Harrow A			Ealing B
1	Bodhana Sivanandan	2145	1-0	Simon Healeas	1826
2	Stephen Coles	2108	1-0	Alex Lushpa	1695
3	Shrushty Sawant	1382	0-1	Tony Braine	1680
4	Ashwini Udhayasurivan	1979	0-1	Alastair Johnstone	1592
5	Jagdeep Dhemrait	1962	1-0	Davina Bedi	1462
			3-2

For a variety of reasons we were unable to field the strongest Ealing B lineup. Indeed, even a full team wasn’t confirmed until some four hours before kick off when Davina stepped into the breach.

We were, predictably, massively out-graded but we can take pride in the fight we put up

Simon, facing the prodigious Bodhana, recently turned ten years old, secured a minimal edge out of the opening and retained parity in the early middle-game but by move 40 he had two and half minutes on the clock as opposed to his opponent’s 39 minutes. He duly lost after 53 moves.

I saw nothing of Alex’s game but he was evidently bested by Harrow’s experienced board two.

Happily, I had one of my better days on board four. I can’t pretend it was a flawless display but I was able to exploit my opponent’s inaccuracies to notch a very satisfying win.

Davina put up a good fight on board five, staying in the game until very end. Sadly, she succumbed to the Harrow player’s insistent attack at the end.I may be wrong, but I thought there was an opportunity to repel the assault.

Tony was last to finish, his opponent a late substitution. Deploying one of his favourite weapons against the Sicilian, he eventually asserted his positional superiority to reach a winning endgame position. It was a bit edgy for spectators but Tony kept his cool and converted the win.

So, a 3-2 loss but we can leave with our heads held high.