Again, sadly, nothing much to report other than that our opponents forfeited the match. Very sad, as the Drunken Knights have been one of the strongest teams in London for some years, famed for their hospitality as well as their chess.

I note that their 2nd and 3rd teams have both conceded matches in the last couple of weeks, so it seems like they’re having some administrative or logistic problems.

I’m sure someone reading this will know more than me, and be able to explain what’s happening. Otherwise, I’ll catch up with Gavin next time we speak to find out more. I have no idea at the moment how much notice we were given.

We’ve now won two matches by default in the past 5 days, both against first teams: not a great advertisement for league chess in London. You can understand why the club’s lowest team might, on occasion, have to concede a match but it shouldn’t really happen with first teams from reasonably sized clubs.