Hendon 2 win their first home match!

By Andrew Medworth, Hendon Club Captain
Saturday 11 February, 2023

The Tigers played their first home match of the season on Thursday, against Muswell Hill 2. I’m pleased to report that the team ran out 3½–2½ winners in an exciting contest!

At the same time, Barnet Knights faced a strong Harrow Juniors team and were defeated 4–2.

Having played five away matches in a row to start their season, Hendon 2 had had a tough run, though had broken a three-match losing streak the previous week. This week was the sixth match of the season and the first at home.

I was hopeful because the Tigers had defeated the same opposition 5–1 away at the start of the season. That was admittedly a bit of a freak result, but we were stronger overall than we were that night.

The match started reasonably well, with Anthony Kent drawing on the board next to me, and I beat a relatively low-rated opponent on bottom board. Jonathan Rubeck also won on top board to put us within touching distance of the match, but both Mark and JC had bad positions on the middle boards.

Mark went on to lose, but the match was decided in our favour when David Amior beat Samuel Tombs on Board 2 (somewhat ironic since the two of them shared first place in our Club Championship last season!).

This made the result of JC’s game irrelevant, which was good, because JC had a bad position, material down, and was only playing on because his opponent was very low on time and playing on increments. The time scramble was chaotic, with mutual missed chances, but JC’s opponent did eventually go on to win.

Hendon 2 Hendon 2 Muswell Hill 2 Muswell Hill 2
1
Rubeck, Jonathan
1904 1 - 0
Dilek, Alper
1869
2
Amior, David
1886 1 - 0
Tombs, Samuel
1838
3
Sartenaer, Jean-Claude
1831 0 - 1
Rutter, M David
1852
4
Hutchinson, Mark
1815 0 - 1
Parker, Keith
1791
5
Kent, Anthony
1801 ½ - ½
Cohen, Zak
1679
6
Medworth, Andrew
1777 1 - 0
Yavuz, Olgun
1385
3½ - 2½

Meanwhile, Barnet Knights were playing their first fixture of 2023. They were facing a strong junior team from Harrow, led by Bodhana Sivanandan, who has made waves recently and is considered one of England’s most promising girls.

The team fought valiantly, with Max and Callum scoring creditable wins, but ultimately went down 4–2.

Hendon Barnet Knights Hendon Barnet Knights Harrow Juniors Harrow Juniors
1
Hung, Jake
1841 0 - 1
Sivanandan, Bodhana
1958
2
Thatte, Nandinee
1616 0 - 1
Ivan, Austin
1782
3
Michener, Max
1437 1 - 0
Parikh, Naavya
1731
4
Lee, Xander
1284 0 - 1
Jayakumar, Bharath
1688
5
Dalah, Jacob
1242 0 - 1
Evans, Daniel
1665
6
Hill, Callum
1046 1 - 0
Evans, Joseph
1195
2 - 4

Many thanks to everyone who played!