On 20 October we welcomed Hendon 3 to the Actonians. Four days earlier we had suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Hendon 2 so were determined to avoid a repeat performance.
It was pleasing to welcome Alastair back to the team. Commenting on his victory, he notes: “My opponent responded with an unusual form of the Pirc to my 1.e4, adopting a queenside rather than kingside fianchetto. After opposite side castling, a rapid pawn storm on the black position ensued. Just 12 moves in, I was able to swap-off my white-squared bishop for a black knight on h5 and prepared to sweep up the forlorn pawn with my queen.The ensuing attack virtually played itself, prompting resignation on move 23 when mate in two was threatened.”
On board 3, Natan, reflected on his game: “It was much smoother than last week… at least I didn’t blunder by move 10. Playing Black, it was an Alapin Sicilian which made for a lively middlegame – lots of pins and forks etc. I missed a tactic that would have equalised and ended up in an endgame a knight down. In hindsight, there was a pin I should’ve broken sooner which cost me flexibility later. Another takeaway was time management. I finished with 30 minutes still on my clock while my opponent was down to 3, so I shouldn’t have simplified and instead kept the tension. Although losing, a good game with clear lessons.”
In my absence our top board, Andrew, kindly stepped in as captain for the evening. Emanating out of a Nimzo-Indian, he enjoyed good compensation with two open files for a queenside pawn, but then, in winning back the pawn prematurely, he missed a simple tactic that cost him queen for rook and the game. Fortunately Matthew fared better, stating: “ I was White and the game started with my opponent playing something approaching a Czech Pirc (1.e4 g6, 2.d4 d6, 3.Nc3 c6). His approach didn’t exactly follow any book line I could find but it was ok for him until he miscalculated a sequence as we moved into the middlegame, and I went a knight for pawn up. It then took me a few moves to untangle my two knights and fight off some counterplay he’d arrived at in compensation for the lost material. Once I’d done that, the ending became pretty straightforward with my additional piece proving decisive.”
With the match poised at 2-all, everything was still to play for. Alex, making a welcome return to the team, writes: “My opponent played a rare line against my French Defence, opting for b3 and a fianchetto on b2. He went for a super- aggressive setup with long castling and an early pawn storm against my king, neglecting development in the process. I managed to force a queen exchange and gained the bishop pair, giving me a huge positional advantage. However, I misplayed the position and found myself in serious trouble, but managed to trick my opponent in the endgame and secured a draw.”
Finally, club champion, Alejandro, played 1.e4 and faced the Dragon Sicilian. Despite some minor problems he gained an advantage which led to a stunning rook sacrifice that won material. However, the ensuing complications ensured he had to fiercely defend, particularly with his opponent having both rooks on the seventh. Nevertheless, he came through with flying colours to secure an all-important win.
So, we won the match by the narrowest of margins which rekindled our bid for promotion.
| Ealing 1 | Rating | Result | Hendon 3 | Rating |
| FM Andrew Harley | 2154 | 0-1 | Eric Eedle | 2013 |
| Alejandro Lopez-Martinez | 1860 | 1-0 | Andreas Bohnacker | 1873 |
| Natan Acosta | 1914 | 0-1 | Alex Funk | 1804 |
| Matthew Georgiou | 1804 | 1-0 | Chris Rogal | 1692 |
| Alex Lushpa | 1711 | 0.5-0.5 | Tom Garcia | 1628 |
| Alastair Johnstone | 1597 | 1-0 | Tony Artman | 1294 |
| 3.5-2.5 |