Wimbledon A 4 - Ealing A 3
: Created:04 Nov 2008 , byEaling need a favourable decision from the adjudicator to draw level with Wimbledon.
Opening fixtures in the Thames Valley league don't come much tougher than an away match at Wimbledon, champions in 2005-06. A really good contest developed and it was Ealing who took first blood when Rick McMichael won in twenty-three moves with the Black pieces.
However a rare tactical misjudgement by Simon Randall allowed Wimbledon to equalise the scores and the home side forged ahead with a win on board four. Sadly despite tremendous rearguard actions we went down on boards one and five but captain, Mike Lamb led the team by example to win his own game and at the end of Monday evening we trailed 4-2.
Because of a no-show on board six, Trevor Brugger sportingly stepped in for Wimbledon with a time deficit and this contributed to an error just before the time control and he resigned after looking at the position overnight with Fritz.
So it all comes down to an adjudication on board eight where our club stalwart, Syrym Shalabayev has a small advantage. Good enough to win? We shall see but the outcome is out of our control.