Match Report 04/02/25
Tuesday 04/02/25
Eccles 4.5 – 1.5 Swinton
Match card: https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/73245
MCF – Wahltuch Cup Quarter final.
Both clubs had problems fielding their strongest team.
On paper Swinton out rated Eccles and Eccles were very lucky to have won.
Eccles now have two teams through to the Wahltuch Cup Semi-finals. They are drawn apart, but if Eccles play their cards right it could be “Eccles v Eccles” in the Final.
Man of the Match: Xiaojing Gu.
This was Xiaojing’s (Shou’s) first ever classic game. I have put him in as an estimated 1700. This is his rapid rating, and after recieving opinions from our stronger players, I decided to stick with it.
I first met Shou in December 2022 taking part in the Bolton’s 39th RapidPlay tournament and we got chatting. I had seen him a couple of times since then and he always said he would like to play classic, but never did. Recently he contacted me and asked about playing classic games instead of always playing rapid, and this was when I offered him this match.
Shou arrived in plenty of time and was feeling nervous but he soon settled down into playing and winning his debut game playing for the winning team.
After the match he brought out his laptop to study and learn from his game.
This is what the Eccles chess analysing guru Andy Roberts said about Xiaojing’s game.
The game starts with a Sicilian Defense
- Bc4 or d4 would be better here, now the d pawn is blocked in
6…Nf6 is better than the tempting 6…Ne5 because of white’s 7. Bb5+
- Qxd7, the queens get traded off and it’s looking to be an even endgame
- Rfc1, both players develop their pieces sensibly but white doesn’t address the issue
of the weak pawn on d3, allowing black to play 19…Ne5 - d4 allowing the knight to infiltrate onto the d3 square, attacking the rook
- Bf2, black is now up a pawn with a better position and soon to be up two pawns, fully in control
Pieces get traded off and it’s down to a rook and pawn endgame with black being up two passed pawns
Black advances the pawns with help from the rook and it’s not going to be possible to stop black
promoting now, white resigns. Thanks Andy for another one of your in-depth game analysis’s
Monday: Is for all new players and beginners. There will be time to study between 7 & 8pm. At 8pm we have a have chess mentor Martin Pope doing a lesson on how to improve your worst-placed piece.
Wednesday: Is Chess for fun night with Friendly and ECF rated RapidPlay games. All levels of play welcome!
Free refreshments – Free local Parking – All donations welcome!
21 Church Street Eccles M30 0DF (plenty of free local parking)
Thank you for reading “My Journey through Chess” by Barbara Farrar