West London played Hammersmith away in the Middlesex league on Thursday, December 12th. We had a couple of strong players unavailable and Hammersmith put out a much stronger team than when they came to us – their board 1 then was their board 3 tonight. Although we were higher rated on the top two boards, this was not true lower down, and indeed their median grade was significantly higher than ours, so a tough match beckoned.
I’m afraid I didn't see the other games apart from my own. John Bass’s game finished first in a draw. John Burke had an excellent win against his higher-graded opponent, who blundered in time trouble in a level position. Colum had a pawn deficit but a lot of pressure, and eventually his game was drawn, as was David’s. My game was fairly wild and is below, but ended drawn. At the finish of Eldar’s game he declined winning the exchange in favour of winning a pawn plus the bishop pair, and proceeded to deliver a strong attack that his opponent could fend off only with material loss. They say that opposite bishop endings are drawn, but not when you have five extra pawns as in this case. So in the end we won, an excellent result given that we were in effect outgraded (median grade). The score is below.
| Hammersmith | Colour | Grading | Result | West London | Grading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kai Hanache | White | 2244 | 0-1 | Eldar Gasanov | 2543 |
| Gaston Franco | Black | 2125 | ½-½ | David Haydon | 2336 |
| Cian Ward | White | 2039 | ½-½ | Colum Jezierski | 1981 |
| Christof Brixel | Black | 2053 | 0-1 | John Burke | 1954 |
| Aryayam Ganguly | White | 2019 | ½-½ | John Bass | 1913 |
| Greg Billenness | Black | 1891 | ½-½ | Andy Hayler | 1926 |
| Mean grade | 2062 | 2145 | |||
| Median grade | 2046 | 1968 | |||
| Score | 2-4 |
Board 6: A.Hayler (1926) vs G.Billenness (1891)