In memory of Syd Kalinsky, our long-time sponsor for this double event
We did Syd proud!
Syd Kalinsky Memorial Essex Team Blitz 2023
Controller: Tom Barton
Results and website: Ian Hunnable
Format: 4-board teams, All-play-all, Game Points to count, tie-break Match Points;
Rate: 7 minutes Blitz, no increments.
Follow this link for: Team Blitz Pairings & Results
Team Blitz Report
Action from R5 with (foreground) Ilford 1 v Wanstead B, next table Barking B v Writtle, then Barking A v Wanstead A and in the far distance Cavendish v Ilford 2. [Photo: Ian Hunnable]
Nine teams had entered, so there was a Bye for one team each round to take a breather. However, for those teams having the Bye in the first or last round, they had to play their eight rounds straight through. There were four strong teams, Barking A, Cavendish, Wanstead A and Writtle, then a bit of a gap in playing strength to the other five teams. This made for a bloodthirsty event, with lots of 4-0 scorelines, but there was enough fight from the lesser teams to create “banana skin” pairings.
The perception of the flow of the competition was coloured by the varying point at which each team had the Bye. Writtle, having the Bye in R1 were always playing catch-up and only showed as joint leaders after R8. Barking A had the Bye as early as R2, so were in a similar position to Writtle.
Round 1, with first and second teams meeting, was full of banana skins and no-team was unaffected. None of the four “galacticos” scored a whitewash, all four matches finishing 3-1 with Wanstead B, Barking B and Ilford 2 each taking a point off their senior team and Thurrock taking a point off the mighty Cavendish, where Thurrock’s bottom board, George Thomas, beat th experienced Howard Waterman, while Writtle took the Bye.
Round 2 The whitewash scorelines began this round with Cavendish and Wanstead A scoring 4-0 against Ilford 1 and Thurrock respectively. Barking B joined in the blood-letting with 4-0 over Iford 2, whil Barking A with the Bye could only look on. But Writtle, coming off their R1 Bye were perhaps slow to peak their concentration as, whoever they played, had already had a game. Writtle were held to a 2-2 draw by Wanstead B, where Vladimir Parols and Mark Murrell beat, respectively, Russell White and Paul Williamson. (The latter pairing had an interesting prequel in that Mark had previously beaten Paul at standard play when in the 2019-20 League season Wanstead II inflicted a shock defeat on Writtle.)
Round 3 There were 4-0s for Barking A, Cavendish and Writtle (v Thurrock, Barking B and Ilford 2), but Ilford 1 nicked a half off Wanstead A when Nevilled Twitchell held David Spearman.
Scores after R3: Cavendish 11/12; Wanstead A 10½/12; Barking A 7/8; Writtle 6/8.
Cavendish v Ilford 2 from Round 5. [Photo: Ian Hunnable]
Round 4 More blood-letting, maximums being recorded by Wanstead A, Writtle and Wanstead B (v Barking B, Ilford 1 and Thurrock) while Cavendish maintained forward momentum with the verdict over Barking A by the odd point, 2½-1½. Wanstead A therefore took the outright lead for the first time.
Scores after R4: Wanstead A 14½/16; Cavendish 13½/16; Writtle 10/12.
Round 5 Only one whitewash this round, Ilford 2 0-4 Cavendish, but it was enough for Cavendish to return to power with an increased majority as Wanstead dropped points in their “Galacticos” pairing with Barking A, the latter winninng 2½-1½. Writtle were frustrated only to score 2½-1½ against Barking B, with Igor Naumov inflicting on Paul Williamson his second defeat and Mike Cresswell had the excellent result of a draw with Ivan Myall.
Scores after R5: Cavendish, 17½/20; Wanstead A, 16/20; Writtle, 12½/16, Barking A, 11/16.
Round 6 Cavendish the spectators as they took the Bye, but the damage was limited as Wanstead A dropped a point against Ilford 2, when Wanstead member Paul Haddock, ironically guesting for Ilford 2, took the point of Ashley Freeman. Writtle and Barking A could only share the points with each other, 2-2.
Scores after R6: Wanstead A, 19/24; Cavendish, 17½/20; Writtle, 14½20, Barking A, 13/20.
Round 7 saw the leading teams close up with each other as Wanstead A and Cavendish shared the points 2-2, Writtle 4-0 Ilford 2, while Barking A scored 3½ v Wanstead B, with Mark Murrell sharing a draw with Jeff Goldberg.
Scores after R7: Wanstead A, 21/28; Cavendish 19½/24; Writtle, 18½/24; Barking A 16½/24.
