Our 2nd team extended its lead in Division 2 of the Middlesex League, with an excellent away win over a strong Ealing 2 side.
| Ealing 2 | Ealing 2 | Hendon 2 | Hendon 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greenshields, C | 175 | 0 - 1 | Rogers, Tim L | 181 | ||
| 2 | Lambshire, Mike V | 178 | ½ - ½ | Bennett, Michael K | 177 | ||
| 3 | Lamb, H Michael | 174 | ½ - ½ | Hjort, Helge | 172 | ||
| 4 | Jakob, Juergen | - | 0 - 1 | Kennedy, Craig | 171 | ||
| 5 | Stevic, Milinko | 172 | 0 - 1 | Levene, Joseph | 171 | ||
| 6 | Tserendorj, Sainbayar | 166 | 1 - 0 | Kosari, Mehdi | - | ||
| 7 | Healeas, Simon | 153 | ½ - ½ | Kent, Anthony R | 160 | ||
| 8 | Jhooti, Rajinder | 148 | 0 - 1 | Cavendish, Joshua Z | 155 | ||
| 2½ - 5½ | |||||||
Match report by Anthony Kent
Valentines night at the Harvester in Ealing, bursting with lovestruck couples, and upstairs Hendon facing a team that on paper looked a little stronger.
Michael Bennett drew first. Anthony Kent drew with the appropriately romantic 19th century Urusov Gambit. Craig Kennedy won with his extra knight advantage and then Joseph Levene converted his R+P + B+P ending for the win. Mehdi Kosari overreached a comfortable position for our only defeat. Helge Hjort drew a level pawn ending, leaving Boards 1 and 8 outstanding at 3.5 – 2.5 ahead.
Josh gained a big advantage with 3 extra pawns in a rook ending to take the win. Finally, Tim Rogers’ game saw both players end up with with 2 knights and some pawns. Tim gained an extra pawn and won as his opponent ran out of time.
This win keeps us at the top of Division 2, with realistic chances of promotion!