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We have played 4 matches in the 2025/2026 season before the Christmas Break. Division 2 is always going to be tough with a small squad and limited availability of our top players.

Herts CA : Herts League – Division 2
Monday 29th September 2025

Letchworth & Hitchin 2 Borehamwood

1 Mutton, Ian 1774 0-1 Rubeck, Jonathan 1917
2 Wright, Nigel 1761 1/2 Kent, Anthony R 1793
3 Woodhouse, Tom 1757 1-0 Sear, Kevin 1630
4 Stringer, Joseph 1732 1-0 O’Sullivan, Terry J 1488
5 Barnes, Jon P 1711 1/2 Garfield, Harvey 1485
[1747.0] [1662.6]
3-2

As shown above, we lost our first match of the season. Terry misjudged which rook to move, lost a pawn and had no counter play in a closed position
Draw for Harvey in equal position. Kevin had a fairly level position but got caught with a back rank pin. Jonathan had a strong game but lost material late on. He pushed a central pawn and his opponent misplayed blocking it, being short of time. Anthony had drawn first as black, but instead of 17…..Bxc and a drawn ending, 17….Qb5 was winning (attached position)

We had to default the fist match away to Bishops Stortford due to it being a Thursday and only one player available!

Herts CA : Herts League – Division 2
Tuesday 18th November 2025

Borehamwood Welwyn Hatfield 1

1 Rubeck, Jonathan 1917 1-0 Jones, Tibor T 1900
2 Kent, Anthony R 1793 1/2 Roderick, Andrew 1837
3 Sear, Kevin 1630 0-1 Gordonsmith, Roger H 1809
4 O’Sullivan, Terry J 1488 0-1 Faulkner, David J 1818
5 Cowan, Anthony 1000 0-1 Bombal, Paul 1000
[1565.6] [1672.8]
1.5-3.5

Another defeat as our lower boards were outgraded.

The battle on board 1

Herts CA : Herts League – Division 2
Monday 8th December 2025

Watford 1 Borehamwood

1 Liu, Jacob 1936 1-0 Simmons, Matthew 2097
2 Turnbull, Peter J 1592 1-0 Rubeck, Jonathan 1917
3 Davids, Ewan 1542 0-1 Kent, Anthony R 1793
4 Patel, Ananya 1502 0-1 Garfield, Harvey 1485
5 Kunz, Leandro 1354 0-1 O’Sullivan, Terry J 1488
[1585.2] [1756.0]
2-3

A win! They were weaker than usual, but it was pleasing to get off the mark.

We started by losing boards 1 and 2, with Jonathan’s opponent playing a double rook sacrifice. Harvey and Terry both won against good Juniors, with Harvey completing his attack with minimal time left.

Now 2-2, Anthony had managed to gain a pawn, and swapped off the queens and rooks to develop a pawn ending with 2 threats so his king could not stop them both.

Board 3 final position. White has just played c4 which will create 2 passed pawn threats which black cannot block.

After opening the season with a walkover and a win, now 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats. We have struggled too field our strongest team and sometimes even to get 5 players (thank you to all squad).

Away to Welwyn Hatfield 1 on 10th December. Proximity to Christmas meant only 4 players. Well done to Jonathan on Board 1

Board	Welwyn Hatfield 1	Result		Boreham Wood
1	Roderick, Andrew	1833	0-1	Rubeck, Jonathan	1913
2	Faulkner, David J	1810	1-0	Kent, Anthony R	1797
3	Mancini, Edoardo	1794	1-0	Sear, Kevin	1648
4	Sims, Tony J	1704	1-0	O’Sullivan, Terry J	1445
5	default		d-d	default
			3-1

January 7th home to Little Heath 2 – a creditable draw

Board	Boreham Wood		Little Heath 2
1	Simmons, Matthew	2105	0-1	Yu, Rock	2146
2	Rubeck, Jonathan	1913	1-0	Waterman, Howard J	1913
3	Kent, Anthony R	1797	0.5-0.5	Likeman, Martin	1909
4	Choudhury, Shakeel	1720	1-0	Smith, Andrew PE	1807
5	Sear, Kevin	1648	0-1	Yu, Robin	1663
			2.5-2.5

Good wins for Jonathan (photo below) and Shakeel. Anthony blundered a R for B exchange in the opening. but managed to get to a B+P v R ending, and a draw was agreed (computer also agreed) with time very short.

