A bit of a kerfuffle that left Battersea’s U125 team one down before the start of play meant last night’s must-win match was always going to be an uphill battle.
And so it proved as Hackney MI did Hackney Gorki, their club colleagues and our division 6 title rivals, a huge favour by securing a 2-2 draw.
It leaves us out of the race for top spot and unable to retain the title, although second is still within our grasp.
One of Gorki and Morley College, who still have each other to play, will now win the U125 division.
The evening started with apologies for a default on board 4 before the action started.
Your correspondent, on board 1, was the first to finish pulling off a nasty swindle to steal a win while the exchange down.
Genuinely, I felt bad about that but I had built up a nice advantage before making a stupid blunder so I did feel there was some justice in it.
On board 3 Gregg Hutchence had no such problems. He dominated his match, smashing through to trap his opponent’s queen.
Darius Zutautas was the last to finish. He was a rook down in a bishop + three pawns endgame and battled hard but couldn’t hold out for the half-point.
>> Click here to see the match card >>
Next up we take on Wanstead & Woodford at the Citadines on May 23 in our final game of the London League season.
