Essex Summer Rapid Knockout 2023 – Wanstead and Woodford Chess Club

We entered theree teams in this summer Rapid competition, styled EKA, EKB and EKC.

There was a Plate Competition for first round losers.

EKA

Played Thursday, 22 June 2023, Away

	Barking B	R1	R2	WANSTEAD A
1	Clow, Ken W 1705	0-1	0-1	Spearman, David 2233
2	Berkley, Stephen W 1659	0-1	0-1	Cawdery, John 2017
3	Wickham, Michael 1924	0-1	0-1	Freeman, Ashley 1976
4	Sinha, Anup 1691	1-0	0-1	Hunnable, Ian D 1994
5	Default	0d1	0d1	Murrell, Mark RA 1934
	Average: 1396	1-4	0-5	Average: 2031
		1-9

Barking’s task, already difficult, was rendered harder when they had to default bottom board. Barking did have a spare man, Mohammed Ishtiaq Ali, alas not eligible for the Knockout tonight but who played two separately rated games under match conditions against the Wanstead board 5.

Barking had just the one spark of light when Ian overstepped the time limit in a position the postmortem suggested would have produced a draw. Ian turned the tables in R2 when Anup dropped his Queen to a discovery after just nine moves.

EKA

Played 18 July 2023, at Wanstead

	WANSTEAD A	R1	R2	CHELMSFORD
1	Hodgson, John H 2147 (W, B)	½-½	1-0	White, Russell P 2059 (B, W)
2	Gill, Oliver 2088	0-1	1-0	Mueller, Jens 2056
3	Spearman, David 2037	1-0	1-0	Myall, Ivan J 2018
4	Cawdery, John 2026	½-½	0-1	Wilson, Edgar 2001
5	Freeman, Ashley 1986	1-0	1-0	Harrington, David 1514
	Average: 2057	3-2	4-1	Average: 1930
		7-3

A close match at half-time, with WANSTEAD A holding a slender one point lead, having had the three Whites. But Round 2 did not see a fight back from the visitors, with WANSTEAD A doing even better with the three Blacks, to round out 7-3 winners.

EKA

Played Monday 21 August 2023, Away

	ILFORD	R1	R2	WANSTEAD A
1	Ghose, Rahul 1861 (W, B)	1-0	1-0	Hodgson, John H 2152 (B, W)
2	Twitchell, Neville H 1850	½-½	½-½	Spearman, David 2044
3	Page, Jeffrey 1757	0-1	0-1	Cawdery, John 2019
4	Jaiswal, Adhar 1652	0-1	0-1	Mulay, Partha 1976
5	Faheem, Muhammad 1628	0-1	0-1	Freeman, Ashley 1976
	Average: 1750	1½-3½	1½-3½	Average: 2034
		3-7

A match remarkable for two features: the scores in both rounds were identical – board-for-board, score-for-score – and Ilford’s only success was on Board 1, where Rahul Ghose, giving 291 rating points, took the scalp of John Hodgson twice: John won’t be visiting a barber any time soon!

Wanstead were expecting a tougher task given Ilford’s list of registered players. So, while the home team scored 3-1 over the top two boards, where Neville supported Rahul with a notable draw-double against David, Wanstead cleaned up 6-0 on the other three boards, to secure the match by 7-3 and reach the Final, where they will defend the Sims Cup against the winners of the other Semi-Final, the heavyweight bout between BASILDON and BARKING A, playing on Thursday, 24 August.

EKA

Played Tuesday, 19 September 2023, at Home

Wanstead complete Cup and Plate double

	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

WANSTEAD’s attention was focused by the prospect of a unique Cup and Plate double, their B-team having already won the plate by 7½-2½ over Loughton. All bets were off as WANSTEAD swept the first round in the KO Final against BARKING A.

WANSTEAD retained the Sims Cup for a hat trick¹ of successes and achieved the double, when John Hodgson accepted Jeff Goldberg’s draw offer. Colin chalked up BARKING’s only win of the evening, Peter and James posted draws and despite the lop-sided score, only Oliver recorded a win-win double as BARKING salvaged some respectibility by sharing the second round.

A fine WW performance, completing a unique Cup and Plate double – never done before, the Plate having been introduced in 2003.

¹ In 2019 it was WANSTEAD B who beat WANSTEAD A by 7½-2½. Trivia question: what is the longest period over which an Essex KO hat trick was achieved? Answer: five years. 2019-2023, the years 2020 and 2021 being lost to covid lockdowns. In fact, Wanstead’s hat trick took longer to achieve than Barking’s run of four-in-a-row ten years earlier, 2009-2012.

EKB

Payed Tuesday 27 June 2023, at Wanstead

	Wanstead B	R1	R2	BASILDON
1	Whitton, Terry D 1896 (W, B)	0-1	1-0	Somogyi, Tamas 2139 (B, W)
2	Staniland, Philip 1852	1-0	1-0	Gedvilas, Arunas 1911
3	Barclay, Paul R 1726	½-½	0-1	Staff, Robbie 1891
4	Karacsony, Istvan 1631	1-0	0-1	Savin, Paul A 1823
5	Colclough, Ryan 1612	0-1	0-1	Laundy, Peter R 1915
	Average: 1744	2½-2½	2-3	Average: 1936
		4½-5½

EKB

Played 9 August 2023, Away

	Thurrock	R1	R2	Wanstead B
1	Omoruyi, Jaden 1779 (W, B)	0-1	0-1	Rix, Steven JL 2045 (B, W)
2	Sheppard, Barry S 1780	0-1	0-1	Whitton, Terry D 1914
3	Baig, Huzaifa 1584	0-1	1-0	Staniland, Philip 1885
4	Eastwood, Tomas 1592	0-1	0-1	Barclay, Paul R 1757
5	Thomas, George 900	½-½	0-1	Colclough, Ryan 1603
		½-4½	1-4
		1½-8½

The exchange of team sheets would have told Thurrock all they needed to know.