Tuesday 21st January at home – a defeat against Stevenage

Good win for Kevin on board 4 with 2 rooks on the 7th rank leading to checkmate. Terry reached a knight and pawn ending and was somewhat worse off. Fortunately his opponent did not find the best lines, so he obtained a good win. Not so good on top 3 boards where we were outgraded.

Next match away Monday 3rd February

Good wins for Jonathan and Kevin. Terry apparently blundered in a good position. Anthony misplayed a Sicilian and lost a R for N exchange early on. He than generated an open unbalanced game and managed to get a drawn position as time ran out (black in diagram below) . Last to finish Shakeel had a very symmetrical opening but his opponents 2 extra pawns were too strong despite opposite coloured bishops

Apologies – first post for a while. We continue to run 2 teams: Herts league Division 2, generally based on strongest available players; Herts and District league to give other players graded below 1900 some matches.

Our first Herts League match early October was a walkover against Bishops Stortford 2. Here is the result of the next match:

Herts League – Division 2 Tuesday 05-November-2024

Borehamwood Welwyn Hatfield 1
Board 1 : Simmons, Matthew 2105 1-0 Roderick, Andrew 1833
Board 2 : Rubeck, Jonathan 1913 1-0 Faulkner, David J 1810
Board 3 : Kent, Anthony R 1797 0-1 White, David 1809
Board 4 : Choudhury, Shakeel 1720 1-0 Cornish, Nicholas 1713
Board 5 : Sear, Kevin 1648 0-1 Mancini, Edoardo 1700
Average grade [ 1836.6] [1773.0]
Match Score : 3 – 2

We won the match OK, but no report, as my game on board 3 was last to finish and quite intense. As Black to play short of time, I went h3?? which loses. hxg would have drawn as black king can take g pawn and get over to the queen-side in time. C’est la vie.

New members welcome. Only meet in match nights to contain costs.

Despite again missing our top 2 players, we had a rather good evening:

Herts League – Division 2                                  
Monday 23-October-2023                                           

           St Albans 4                                     Borehamwood
Board  1 : Hotala, Grzegorz                    1812   0-1   Rubeck, Jonath               1973
Board  2 : Cross, Ian K                        1795   0-1   Kent, Anthony                 1806
Board  3 : Ball, Matthew P                     1758   0-1   Sear, Kevin                        1631
Board  4 : Shah, Nimish                        1750   1-0   Garfield, Harvey                1492
Board  5 : Baguley, John                       1729   0-1   O’Sullivan, Terry               1445
Match Score :                                      1 – 4

Our only player not to win was Harvey, who had a won position but got into time trouble . In the following position, the computer gives a mate in 7 if black plays 23…..Na3c check!

Good win for Jonathan in Board 1, Terry won after has opponent lost a piece, Kevin blundered in the opening but his opponent though for a long time and did not grab the sound piece advantage! Kevin won on time

Anthony’s game was a closed Stonewall with no pawns captured for the first 38 moves! Black has good pressure and white is running out good moves.

Our 2023 / 2024 Herts league campaign opened with an away fixture at Stevenage. Our top 2 boards dropped out on the day, but fortunately 2 replacement were available at short notice. We would be out graded on every board. 70 minutes plus 10 seconds per move, as per league rules.

