It’s not often that a chess club has two teams that get promoted in three days, but Battersea achieved this rare feat this week.
On Tuesday night the Central London League 2nd team, captained by Emil Todorow, gained promotion to the First Division of that League, with a particularly impressive draw against the first team of the prestigious Kings Head club fielding three players graded over 200, to seal the championship. Both teams had the same number of team wins and draws but Battersea had three more points scored by individual players during the course of the season, so they won the league.
This was shortly followed by more success, this time for the London League 3rd team, which only started this season, clinching promotion to the Third Division of that league on Thursday with a 5.5-2.5 win against fellow new boys Alfil.
The celebratory photo above shows captain Tim Wells, who is also a double bass player well known on the jazz scene, in the centre, surrounded by from left to right David Wigg, Arnold Hunt, Steve Barry and Malcolm Dancy, all regulars during the season.
Both teams will find themselves up against other Battersea teams in the higher Divisions in which they will be playing next season.
