KO Finals

KO Finals night

KO Finals, played 13 September 2018, at Wanstead

Essex KO Final: Barking A 5½-4½ Writtle
At Wanstead. Matches between these two teams are usually very close. The last two Barking-Writtle finals were decided on tie-break, one of them needing the second tie-break. Writtle were missing a few of their stars, while Barking were at full strength, yet after the first round was level at 2-2, this pattern seemed to be repeating. Barking at least had the comfort of a huge Board Count advantage, having won on Board 1, whereas Writtle's compensating win was on Board 5. The other three games were drawn, although Jim Howson held a material plus for a long time before having to settle for a draw. In Round 2, Jeff Goldberg put Barking ahead and draws from John White and Colin Ramage left Writtle needing to win the last two remaining games. Jim Howson this time secured the full point, leaving Russell White needing to win against David Sands. This looked a tall order in the business end of a R & P ending in which David appeared to be the one with the winning chances. All was settled when Russell exceeded the incremental time limit by a fraction of a second as he pressed the clock. So this time, the tie-break was not required as Barking had won by the odd point, 5½-4½.

Essex KO Plate Final: Wanstead A 7½-2½ Ilford
At Wanstead. Playing alongside the KO Final above, the Wanstead first string, not at full strength, did not give Ilford a sniff. A 4-1 first round lead, win-with-White-draw-with-Black, removed Ilford hopes for an upset. The second round was an almost complete colour reversal - Wanstead win-with-Black-draw-with-White - with the exception that Ilford held a draw on bottom board, giving Wanstead the decision by 3½-1½ for an overall 7½-2½ victory.

Congratulations to Barking and Wanstead.

Barking A v Writtle | Wanstead A v Ilford

Reminder: 3rd ECA Blitz Championship - Saturday 22 September, 2018. Details see below.