It was an unusual night in the LOCL, as the League offered players the opportunity to start their games an hour early by mutual agreement, so people could watch the England football team play Denmark in the semi-final of the European Championship!
Some games started at 6pm, some at 7pm; as captain, I didn’t watch any of the games at all, so can’t write much of a report! (Surely I can be allowed one night off to watch some football!)
| Hendon Hurricanes | Hendon Hurricanes | King's Head Bangers | King's Head Bangers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sacha Brozel | 2260 | 1 - 0 | Andrew Gilfillan | 2118 | ||
| 2 | Alex Leslie | 2088 | ½ - ½ | Colin Mackenzie | 2013 | ||
| 3 | Kennan Kesterson | 1983 | ½ - ½ | Nishchal Thatte | 2028 | ||
| 4 | David Amior | 1900 | 1 - 0 | Alex Bourke | 1855 | ||
| 3 - 1 | |||||||
The Hendon Hurricanes achieved a great result, winning their first match of the season, in an undefeated match against the similarly-graded King’s Head Bangers. Well done Hurricanes!
The round 5 games in the Queens Division are currently available here.
| Hendon Spitfires | Hendon Spitfires | Battersea Cats | Battersea Cats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morris Jones | 1758 | ½ - ½ | Pierre-Louis Brolly | 2164 | ||
| 2 | Amirabbas Mehrafarin | 1734 | 1 - 0 | Shane Okakpu | 1978 | ||
| 3 | Gul Kapur | 1533 | 1 - 0 | Joel Morales | 1600 | ||
| 4 | Julie Oh | 1485 | 0 - 1 | Chris Watt | 1465 | ||
| 2½ - 1½ | |||||||
The Hendon Spitfires also scored an excellent win against a strong Battersea team, with Morris holding a very strong opponent to a draw on Board 1, and Amirabbas and Gul both notching wins against higher-graded opponents. Congratulations to them!
The round 5 games in the Rooks Division are currently available here.
| Wanstead Wolves | Wanstead Wolves | Hendon Harriers | Hendon Harriers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ian Reynolds | 1915 | 1 - 0 | Matty Berenblut | 1400 | ||
| 2 | Keith Jones | 1840 | 1 - 0 | David Lewis | 1465 | ||
| 3 | Nigel White | 1443 | 1 - 0 | Stanley Jacobs | 1390 | ||
| 4 | Laurence Duffy | 1312 | 0 - 1 | Dev Ranka | 1270 | ||
| 3 - 1 | |||||||
The only Hendon team to lose were the Hendon Harriers. They faced tough opponents in the form of the Wanstead Wolves, who had some quite high-rated players on the top two boards. The average grade limit of 1750 did mean they had to field lower-rated players on the bottom two boards, but we were only able to take one point from those two. Well done Dev on the win!
The round 5 games in the Bishops Division are currently available here.
Many thanks to all who played, particularly to those who were able to be flexible between 6pm and 7pm, as this made it much easier to ensure that all games went ahead! With England scraping through the semi-final, it was a good night all round!
You can find a list of all stories about season 3 of the London Online Chess League here.