On Tuesday, 13 January we travelled to leafy Muswell Hill for a second division Middlesex match. Given the rating advantage across all boards, we started as favourites to win.
It was pleasing to welcome the fast-improving Devina Bedi to the team. She certainly did not waste time in defeating her opponent: the game lasted a mere 9 moves. A highly impressive debut!
The next game to finish was that of the club president, Trevor. He reports: “I played a Sicilian Accelerated Dragon. White then swapped B for N on c6 giving Black a half-open b-file, and then castled long. My plan was therefore to exploit the weaknesses on White’s Q-side with a R on the half-open file combining with the fianchettoed B. White gave up a P and then the exchange trying to defend his pinned K but I later returned the exchange and converted to a won pawn ending. (However, Fritz informs me that I could have played it better on more than one occasion!).”
On board one, Andrew reflects on his game thus: “I got a good space advantage out of a c3 Sicilian with a strong e5 pawn. He was reluctant to castle either side and eventually played the sometimes thematic …g7-g5 targeting the f3 knight defending e5. (Funnily enough, their first team board 1 played the same kind of idea against me almost exactly one year ago.) But in this particular position with my bishops perfectly placed on b2 and d3, I was able to continue Nc3-e4! and after Rh8-g8, Nd6+ Bxd6, exd6 Qxd6, Bxh7 picked up the exchange, and it was an easy conversion thereafter.”
In-form Alejandro continued his winning ways. Commenting on his game, he notes: “I was White in a Berlin (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6). My opponent surprised me with an early d5 that caught me off guard, leading to an equal position. During the middlegame both of our pawns were hanging by a thread in an incredibly sharp position. A nice positional idea left me with two passed pawns on the queenside and I carefully pushed one of them to glory!”
In my own game, as Black, I played the Petroff (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6). The game remained level but in the late middlegame, I decided to sacrifice a pawn to try and generate winning chances. This backfired as my opponent soon won a second pawn and it was he who was pressing for the win. Running short of time, he mistakenly left a knight en prise which paved the way for my chalking up the full point.
Finally to Jonathan, who writes: “My opponent opened with 1. b3 and 2. Bb2, against which I chose a set-up based on f5, Nf6 and d6. I think this may be slightly dubious in principle – if White has a chance to take the f6-N before Black can defend it with a piece then generally it makes sense to do so – but my assumption was that any player who plays b3 is likely to be fond of his b2-B and reluctant to exchange it. We proceeded to a typical Dutch middle-game where I was able to find good squares for my pieces and to clog up his pawns. The f-file opened and I developed a strong attack – only to miss a tactic that would win a piece. We reached an opposite-coloured bishop ending in which I was a pawn up – most likely it should have been drawn, but time pressure took over and I managed to eke out the win.”
Although this 6-0 victory was most convincing, we must continue to retain our focus to ensure a promotion spot.
| Muswell Hill Two | Rating | Result | Ealing One | Rating |
| Frederik Ceder | 1954 | 0-1 | FM Andrew Harley | 2166 |
| David Rutter | 1845 | 0-1 | Jonathan White | 1999 |
| Laurence Livsey | 1822 | 0-1 | Alejandro Lopez-Martinez | 1912 |
| Jason Bush | 1711 | 0-1 | Simon Healeas | 1830 |
| Allesandro Piccininno | 1624 | 0-1 | Devina Bedi | 1718 |
| Tom Phillips | 1351 | 0-1 | Trevor Bates | 1490 |
| 0-6 |