Last Thursday, Hendon 3 travelled to the MindSports Centre, where both Kings Head and Hammersmith are playing their Middlesex League matches this season, to face Kings Head 2. Despite being significantly out-rated, the team came away with a very creditable match tie!
In other news this week, the February blitz was jointly won by Jonathan Rubeck and Edward Godber with 5/6. This is the first time in many months that the tournament has actually been won by a member of Hendon Chess Club, so congratulations to Jonathan!
The only bad news from this week is that Hendon 1’s winning streak came to an end on Tuesday at Hackney.
On paper, Hendon 3’s match looked extremely lop-sided, with the team out-rated on boards 1–5, in several cases by over 200 points.
Ironically, we lost on Board 6, the one board where we actually out-rated our opponents, but Robert Alster and Vasileios Kollias did fantastically to score wins against much higher-rated opponents on Boards 3 and 5. David and Tom also scored excellent draws on Boards 1 and 4 to tie the match – Hendon 3’s fifth match tie out of eight played this season!
| Kings Head 2 | Kings Head 2 | Hendon 3 | Hendon 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fleming, Nigel | 2049 | ½ - ½ | Ben-Nathan, David | 1788 | ||
| 2 | Mackenzie, Colin | 2032 | 1 - 0 | Samuel, Jonathan | 1761 | ||
| 3 | Whitehead, David J | 1974 | 0 - 1 | Alster, Robert | 1712 | ||
| 4 | Inzani, MPL | 1986 | ½ - ½ | Garcia, Tom | 1651 | ||
| 5 | Bourke, Alex | 1823 | 0 - 1 | Kollias, Vasileios | 1573 | ||
| 6 | Grant-Ross, Peter | 1535 | 1 - 0 | Tailor, Sundip | 1560 | ||
| 3 - 3 | |||||||
Unfortunately, two days earlier, Hendon 1 had lost to Hackney. This is always a difficult away fixture, as several first-team regulars have other commitments on Tuesdays, and it’s one of the venues furthest from us. When I’m called upon to play for our first team, it’s never a good sign!
The team fought valiantly, but Hackney’s strong top boards did the business. Eric was not far from holding his game against an International Master on top board, while I should really have won my game on Board 6, but we both lost out in the time scramble.
Congratulations to Alex Funk and Jonathan Rubeck who scored a win and a draw respectively against stronger opposition, but it wasn’t enough to change the course of the match.
| Hackney 1 | Hackney 1 | Hendon 1 | Hendon 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bates, Richard A | 2365 | 1 - 0 | Eedle, Eric | 2040 | ||
| 2 | Eames, Robert S | 2213 | 1 - 0 | Macneil, Elliott | 1976 | ||
| 3 | Britton, Richard | 2120 | 1 - 0 | Raghavendra, Mahima G | 1896 | ||
| 4 | Serbanescu, Diana | 2053 | ½ - ½ | Rubeck, Jonathan | 1892 | ||
| 5 | Tennyson, John | 1957 | 0 - 1 | Funk, Alexander | 1796 | ||
| 6 | Cullen, Ben | 1939 | 1 - 0 | Medworth, Andrew | 1730 | ||
| 4½ - 1½ | |||||||
Turning our attention to home events, this Thursday saw our February FIDE Blitz take place at the Cumberland Club. This tournament is typically won by a strong guest player these days, so I’m delighted to be able to report that our very own Jonathan Rubeck took first prize this time with 5/6, alongside Edward Godber. Congratulations!
Full standings:
Full results available here.
Thanks to everyone who played this week, and to our captains and organisers!