Last week, Hendon 1 finished the year strongly with a third consecutive victory, this time away against Kings Head 2! The teams looked close on paper, but we ran out convincing 4½–1½ winners.
| Kings Head 2 | Kings Head 2 | Hendon 1 | Hendon 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fleming, Nigel | 2102 | 0 - 1 | Willmoth, Rob | 2194 | ||
| 2 | O'Shaughnessy, Conor | 2055 | 1 - 0 | Senior, Gary | 2138 | ||
| 3 | Inzani, MPL | 2008 | 0 - 1 | Rubeck, Jonathan | 1966 | ||
| 4 | Anderson, Peter F | 1865 | 0 - 1 | Hung, Jake | 1922 | ||
| 5 | Chantrell, Paul | 1765 | ½ - ½ | Robinson, James | 1874 | ||
| 6 | Tomkin, Neil D | 1695 | 0 - 1 | Napolitano, Domenico | 1740 | ||
| 1½ - 4½ | |||||||
That win means Hendon 1 finish 2023 in second place in Division 1, behind only Hackney – just like the old pre-COVID times!
We can’t get too excited, as we have played one match more than anyone else in the Division; using the more realistic mid-season measure of match points dropped, we are in mid-table. Nonetheless, that would be a pleasing finish, so let’s hope we can keep going as we have been!
Many thanks to Domenico Napolitano for captaining the team for this match, and congratulations to the players!
Later last week, Hendon 3 concluded their year with a “clean sweep of threes”: a 3–3 tie away to Hammersmith 3 in Division 3!
I lost on Board 1 against a strong junior player after a horrible blunder, but thankfully the rest of the team managed to make up for it, with Domenico (playing his second match in a week!) defeating a strong opponent on Board 2, and Benjamin and Daniel both winning tense games on Boards 4 and 5.
| Hammersmith 3 | Hammersmith 3 | Hendon 3 | Hendon 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ward, Cian | 1995 | 1 - 0 | Medworth, Andrew | 1762 | ||
| 2 | Hodgson, Jeremy K | 1899 | 0 - 1 | Napolitano, Domenico | 1740 | ||
| 3 | Knowland, Thomas | 1751 | 1 - 0 | Pride, Stephen | 1676 | ||
| 4 | Mallaby, Milo C | 1705 | 0 - 1 | Horspool, Benjamin | 1571 | ||
| 5 | Eastham, Rory | 1464 | 0 - 1 | Moosdeen Mui, Daniel | 1436 | ||
| 6 | Hatem, Mika | 1341 | 1 - 0 | Tailor, Sundip | 1434 | ||
| 3 - 3 | |||||||
On the same evening, in our only home match of the week, Hendon Barnet Knights faced a strong visiting team from Willesden & Brent. We lost 4–2, though congratulations must go to Peter Hazell for defeating the much higher-rated Middlesex county captain, and to Michael Paulins for taking a half-point from an opponent rated over 1700!
| Hendon Barnet Knights | Hendon Barnet Knights | Willesden & Brent 1 | Willesden & Brent 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dasgupta, Avyukt | 2058 | ½ - ½ | Fulton, Anthony R | 2035 | ||
| 2 | Michener, Max | 1564 | 0 - 1 | Cowan, Xavier | 1929 | ||
| 3 | Hazell, Peter | 1424 | 1 - 0 | Jones, Keith S | 1753 | ||
| 4 | Wang, Yuan Ya | 1396 | 0 - 1 | Liebesny, Simon | 1715 | ||
| 5 | Paulins, Michael | 1320 | ½ - ½ | Moreno, Pol | 1725 | ||
| 6 | Ben-Eshak, Djad | 989 | 0 - 1 | Tracey, Samuel | 1534 | ||
| 2 - 4 | |||||||
I’d like to thank everyone who played for Hendon’s league teams in 2023, and I wish all our members, and our friends in the chess community, a very happy and peaceful holiday period and a successful year of chess in 2024!