Battersea came away with a dominant win and a hard-fought draw after fielding two new sides in an El Chessico double-header against Hammersmith last night.
The two matches took place at the home of our old rival, the new London Mindsports Centre. It followed a last-minute postponement of the first leg, which was due to take place in Battersea last month.
The away side’s new all-female team run by Zoya Boozorginia marked their first outing with an excellent 2.5-2.5 draw against Hammersmith Women. Zoya won as did Djuna Tree on board 3.
Meanwhile, Battersea’s junior squad beat a Hammersmith side 10-6 in their 8-board encounter which saw two rapid games played with alternate colours.
Battersea dominated the lower boards where Giulio Bianne, Dylan Chopra, Paul-Hector Antoine and Aleks Blicharz all won. The scorecard is below:
Both clubs now head back to the Battersea Labour Club on March 8 for the second leg and the home side’s chance to capture the El Chessico.
In the London Chess League, there was another good result as Battersea 2 beat Lewisham 2 by 4.5-3.5. Anders Lundback, Tim Valentine and Tom Butterworth picked up the wins. Three more Battersea teams are in action tonight.
