On Tuesday, 19 November we travelled to Muswell Hill to play a team who is likely to mount a serious challenge for the Middlesex title. On the top three boards, Muswell Hill enjoyed a slight rating advantage (35 points on average) but heavily out-rated us on the lowest three boards (nearly 200 points on average).
The match started well. Reflecting on his game, Alan writes: “After a run of eight games without a win I managed to win two games in two days, this one as Black in only fourteen moves. The game started with an Anti-Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5, the Tiviakov Grand Prix Attack. On move seven my opponent didn’t play the normal plan and came up with an overly optimistic attacking idea. He offered a knight sacrifice on d5, but I was able to get an advantage by declining and completing my kingside development. He persisted in sacrificing the knight to create a mating threat, but it was unsound. I wasn’t expecting him to resign as soon as he did, but queens had been exchanged and I was a knight up with a good position, an advantage of about +3.5 according to my engine.”
On board three, John played 4.Qc2 against the Nimzo-Indian. Although his opponent was somewhat better in the endgame, he ran into time trouble and a draw was agreed.
Unfortunately all other games resulted in a string of defeats. Jonathan states: “My game was an interesting Petroff. As Black I tried to nudge things towards an endgame, while my opponent tried to keep the middlegame edgy. The computer calls it even almost throughout, but my opponent’s exchange sacrifice made things hard to calculate in time pressure – ultimately I fell into a forcing sequence that allowed him to fork my king and queen.”
On bottom board, I had a tough rearguard action on the black side of an exchange Caro-Kann, ultimately succumbing to my opponent’s constant pressure. Nor did Mark have an easy game. As White, he missed a tactic in a French defence that lost a pawn without compensation; his adversary subsequently claiming the point.
The last game to finish was Andrew’s on top board. He comments: “My opponent played aggressively from the start, first with an over-the-board theoretical novelty 10…g5!? in a book position, then offered a sac of the same pawn on g4 at move 18 which I declined but was subject to an even stronger attack by …h5, …h4, …g3. I managed to counter in the middle with 26.Ne4! and we soon had multiple pieces en prise. After ups and downs, it was me who ended up two pawns up in an ending and winning. However, I got myself tangled up and the tricks kept coming with us both playing on increment. Finally I blundered a rook to a knight fork, though by then he could have forced a draw. A wild and interesting game… just a shame about the result!”
So the match ended in a 4.5 -1.5 defeat, the differential in rating on the lower boards proving significant.
| Muswell Hill | Rating | Result | Ealing | Rating | |
| Mike Healey | 2217 | 1-0 | FM Andrew Harley | 2169 | |
| Oscar Pollack | 2169 | 0-1 | Alan Perkins | 2152 | |
| Simon Wilks | 2181 | 0.5-0.5 | John Quinn | 2141 | |
| Joel Bird | 2097 | 1-0 | Jonathan White | 1997 | |
| Alecos Ethelontis | 2125 | 1-0 | Mark Winterbotham | 1883 | |
| Dan Hall | 2098 | 1-0 | Simon Healeas | 1851 | |
| 4.5 – 1.5 |