Apologies for the delayed report on Richmond C’s visit to Wimbledon last week.

Wimbledon fielded a team with more strength in depth and ran out convincing winners. Congratulations to them, and to Alex and Laurie for their draws.

Last week’s puzzle was taken from my game from this match.  I had the black pieces and, up to this point, I had inadvertently outplayed my much higher graded opponent. I now had to decide on my 29th move. We were playing 30 moves in an hour, and I had, probably, about 10 minutes left to reach the time control at this point.

I looked at various tactical ideas such as trying to get Bf1 to work but couldn’t see anything. As I always panic and lose in quickplay finishes, and knowing that my opponent was a lot stronger than me, I chose to play Nf6, forcing a queen trade. My opponent duly played Qxh5, accompanied by a draw offer, which I immediately accepted. I was intending to offer a draw myself on recapturing the queen.

The easiest way to reach a winning advantage is to play 29… b5 30. cxb5 c4 31. Nb2 Rf2 32. Qxf2 Nxf2 33. Kxf2 Bg4 when, although material is about equal, White is totally lost.

Finding this was way beyond my capabilities within the time I had available: I wasn’t looking at the queen side at all.

But I’m rather more interested in the position which could have been reached if I’d just waited: 29… Rf7 30. a4 a5. Move 30 would have been adjudication in the distant past when I first played in the Thames Valley League. For this week’s puzzle, I’d like you to adjudicate this position. It’s White’s move. Your decision – and your reasons – please!

Our TVL B team had another tough match at home to Surbiton B at the Roebuck.

This was a hard fought encounter, with the teams attempting to emulate Carlsen and Caruana by drawing all their games. Surbiton veteran Stef Bruzzi (who represented Italy in the Clare Benedict Cup way back in 1960) hadn’t read the script, though, and his win saw Surbiton B record a narrow victory.

Congratulations to everyone on a close encounter, and especially to Raghu and Max for sharing the point with strong opponents.

Up against perpetual league champions Wood Green, we know in advance what the result is going to be.

Wood Green fielded 8 GMs, with IMs on boards 7 and 9. Nevertheless, we did pretty well, especially Chris White, who defeated his GM opponent on board 10. I hope Chris will be able to provide the game for your enjoyment at some point. Congratulations also to Iain, Gavin and Caspar, who all drew with their illustrious opponents.

Brian Smith, Wood Green’s captain and sponsor, commented: “Many thanks indeed Gavin to you and your colleagues for 8 QP bds with zero adj. You gave WG its toughest match last season – and very nearly copied it this season against a much stronger team – starting with the first win (with black) on bd10 against a GM in the History of the Universe. Good luck to all your players for the remainder of the season.”

This day in 1975 saw one of the most remarkable performances in the history of Richmond & Twickenham Chess Club. Our London League 1st team were facing Hendon, who fielded what was by no means a weak team. No doubt helped by my absence, we ran out winners by the massive score of 11½:½! After our first four matches we were well placed in the league on three points.

You will note that Steve Berry is still playing against Richmond, although he migrated south of the river some years ago. Back in 1975 he was graded 210: 43 years on, impressively, his grade is 211.

Last week I asked you to solve this Triple Loyd puzzle, taken from Jeff Coakley’s Winning Chess Puzzles for Kids Volume 2.

Place the black king so that it’s checkmate: Kd4

Place the black king so that it’s stalemate: Kf8

Place the black king so that White, to move, can mate in 1: Kh7 (Qh5#)

This week’s puzzle:

Consider this position. It’s Black’s move: what is the best way for him to realise his advantage?