Round 5 saw our Battersea Juniors team celebrate its first half-point as a team – drawing 2-2 against the Hendon Hurricanes.
With the exception of veteran CM Rob Willmoth, the match was a clash between some of the best junior talent in England: Viktor and Sasha Brozel (both born 2003) delighted us with an ultra-sharp fight on board 1.
Viktor seemed to be doing very well and could have gained a serious advantage by move 15. The middle game was wild, with pieces under attack everywhere, and chances for both players but when the dust finally settled, by move 30 the position seemed to have simplified in a potentially drawn ending.
Blown away
Sasha would have none of it though and played beautifully to create a winning advantage, but under time pressure and playing with seconds on the clock, he allowed Viktor to swap the only piece defending the promotion square and had to resign immediately. Well done to Viktor for holding his nerve amidst the chaos on the board!
Nishchal’s win against veteran Barnet Knights Juniors coach Rob Willmoth was a very different affair: a small inaccuracy in the opening forced Nishchal into an uncomfortable position but he defended with grit and by move 20 had managed to equalise and even have some dangerous ideas exploiting the open g-file.
Sure enough, the swarming of pieces all pointing towards the white’s king was too much for Nishchal’s opponent, who failed to find the winning (for him) combination involving giving up the queen for 3 pieces and fell instead for a mate in 1!
Denis lost a tough game against talented junior Alex Leslie and Nour – faced with Kennon Kesterson who outgraded him by about 400 (new) ECF points – held his own for a long time but a couple of mistakes leading to the loss of a pawn in the middlegame gave Kennon a superior position, which he duly converted (see Adam’s game analysis).
Thirsty work
In Round 6 we faced Hackney Thirsty. In-form Viktor gave us a third consecutive win by beating Dashiell Shaw with the black pieces on board 1. Unfortunately, FM Robert Eames was not going to comply and instead came armed with a powerful 14. ..Nh5 followed by 15. …b5 idea in the Benoni against poor Rajat, who found himself the sacrificial victim of a spectacular attack (as brilliantly analysed by Adam).
It was all over in 27 moves, so hats off to the veteran FM showing one of our most talented youngsters how it’s done! Shivam also had to yield to a much higher graded opponent who build on a successful opening resulting in a superior pawn structure and converted without problems.
Luca on board 4 tried in vain to give us the point that would have drawn the match, and at one point had a significant advantage on the clock – playing with 18 mins vs 1 min – however his opponent (a strong Polish player in his twenties, rated over 2000 in FIDE) played very well under time pressure and – in an equal position and no clear plan for either player – both players agreed to a draw and therefore a 1.5-2.5 defeat for Battersea.
While we are still looking for that elusive team win, our next two rounds will see us in a clash with two other teams fighting to stay in division 1: King’s Head and Hammersmith!
