Three Hendon teams played at home in the Middlesex League last Thursday. I’m delighted to report that Hendon 1, 3 and Barnet Knights all came away with wins against strong opposition!
In Division 1, our first team had a tough task facing last season’s runners-up, Muswell Hill 1, though we were aided by the fact that Michael Healey is playing for us this year!
On paper it was a “match of two halves”, as the visitors had similar or slightly higher grades on the top three boards, while we out-rated them on the bottom three, especially five and six where we had an advantage of over 200 points.
However, it didn’t pan out that way, as Ethan and Eric scored superb wins, and Michael drew with England junior Frankie Badacsonyi, to ensure we scored 2½/3 on Boards 1–3. On the lower boards, Elliott won but the other two boards were drawn, meaning we “only” scored 2/3 there!
Regardless, a victory against this opposition without a single defeat on any board is something to be proud of, so congratulations to the players!
| Hendon 1 | Hendon 1 | Muswell Hill 1 | Muswell Hill 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Healey, Michael W | 2283 | ½ - ½ | Badacsonyi, Frankie | 2283 | ||
| 2 | Sanitt, Ethan | 2164 | 1 - 0 | Pollack, Oscar | 2219 | ||
| 3 | Eedle, Eric F | 2147 | 1 - 0 | Wilks, Simon | 2238 | ||
| 4 | De Boer, Sanne | 2093 | ½ - ½ | Ethelontis, Alexandros N | 2058 | ||
| 5 | Macneil, Elliott CM | 2033 | 1 - 0 | Oliveri, Claudio | 1764 | ||
| 6 | Amior, David | 1976 | ½ - ½ | Chan, Ryames | 1734 | ||
| 4½ - 1½ | |||||||
There was similar good news in Division 2, as Hendon 3 faced a visiting team from Kings Head. We were significantly out-rated on Boards 1–4, but thankfully our junior trio of Aviraj, Armaan and Peter scored an excellent 2/3 on the top boards, while Thomas Moss held a draw against League Secretary Colin Mackenzie. Jonathan and Robert defeated slightly lower-rated opposition on Boards 5–6 to create a surprisingly large margin of victory!
| Hendon 3 | Hendon 3 | Kings Head 2 | Kings Head 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bhaduri, Aviraj | 1937 | ½ - ½ | Inzani, Michael PL | 2046 | ||
| 2 | Nilim, Armaan | 1906 | ½ - ½ | Davey, Mark | 2045 | ||
| 3 | Hazell, Peter | 1887 | 1 - 0 | Randall, Simon | 2011 | ||
| 4 | Moss, Thomas D | 1882 | ½ - ½ | Mackenzie, Colin | 1978 | ||
| 5 | Rubeck, Jonathan | 1878 | 1 - 0 | Bourke, Alex | 1780 | ||
| 6 | Alster, Robert | 1852 | 1 - 0 | Diffey, William | 1758 | ||
| 4½ - 1½ | |||||||
Finally, in Division 3, our junior team were comfortably the rating favourites against Hammersmith 3. Yishai, Lara and Philip all won, and Djad drew, to ensure we won the match despite the visitors notching up a couple of wins on the other boards.
| Hendon Barnet Knights Juniors | Hendon Barnet Knights Juniors | Hammersmith 3 | Hammersmith 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Epstein-Lightman, Yishai | 1808 | 1 - 0 | Cable, Philip | 1689 | ||
| 2 | Ben-Eshak, Djad | 1780 | ½ - ½ | Ahmed, Ahmed Moustafa Ibrahim | 1638 | ||
| 3 | Barbier-Ramaiah, Rohan Theo | 1756 | 0 - 1 | Ewart, Thomas | 1448 | ||
| 4 | de Boer, Lara | 1540 | 1 - 0 | Osseiran, Nadim | 1342 | ||
| 5 | Grygorenko, Philip | 1263 | 1 - 0 | McBride, Alan | 1188 | ||
| 6 | Tan, Austin | 1040 | 0 - 1 | Mustafaev, Tengiz | |||
| 3½ - 2½ | |||||||
Many thanks to everyone who played this week, and also to Chris Rogal (for captaining Hendon 3 and Hendon Barnet Knights) and Eric Eedle (for captaining Hendon 1).