On 31 October Richmond C entertained the strongest team in Division 4, Surbiton C, and, unsurprisingly went down to a heavy defeat. Ken Broadley, with a draw on board 6 against an opponent graded 30 points above him, was the only Richmond player to trouble the scorer.

In another Division 4 match on 6 November, Richmond D travelled to Ealing C, who offered less demanding opposition. Our top two boards, Stuart Jeffreys and Adrian Waldock, were too strong for their opponents, while Huw Williams, continuing his good run of form, also won. Omar Anbargi and Julian Bedale drew their games as Richmond D emerged 4-2 winners.

The following evening, Richmond E took on Hounslow C in a Division X game over four boards. This match resulted in a ½-3½ defeat, Omar Anbargi again recording a draw.

On Thursday 9 November Richmond A were scheduled to meet our friends from Kingston A. There was a lot of interest in this match, and we managed to field four reserves as well as our eight player team. It was great to welcome back Seb Galer and Chris White after long absences, along with Sampson Low, a former RJCC member whose most recent league chess, about 20 years ago, had been for NPL.

However, there was no sign of anyone from Kingston! We spoke to their captain: it transpired there had been two administrative errors. Their webmaster had failed to include the fixture on their club website and their captain had failed to check with the league website. All very frustrating and disappointing.  Needless to say, we’re claiming an 8-0 win by default.