Again, this was a disappointing result as it was a fairly close match at Actonians.

Although we had a relatively strong team for Ealing D (with Subas heroically stepping in at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances), Richmond and Twickenham C were even stronger. I’m not sure that their board order was legitimate, but it probably didn’t make any difference to the result.

Subas played Black on Board 1. Black played the Sicilian Defence to White’s e4. Looking at the evaluation by the Stockfish engine neither the players made mistakes or blunders, only inaccuracies (Black more than White). Black’s inaccuracies all added up to create positional weakness on its side. Black made an error in exchanging the Queens needlesslessly early in the game, after which Black had disjointed lone pawns, which were difficult to defend against White’s attack. In the end with two Black pawns down, White’s queenside pawns could easily march down the board with little resistance from Black. Black resigned realising that White’s pawn promotion was inevitable.

Andy managed an honourable draw playing Black against more highly rated opponent.

Neville played Black on Board 5. With the game evenly balanced in the first third of the game, Black started to dominate in the middle game with White making two blunders, from which Black could not profit. Black’s only blunder came at move 30, after which Black could not recover. White took full advantage of the blunder and Black eventually had to resign.