This Thursday, I’m pleased to report that Hendon 1 defeated a strong Ealing side 4–2, taking another vital stride towards Division 1 survival! We were somewhat fortunate in a couple of the games, but they all count!
In my mind, the match divided into three sections: we clearly outrated our opponents on Boards 1 and 2, were very close in rating on Boards 3 and 4, and were slightly out-rated on Boards 5 and 6.
We started very well, with David Amior winning on Board 6, but things weren’t going so well elsewhere. The visitors won on Boards 4 and 5, and Rob seemed to be getting outplayed on Board 3 too. However, Rob turned his game on its head with a swindle, and John mated his opponent on Board 2, ensuring we would avoid defeat.
Last to finish was IM Lorin D’Costa on Board 1, who beat off his opponent’s attack, and obtained a technically winning ending, a piece up for a couple of pawns. He duly converted this with both sides having just seconds on the clock.
| Hendon 1 | Hendon 1 | Ealing 1 | Ealing 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D'Costa, Lorin | 2447 | 1 - 0 | Smith, Martin | 2194 | ||
| 2 | Richardson, John | 2326 | 1 - 0 | Quinn, John M | 2191 | ||
| 3 | Willmoth, Rob | 2173 | 1 - 0 | Harley, Andrew D | 2178 | ||
| 4 | Senior, Gary | 2119 | 0 - 1 | Perkins, Alan H | 2148 | ||
| 5 | Rubeck, Jonathan | 1946 | 0 - 1 | Wells, Tony D | 2019 | ||
| 6 | Amior, David | 1915 | 1 - 0 | White, Jonathan | 1998 | ||
| 4 - 2 | |||||||
With this, Hendon 1 currently stand third in Division 1, with 4½/8 match points. However, several teams below us have played much fewer matches, and on match points dropped we are fifth, just above the relegation places. 4½ was enough to avoid relegation in 2022/23, but only on game-points tie break, so I’d still want to see us get at least a few more half-points from our four remaining matches before declaring us truly safe.
A Hendon 3 match also took place on this 29th February club night, with the visitors being runaway Division 3 leaders Willesden & Brent. As expected, we were outrated on all boards, and it was no surprise to see the visitors win 4–2, but there was a good win for Stanley on Board 4 and draws for Philippe and Daniel.
| Hendon 3 | Hendon 3 | Willesden & Brent 1 | Willesden & Brent 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gelin, Philippe | 1699 | ½ - ½ | Fulton, Anthony R | 2023 | ||
| 2 | Wylde, Martin | 1605 | 0 - 1 | Cowan, Xavier | 1932 | ||
| 3 | Moosdeen Mui, Daniel | 1561 | ½ - ½ | Beachley, Evan | 1635 | ||
| 4 | Jacobs, Stanley Geoffrey | 1405 | 1 - 0 | Tracey, Samuel | 1631 | ||
| 5 | Mwambi Dikuyi, Dominic | ~1300 | 0 - 1 | Giria, Sumeet | 1804 | ||
| 6 | Sayegh, Lucas | ~1000 | 0 - 1 | Street, Jack | 1432 | ||
| 2 - 4 | |||||||
Many thanks to everyone who played!