Played 25 June 2025, at Thurrock
| Bd | Thurrock | R1 | R2 | Wanstead A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralys, Vincas 1868 (W, B) | 1-0 | ½-½ | Mulay, Partha 2123 (B, W) |
| 2 | Byram, Tye A 1719 | 0-1 | 0-1 | Spearman, David 2047 |
| 3 | Wilson, Mathew 1670 | 1-0 | 0-1 | Cawdery, John 2027 |
| 4 | Van Litsenborgh, Rudi 1650 | 0-1 | 0-1 | Rix, Steven JL 2002 |
| 5 | Sharma, Mridul 1839 | 0-1 | ½-½ | Hunnable, Ian D 1905 |
| Average: 1750 | 2-3 | 1-4 | Average: 2021 | |
| 3-7 | ||||
Thurrock gave Wanstead a scare in Round 1, taking out two of the visitors’ “galacticos”. But Wanstead made full use of their only two Whites of the round and had a narrow lead from their only win with Black.
Thurrock were unable to add to their scalps from Round 1 as David Spearman and Steve Rix completed win doubles while Mridul had a much better game than in Round 1 on bottom board to halve the point. But this was only instrumental in the visitors taking a winning lead. John Cawdery then reversed his R1 defeat to add to the Wanstead lead and attention turned to the last game to finish, on Board 1, where Partha was defending a bishop ending (same coloured bishops) a pawn down. Once the material reduced to one Black pawn, it was odds on a draw, but Partha was playing on increments against his opponent’s 10 minutes. There were still plenty of moves to be played but Partha kept his concentration and secured the draw.
Thurrock’s top board is clearly a much stronger player than his standard rating of 1868 suggests. This, however, appears to relate to the modest ratings of his opponents against whom he has recorded 10 wins, a draw and one defeat, the first 10 of these 12 results being calculated on the P rating method for new players in the rating system. His Rapid results are just the two games above, from which he has a P rating of 2103, which in our view gives a much better impression of his playing strength.
Links: Knockout 2025 page | EKO 2025 on ECF LMS