Our 3rd team suffered its first defeat of the season, in an away match against Metropolitan 2. Despite this setback the Jackals still lead Division 3 of the Middlesex League, ahead of rivals Harrow 2 and Albany 1.
| Metropolitan 2 | Metropolitan 2 | Hendon 3 | Hendon 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McGuinness, Andrew | 159 | ½ - ½ | Landau, Jonathan | 164 | ||
| 2 | Bishop, Geoffrey L | 150 | 1 - 0 | Sabin, Frank | 146 | ||
| 3 | Nelson, Stuart | 150 | ½ - ½ | Limonov, Petr | 142 | ||
| 4 | Mischel, Magnus | 136 | ½ - ½ | Rogal, Chris | 142 | ||
| 5 | Hamilton, Ray P | 129 | ½ - ½ | Jones, David | 139 | ||
| 6 | Leman, Martin | 118 | 1 - 0 | Pattni, Kishan | 133 | ||
| 7 | Oakden, Mark | 117 | 0 - 1 | Lennard, Graeme | 119 | ||
| 8 | Diaz, Cesar | 106 | 1 - 0 | Pliskin, Raymond | 98 | ||
| 5 - 3 | |||||||
Match report by Kishan Pattni
Our first away match started off with Petr drawing on board 3. It wasn’t long before we found ourselves behind as Frank lost on board 2.
Dave Jones was next to finish with a draw and Graeme gave us hope with a convincing win, to draw us level at 2-2.
Jonathan and Chris also drew their games and we felt very comfortable to be level with our remaining 2 games, having winning advantages on both boards.
However, things took a turn for the worse with Ray losing. I think he got checkmated. This meant I needed a win to draw level. At this point I had a level position, being an exchange up but 2 pawns down.
My opponent was clearly playing for a draw and I had declined all of his offers of a draw until he offered me a queen exchange. Bizarrely I failed to see this and left my queen en prise, resulting in our first defeat of the season.
Nevertheless, with 4 match points out of a possible 5, the Jackals approach Christmas at the top of Division 3. Rivals for promotion Harrow 2 and Albany 1 are close behind.
Our season continues in the New Year, with everything still to play for!