Top two teams win!

By Andrew Medworth, Hendon Club Captain
Saturday 11 October, 2025

Last Thursday, Hendon 1 and Hendon 2 both scored fine wins in the Middlesex League.

Hendon 1 won 4–2 away at Kings Head, while Hendon 2 won 3½–2½ at home against Muswell Hill 2.

Starting with the first team match, captain Eric Eedle writes: “Our last minute substitution Domenico brought us immediate success with a quick win on board 6, followed by Ethan capitalising on a middlegame blunder on board 1 to give us a commanding lead that we held on to win 4-2 overall.”

Kings Head 1 Kings Head 1 Hendon 1 Hendon 1
1
Okike, David C
2263 0 - 1
Sanitt, Ethan
2169
2
Gilfillan, Andrew
2110 ½ - ½
Senior, Gary
2044
3
Coles, Steven F
2040 0 - 1
Eedle, Eric F
2013
4
Morrison, Julian
2024 1 - 0
Macneil, Elliott CM
1997
5
Inzani, Michael PL
1982 ½ - ½
Amior, David
1984
6
Grant-Ross, Peter
1529 0 - 1
Napolitano, Domenico N
1827
2 - 4

Moving on to our home fixture, stand-in captain Chris Rogal writes:

Hendon 2 welcomed newly-promoted Muswell Hill 2 to the Cumberland last Thursday.

Hendon lost on the top two closely-matched boards, but we had more strength in depth and came out winners 3.5-2.5.

Last to finish was David Ben-Nathan with an interesting ending.

David (playing black) with king, knight and h-pawn, against white’s king and bishop.

The bishop controlled the h1 queening square.

David used his covering knight to advance the pawn to h2. His king was on g1.

The white king arrived to add to the chances of a stalemate. Much manoeuvring ensued.

Hendon only needed a draw to win the match.

With little time left on the clocks and the lights going out all over London, a draw was agreed!

Hendon 2 Hendon 2 Muswell Hill 2 Muswell Hill 2
1
Rubeck, Jonathan
1917 0 - 1
Ceder, Fredrik
1964
2
Bohnacker, Andreas
1873 0 - 1
Bush, Jason
1694
3
Alster, Robert
1878 1 - 0
Arnett, Daniel
1653
4
Funk, Alexander
1804 1 - 0
Brougham, Simon B
1650
5
Ben-Nathan, David
1778 ½ - ½
England, Mark C
1616
6
Rogal, Chris S
1702 1 - 0
Virk, Amar
1470
3½ - 2½

My thanks to Eric and Chris for captaining, and to all the players! Congratulations to all on this pair of excellent results.