London Online League – Season 2

The Club has entered another online competition, the London League Online, which has just started its second season. We might have entered the first season, but the notice of it came so late, we had filled our fixture list by entering the League of Mayhem.

The second season of the London League online, however, neatly fills a gap between the current LoM and the 4NCL Online – each of which finishes their second season very shortly – and the next offering from LoM. Games are being played on Wednesday evenings, from 3 Mar to 12 May.

The Club’s team – Wanstead Wolves – is in Bishops division, there being four divisions: Queens, Rooks, Bishops, Knights. Games are played on the Tornelo platform. Games are also streamed live with commentary on Twtch channel JoRoSaR (link below)

Match details will appear in the tabbed display below, along with all the games.

Links: London League Website | Games on Twitch | London Online League on Tornelo

Round Date Home Team v Away Team
1 03 Mar 2021 Kings Head 3-1 Wanstead Wolves
2
10 Mar 2021 Wanstead Wolves 1-3 Hendon Spitfires
3 17 Mar 2021 Wimbledon B 1½-2½ Wanstead Wolves
4 24 Mar 2021 Wanstead Wolves 1-3 East Ham Eagles
5 31 Mar 2021 Battersea Cats 2½-1½ Wanstead Wolves
6 07 Apr 2021 Wanstead Wolves 2-2 Streatham & Brixton B
7 14 Apr 2021 East Ham Beagles 2-2 Wanstead Wolves
8 21 Apr 2021 Wanstead Wolves 1-3 Bekenham & Bromley
9 28 Apr 2021 Hendon Harriers 4-0 Wanstead Wolves
10 05 May 2021 Hackney Hopefuls 1½-2½ Wanstead Wolves
11 12 May 2021 Wanstead Wolves 2-2 Hackney Happening

Played 11, Won 2, Drew 3, Lost 6

Played 3 March 2021

  Kings Head v Wanstead Wolves
1
Alex Bourke 1855 (W) 1-0 Default
2 Neil Tomkin 1598 (B) 0-1 Keith Jones 1840 (W)
3 Evan Beachley 1659 1-0 Jay Sharman 1645
4 Richard Balatoni 1533 1-0 Nigel white 1443
    3-1  

Link: Round 1 pairings in tornelo

Mark Murrell reports:

An inauspicious start.

Having registered the team and the players having registered themselves for the league with ease, registering for the league for players on the Tornelo platform was far from straightforward, with most of us only managing to do so by trial and error. The league instructions were to register for your Division but having reached the Division page it was far from obvious what needed to be done next. A link from the organisers to the applicable page in the Tornelo help guide (itself not obviously applicable) would have helped. Even with my step by step instructions one player managed to work it out only to be told that he was unpaired and then went offline. Fortunately, the later appearance in the pairings page was noticed prompting a come back and log in request. Our top board was not so fortunate; we eventually got there by telephone, ready at least for the next match.

Kings Head made a late substitution giving our bottom board a tougher game than expected. The opponent being within the 50 rating point rule. The board 2 was playing under a different (much lower) rating than that with which he was registered, which if correct would mean a board order violation.

With defeats on boards 3 and 4 there was a shining light thanks to Keith’s miniature (I think checkmate on move 19 counts). A dodgy opening giving way to a false sense of security and a very pretty finish to brighten up the evening.
The Tornelo playing platform itself looked simple enough, with games simply started by the arbiter once the players had worked out how to register themselves.

The London League LMS is lagging behind somewhat so no idea as to next week’s opponents, for which we should be all set!

To be played 10 March 2021, at 7.00 pm

  Wanstead Wolves v Hendon Spitfires
1
Ian Reynolds 1915 (W) 0-1 Eugenia Karas 1803 (B)
2 Keith Jones 1840 0-1 Chris Rogal 1803
3 Matthias Lataille 1511 (r) 1-0 Nick Murphy 1750
4 Laurence Duffy 1312 0-1 Anton Drel 1510
    1-3  

Played 17 March 2021

  Wimbledon B
v Wanstead Wolves
1
Andrew Blackburn 1639 (W) 1-0 Ian Reynolds 1915 (B)
2 Martin Lake 1650 0-1 Mark Murrell 1855
3 Mario Avendano 1713 ½-½ Jay Sharman 1645
4 Omar Selim 1363 0-1 Michael Buckingham 152
    1½-2½  

Played 24 March 2021

  Wanstead Wolves
v East Ham Eagles
1
Ian Reynolds 1915 (W) 1-0 Harry Zheng  2124(B)
2 Keith Jones 1840 0-1 Jack Sheard 1943
3 Matthias Lataille 1511e 0-1 Karin Silvana Bayona 1893
4 Nigel White 1443 0-1 Peter Rose 1751
    1-3  

Link: Bishops R4 on Tornelo

Commentary from Mark Murrell:

Outrated all the way down, so a not unexpected result.