Round 8 Just two rounds to go now. Yet a remarkable sequence of results brought about the most nail-biting finish. For a start, leaders Wanstead A had to take their Bye, while Writtle played Cavendish and Barking A played back markers Thurrock. Writtle were on their mettle and Cavendish came off second best, Writtle winning 2½-1½. The Closing up of the leading teams witnessed in R7 re-doubled with avengeance, now with three teams on 21 and the fourth on 20½. Tie-break: Match Points.
Scores with one round to go: Cavendish, Wanstead A, Writtle, 21/28; Barking A, 20½/28.
Round 9 Final round – stand up and be counted. In the event of a tie on Game Points, Match Points would decide. All four of the leading teams had taken the Bye, so all were in play and these were the pairings, with the leaders’ tie-break scores (Match Points) in brackets:
Barking A (5½) v Ilford 1
Cavendish (5½) v Wanstead B
Wanstead A (5½) v Writtle (6)
Clearly Wanstead A and Writtle had drawn the short straw while their rivals had weaker opposition. No surprise then, when Wanstead and and Writtle shared the points, 2-2. Barking A did the best they could, beating Ilford 1 4-0 to finish on 24½, handing in their score first. Cavendish now needed to win 4-0 to head Barking. Cavendish got the right results on Boards 1, 2 and 4, but Philip Staniland beat Dannny Wright to leave Cavendish a crucial half point short. Barking A had come up on the rails to beat the opposition by a nose, playing catch-up since their Bye in R2, brining to a close a mighty battle in which the outcome was not known until the last gasp.
Final positions: 1st Barking A, 24½/32; 2nd Cavendish, 24/32; =3rd Wanstead A, Writtle, 23/32.
Board scores
| Team | Player names | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Barking A | David Sands 6, Jeff Goldberg 4½, Roman Ismailov 8, Seb Ponulak 6 | 24½ |
| Cavendish | Andy Lewis 6½, Zaki Harari 6½, Danny Wright 6, Howard Waterman 5 | 24 |
| Writtle | Russell White 5½, Paul Williamson 4, Edgar Wilson 6, Ivan Myall 7½ | 23 |
| Wanstead A | David Spearman 5½, John Hodgson 7½, Ashley Freeman 4, Terry Whitton 6 | 23 |
| Wanstead B | Vladimir Parols 3½, Mark Murrell 4½, Philip Staniland 5, TU Senan 4 | 17 |
| Barking B | James Robinson 3, Igor Naumov 6, Raj Mathompat 2, Mike Cresswell 3 | 14 |
| Ilford 1 | Neville Twitchell 3, Daniel Lowe 2, Jef Page 3, Muhammad Faheem 2½ | 10½ |
| Ilford 2 | Adhar Jaiswal 3, Rayyan Asif ½, Paul Haddock 2, Euan O’Connell 0 | 5½ |
| Thurrock | Tomas Eastwood 0, Kirk Gosling ½, Abijan Sureshkumar 0, George Thomas 2 | 2½ |
Follow this link for: Team Blitz Pairings & Results
Team Blitz Rules:
1 “Clock move” applies i.e. move is completed only when the clock is pressed, “touched piece” rule does NOT apply;
2 A completed illegal move loses, provided the opponent claims before making a move in reply. If the opponent cannot deliver mate by any series of legal moves he/she can only claim a Draw.
Syd Kalinsky Memorial Individual ECA Lightning Championship
Follow this link for: the Lightning tournament pages (by Vega)
Rate: 10 second buzzer.
Format: Swiss pairing, 6 Rounds.
Entry Fee: Adults £5 – pay cash on the day. Juniors – Free
Prizes:
- 1st prize – £30
- 2nd prize – £20
- 3rd prize – £10
- Junior prize – £10
Rules:
1.1 The buzzer sounds every 10 seconds. The players move on alternate buzzes. When the buzzer sounds, the player on move must make a move while the buzzer sounds (2 seconds). The player must move on the buzzer, NOT before, NOT after.
However, it is suggested that if a move is completed no more than two seconds after the buzzer has finished sounding, a warning for a “late move” be given for a first offence – a ‘yellow card’ – and that a win is claimed only on a further instance of late move by the same player in the same game. (But see Rule 5.)
1.2 A late move is treated as an illegal move (see 5 below).
1.3 If the player should move before his/her buzz the opponent need not move until the buzz after next, i.e. the early move has merely given the opponent extra time in which to think.
2 Touched piece rule applies.
3 A move is completed when the player’s hand has released the piece or pieces involved in the move and any captured piece has been removed from the board. In the case of pawn promotion, the move is only complete when the new piece on the promotion square and the promoted pawn has been removed from the board and the hand has released the last piece touched.
4 Moves must be made using one hand only.
5 An illegal move loses, provided the opponent claims before the buzzer sounds for the opponent’s move. If the opponent cannot deliver mate by any series of legal moves he/she can only claim a Draw.