Our second Guy Fawkes match involved our E team making the short journey to Hounslow. Dan, Barry and Jim did well to draw with higher graded opponents.

The Hounslow top board appears to be something of a ringer. Although Division X has no formal eligibility rules it’s designed as a fairly friendly division for less strong players, although sometimes in the past clubs have agreed to play stronger players against each other on top board.

In fact Seshagiri had a grade of 165F last season and a FIDE rating of 2042, although his last internationally rated games were back in 2004. I assume he’s a new player just moved into the area, and perhaps Hounslow weren’t aware of his strength.