This Thursday, Hendon 1 and Hendon 3 both scored 3½–2½ wins, away at Metropolitan and at home against Kings Head 2 respectively. Meanwhile, Hendon 4 lost 1–5 at home to Potters Bar.
The Division 1 clash was an important one in the relegation fight, as Metropolitan and Hendon 1 had dropped the same number of points and are both in some danger.
Hendon 1 found themselves with a rating advantage, especially on the top boards, as Metropolitan were without FM Joris Gerlagh, who has featured in several of their recent home matches. We duly scored 2½/3 on the top three, with wins for Rob and Elliott and a draw for Gautam. The remaining point we needed for victory came on the bottom two boards, as Jonathan and Andreas held slightly higher-rated opponents.
Congratulations to the team and captain Eric Eedle on a great result! Hendon 1 are now within sight of Division 1 safety, although next week’s home clash against Hackney 1 may be affected by another round of Tube driver strikes, so we’ll have to see if that throws a spanner into the works.
| Metropolitan | Metropolitan | Hendon 1 | Hendon 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collopy, Robert | 1984 | 0 - 1 | Willmoth, Robert F | 2218 | ||
| 2 | Squibbs, Adam M | 1981 | ½ - ½ | Jain, Gautam R | 2164 | ||
| 3 | Vachtfeidl, Petr | 1944 | 0 - 1 | Macneil, Elliott CM | 2021 | ||
| 4 | Carmichael, Ned | 1969 | 1 - 0 | Reddy, Avinash | 1961 | ||
| 5 | Law, Jeremy | 1963 | ½ - ½ | Rubeck, Jonathan | 1926 | ||
| 6 | Lepetun, Jan | 1875 | ½ - ½ | Bohnacker, Andreas | 1783 | ||
| 2½ - 3½ | |||||||
There was also good news in Division 2, as Hendon 3 narrowly defeated a visiting team from Kings Head. While our opponents had defaulted one board, the teams were fairly balanced over the remaining five, with Kings Head having a big rating advantage on the top two, Hendon 3 having a similar advantage on Boards 4 and 5, and Board 3 in the middle being fairly evenly matched.
The evening started well, as we won the toss, meaning we got three Whites and two Blacks. Jack and Andrey scored excellent draws against their stronger opponents on Boards 1 and 2, but the Kings Head captain scored a win next to me on Board 3, and Board 5 was drawn, meaning that everything rested on my Board 4 game against former Hendon member George Meligonis, which was the last one in progress.
I’d had a much better position for much of the middlegame, but my attack petered out, giving my opponent some survival chances. Thankfully the Kings Head player was unable to take advantage of these, and I managed to win the ending.
You may be interested in the following position from my game, where I missed a difficult tactical opportunity to consolidate to a winning ending. How would you play with Black in the following position? (Solution at the end of the article!)
This win makes Hendon 3 all but safe in Division 2. Congratulations to captain Sundip Tailor!
| Hendon 3 | Hendon 3 | Kings Head 2 | Kings Head 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Booker, Jack | 1748 | ½ - ½ | Mackenzie, Colin | 1961 | ||
| 2 | Kovalenko, Andrey | 1772 | ½ - ½ | Whitehead, David J | 1963 | ||
| 3 | Murphy, Nick | 1733 | 0 - 1 | Bourke, Alex | 1764 | ||
| 4 | Medworth, Andrew | 1717 | 1 - 0 | Meligonis, George | 1534 | ||
| 5 | Rogal, Chris S | 1689 | ½ - ½ | Morton, Alistair T | 1506 | ||
| 6 | Bansal, Rineesh | 1613 | 1 - 0 | DEFAULT | |||
| 3½ - 2½ | |||||||
At the same time, Hendon 4 were hosting Potters Bar in Division 3. The visitors significantly outrated us on most boards, and we duly lost 5–1, the only bright spot being a win for Arun on Board 4. Congratulations to him!
This was the final Hendon 4 match of the season. The team have had a tough time, finishing bottom of Division 3, though there are no lower divisions for them to be relegated to.
| Hendon 4 | Hendon 4 | Potters Bar | Potters Bar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacobs, Stanley G | 1458 | 0 - 1 | Smith, Andrew PE | 1784 | ||
| 2 | Lewis, David | 1360 | 0 - 1 | Cheetham, Mark M | 1678 | ||
| 3 | Fenton, Sam | 1389 | 0 - 1 | Graff, Howard | 1588 | ||
| 4 | Mahtani, Arun | 1358 | 1 - 0 | Bowie, Brian S | 1639 | ||
| 5 | Bansal, Ronak | 1324 | 0 - 1 | Cook, Chris RD | 1607 | ||
| 6 | Dospinescu, Darius | 0 - 1 | Aghajanian, Thi Kieu Oanh | 977 | |||
| 1 - 5 | |||||||
Many thanks to everyone who played this week!