Match Result
| Season | 11/12 |
| Date | Wed 25 Jan 2012 |
| Competition: | Thames Valley League Division 1 |
| Fixture | Surbiton 'A' v Ealing 'B' |
| Result | U: 1-6 |
Scorecard
| Board | Grade | Surbiton 'A' | Ealing 'B' | Grade | |
| 1 | 196 | Briscoe, Chris | Tony Wells | ||
| 2 | None | Flacker, Edgar | Michael Lamb | ||
| 3 | 186 | Bruzzi, Stefano | Chris Greenshields | ||
| 4 | 179 | Shepherd, Paul D | Raj Jhooti | ||
| 5 | 172 | Henderson, Ian R | Alastair Johnstone | ||
| 6 | 164 | James, Angus S | Dale Gibbons | ||
| 7 | 161 | Nightingale, Michael | Richard Hatvany | ||
| 8 | 143 | Durrant, Paul EO | John Harvey | ||
| Total |
Captains Comment
There are no easy games for Ealing B this year and the trip to Surbiton was no different.
With Nevenko sidelined with a broken leg and various other regulars hors de combat, a number of the team were playing higher up the order than usual and consequently, faced big grading deficits.
My own game was first to finish, when I failed to navigate my way though a ferociously sharp variation of the Scandinavian. I was a little miffed as I had actually studied the line a couple of years ago, but was unable to recall or find all the nuances at the board and in such a sharp line, one wrong move order soon provoked collapse.
Taking stock of the positions on the other boards it was immediately apparent that there was to be no giant-killing tonight.
Richard Hatvany, making his debut appearance for the team, was a piece down with the sole compensation fo an advanced passed pawn. But, although Richard battled on for some time, there was ruthfully only ever going to be one result.
On top board, Tony was a pawn down and, with insufficien ammunition left on the board, he too was unable to conjure a miracle escape.
0-3 soon became 0-4 when John (whose kingside seemed to have gone AWOL and whose queenside was wholly undeveloped) succumbed to a realtively straightforward attack.
Hope was briefly restored when Chris netted a fine win on Board 3. Enjoying a substantial space advantage, Chris was able to exploit the greater scope and mobility of his pieces to build pressure on Black's cramped position which was ultimately unable to fend off all the threats. With a piece about to drop, Black resigned.
Raj came to grief when his opponent took control of an open f-file and piled his major pieces down it towards Raj's king. In the end there were simply too many points of entry for White's attack and Surbiton duly sealed the match victory.
Mike Lamb adjourned a pawn down in an opposite-coloured bishop endgame, with some hopes for a draw, although acknowledging that his opponent had the better chances.
Dale too chose not to concede on the night although having looked at the final position, I am not optimistic about his prospects of rescuing anything from the game.
So Ealing B's experience of life in the heady heights of Division 1 continues to be a trial. 0 from 10 gives a rather harsh impression of how we have competed - we have given a few teams something of a fright - but we have never quite been able to muster the strength in depth to cross the winning line.