Monday 28th April 2025, MW 14/14

	Ealing B			Maidenhead B
1 (b)	Matthew Georgiou	1840	0.5-0.5	Simon Foster	1734
2 (w)	Simon Healeas	1825	0-1	John Snead	1725
3 (b)	Jason Obihara	1707	0-1	Nigel Dennis	1701
4 (w)	Anthony Braine	1683	0.5-0.5	Yury Krylov	1705
5 (b)	Kayden Tan	1594	0-1	Tony Griffiths	1639
6 (w)	Guiseppe Joe Ramundo	1562	1-0	Alex Jackson	1591
			2-4

Our final match of the season held no jeopardy as both teams could neither get promoted or relegated. All that remained is pride- could we win and finish above our opponents to claim a mid-table position as targeted at there beginning of the season? Not quite as it turned out, but as always we left our mark.

With a university assignment deadline looming and more than enough players wanting to play, I stopped hogging board 1 and gave it to the highly in form Matthew. I could also now watch proceedings drink in hand without the stress of involvement in the battle. Matthew did not disappoint, giving no ground away from the black side of a Ruy Lopez. Likewise from opposition captain Simon Foster, so an early draw was agreed.

Nearby Tony with the white pieces had to reluctantly agree a draw after his opponent found enough compensation to fight the material loss of 2 pawns earlier. It was a major piece brawl with all queens and rooks present, but it was black’s camp that dominated the files and blockaded the extra split pawns. There were also some back rank tactics to be aware of, so the spoils were duly shared.

Maidenhead then went 2-1 up on the night as Toby Griffiths came through on the winning side of a hectic tactical melee against our talented junior Master Kayden Tan. The engine prefers white throughout, however I’ll argue that it’s very easy for white to go under with Kayden’s various threats such as the rook on the g-file. He lost out in the end after emerging from the dust a piece down- not least without some fight. 

Simon then concluded his game in a fashion he wasn’t pleased about. He was white in a Catalan and had the IQP on d4 against black’s knight hamming up the centre on d5. That outpost is a good one for black, but the trade-off is that it means he can’t attack the IQP and is instead reliant in the positional advantage of the knight. With the ga e thoroughly level, Simon made a selfless decision to try for a win as he noticed the match score. Unfortunately, this attempt was made in a risky king and pawn endgame where his opponent had the slight upper hand due to Simons doubled g pawns. They were indeed able to exploit this one and only weakness in white’s camp and claimed the win with the toppling of those pawns.

The welcome return of Jason to the team saw him play the opening in experienced and cultured fashion. He had forced whites king to remain in the centre and had begun to fashion outposts for his knight pair. Nonetheless, things began to slip a little as Nigel got his bishop in behind Jason’s position. This then resulted in the loss of Jason’s 3 vs 1 on the queenside as his pieces had been largely immobilised, and then the game was lost not too long after.

4-1 down at this point and the match lost, Joe made things respectable by winning a nerve-wracking encounter. He went 2 pawns up but they were both right in front of his castled king, prompting his opposite to throw the kitchen sink at them down the files. He somehow remained unperturbed by this and kept his cool to slowly force trades and then eventually convert the double rook and pawn endgame. I thought at one point his opponent missed a rook skewer, but I had clearly absorbed the tension from the game and failed to realise it was covered (thank heavens).

And so the curtains close on what was ultimately a successful campaign for Ealing B, retaining our place in division 2 next year. Next season could potentially be tougher with the imminent arrival of Staines and Wimbledon but I reckon we hold enough cards in the Ealing deck to deal a good hand for a division 2 side.

Final 24/25 Thames Valley Division 2 League Table:

Team	Play	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Against	Points
Kingston B	14	12	1	1	55	29	25
Surbiton B	14	9	1	4	52½	31½	19
Richmond & Twickenham B	14	9	0	5	51½	32½	18
Hounslow A	14	7	0	7	44½	39½	14
Maidenhead B	14	6	2	6	44	40	14
Ealing B	14	5	2	7	34½	49½	12
Hounslow B	14	2	2	10	28	56	6
Richmond & Twickenham C	14	1	2	11	26	58	4