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C team home v Sale wed 31st Oct

Posted on: November 1st, 2012 by Bill Tait

this was the eagerly awaited return fixture. both teams tried to confuse the other with delaying the announcement of their line-up with a late arrival on each side.

we managed to keep the score at nil – nil for about an hour until they went one up after just after the  hour. we pulled one back from Andy Walker making his first appearance at No5 (well done Andy) setting it up for a tight finish.

at this point, by my reckoning the top 3 boards entered their end games with all the EC players one pawn down. I was first to fall putting us 2-1 down. then David Taylor had a close finish making it 3-1 before Andrew Parry got the final point in Fergie time against Keith Hodgson. Keith was playing his first match for us and did really well.

final result 4 -1 to Sale. no red or yellow cards and no official complaints to FIDE from EC about the ref.

Bill

Posted in C Team

C team home v Ashton wed 17th oct

Posted on: October 20th, 2012 by Bill Tait

East Cheshire v Ashton

1 Bill Tait 1 – 0 T Chatys

2 Geoff Clarke 0 – 1 G Chatys

3 Hartley Oldham 1/2 – 1/2 A Abbas

4 Duncan Chandley 0 – 1 S Hayman

5 Roy Burrows 0 – 1 K Ye

Match Result East Cheshire 1 1/2 – Ashton 3 1/2

A good night’s chess. Roy spoke warmly about his 8yr old opponent who played swiftly and impressed Roy. Duncan had a winning position when I looked and then somehow had the tables turned on him by another young opponent – hard luck!

I think Hartley was relieved to get a draw and I managed a winning end game to defeat one member of the Chatys family. Geoff C played the elder Chatys and after being up against it suddenly scared his opponent with a strong attack on his K at the end. Despite his flourish ….it wasn’t to be and he eventually had to resign.

Bill

 

Posted in C Team

Sale 4 EC C 1

Posted on: October 11th, 2012 by Bill Tait
The C Team lost its first match of the season. A super win from Edwin who seems to be following in Paul Crusher Bamford’s chess-steps! An excellent showing from Geoff S in his first match for EC since his expensive signing from Bramhall (or was it a free transfer?). Geoff held on and might have squeezed out a draw however time had its way in the end. We were heavily out graded and unfortunately have to play them again in a couple of weeks. I went all out for a win but my attack fizzled out in the middle game when what I thought was a potentially winning attack on his K resulted in my Q getting trapped!
PS Can Anyone buy Andy B a satnav fro Christmas please.
Many thanks to all for turning out and we look forward, never back.
Bill
Result EC C Away to Sale 7th Oct
1    Mark Whalley 150        1-0     Bill Tait         121
2    Peter Ming       125       1-0    Andy Buckley 106
3    Lionel Taylor     118       0-1    Edwin Cooke    91
4    Simon Stuchey  78       1-0    Ian Vaughan    82
5    Peter Russell        73    1-0    Geoff Smith    62
Result Sale 4 EC C 1
Posted in C Team

BEC 4.5 Heywood 1.5

Posted on: July 5th, 2012 by Phil Ramsey



BEC got the season off to a great start last night with a comprehensive victory over Heywood.


Edwin and Andy won pretty quickly and then Dave B won to give us at least a draw. David’s half point gave us the match and I managed to get away with some pretty dodgy play as Black and eventually win on time.


Here is the scorecard:


1. Phil 1-0 J Carrington (151)
2. David T 0.5-0.5 B Parkin (116)
3. Dave B 1-0 I Mitchell (110)
4. Keith 0-1 D Thorp (102)
5. Edwiin 1-0 M Lally (77)
6. Andy 1-0 B Thompson (UG)


I expect we will meet stronger teams in Division C but this was a good start.


And just for fun here is my position after 27 moves each:





I expect my “6 pawns attack” to pay rich dividends in future!

Posted in A Team

Stockport C 3 – ECA 3

Posted on: April 19th, 2012 by Phil Ramsey
Our last match of the season was away to Stockport C in their plush new venue.
David T lost on time and then I evened up the match to leave it all in John’s hands. John was winning but ran out of time to work things out and had to settle for the draw.
1. L Smith (149) 0 – 1 Phil
I took on the King’s Indian with the quiet fianchetto system. However my opponent played it badly and ended up in a cramped position. I then found an accurate move to win a piece and ground down my opponent in the endgame. And for once no time trouble!
2. J Mason (151) 0.5 – 0.5 John
Mason played a quiet system that didn’t allow John’s Albin Counter Gambit. However John developed quickly while Mason dithered and John soon had the advantage. After the time control John had the advantage of good Knight against bad Bishop and a passed pawn but Mason defended well and John didn’t have time to find the win.
3. M McNulty (145) 0.5 – 0.5 Keven
Keven played his “bore Black” system again and again did well, winning a pawn in the middlegame. However he didn’t see a safe way to make progress so took the draw.
4. P King (137) 0.5 – 0.5 Dave B
As always Dave got a decent position out of the opening and managed to get some pressure but King played sensibly and got the draw.
5. A Catlow (UG) 0.5 – 0.5 Paul
Paul played his slow anti-Sicilian system again and again managed to expose his opponent’s King at the cost of exposing his own. Catlow won a pawn but Paul had enough activity to get the draw.
6. V Rushworth (137) 1 – 0 David T
David had a decent French Defence but the classic bad Bishop. In a slightly worse position David lost on time.
So a decent season for ECA. We came close to beating Chorlton twice and almost beat Macclesfield in our first match. However we are not ready for the A division yet so a solid mid table position is about right.

