Over-the-board matches are back!
By Hendon captain Andrew Medworth
Friday 1 October, 2021
Last night, we hosted a friendly match between a Hendon team and a “Rest of the Middlesex League” team at our new venue, The Holly Bush. This was something of a “relaunch event” for the Middlesex League, since Hendon were the last winners of Division 1 in 2019/20.
It was a closely contested match, but our guests ran out narrow winners. Nonetheless, it’s great to see the return of over-the-board matches, and we look forward to a full season of them!
| Hendon | Hendon | Rest of Middlesex | Rest of Middlesex | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Richardson | 2365 | 0 - 1 | Dominic Foord | 2365 | ||
| 2 | Rob Willmoth | 2220 | ½ - ½ | Bob Eames | 2268 | ||
| 3 | Gary Senior | 2215 | 0 - 1 | Marco Gallana | 2223 | ||
| 4 | Savas Marin Stoica | 2120 | ½ - ½ | Francis Chin | 2077 | ||
| 5 | Gautam Jain | 2020 | ½ - ½ | D. Ian Calvert | 1993 | ||
| 6 | David Levy | 2013 | ½ - ½ | Leon Fincham | 1900 | ||
| 7 | David Amior | 1900 | ½ - ½ | Paul Conway | 1855 | ||
| 8 | Jean-Claude Sartenaer | 1810 | 1 - 0 | Julie Oh | 1580 | ||
| 3½ - 4½ | |||||||
We started with a bit of a damp squib, as Rob Willmoth agreed a quick draw with Hackney’s Bob Eames and ran off to keep an eye on his junior 4NCL players. The other games, however, lasted at least two hours.
At 9:30pm or so, it looked like it was going to be a very friendly match indeed, as the first four games to finish ended in draws. The first decisive results came in at around 9:45pm though, with wins for the visitors on boards 1 and 3, with only Gautam and JC still playing, meaning the best we could hope for was a tie.
The match was decided in the visitors’ favour when Gautam agreed a draw with almost no time left on his clock. JC managed to defeat his young opponent, but it was only a consolation victory.
Many thanks to all who played – see you in the League!
You can find a list of news stories about friendly matches and events here.