We did well in our home match against Harrow A on the 6h of February, 2023. Our team did well to score 5-1 against our opposing team. Alastair, David and the juniors, Kayden and Dien, won their games. Both Tony and Paul drew their games against their opponents. Credit to the juniors for holding their nerves to see their end games through

Board	Colour	Ealing C	Results	Harrow A
1	White	Kayden Tan	1-0	John Clenshaw
2	Black	Tony Braine	0.5-0.5	Mary Deans
3	White	Alastair Johnstone	1-0	Edward Poynton
4	Black	David English	1-0	David Stott
5	White	Paul Johnston	0.5-0.5	Jenny Goldsmith
6	Black	Dien Kanathigoda	1-0	Phil Humpry

Paul drew his game by repetition after some time pressure.

Tony’s comments:
Tony was pleased to see white taking five minutes on her third move, clearly out of her opening preparation. Tony responded swiftly when that move came but incorrectly. Instead of gaining a small advantage he gave white the opportunity to win the undefended b7 pawn. She didn’t take it, probably mistakenly thinking it an opening trap by Tony’s speed of response.

After that  excitement was over, both players played accurately in a very dry position which descended into a dead equal r + p endgame.

Disappointing opening play by Tony but a draw against a very sound opponent , nothing to be unhappy about.

David playing black made significant inroads into his opponent’s Queen side using his rooks and a pawn threatening to promote. His game below:

Opening “Caro-Kann Defense: Modern Variation”

Alastair was the first player to finish his game:

I had a relatively stress-free evening last night, my opponent going badly wrong in a French which resulted in him losing a piece after a mere 12 moves. After that, converting the win was fairly straightforward.