Battersea’s first team have signaled they’re coming for Wood Green Chess Club’s kings of the London Chess League title after rounding off the club’s best finish in, it’s believed, 80 years.
With Battersea 2 already having secured promotion to the second tier and Battersea MI scooping the division 6 title, the club had already had a hugely impressive 2018/19 at all levels.
But in the first team’s final London League match of the season, a twice-rearranged fixture against King’s Head that took place weeks after the rest of the league had finished, Battersea 1 secured a historic second-placed finished.
The crucial match ended 7.5-2.5 to Battersea with wins for captain Midhun Unnikrishnan, CM Shreyas Royal, Kazi Rahman, Duncan Kerr and Tim Spanton. The result pushed Battersea above Richmond & Twickenham in the end-of-season table.
>> “Uncork the bubbly!” Read Tim Spanton’s blog post on it here
Not since World War Two broke out after the 1938/39 season and the league was suspended have Battersea finished higher, and we have no record of ever finishing in the runner’s up spot since then either.
Needless to say, finishing in the top spot has been out of the question for London League sides for many years with moneybags Wood Green dominating.
Wood Green Chess Club’s dominance
The giants of the division now hold the record for London League wins with 25, including a mind-boggling 17 on the trot.
Wood Green also inflicted Battersea 1’s only loss of the season in a memorable match in which the underdogs fielded a team of talented juniors.
However, next season Midhun’s Battersea 1 team hope to launch a serious challenge to Wood Green’s hegemony.
Captain Midhun was urged to make a bullish comment, but his spokesman said he “could not be reached”.
Battersea now has teams in the London League’s top two divisions for the first time in living memory, a third team in division 4 and teams in divisions 5 and 6. The club will also enter a second team in division 5 next season.
