Ellam Trophy (Surrey Div 3) - Monday 24th February 2025
6 boards, The Guildford Institute, Guildford
Guildford 3 1-5 Epsom 2
The Ellam Trophy title race is really hotting up now, with several teams well-placed to capture this magnificent piece of silverware. Epsom 2 went into this away fixture with bottom side Guildford 3 knowing that a victory would not only propel us up to second place in the league standings, but also crucially keep our opponents below Epsom 3 in the relegation battle.
The majority of the team bundled into the Epsom president’s Ford Fiesta for a trip down the A3 and everyone arrived present and correct at our opponent’s famous Guildford Institute venue. The coin toss (correctly performed this time) revealed that Epsom would take white on the odd boards and the team sheets showed that we held a slight rating advantage on every board.
The game of the evening, and perhaps one of the games of the season by an Epsom player, came on Board 5, where Ed Figueroa played with great energy and panache with the white pieces to defeat Guildford’s Richard Duncalfe. Ed essayed a testing Wing Gambit against his opponent’s French Defence – 1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 c5 4. b4!? – which is typical of his effervescent style of play.
Ed isn’t dissuaded from attacking that easily. A few moves later and the black king was stripped to the bone, hounded by white forces, and resignation soon followed. A brilliant attacking display by Ed to put the team 1-0 ahead.
On Board 6, James Pooler was largely in control after outplaying his opponent in the middlegame on the black side of a Ruy Lopez, despite an early slip-up missed by his opponent, Guildford’s Anthony Garrood – see below. James confidently amassed his array of attacking options on the kingside, bearing down on his opponent’s king, while the white forces seemed sclerotic, lacking in co-ordination and stranded on the wrong wing. Without too much trouble, James crashed through and forced resignation, putting us 2-0 up.
On Board 1, Chris Wright was battling hard with the white pieces to rescue a draw against Guildford’s Peter Hegarty, who had won a pawn following an early h-pawn onslaught against Chris’s favoured English Opening. The struggle reached a major piece endgame with a queen and two rooks each, and Chris was able to maintain enough activity to convince his opponent to agree to a draw – a good save.
A similar situation was unfolding on Board 3, as young Lev Razhnou found himself a pawn down with the white pieces versus the Guildford captain, Rory Davies. Lev is a shrewd endgame player though, and ensured that he kept his king active in an opposite-coloured bishop ending. His opponent seemed to get into a muddle at some point, allowing the material balance to swing in Lev’s favour. However, there wasn’t quite enough of an advantage for Lev to come away with the full point, and despite a protracted endgame struggle, a draw was eventually agreed.
On Board 2, Epsom captain and president Marcus Gosling had a level position throughout with the black pieces against Guildford’s Riyad Bensoussane. With several pieces traded off early and no obvious weaknesses incurred, it looked unlikely that either side would be able to make a decisive breakthrough. Coming under some kingside pressure, Marcus forced a liquidation to reach a double rook endgame that looked dead drawn. Despite Marcus managing to win a pawn with a cunning temporary rook sacrifice using the tactical concept of ‘overloading’ an enemy rook, there still seemed to be little hope of converting this into a win. That was until white rather unnecessarily allowed the trade of both pairs of rooks, reaching the following instructive position.
Marcus has just played 39…Kf7, probably the best way to give white a chance to go wrong with time trouble approaching. A thorough analysis of the position shows that only one move draws for white.
White failed to find the correct move, instead opting for 40. Kg5??, allowing Marcus’s king to take control. Demonstrating the correct technique, a dozen moves later, ‘El Presidente’ forced resignation from his frustrated opponent.
With the match now firmly in the bag, on Board 5, Alan Bates was pushing for a win with the black pieces against Guildford’s Liam Ireland. With two minor pieces and a dangerous passed pawn for a rook, Alan had outplayed his opponent in the middlegame and was able to convert smoothly to an impressive victory. Possibly Alan’s best game for Epsom so far.
The long and short of this was that Epsom 2 had scored a clinical 5-1 victory, moving us up to second place in the Ellam Trophy league table and putting us well in the hunt for the title. We now have two matches remaining – at home against Chessington 1 in late-March and, crucially, away to title rivals Richmond in early-April. This division is wide open, and you can bet your bottom dollar we will keep fighting till the end.
Puzzle Answers
1) 17. Bxg6!
2) 6. d4! - Attacks the black bishop and threatens 7. d5, winning the black knight on c6 thanks to the pin from the white bishop.
3) 40. Kf3! - The only way to draw. All other moves allow black to take the opposition, force the move …e5 and ‘shoulder’ the white king away from the promotion path of the remaining black d-pawn.