Our first match of the season, away to newly promoted Wimbledon B, got off to a dramatic start with Mike Healey winning in only 9 moves, using his trademark g4 against Philip Gregory, usually a very solid opponent.
The game went like this.
Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. g4 Nxg4 8. Rg1 d6 9. Bd5 and Black resigned as White is winning a piece (Bd7 is met by Bxc6 followed by Rxg4)
Julien agreed a draw, and this was followed by an attacking win by Eamon against a talented junior, a win from Gavin on top board, and some excellent endgame play from Bertie. These results gave us the required 4½ points. We weren’t doing so well on the other three boards, though, and Wimbledon B ended up with a highly creditable 3½ points.
Details:
- Girinath Haridas (180) 0:1 Gavin Wall (222)
- Philip Gregory (175) 0:1 Mike Healey (205)
- Przemek Bator (164) ½:½ Julien Shepley (180)
- Neil Cannon (161) 1:0 Richard James (170)
- Paul Barasi (161) 1:0 Chris White (167)
- Yasser Tello (161) 0:1 Bertie Barlow (161)
- Gordon Rennie (157) 1:0 Richard Thursby (156)
- Adithya Paleri (154) 0:1 Eamon Rashid-Farokhi (142)
Thanks to everyone who played and congratulations to the winners.
As usual we were very much reliant on Gavin and Mike, while our middle boards faltered. We need to strengthen our squad with more players in the 170-200 range to be competitive against the leading teams in the division. We’re currently talking to a couple of players who might be able to play occasionally, which is at least a promising start. If you know anyone else who is interested in playing in the Thames Valley League, even on an occasional basis, please put them in touch with me.