Posted in A Team

ECA 3.5 Altrincham A 2.5

Posted on: April 12th, 2012 by Phil Ramsey

ECA won their final home match of the season last night to cement their position in 3rd place. Smooth wins by John, Keven and Paul saw us to victory.

1. P Ramsey 0 – 1 Y Kolodiy (178)
Playing another King’s Indian I had a cramped position and in time trouble missed a move to free my position and ended up with a losing endgame.
2. J Reed 1 – 0 K Lockett (169)
Karl played the opening badly and gave John a strong Kingside attack. John missed the quickest win but kept Karl under pressure and he eventually collapsed.
3. K Holton 1 – 0 W McCartney (136)
Keven had a perfect Sicilian, easily refuting McCartney’s attack and then taking control of the board with his extra centre pawns.
4. P Bamford 1 – 0 R Clucas (127)
Paul’s slow system against the Sicilian was exactly that but eventually yielded Paul a mating attack.
5. T Rickards 0 – 1 D Hughes (134)
Tudor had an equal position out of the opening but drifted into a defeat (the game ended in my time trouble so I didn’t see what happened.)
6. A Stokes 0.5 – 0.5 C McNulty (120)
All the heavy pieces were swapped off on the open C file and a sharp endgame was eventually drawn due to insufficient material.
Posted in A Team

Chorlton 3.5 East Cheshire A 2.5

Posted on: April 4th, 2012 by Phil Ramsey
Last night we put up a great fight against a strong Chorlton side and came close to a famous victory.

Paul lost early on and after three draws and a win from me it was all down to Dave’s game. It looked like his opponent was going to run out of time but Dave made an illegal move and the extra two minutes awarded was enough for Philip to finish off the game and win the match.

1. Hope Mkhumba (184) 0.5 – 0.5 John Reed

John played a drawish version of the Four Pawns Attack against Hope’s King’s Indian and swapped off all the heavy pieces to share the points.

2. Chris Vassiliou (166) 0 – 1 Phil Ramsey

In another Four Pawns Attack against my King’s Indian I played the same obscure sideline that I played against Toole recently and this time got a decent position. With us both in time trouble I played some speculative moves that were probably bad but put Chris under pressure and he eventually lost on time in a lost position.

3. John Horner (172) 0.5 – 0.5 David Taylor

David played a very solid Reti and snapped John’s hand off when he offered a draw!

4. Philip Olbison (162) 1 – 0 Dave Broadbent

Dave once again won the opening and was several pawns up at the time control. Unfortunately Philip had a combination to win two pieces for a Rook and his bishops started to control the game. It looked like it would all end in a mad time scramble but the Dave played an illegal move and Philip had enough time to clean up.

From Dave:

Opening – French advance.
Terrific game v strong opponent (162) but wrong result. Phil Olbison was clearly uncomfortable with my opening. I won a pawn and there were lots of tactics in a complicated game. We were both in time trouble. I castled and immediately noticed he could then win my knight. I then turned the game around and 6 moves later was 3 pawns up and had him on the ropes! My move 36 seemed good just before the time control. However, he found a great reply with R*B to exchange his rook for 2 minor pieces. His minor pieces then took over but he was in serious
danger of losing on time. Unfortunately, I played an illegal move which gave him 2 extra minutes and rescued him. I was then in more time trouble and lost on time but by then he was in the better position.

I stayed until past 11pm with all the |Chorlton team looking at the game.

5. Richard Nurse (164) 0.5 – 0.5 Keven Holton

Keven played his “Bore Opponent” system as White and again got a good position with some positional pressure. However Richard did enough to hold the game.

From Keven:

I had the best of it and in analysis later he conceded I had all the chances but we played it out to a drawn N&P’s ending in all scenarios.

6. Alan Beresford (150) 1 – 0 Paul Bamford

Paul’s Modern Defence got squashed. Paul lost a couple of Queenside pawns early on and then could not stop Alan’s Kingside attack.

We have a slightly easier match next week at home to Altrincham.
Posted in A Team

C Team draws against Altrincham B

Posted on: April 1st, 2012 by Ian Vaughan


East Cheshire C Team remains ‘The Mean Team’ (in the sense of average, actually, but ‘mean team’ sounds better) with a draw against Altrincham B on 27 March 2012. We now have one more match this season, and will be net winners or losers depending on that result (or we might remain… ‘The Mean Team’)

The score card reads:

Paul Bamford 0.5, Callum McNulty 0.5
Andy Buckley 0, Pete Arland 1,
Ian Vaughan 1, Steve Ward 0,
Edwin Cooke 1, Wayne Kranz 0,
Roy Burrows 0, Steve Douglas 1.

