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Wanstead II won the toss and were white on odds.
Final score: London Deaf 6.5 – 3.5 Wanstead II
We got off to a good start when Richard Willson and I managed to dig out a bit more room with the tables and chairs we have. It seemed more comfortable than before. As for the match, on paper we were the favourites as we outgraded them on most boards. It went largely according to the script with one very noteworthy comment – we were indebted to the fantastic performance of our bottom 4 boards scoring 3.5/4.
On board 4, Neil scored a quick win using up only 6 minutes' of his own thinking time while he took advantage of his opponent's blunder of a piece. On board 1 Chris' opponent didn't turn up after 45 minutes so we were already 2–0 up. On board 2 I drew after not getting enough out of the opening. Richard W. on board 9 won comfortably and on board 6 Mike soon followed after with a comfortable draw. David Solomon on board 10 got off the mark with a draw after playing very well to get into a favourable position. Well done David – hopefully this will have given you plenty of confidence and go for a win next time!
While this must sound like we were heading for an easy match win, this wasn't the case when at around this point, on board 3 Phil and on board 5 Richard D. were both struggling with worse positions while Barry on board 7 and James on board 8's games were unclear. The dust settled within a few minutes as both James and Barry emerged from complications a piece up each and so won the match for us. On board 3 Phil understandably had enough of defending a much worse position than before and promptly resigned.
This leaves Richard D. on board 5's game adjourned. Earlier his game looked resignable 3 pawns down but he heroically fought back sniffing out every possible chance of counterplay. But afterwards Richard D. decided to resign the game without resumption.
Well done to everyone who played and contributed to this match win which establishes us half way up the table and we can feel very safe as far away as possible from the relegation zone! For the rest of the season we can now concentrate on finishing as high up the table as we can and look to improve on that position next season.
Alasdair MacLeod,
LDCC Captain
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