And so, after I spent the summer fretting over whether we had scored a Pyrrhic victory in winning the Second Division, here we are with 2/3 match points in the First Division! Who would have believed it?

Admittedly, the Imperial College squad was a pale shadow of their former giant-crushing self, with most of the best players having graduated. Plus only one player from IC arrived at the Hendon venue on time. But a win is a win, and if we can repeat the stats on the return visit... anything is possible!

Sreten G. is taking on the big guns after a long break and struggling not with the chess but with the quickplay finish - usually his strong point. Tomer Eden returned to the team last night with a solid win on the dark side of the French. I managed to hold on to all the pieces my opponent sacrificed against my king.

Gary Senior and Helge Hjort both won calm and collected endgames. Well done team!

ANR vs Fuller: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bf4 Bg7 4.e3 d6 5.h3 c6 6.Be2 O-O 7.O-O Nbd7 8.c4 Re8 9.Nc3 Qa5 10.a3 e5 (here white normally plays b4 or dxe5) 11.Bh2!? e4 12.b4 Qd8 13.Nd2 Nf8 14.Qc2 d5 (see diagram; here black is teetering, but 16...Ne8 should hold, so white should prefer b4-b5, or simply 15 Rfc1 with pressure) 15.cxd5 cxd5 16.Nb5 Re6 17.Rfc1 Rc6 18.Qb3 a6 19.Nc7 Ra7 20.b5 Rb6? (after this, Black is playing two rooks down!) 21.a4 a5 22.Ra2 g5 23.Rac2 Bxh3? (more from frustration than anything else) 24.gxh3 Qd7 25.Bf1 g4 26.h4 Ng6 27.Bg3 Qf5 28.Rc5 Rd6 29.b6 Ra6 30.Nxa6 Qh5 31.Rc8 Bf8 32.Bxd6 Qxh4 33.Bxf8 Nxf8 34.Qa3 Nd7 35.Rxf8 Kg7 36.Rcc8 Nf6 37.Qd6 1-0