06.03.17 – Middlesex League: Hammersmith v Muswell Hill 2
With seven wins from eight games and four to play, Hammersmith are still going strong at the top of the Middlesex League.
Last night’s victims were Muswell Hill 2, who put up some resistance on the top boards but ultimately went down 7-1. As has unfortunately been traditional at recent home games, the opponents turned up without a full team with no advance notice. John White very kindly offered to step out, allowing Josué his first game for the club…
… although it might best be described as a massacre. His ungraded opponent opted against developing his Queenside and didn’t feel the need to castle. As might be expected against as strong a positional player as Josué, this strategy did not work out well. In one of the quickest wins I’ve seen in club-level chess, the game was over on move 20 with a bizarre yet utterly dominating checkmate.
Board six featured Brian “Magnus” Dodgeon, and as is often the case his opponent was not offered a single chance to get into the game. Brian started turning the screw from move one, and the evaluation just got better and better. Eventually his opponent could withstand the squeeze no longer and offered his hand in resignation.
Sheikh “Snake” Mabud provided yet another fine performance on board five. With a very strong pawn planted on e5, he started manoeuvring his pieces. His opponent followed suit, with both seemingly creating an additional pin or fork threat with every move. Sheikh handled the complications splendidly, eventually clearing the g-file for his Rooks to come flying in with checkmate.
It was not to be Jeremy’s day on board four; his superior chess set and digital clock seemingly not enough to intimidate his opponent. With the Black pieces Jeremy appeared to get a fine opening, planting two super-strong Bishops on d4 and e4. A slight let-up allowed his rival to bring his big guns into the game, and out of nowhere Jeremy was forced to resign.
Paul sat down on board three with one thing in mind: to rain hell over the board. He didn’t disappoint. The second game to finish on the night was one of the most convincing wins of the match; hopefully Paul can keep up his fine form for the rest of the season and into the next (ed: and maybe provide us with an annotated version of the game??).
And onto the top two boards, which both followed a strangely similar pattern. Bajrush with White and Pavel with Black both outgraded their opponents by 34 points, yet both managed to play horrific openings.
Bajrush was forced to retreat his Knight to b1 on move four, and later missed a tactic that almost cost him a piece. Pavel’s opening was arguably worse, as he failed to develop any of his Queenside and was forced to defend against an advanced pawn on f5, a dangerous Bishop eyeing his Kingside and a Knight providing constant forking threats.
At this point, both decided it was time to wake up! With a little help from their opponents, both turned their predicaments around, each eventually extinguishing all the enemy threats and creating unstoppable passed pawns!
With four games left to play, the title is still by no means guaranteed. Harrow and Hendon could still feasibly both finish above us if we ease off too much towards the finish line. Despite this, I’d still like to give some appearances to more of the club’s burgeoning member base.
Josué’s win makes him the 25th player to play for the team and the 13th now sitting on 100%! My target is for us to reach 30 players by the end of the season.
Result: Hammersmith 7 – 1 Muswell Hill 2
Adam.
My oppentent’s pawn never got to f5. Instead it was really comfortable on e6.
Apologies for the mistake Pavel. Whichever square it was on, you looked to be in huge trouble, but somehow managed to kill every threat!