Mixed fortunes for our teams this week.

There are currently some very strong student teams in the London League. We recently lost a league match against Imperial College, and on Monday we faced UCL in the Eastman Cup (London League KO).

It was good to welcome Declan to our team, but unfortunately his opponent failed to arrive. Although there were good wins for Maks and Sampson, our young opponents were to strong for us on boards 2-4, so we went down to a narrow defeat.

On the same evening two of our Thames Valley League teams visited Ealing.

We fairly soon found ourselves 3 points up, winning all our games with White, but unfortunately we were much less successful with the black pieces, and, after an exciting finish on board 2 we were only able to draw the match.

Our D team also started well, with David’s Stonewall giving him another quick victory, but we were overpowered on the lower boards: well done to Ealing D on their victory.

There was better news on Tuesday, where our Ellam Trophy team maintained their 100% record by defeating Epsom C.

Wins from James and Bertie put us two points up, and further points from Alastair and Adrian took us over the line, although our opponents fought back on the remaining boards, on both of which they were the exchange up in the ending. Sampson went down, but Maks managed to set up a fortress and share the point.

As always, thanks to all who played (and provided transport to Ealing), and especially to our hard working match captains.