On Wednesday 15th January West London hosted Hatch End in the Hillingdon League. Last time they came here they had two FIDE masters on the top two boards, but this time their team was weaker.
I didn’t make much progress against my opponent’s accurate play and agreed a draw. John Bass played a clever intermediate move that gained a key passed pawn. John Burke outplayed his opponent in an endgame. Eldar finished his game with a beautiful queen sacrifice, while Lan Yao constructed a huge protected passed c pawn that was always going to be tough to deal with. In the end it was quite a comfortable win.
| West London | Colour | Grading | Result | Hatch End-A | Grading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eldar Gasanov | Black | 2525 | 1-0 | Greg Breed | 1913 |
| Lan Yao | White | 2335 | 1-0 | Sab Jhooti | 1899 |
| John Burke | Black | 1965 | 1-0 | Laith Hayali | 1841 |
| Andy Hayler | White | 1928 | ½-½ | Cherag Irani | 1755 |
| John Bass | Black | 1916 | 1-0 | Robert Parsons | 1704 |
| Average grade | 2134 | 1822 | |||
| Score | 4½-½ |
Board 1: G.Breed (1913) vs E.Gasanov (2525)