearman, David 2064	½-½	½-½	Jaszkiwskyj, Peter 1888
4	Cawdery, John 2012	1-0	1-0	Ramage, Colin R 1841
5	Rix, Steven JL 1990	1-0	½-½	Mathompat, Rajyeshwar Ramesh 1667
	Average: 2052.8	3½-1½	4-1	Average: 1895.6
		7½-2½

EKA

Played Tuesday, 23 September 2025, at Home

	Wanstead A	R1	R2	Basildon
1	Hodgson, John H 2087 (W, B)	½-½	½-½	Somogyi, Tamas 2063 (B, W)
2	Spearman, David 2058	½-½	0-1	Kraszewski, David 1938
3	Cawdery, John 2007	½-½	1-0	Bara, V Radu 1901
4	Freeman, Ashley 1986	0-1	1-0	Gedvilas, Arunas 1910
5	Hunnable, Ian D 1906	0-1	1-0	Laundy, Peter R 1902
	Average: 2009	1½-3½	3½-1½	Average: 1943
		5-5*
		*Basildon win on Board Count

The proverbial match of two halves. While Wanstead out-rated Basildon on all boards, we are reminded once more of a saying of Harry Woolverton: if you could tell the outcome of a chess match by looking at the two teams on paper, chess would be a dull game indeed. And this match makes a mockery of the received wisdom that holding the majority of whites over an odd number of boards is an advantage.

Basildon had a shock in store for the home team in Round 1 and had one hand on the Cup after taking a two point lead, courtesy of Arunas and Peter, while holding Wanstead to draws over the top three.

The Wanstead tail remembered how to wag in R2 and reversed the result of both games. A complete replication of results on the top three boards would have required a replay, but, after the top board was again drawn, the sharing of points on boards 2 and 3 occurred by outright results with Basildon scoring on 2 and Wanstead on 3, giving Basildon the verdict on Board Count.

Many congratulations to Basildon on their first Knockout Championship after finishing second to Barking last year.

EKB

Player Stats

Essex Knockout – B Team @ 12 Aug 2025	Rtg	P	W	D	L	Pts	%
Ashwin GopiKrishna	1759	2	2	0	0	2	100.00
Terry Whitton	1870	4	1	2	1	2	50.00
Ashwin Anjulan	1802	2	1	1	0	1½	75.00
Zoe Veselow	1898	2	1	0	1	1	50.00
Matthias Lataille	1710	2	0	1	1	½	25.00
Peter Nickals	1622	2	0	1	1	½	25.00
Keith Jones	1700	2	0	1	1	½	25.00
Mark Murrell	1840	2	0	0	2	0	0.00
Philip Staniland	1775	1	0	0	1	0	0.00
Default	0	1	0	0	1	0	0.00

10 Players		20	5	6	9	8	40.00

EKB

Cup Round 1

Played Thursday, 3 July 2025, at Wanstead

	Basildon	R1	R2	Wanstead B
1	Somogyi, Tamas 2079 (W, B)	1-0	0-1	Whitton, Terry D 1870 (B, W)
2	Baptie, Justin P 1943	1-0	1-0	Murrell, Mark RA 1827
3	Bara, V Radu 1901	1d0	1-0	Staniland, Philip 1734
4	Gedvilas, Arunas 1901	1-0	½-½	Lataille, Matthias 1685
5	Millward, David J 1691	1-0	½-½	Nickals, Peter A 1619
		5-0	3-2
		8-2

Gridlock on the A406 – Philip’s piccy

Basildon all but secured their passage into the next round with a 5-0 whitewash in Round 1, helped by a default when an almost closed A406, owing to an accident, caused Philip to arrive too late.

Basildon had generously delayed the start until 8.00 pm and Philip had got a message to Matthias to avoid tailbacks on the A406 and divert to the M11/M25. Philip, already snared (pic right), did not arrive until 9.05 by which time R2 had started, which he was then able to join.

WWB made a much better show in R2 with an excellent result for Terry on Board 1 and two good draws in the lower order. But Justin and Radu completed win doubles for a convincing 8-2 victory by Basildon.

Basildon have a Bye in Round 2 of the Cup and in the semi-finals will meet the winners of Loughton and Brentwood A. WWB go into the Plate competition.

EKB

Plate Semi-Final

Played 12 August 2025, at Home

	Wanstead B	R1	R2	Loughton
1	Anjulan, Ashwin 1962 (W, B)	½-½	1-0	Somerfield, Adrian P 1942 (B, W)
2	Veselow, Zoe 1898	0-1	1-0	Stirling, William J 1870
3	Whitton, Terry D 1874	½-½	½-½	Moth, Simon C 1760
4	GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1738	1-0	1-0	Kershaw, Graham J 1644
5	Jones, Keith S 1693	½-½	0-1	King, Oliver 1614
	Average: 1833	2½-2½	3½-1½	Average: 1766
		6-4

EKB

Played Tuesday, 23 September 2025, at Home

	Wanstead B	R1	R2	Thurrock
1	Whitton, Terry D 1861 (B, W)	½-½	½-½	Ralys, Vincas 2040 (W, B)
2	Murrell, Mark RA 1815	0-1	0-1	Maguire, Jake 1484
3	Staniland, Philip 1792	0-1	0-1	Wilson, Mathew 1698
4	GopiKrishna, Ashwin 1790	1-0	1-0	Gibbons, Brendan 1437
5	Lataille, Matthias 1704	1-0	1-0	Akinyosoye, Banky 1461
	Average: 1792	2½-2½	2½-2½	Average: 1624
		5-5*
		*Thurrock win on Board Count

What can one say?

Playing away and outrated by an average 168 points a board, Thurrock pulled off a spectacular smash and grab by taking both Boards 2 and 3 to win on Board Count. Unlike the Cup Final, this was not a match of two halves, but a remarkable double-take, the colour reversal making no difference.

Thurrock had give the Wanstead A team in the Cup R1, by limiting Wanstead’s R1 advantage to one point. Yet, Thurrock’s team in the above match was quite a bit less strong than the earlier match; only Vincas and Mathew played in the first fixture (v Wanstead A). Remarkable.

Many congratulations to Thurrock on a splendid result, to go with their Essex League Division 3 Championship.