First points on the board for the NLC, with a 3 – 3 draw at the Hurlingham Club. In a six board match, each side ended with 2 wins, two draws, and two losses. The draw gets the Libs off the mark (although not off the foot of the table). The start of the climb off the bottom?
Here’s what happened.
Board 1
Doctor Kirby had white against Gareth Pierce, a tough opponent. Black had pressure from the start and the Doctor held on until the very end, but in time trouble and material down had to concede.
Board 2
Mister Whiteley tackled board 2. He’s suffering a bit of a dip in form in HR matches, and this one continued the trend.
Board 3
The ever reliable Mister Chamberlain was, err, reliable, and quickly scored a solid half point.
Board 4
Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) is of late crunching through chess opponents as if they were mere junior counsel. Here’s another fine victory, no doubt helped by remembering to play 1…c5 first.
Board 5
Mister Widdicombe plays only two sorts of chess games: those in which he makes a series of mistakes and loses; and those in which he makes a series of mistakes and wins. This was of the latter variety, thankfully.
Board 6
Our Captain took up Board 6, and got a solid draw.
Dinner
The most important part of the evening, of course. The Hurlingham never disappoint, as the Garden Room is such a lovely place to play and to eat. Food, as always, was superb.
Well done chaps, feel like a parent whose child has graduated with honours.