Our visitors for our first TVA match at the Adelaide were Ealing A. On arrival they informed us that their designated Board 2 had told them in the morning that he might not be able to make it, and it was too late for them to find a replacement, so they had to hope for the best.
In fact he didn’t show, so Maxim unfortunately didn’t get a game and we started with a one point lead.
The three Ealing players with the white pieces on the odd numbered boards all displayed commendable aggression, and Simon’s attack secured the full point against Julien to equalise the scores. It was good to see Andrew Harley back in Thames Valley League action after a long absence: he’s previously played for both Fulham and Wimbledon. If John Quinn, who often plays top board for them, had been available they’d have been able to form a rugby team (Harley, Quinn).
Gavin told me afterwards that it was a terrible game, with blunders on both sides. Well, it was certainly entertaining, and Gavin, luckily for us, came out on top.
Raghu found himself a piece ahead (I’m not sure whether his opponent sacrificed or blundered) and traded everything off to force his opponent’s resignation and give us an unassailable lead.
Meanwhile, our games with White were continuing slightly more peacefully. Bertie reached an ending with a slight material advantage, but, despite his best efforts it never looked quite enough to win, with Jason doing well to hold the draw.
Once again, Maks was our most impressive player, overcoming the handicap of arriving late and losing time on the clock to outplay Alastair positionally and reach a winning ending.
- Gavin Wall (2284) 1:0 Andrew Harley (2208)
- Maxim Dunn (1900) 1:0 Default
- Julien Shepley (1971) 0:1 Simon Healeas (1863)
- Bertie Barlow (2006) ½:½ Jason Obihara (1765)
- Raghu Kamath (1885) 1:0 Alex Lushpa (1538)
- Maks Gajowniczek (1750) 1:0 Alastair Johnstone (1640)
Thanks to all of you for playing in the match and apologies to Maxim for not getting a game.
Our next match is at home to Ealing Juniors A in four weeks’ time: Tuesday 15 March. Do make a note in your diary.
Footnote: 30 years ago I played Andrew Harley and John Quinn in consecutive games. They were playing, respectively, for Fulham and British Airways at the time: I was playing for Richmond B, probably on Board 1. In both games I was Black and lost in 27 moves. It occurred to me at the time that the game Harley – Quinn must also have happened at some point. Now they’re both playing for Ealing.