East Cheshire C 2.5, Altrincham B 2.5

Edwin writes:
“This was a great game (aren’t they all when you win!) which I thoroughly enjoyed.
“A fascinating strategic opening against a pensive opponent led to two pawn sacrifices followed by my loss of a knight (move 15) and he still had all his pieces! … However I was confident that my position was strong. He had his king side pinned down by my developed pieces which also were holding his advanced queenside pieces.
“Then I saw it (move 19), the match winner or so I thought, he must move his D8 rook onto the G file to tidy up my lone advanced pawn and then I could pin his knight to his king with my G2 bishop on E6 whilst also forking his rook, whatever he did to defend this would leave a gap for further exploitation. Ambitious and a tall order I know, but that was the target and I was certain it could be done!!! My next move I figured would be a rook sacrifice which at worst would gain two pawns and at best leave me two bishops and a knight up.
“I think he could see a threat and chose to swipe my advanced pawn with his queen instead, thus he returned my earlier favour leaving his bishop unprotected (move 20). I had been carving out a position but this mistake let me take stock, “Advantage Edwin, be careful, don’t blow it, just win”
“Then I controlled an inevitable pawn exchange, which left both bishops exposed but me in a commanding position for further pawn attack, this was gold dust as if we continued I could win his king knight and leave his defence in shreds, furthermore his queen tied up in knots defending a knight, but at the same time pinned by my queen (move 23).
“From there he unrolled like a yoyo and each time he bounced back it was weaker and weaker.”

Ian writes:
“This asymmetrical king’s pawn game contained opportunities for both sides and was an exciting contest. An early exchange obliged me to capture with the f-pawn but the open file became a strength after I was able to castle queenside and to launch an attack on the queen. This won material, and I was a knight up.
“Later I blundered away a rook, and was one move away from a draw by repetition with my opponent’s rook and queen likely to force mate. Fortunately, my pawns and knight stopped the momentum of the attack, and the knight remained useful to the end by enabling a mate on g1.”

Posted in C Team

ECA 5 Denton B 1

Posted on: March 16th, 2012 by Phil Ramsey
ECA made sure of their status as Division B also-rans with a convincing win over Denton B on Wednesday night.

Denton were rather distracted as they all got stuck in traffic on their way to our venue and one of their players did not turn up at all. Nevertheless we were missing our board 1 so we did well to produce such a good score.

Here is how it went.

1. Phil 1-0 D Toole (171)

I have to face David’s Four Pawns Attack against my King’s Indian and tried a risky sideline where Black does not move his e pawn. I allowed David to play e5 and it looked like I was getting crushed. However in time trouble he didn’t spot the killer move and I was able to get at his King with my Queen and pick up a few pieces with check.

2. Dave N 1-0 Default

Dave N played 1. d4 with great panache and that was the end of that one.

3. Dave B 0-1 K Ahmadi (155)

Dave B was doing fine (as normal) after the opening but then had a hallucination and lost a piece. There was no way back after that.

4. Keven 1-0 P Boyd (123)

Adopting a solid “bore my opponent into a strategic blunder” strategy Keven gradually ground his opponent down with a smooth win. Karpov would have been proud.

5. David T 1-0 D Cook (107)

David T seemed to be without counterplay in a stodgy French defence but his opponent lost on time while looking for the winning move.

6. Paul 1-0 I Urwin (119)

Paul did his best to play a gambit but his opponent insisted that Paul won a pawn instead. Paul gradually consolidated his advantage and won more material.

Next A team match is away to Chorlton on Tue April the 3rd.
Posted in A Team

ECA 3.5 Stockport C 2.5

Posted on: March 1st, 2012 by Phil Ramsey

East Cheshire A team finally managed something that they haven’t done for years – beat a Stockport team!

The night started off well with a very convincing win by Keven. After a defeat and three draws it all came down to my game. Fortunately my opponent played rather passively and I was able to bring home the bacon.

1. John Reed 0.5 – 0.5 Mark McNulty (145)

John had a dubious opening and had to struggle for a few hours to finally achieve a draw.

2. Phil Ramsey 1 – 0 Peter Taylor (141)

Playing against an Old Indian system I build up a strong pawn centre. However Peter managed to exploit some of the holes in front of my King and complicate things. Fortunately for me he played very unambitiously and I emerged from time trouble with a winning passed pawn.

3. Dave Broadbent 0.5 – 0.5 Peter King (137)

Dave again had a very strong opening and won a pawn in the middlegame. However he let his opponent win the pawn back and eventually a draw was agreed.

4. Keven Holton 1 – 0 Vic Rushworth (137)

Playing against the King’s Indian Keven obtained a couple of advanced passed pawns in the centre of the board and then finished things off in fine style, checkmating his opponent.

5. David Taylor 0.5 – 0.5 Marc Jackson (130)

David seemed to be on the rocks after the opening as his opponent had a fearsome attack but David defended carefully and in the end had the better of a draw.

6. Paul Bamford 0 – 1 John Kelly (126)

Paul had a typical swashbuckling opening and ended up two pawns up but his opponent managed to win the exchange and then the endgame.

Next match in two weeks: at home to Denton B.

Posted in A Team

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