In a tight match, our 2nd team consolidated its position as leaders in Division 2 of the Middlesex League, with a 5-3 win over Albany 1.
| Albany 1 | Albany 1 | Hendon 2 | Hendon 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cassar, Paul | 184 | 1 - 0 | Warman, Simon M | 178 | ||
| 2 | Okosieme, Iozeph | 177 | 1 - 0 | Raoof, Adam N | 180 | ||
| 3 | Cohen, Ronnie | 170 | 0 - 1 | Ellis, Daniel | 173 | ||
| 4 | Todd, Chris J | 164 | 0 - 1 | Bennett, Michael K | 179 | ||
| 5 | Sonnis, Steve | 141 | 0 - 1 | Hjort, Helge | 174 | ||
| 6 | Fisher, Jim R | 139 | ½ - ½ | Levene, Joseph | 165 | ||
| 7 | Thomas, I. | - | ½ - ½ | Potapova, Jelizaveta | - | ||
| 8 | Rosenthal, Bernard | 104 | 0 - 1 | Doody, Nick | - | ||
| 3 - 5 | |||||||
Report by Adam Raoof
A very close match. On paper we were pretty evenly matched, and Albany could have fielded a much stronger team on the night, whereas we were struggling to find 8 players due to a 4th team match schedule on the same evening. But thanks to the last minute recruitment of Nick Doody we turned out with a full squad!
Nick’s game, ironically, was effectively over after a few weak responses to his Evans Gambit.
Dan had an interesting (aka bad) position in the French which he somehow managed to unravel on the back rank, exchanging all his bad pieces off and piling into the white kingside via the g-file. How did he do that?! Mike played a dodgy opening but outplayed the opposing Captain and left him with no choice but to resign or be mated.
Joseph had an extra piece from an early tactic, but his opponent fought back relentlessly to grab a draw. I lost in what was a difficult position but had much better moves than the one that lost a piece!
Liz looked in real trouble, and yet true to form fought back and at one point even had a win but instead forced a clever perpetual from nowhere to the dismay of her opponent. Helge played on in a level position knowing the match was in the bag, and won.
We now have 8/9 and no losses in Division II! Next stop Ealing!