| | Hatch End B | | | Ealing B | |
| 1 | Alexander Horwood | 1590 | 0-1 | Xavier Cowan | 1893 |
| 2 | Ansh Tripathi | 1527 | 0-1 | Simon Healeas | 1861 |
| 3 | Mark Connor | 1440 | 0-1 | Tony Braine | 1715 |
| 4 | Shreya Wani | 1395 | 0-1 | Alastair Johnstone | 1580 |
| 5 | Samir Dagli | 1296 | 0-1 | Subas Subbaraj | 1569 |
| | | | 0-5 | | |
3rd December 2024
Ealing B gained revenge for our loss in the home leg with this 5-0 win. The Hatch End line-up was radically different from the team fielded in the first leg and we enjoyed a comfortable rating plus on all boards, not that that implies the games were easy.
Xavier was first to finish. In his own words: “My opponent chose a Phillidor’s Defence setup against my QP opening structure, but seemed to lack experience with it (which is fair enough as he is a youngster!) -he didn’t get c6 in early enough, allowing my knights to dominate on b5 and d5. I then won his d6 pawn and had the bishop pair against his knight pair, so it was my game to lose. Fortunately, I was gifted the exchange and found the path to victory from there a straightforward one – gratefully received after my recent poor form.”
Simon: “As Black, I played the Caro-Kann against which my opponent chose the advanced variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5). He lost an early pawn followed by a second one in the late middlegame. At move 30 we had an endgame position in which I held a bishop and 5 pawns against his knight and 3. It took me a further 34 moves before finally winning.”
Tony: “Playing the Grand Prix attack, I was surprised by black’s early exchange of his fianchettoed g7 bishop for my c3 knight and swapping off knights on f3. I fell behind 25 minutes wondering how to exploit his non book moves but failed. Getting jittery about time I blundered giving him the chance to win rook for knight. Next move he blundered by missing that opportunity. Next move I blundered by not seeing his last move now allowed me to win the exchange!
Having won the egregious blunders competition 2:1, the game soon transposed into an endgame where I was slightly better. Black would probably have held it if he hadn’t exchanged queens. I played this fairly well, the last 15 moves on increments, avoiding stalemate and queened to win. Overall an exciting very close game.”
Subas had White in a Caro-Kann Exchange variation. “Unfortunately at move 15 my opponent blundered taking my king’s pawn on d4 with his knight. I retook the knight with my c3 pawn exposing both our queens on c file. He took my queen on c2 with his but overlooked the fact my queen was supported by my knight on e3. So with a minor piece down the rest of the game did not go well for my opponent.”
In my own game, I played a very lack lustre hand on the Black side of a Closed Sicilian and stood worse after some inept middlegame play. I was rescued by a blunder which gifted me a piece. The endgame should have been straightforward after this but I still made heavy weather of it, gifting back the piece, albeit while still holding a winning position. Then, playing on increments, I forgot to press my clock, eventually doing so with 27 seconds left! In the end however it was my opponent whose flag fell although by this stage, the win for Black was no longer in doubt.
We have two further matches, both at Uxbridge, before Christmas, which will probably go a long way to deciding our fate for the season.