We started the second half of the 2018-19 campaign with a visit to Hammersmith, who are strong contenders for the title this season, and found ourselves facing a full strength side.

Gavin and Mike duly won their games, but the other games were essentially a bunch of 190s against a bunch of 160s. Chris, continuing his strong run of form, won a well played game on Board 3 but the rest of us, although putting up stern resistance, were eventually outclassed.

It was good to welcome Russell back to our team after a long absence. He had a slight advantage for much of his game but eventually ran short of time. I’m sure he’ll soon be back where he should be, playing on the high board his talent deserves.

Thanks to all who played and congratulations to the winners.

	Hammersmith A		Richmond A
1	Carsten Pedersen 197	0:1	Gavin Wall 222
2	Thomas Bonn 193	0:1	Mike Healey 205
3	Bajrush Kelmendi 190	0:1	Chris White 167
4	Sylvain Eche –	1:0	Richard James 170
5	Tony Niccoli 188	1:0	Raghu Kamath 168
6	Chris Skulte 188	1:0	Russell Manning –
7	Marios Kouis 183	1:0	Richard Thursby 156
8	Jim Stevenson 174	1:0	Maks Gajowniczek –
		5:3