Hillingdon League Div.2, 17th October 2024

Ealing B started the new campaign with a comfortable win, in a match which was expected to be a stern challenge. Harrow Juniors were well below full strength perhaps due to their having played the GMs of West London only 24 hours earlier. As a result, we enjoyed a rating advantage on all boards.

Leslie (one if two players to step into the breach at short notice to complete the team line-up) needed little time to dispatch his opponent, eliciting a resignation within around 30 minutes.

I followed up with another win, although, like so many young players, my opponent refused to resign until mate was delivered even though he was by then a queen, rook and knight down! Talking to the Harrow captain after the game l learnt that the same boy had beaten an experienced 1965-rated player the night before. Fortunately for me he didn’t carry this form into our game.

The match point was secured when Simon wrapped up a seemingly routine win on board two.

Daniel was the other noble soul to step into the breach and make up the numbers. When I first saw his game he was under some pressure with his Queen pinned to the defence of his Nf3. Unfortunately , although he survived the pin, he succumbed to a knight fork on f2 which, coming with check cost him his queen. He played on for a few more moves but with mate looming, he resigned.

Last to finish was Xavier who had the sternest challenge on top board. Xavier likes to use all the time at his disposal but his clock management was sound here and he duly found the path to victory. The final match score line was therefore a gratifying 4-1 to Ealing. A solid start to the season.