There wasn’t much respite from Wood Green as we found ourselves up against a strong and ambitious Hammersmith team. Our West London rivals have strengthened their squad considerably since winning promotion to Division 1 last season. Their average grade was over 200, with the very strong Peter Roberson on top board followed by IMs Mark Kvetny (Germany) and Thomas Rendle.

Although we were able to field a strong team ourselves and hold our own on the top 6 boards, their lower boards were too good for us.

	Richmond		Hammersmith 1
1	Callum Kilpatrick 222	1:0	Peter Roberson 244
2	Gavin Wall 224	0:1	Mark Kvetny –
3	Mike Healey 217	½:½	Thomas Rendle 226
4	Mark Josse 214	½:½	Thomas Bonn 201
5	Caspar Bates 200	0:1	Carsten Pedersen 192
6	Martin Benjamin 181	1:0	Bajrush Kelmendi 188
7	Chris White 180	0:1	Fedja Zulfic –
8	John Burke 175	0:1	Sylvain Eche 183
9	Mike Smart 170	0:1	Jim Stevenson 194
10	John Bass 176	0:1	Marios Kouis 180
		3:7

Congratulations to Callum and Martin on their splendid results, and to Mike H and Mark for sharing the point.

This match’s RJCC count: 5 former RJCC members on the top 5 boards, and three pre-RJCC RTCC teenagers lower down. It’s very much our commitment to junior chess in this area over the past 40+ years which is keeping us alive.

Well played – and well recruited – Hammersmith. Best wishes for the rest of the season and hope you beat Wood Green!