On Thursday February 13th West London played Battersea 3 in the Central London League at Pimlico. I didn’t see Alexander’s game but it did not end in success, so 0-1 at that stage.
My game went better, a Grand Prix Sicilian with a nice finish, so 1-1. This left three games running.
Graham Chase was better but short on time, Gursh had a queen against two rooks and a bishop but with the advantage of a scary passed c pawn, and Charlie was a piece up.
Charlie’s game began 1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 … at which point Charlie, not knowing the line well, played 6. … Bg4? Which allows 7. Bxf7+ or the even prettier 7. Ne5! … since 6. … Bxd1 allows mate on f7. His opponent thoughtfully missed these ideas and then later played an incorrect piece sacrifice instead, and Charlie accurately converted.
Graham was two pawns up but with under two minutes left against 15 minutes for his opponent, so accepted a draw.
Gursh manoeuvred well, winning a bishop for the passed pawn and then managing to fork king and rook. So, a good result.
| Battersa-3 | Colour | Grading | Result | West London | Grading |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alan Palmer | Black | 1822 | 0-1 | Andy Hayler | 1935 |
| Sam Ward-Riggs | White | 1705 | 0-1 | Charles Sturt | 1754 |
| Domenico Amabile | Black | 1682 | ½-½ | Graham Chase | 1629 |
| Stephen Welch | White | 1435 | 0-1 | Gursharanjit Gill | 1544 |
| Marco Flaccavento | Black | 1420 | 1-0 | Alexander Smythe | 1592 |
| Mean grade | 1613 | 1691 | |||
| Score | 1½-3½ |
Board 1: A.Hayler (1935) vs A.Palmer (1822)