This match completes the Plate Semi-Finals. Loughton will be at Home to Wanstead B in the Plate Final.

EKB

Played Wednesday 6 September 2023, Away

Wanstead B win Plate at a canter

	Loughton	R1	R2	Wanstead B
1	Bowmer, Kevin 2031 (W, B)	½-½	0-1	Rix, Steven JL 2049 (B, W)
2	Stirling, William J 1892	0-1	1-0	Bancroft, Paul 1989
3	Middleton, Stephen 1868	½-½	0-1	Whitton, Terry D 1924
4	Horan, George 1819	0-1	½-½	Staniland, Philip 1877
5	Moth, Simon C 1778	0-1	0-1	Karacsony, Istvan 1755
	Average: 1878	1-4	1½-3½	Average: 1919
		2½-7½

The Wanstead edge on ratings might seem significant, but on old grading points, it is only an average 5 points a board. So it was a surprise to both sides that the winning margin is as big as it was.

This is partly explained by the two draws In R1 both being Wanstead saves. Kevin won the exchange, but Steve Rix managed to exchange off all the Q-side and centre so that the three K-side pawns each were just regular pawn formations, no weaknesses. Steve’s R, N and 3P v Kevin’s 2R + 3P with no way for Kevin to force an advantage. Steve Middleton should have won, even with opposite coloured bishops. Steve M had an a-pawn and an h-pawn having cleaned up all Terry’s pawns. But he let Terry off the hook when he created the passed h-pawn as he had the wrong coloured bishop to queen that pawn. Had he created instead a passed g-pawn, as he had the opportunity to do, he would have won. If Loughton had been able to convert both these games, the R1 score, all other things being equal, would have been Loughton 2-3 Wanstead B; a different scenario. Paul Bancroft crafted a black square domination to leave Bill facing an indefensible mate threat. Philip mated George on e7 with Qe6# in a crowded middlegame position; Wanstead also gained the verdict on bottom board.

Any hopes Loughton entertained of reversing their dire position in R2 were quickly dashed as Wanstead won all three of their White games – and had therefore won the Plate by a street – before Loughton replied with a draw between George and Philip and a win for Bill, who outplayed Paul Bancroft for Loughton’s only win.

Wanstead won all five of their games with White and shared the points 2½-2½ with Black.

Congratulations to Wanstead B whose success sets up a possible double when WANSTEAD A face BARKING A on 19 September, in the KO Final at Wanstead.

EKC

Played Monday 19 June 2023, Away

	ILFORD	R1	R2	Wanstead C
1	Barton, Tom A 1893 (W, B)	1-0	0-1	Diniz Afonso, Davi 1720 (B, W)
2	Ghose, Rahul 1871	0-1	1-0	Nickals, Peter A 1640
3	Twitchell, Neville H 1850	1-0	1-0	Lataille, Matthias 1635
4	Subramanian, Venkatesh 1899	1-0	1-0	Li, Colin 1606
5	Obiols, Biel 1650As (1929)*	1-0	1-0	Segat, Davide 1332
		4-1	4-1
	Average: 1889	8-2		Average: 1587

*Ilford Board 4, Biel Obiols, does not have a Rapid rating. The 1929 shown in ECF LMS appears to be his rating from these two games. Biel’s standard rating is 1650A.

Commentary by Jef Page

Obviously Ilford outrated Wanstead’s third team quite heavily in this competition so no surprise that Ilford won, particularly all six games on the bottom three boards, but losing two games out of the top two boards was a bit of a surprise. Biel won a nice endgame with a B, N and pawns against Segat’s R & pawns with a neat fork with his N to win the Rook. Neville sacrificed his Q in the first game to force a back rank R&B mate whilst Venkatesh seemed to be in trouble but won well in both games.

EKC

Played Wednesday, 1 August 2023, at Home

	Wanstead C	R1	R2	Loughton <
1	Li, Colin 1567 (B) R1	0-1	–	Stirling, William J 1905 (W)
1	Jones, Keith S 1679 (W) R2	–	1-0	Stirling, William J 1905 (B)
2	Diniz Afonso, Davi 1700	0-1	0-1	Horan, George 1788
3	Siddo, Charlton 1679	0-1	0-1	Moth, Simon C 1762
4	Lataille, Matthias 1652	1-0	1-0	Kershaw, Graham J 1666
5	Nickals, Peter A 1637	1-0	1-0	Collins, Fred 1731
		2-3	3-2
	Average: 1659	5-5<		Average: 1771

< Loughton win on Board Count: Wanstead C 19-11 Loughton

A valiant effort by Wanstead C to hold Loughton to a tied score, due mostly to the double victories on Boards 4 and 5. Loughton scored 5-1 over the top three boards to get a clear verdict on Board Count.