Our first London League match of the new year saw us facing our South West London rivals from Wimbledon.
The result was an outstanding victory, including a clean sweep of the top seven boards. Many congratulations to Gavin and his team, who are well on track to repeat last season’s second place in the country’s strongest evening league.
| Richmond | Wimbledon 1 | ||
| 1 | Ameet Ghasi 255 | 1:0 | Alberto Suarez Real 225 |
| 2 | Iain Gourlay 226 | 1:0 | Default |
| 3 | Callum Kilpatrick 220 | 1:0 | Ivar Chavannes 198 |
| 4 | Gavin Wall 222 | 1:0 | Russell Granat 203 |
| 5 | Mike Healey 205 | 1:0 | Dan Rosen 194 |
| 6 | Caspar Bates 194 | 1:0 | Peter Hasson 183 |
| 7 | Andreas Wetscherek 176 | 1:0 | Girinath Haridas 180 |
| 8 | John Burke 177 | ½:½ | Mark Dubey 176 |
| 9 | Jonathan Somekh 179 | ½:½ | Tony Hughes 171 |
| 10 | Martin Benjamin 174 | 0:1 | Neil Cannon 161 |
| 8:2 |
At the time of writing the league website mistakenly names David Rowson as the Wimbledon B5. Mike assures me this is incorrect.
Here’s the game, with Mike paying tribute to Abraham on move 1.
1. b4 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. e3 Nc6!? 4. b5 Nce7 5. Nf3 Nf5!? 6. h3!? Be7 7. c4 Bf6 8. g4!? Nh4 9. Nc3 h5! 10. gxh5! Rxh5 11. Ne4!? Nxf3+ 12. Qxf3 Rf5? 13. Qg2 Bh4?? 14. Qxg7 Ke7 15. Bd3 Be6 16. O-O-O Nf6 17. f4 Bxc4 18. Bxc4 Nxe4 19. Qg4 1-0