Herts CA : Herts League – Division 2                                   
                                            Monday 16-October-2023                                           

            Stevenage 1                                     Borehamwood
Board  1 : Amato, Giampiero  (b)              2068   0-1   Rubeck, Jonathan    1973
Board  2 : Robinson, Dominic                   1883   1/2   Kent, Anthony R             1806
Board  3 : Reilly, Gerard                      1793   1-0   Sear, Kevin                        1631
Board  4 : Anigbo, Afamefuna                   1788   0-1   Williams, Stephen          1670
Board  5 : Rawlings, Stephen L                 1778   1-0   Garfield, Harvey               1492
 Match Score :                                    2.5 – 2.5

On Board 3, Kevin lost a rook which put us one down. Board 2 was a somewhat irregular Staunton Gambit. The match ended in a draw by repetition as black’s rook moved from g8 to g7 (and back again) and white’s Bishop from h7 to d3 (and back again). In fact, computer suggests that after 22.. Bd3, black should play 23…..h6. . Then 24. g3 is met by …Bf4!.with initiative

On Board 4, Steve won his opponents queen for a rook, bishop and pawn. After winning the bishop, he comfortably won the match. Harvey had a decent position with at least a draw on board 5, but the position went astray in time trouble. On Board 1, Black had 3 extra pawns in a Rook, opposite coloured Bishops and pawn ending. Jonathan manged to pull back to only one pawn down, but black with very little time and relying on the 10 second per move increment kept pressing for a win. Unfortunately, black boxed himself in a bit and missed that whites bishop move from c7 to f4 was actually checkmate.

Therefore the match was drawn!!

The long distance away match – 38 miles there and the same back – gave us our third win of the season

Herts CA : Herts League – Division 2   
 Thursday 02-March-2023                                            

           Bishops Stortford 2                             Borehamwood
Board  1 : Osiyemi, Lara                       1813   0-1   Simmons, Matthew             2171
Board  2 : Cowlin, Andrew                  1742   1/2   Rubeck, Jonathan               1880
Board  3 : Kerby, Nigel P                      1750   1/2   Kent, Anthony R                    1792
Board  4 : Hirst, Adam                         1649   0-1   Williams, Stephen                1666
Board  5 : Barnard, Thomas                1638   1-0   Sear, Kevin                         1646
  Match Score :                                     2 – 3

A draw on Board 1 and decent positions on most boards meant we were in a good place for most of the evening. Good wins for Matthew and Steve. Now have 3 wins and 5 defeats from 8 Matches.

Action on Board 1

Boards 4 and 5

2022/2023 has not been the easiest of seasons with a small squad and top player avaialability an issue. But we have picked up our second win (to go with 5 defeats….) against top of the table Stevenage and move of the foot of the table.

Herts CA : Herts League – Division 2                                 
                                           Tuesday 21-February-2023                                           

           Borehamwood                                     Stevenage 1
Board  1 : Simmons, Matthew      2171   1-0   Amato, Giampiero         2055
Board  2 : Raoof, Adam N               2091   1-0   Robinson, Dominic        1872
Board  3 : Rubeck, Jonathan        1880   1-0   Anigbo, Afamefuna      1801
Board  4 : Kent, Anthony R           1792   1/2   Maynard, Kenneth R     1861
Board  5 : Choudhury, Shakeel      1700   1/2   Rawlings, Stephen L     1764
Match Score :                                     4 – 1

No nice photos – just a diagram from an error strewn Vienna Gambit on board 4.

Black to move: Best is 9…..exf. However, Bxh?? was played but white missed f5 winng a piece,,,,

First Match of the season at home. Stronger on paper. What could go wrong?

Herts League – Division 2
Tuesday 18-October-2022 Welwyn White on odd boards

       Borehamwood                                     Welwyn Hatfield

Board 1 : Simmons, Matthew 2171 0-1 White, David 1840
Board 2 : Raoof, Adam N 2091 1/2 Gordonsmith, Roger H 1835
Board 3 : Rubeck, Jonathan 1880 1/2 Roderick, Andrew 1820
Board 4 : Kent, Anthony R 1792 1/2 Aldred, James H 1738
Board 5 : Williams, Stephen 1500 0-1 Fisher, Jim R 1711
Match Score : 1.5 – 3.5

First result was a draw on board 3. Anthony Kent played a gambit line versus the Caro Kann, which was declined, and a symetrical pawn tructure led to a draw. Adam could not break down his opponents French dame efence. Jim Fisher’s king side attack against Steve Williams, which left us needing a win on top board to tie the match. Unfortunately, Matthew was a pawn down and eventually lost the endgame.