A touch of class from Ian. Lured his opponent into a trap with a Bishop sacrafice, followed up with an exchange sacrafice that lead to a forcing checkmate sequence, with a choice of mating options at the very end.

Played 31 March 2021

  Battersea Cats
v Wanstead Wolves
1
Conor Gay 2013 (W) 1-0 Ian Hunnable 1968 (B)
2 Steve Barry 1595 ½-½ Keith Jones 1840
3 Joel Morales 1653 ½-½ Jay Sharman 1645
4 Chris Watt 1398 ½-½ Matthias Lataille 1511
    2½-1½  

Link: Round 5 on tornelo

Played 7 April 2021

  Wanstead Wolves
v Streatham & Brixton B
1
Ian Hunnable 1968 (W) 1-0 Martin Smith 1757 (B)
2 Ian Reynolds 1915 1-0 Kostyantyn Titorenko 1996
3 Keith Jones 1840 0-1 Gabriel Barr 1793
4 Mark Murrell 1855 0-1 Paul Ritchie 1329
    2-2  

Link: Round 6 on Tornelo

A hard-earned half-point, increasing our meagre total to 1½. But Streatham & Brixton B are the Division leaders, so this is a creditable result.

Mark’s loss was overturned by wins from the two Ians. This left Keith Jones defending a NvB ending in which he was facing two passed pawns. This appeared a daunting prospect, but the engine says that if Keith’s last move had been Nf1, the position was equal. This, however, is a harsh judgement as Keith had only seconds on his clock by this point – playing on increments. The fact of the matter is that two rampaging passed pawns were enough to enable Streatham to level the scores. A tough match with boards 1-3 going, respectively, 62, 70 and 59 moves respectively.

Match chess is often swings and roundabouts: while cold analysis says Keith might have drawn with 59 Nf1, on Board 1, S&B could have had a draw with 54 …Rh8! but here also both players had less than a minute.

Played 14 April 2021

  East Ham Beagles
v Wanstead Wolves
1
Laith Hayali 1750 (W) ½-½ Ian Hunnable 1968 (B)
2 Stephen Berkley 1804  ½-½ Ian Reynolds 1915
3 Moamen Hammad 1659 0-1 Jay Sharman 1645
4 Maksim Khromov 1375 1-0 Nigel White 1443
    2-2  

Link: Round 7 on Tornelo

Played 21 April 2021

  Wanstead Wolves
v Beckenham & Bromley
1
Ian Hunnable 1968 (W) 0–1 Rodolfo Padovan 1803 (B)
2 Ian Reynolds 1915 0–1 Alan Sands 1825
3 Jay Sharman1 645 1–0 M Newman 1600
4 Nigel White 1443 0–1 Zachary Belcher 1464
    1–3  

Link: London Online League R8 on Tornelo

Played 28 April 2021

  Hendon Harriers
v Wanstead Wolves
1
Amirabbas Mehrafarin 1734 (W)
1-0 Mark Murrell 1855 (B)
2
James Baxter 1600
1-0 Michael Buckingham1525
3
David Lewis 1443
1-0 Nigel White 1443
4 A N Other 1d0 Default
    4-0  

Link: Round 9 on tornelo

Played 5 May 2021

  Hackney Hopefuls
v Wanstead Wolves
1
Chris Levy 1842 (W)
½-½ Ian Hunnable 1968 (B)
2
Frederick Sugden 1248
0-1 Jay Sharman 1645
3
Stephen Mackie 80
0-1
Matthias Lataille 1511
4
Bernard Sharkey 1500
1-0 Laurence Duffy1312
    1½-2½  

We do not know what happened on Board 2 where Black’s time ran out while only 15 moves had been played and with Black a pawn up in a non-critical early middlegame position. One suspects a disconnect. Hackney Board 3’s “rating” we think is an ECF grade – on the LL website he is quoted as “77er”.

Pick of the games is Matthias’s “horse play” win, for which we have supplied light notes.

Link: Round 10 on Tornelo


Played 12 May 2021

  Wanstead Wolves v Hackney Happening
1
Ian Hunnable 1968 (W) 1-0 Alistair Dyte 1765 (B)
2 Keith Jones 1840 0-1 Robin Oakley (1758)
3 Jay Sharman 1645 0-1 Peter Burgoyne 1657
4 Matthias Lataille 1511 1-0 Paulo Rosario 147 (=1803)
    2-2  

We don’t know what happened to Keith tonight; his opponent played 1 e4 and there was no reply. We won 2-1 on the games played.

Link: Round 11 on Tornelo