We’ve had a busy week, with two important Thames Valley League wins to report.

On Monday Richmond D visited high flying Ealing C in a TVL Division 3 match.

We were outrated on boards 2-6, but there were excellent wins for Tom and Barry.

We had no less than four matches on Tuesday. Our London League team faced their annual massacre against perpetual champions Wood Green.

It was good to welcome Callum back to the team, but unfortunately he didn’t get a game as his opponent didn’t turn up. There were also draws against GM opponents for Declan and Caspar, but the extended Lalic/Buckley family were too strong for the lower half of our team.

It was a packed evening at the Adelaide. Our TVB team, in need of points, wasn’t at full strength against Surbiton B.

The teams looked evenly matched: we had a big advantage on Board 6, but were slightly outrated on the top two boards. The match went very well for us, with wins for Jon, Matt and Polina (welcome back to the team). as well as draws for Bertie, Michael S (welcome to the team) and the ever generous Adrian. Well done everyone!

At the other end of the room, our E team faced Kingston C in their penultimate Division X match of the season, hoping for an important win.

The match again looked close on paper, but again everything went well, with wins for Abhay, Alex and captain Karl, along with a draw from Aditya against former RTCC member Nette Robinson. Congratulations to all of you!

Here’s the league table: you’ll see that we only need a draw from our match at Surbiton D on 11 March to guarantee first place.

Ten games in our two matches at the Adelaide, against closely matched opposition: six wins, four draws and no losses. What an amazing evening!

Our Fred Manning Trophy team had an away match against Ashtead A last Tuesday.

Captain Mike RC reports:

It was a tricky evening. Oscar and Peter made their Fred Manning and club debuts respectively. Mike Larby had a good win on board two, checkmating his opponent with just 1 minute remaining on his clock in a match that is played with no increments so he did well to hold his nerve. I unfortunately slipped into time trouble after spending too long calculating a line that won material but left me in a hopeless position trying to convert my small advantage in just 8 minutes. He just played on my time and I soon blundered under the pressure of trying not to flag.