Ealing A continued their rise from the bottom of the table with a convincing win against an understrength Surbiton team.

For the first time this season, Ealing’s line-up had a semblance of its former strength, with Rick making a welcome return on top board. Rick played the black side of a French 3…….Nc6 which turned into what looked like a mainline Tarrasch. Commenting on his game he says “I made the mistake of simplifying too early and the game was even until I managed to (not very effectively) unbalance the position. Objectively white was ok but had very little time and allowed black to infiltrate.”

Mark’s game ended in a relatively quick draw. As black, he went a pawn up after about 15 moves, but it was doubled and his opponent had freer rooks and a potentially dangerous passed pawn (admittedly still on a2 at the time). Not feeling particularly well, and to avoid the risk of time trouble, he offered a draw and his opponent accepted.

Andrew was another to win on the night. In his own words: “My opponent played a Phillidor with deferred castling (Simon William’s “Black Lion”). Some nice tactics, starting with my queen on d3 forking his bishop on d6 and knight on g6 (only defended by a pinned pawn on f7) netted me a pawn then a piece and eventually the game.”

Likewise both John and Simon delivered the full point. As Simon says: “As White, I faced a line of the King’s Indian with an early c5. The position remained level but an exchange sacrifice on move 22 gave me a winning position. At the end of the two and half hour session my opponent resigned, as the 4 pawn deficit in a rook ending was simply too much to defend. “

John’s game seems to have been a topsy-turvy affair, as John writes: “My game was a King’s Indian that led to a Benoni style structure. White had an advantage early on but a premature f4 allowed a nice Nxe4 tactic, temporarily sacrificing a piece to win two pawns and then an exchange. I then mistakenly returned the exchange and lost my extra pawns leaving a level endgame. In the end however, my opponent blundered away a bishop in a position where I had a small advantage.”

Harry had an off night. “A very disappointing game for me. False calculations, missed in-between moves and absolutely no serious threats for my opponent.” He does however have the good grace to provide his game which can be replayed here .

I am most grateful to Simon for standing in as captain when I had to pull out at short notice due to car problems.

Our final match of the season is at home against our Juniors on 24th April.

Ealing A	Rating	Result	Surbiton A	Rating
Rick McMichael	2254	1-0	Angus James	2012
Andrew Harley	2208	1-0	Paul Dupre	1968
John Quinn	2193	1-0	Nick Faulks	1906
Simon Healeas	1863	1-0	Mark Hogarth	1878
Mark Winterbotham	1885	½-½	Graham Alcock	1793
Harry Symeonidis	1828	0-1	Joseph Morrison	1518
		4½-1½