At around 10 o’clock, it looked bleak for Ealing when we went 2-0 down with Tony’s game also looking grim but, after a remarkable turn-around. we eventually emerged as 3-2 winners.

Xavier suffered from the fact that his opponent, as a fellow Willesden player, knew far too much about his opening preferences and, with the added advantage of the white pieces, Tony made short work of taking down our board one.

For my part, I had yet another mare of a game. In what seemed a familiar position out of a Najdorf, I was caught ill-prepared for a vicious attack when White played f5 followed by g4. I failed to find the best continuation at the board and was soon in deep trouble. I managed to fight back however and thought I’d saved myself when I went a rook up after 29…QxRh5. but White still had an advanced d-pawn. Again, I failed to resolve the problem at the board and missed the chance to escape with a draw. Here’s the sad denouement.

Happily, the ever-dependable Simon soon restored some hope when he delivered mate with Queen and Rook on board three. However, Tony looked to be losing. Well, no, he was losing, with a swarm of black pawns advancing down the board. But then, when I next looked, about a minute later, the position was transformed as Leon blundered away a full rook and, although Tony was playing on increments, he coolly secured the win.

With the match score now tied, all hinged on the game on board three. Devina’s play has progressed dramatically in the past six months. She has an excellent understanding of chess geometry and an aptitude for setting up attacking opportunities. This was much in evidence in this game where she repels a dangerous-looking assault from White before delivering an elegant killer blow.

So, with one match to go, our fate is in our hands, Win our final game and we gain promotion to Div.1. The final game is however against Harrow Juniors A who, despite their 5-0 concession to us recently, also hold hopes of promotion.