Match Result
| Season | 09/10 |
| Date | Wed 03 Mar 2010 |
| Competition: | Middlesex League Division 2 |
| Fixture |
Athanaeum '1' v Ealing 'B'
|
| Result | L: 2-6 |
Scorecard
| Board | Grade | Athanaeum '1' | v | Ealing 'B' | Grade |
| 1 | 177 | Farkas, Daniel | 1-0 | Jan P Gorgol |
|
| 2 | 179 | McKeown, Paul | 1-0 | Nevenko Grozdanic |
|
| 3 | 170 | Golebiowski, A | 1-0 | Milinko Stevic |
|
| 4 | 168 | Millward, Kevin P | 0-1 | Simon Healeas |
|
| 5 | 159 | Walsh, Steven JF | 1-0 | John Harvey |
|
| 6 | 163 | Kay, Jonathan | 0-1 | Dale Gibbons |
|
| 7 | 160 | Chen, Ti | 1-0 | Raj Jhooti |
|
| 8 | 150 | Hermes, Geoff R | 1-0 | Alastair Johnstone |
|
| Total | | | 6-2 | | |
Captains Comment
Simon Healeas reports:
It was always going to be struggle on Athenaeums's manor. A quick look at their list of members revealed a club with strength in depth, including a couple of grandmasters. As one of their players told me beforehand, the only reason they're in division two of the Middlesex League is because of difficulty in fielding away sides.
The first game to finish was Raj's who had kindly stepped in at very short notice. With two knights against two bishops, it was never going to be easy as the position gradually opened up. Ultimately his opponent's queen and bishop combined against the white king to secure the point for the home side. On the adjacent board, Alastair came out of the opening well. Defending the Black side of an Alapin, after 15 moves he enjoyed the more active pieces and open f-file for his rook. During the late middlegame, the position appeared to be heading for a draw with each side having a queen, opposite-coloured bishop and several pawns. Alas, White's queen became very active and Athenaeum took a 2-0 lead. My game was the next to finish. In a strategically won position, my opponent blundered horribly and lost.
My euphoria at being back in the match at 2-1 was not to last long. John played the White side of the London System with an early Qb3 against (unusually) a kingside fianchetto. Trading two minor pieces for rook and pawn, he built up queenside pressure on the c-file but could not break through. Indeed, his opponent countered strongly and finally it was his pawn push on the queenside that determined the game's outcome. At 3-1 to Athenaeum it looked as if the match was slipping way. But then Dale came dramatically to the rescue. Playing the Black side of a Tarrasch, he built up pressure against his opponent's king and then broke through with a wonderful queen sacrifice: the coup de grace being delivered with rook and bishop. This was highly impressive and certainly a memory to treasure.
So the match hinged on the last three games which all went into quickplay finishes. In Nevenko's game, an earlier draw offer from his opponent had been declined .The subsequent ending, however, proved untenable: the passed rook's pawn simply being too powerful. Our new recruit, the affable Dutchman , Jan, played-what else? - but the Dutch Stonewall. It was a closely-fought contest but with very little time on his clock, he came (I thought) within a whisker of getting a perpetual check but it was not to be. On board three, Malinko had offered an early Greek sacrifice with 13.Bxh7+ which was sensibly declined (13...Kh8!). Nevertheless his opponent got the slightly better of a complex middlegame and annexed the full point.
On the night we were beaten by a stronger side with greater fire power. However in terms of fighting spirit, particularly on the top three boards, we exhibited a 'never-say-die' attitude to be proud of. With Chris and Mike returning for the next fixture, we can look forward to the Albany match with guarded optimism.
