The Central London League team had their first match of the season against a brand new team in the league, OTB. We had no idea what level they would be, further complicated by their boards 2 and 3 being ungraded, though their board 4 was 1877.
I was embroiled in my own game so I did not see much of the others.
Paul was Black in a French that ended up cramped and did not improve.
Russ got a perpetual in a level-looking position.
Gursh lost material and was ground down in an endgame by his much higher-rated opponent.
John Burke was in a very complex tactical position and at the end his opponent found a nice combination.
My game was rather blocked, but at a key moment when a break was made I found a nice tactic involving a nasty pin. I had two ways to play it – immediately, which won a piece, or a clever-looking way with an intermediate exchange which turned out to allow an admittedly pretty piece sacrifice by my opponent that would mate – guess which I chose?The match score:
| West London | Colour | Grading | Result | OTB-2 | Grading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Burke | Black | 1965 | 0-1 | Olly Coddington | 1823 |
| Andy Hayler | White | 1965 | 0-1 | Joaquin Alonso Inga Paiva | U/R |
| Russ Campbell | Black | 1779 | ½-½ | Christian Ortiz Elizarbe | U/R |
| Gursharanjit Gill | White | 1618 | 0-1 | Brahm Desai | 1877 |
| Paul de Rooij | Black | U/R | 0-1 | Benedict Lewis | 1565 |
| Average grade | 1832 | 1755 | |||
| Score | ½-4½ |