On Thursday, Hendon 3 and Hendon Barnet Knights both overcame opponents from Hammersmith in a pair of Middlesex League matches at the Cumberland Club.
Both teams were captained by me, in the absence of regular captains Sundip Tailor and Rob Willmoth.
Hendon 3 were fairly evenly matched with Hammersmith 2 on paper. We had a rating advantage on Board 6, while our opponents had a similar edge on Board 1; those two games were won by the higher-rated players. But on the middle four boards, which were very evenly matched, we scored 3/4 to secure a 4–2 overall match victory.
Congratulations to Nick, Sean and Salvatore for their wins, and to Chris and Tom for getting the draws needed to take us over the line!
| Hendon 3 | Hendon 3 | Hammersmith 2 | Hammersmith 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kollias, Vasileios | 1762 | 0 - 1 | Billenness, Greg | 1883 | ||
| 2 | Murphy, Nick | 1731 | 1 - 0 | Flavell, Archie | 1770 | ||
| 3 | Harris, Sean | 1726 | 1 - 0 | Abbott, John | 1746 | ||
| 4 | Rogal, Christopher | 1704 | ½ - ½ | Croasdale, Mark | 1677 | ||
| 5 | Garcia, Tom | 1661 | ½ - ½ | Steyn, David | 1650 | ||
| 6 | Pepe, Salvatore | 1660 | 1 - 0 | Hamdan, Ali | 1496 | ||
| 4 - 2 | |||||||
This result all but secures Hendon 3’s place in Division 2 for next season, as both Willesden & Brent and Hammersmith 2 have dropped significantly more match points.
In the other match, Hendon Barnet Knights Juniors faced a Hammersmith 4 side who were second bottom of the Division 3 table. The Knights were out-rated on all but one board; despite this, they scored a narrow 3½–2½ victory (the same margin as that by which they defeated Hammersmith 3 away last week).
Djad, Rineesh and Aviraj all did superbly to win against significantly higher-rated opponents on the top three boards, while debutant Edward Wolfin got the draw we needed to clinch the match.
| Hendon Barnet Knights Juniors | Hendon Barnet Knights Juniors | Hammersmith 4 | Hammersmith 4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben-Eshak, Djad | 1468 | 1 - 0 | Sarfas, Robin | 1755 | ||
| 2 | Bansal, Rineesh | 1442 | 1 - 0 | Thursby, Richard C | 1721 | ||
| 3 | Bhaduri, Aviraj | 1410 | 1 - 0 | Ewart, Thomas | 1601 | ||
| 4 | Gordon, Marcus | 1408 | 0 - 1 | Ahmed, Ahmed Moustafa Ibrahim | 1396 | ||
| 5 | Wolfin, Edward | 1341 | ½ - ½ | Gaillard-Bourde, Gregoire | 1388 | ||
| 6 | Bansal, Ronak | 1124 | 0 - 1 | Zacek, Frantisek | 1224 | ||
| 3½ - 2½ | |||||||
The Knights are on a good run of results, having won their last three matches. They have only one match left to play, and look likely to finish above Hendon 4 in the Division 3 table.
Many thanks to everyone who played!