2nd Match Report: 12/12/24
Thursday: 12/12/24
Eccles 4.5 – 1.5 Chorlton
Matchcard: https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/73091
MCF – A Division
Chorlton played exceptionally well, when you consider the 343 point difference across all six boards.
Chorlton player Julian Alderton played a great game against Ethan Norris and earned a very respectable draw. Considering the massive rating point difference of 419, this is an impressive result!
Eccles fielded a couple of new players as they needed to play at least one game before they could represent Salford in the Friendly French European FIDE Chess Tournament.
Swinton & Worsley took part last year and this year it is Eccles’ turn. We are hopeful that the Eccles Eagles delegates IM Ged Sarakauskas and new player Martin Mitchell will bring back the trophy. Eccles last won this tournament in 2011 when Marcial Flores (Totty) did us proud by bringing back the trophy that he last won in 2009.
Man of the Match: Lok Hang Chang (Chorlton Player)
Lok on board six played an excellent game against Eccles player Paul Cawley
Lok who started the season with an estimated rating of 1700 is going places! Not only did he beat Paul who has a stable rating of 2000+ but when he played his debut match for Chorlton in October, he beat 3Cs player Andrew Lewis rated 1961.
It’s amazing how things can change from one week to the next. In the last match report Paul was nominated as Man of the Match and the following week he is beaten by a new kid on the block who’s estimated strength of play is 300 rating points less than himself. All good stuff!
Well played to Lok, you have a good chess future infront of you and Chorlton are very lucky to have you play for their club.
This is what my Chess Guru Andrew Roberts said about their game.
A really close game that saw neither player able to gain an advantage above +/- 1 until the final move.
The opening consisted of an Alapin Sicilian with white having the isolated d pawn with better piece activity and black being a little behind in development and a light squared bishop that’s going to take a little time to develop. All still equal and to play for.
Trades ensued in the middlegame and white played 22. Qg4 which is considered a mistake (the first of the match). Ideas of black playing Qb5, activating the queen and putting some annoying pressure on the undefended b2 pawn. Black did not capitalise on this and instead brought the position back to equal with 22…Rc6.
The queens came off the board and both players doubled rooks on the d file. White played 31. Kf2 and missed the deadly Nxc3 tactic, winning a rook.
Very unlucky ending for white considering both players kept it very close throughout the whole game.
Monday: Ladies & Learners
Wednesday: Chess for Fun with Friendly and rated RapidPlay games.
Thanks for reading My Chess Journal: by Barbara Farrar