Lee Bullock having cruised to a win and Bob Neame battling, but going down, the match went into extra time. New signing Carlos Cortes Castillo played a great game, all pieces and pawns being involved, with chances for both sides. A complex ending was eventually drawn. Following on from his Houdini like [ the illusionist not the chess engine ed.] performance against DHS Mark Rivlin fought a tenacious rearguard action on Board 1.He has tightened up his back 4 and early doors parked the team bus in the heart of his defence.

Our bottom boards punched above their weight to make up for the top boards' meagre performance. Hackney ran out 4.5 - 3.5 victors. We move on to 5.5/7 and first place in the league albeit with 2 extra matches played.

Alecos Ethelontis 200 0 - 1 206 Bob Eames
Tryfon Gavriel 197 1 - 0 201 Adrian Casillas
Phil Makepeace 194 1 - 0 187 John Reid
Charlie Fry 193 1 - 0 Daniel Wakeham
Chris Russell 187 0 - 1 179 Francis Chin
Yaro Orishko 182 ½ - ½ 178 Mike Tasker
Xi-Yang Guo 181 0 - 1 164 Emyr Jones
Ostap Orishko 0 - 1 162 Jon Tennyson

We beat a strong Wood Green team today 4-1. I did my duty as captain and won the toss so we had 3 whites which we won. We drew both blacks. Pepe deserves special mention because despite quickly achieving a lost position he battled on for another 4 hours to be the last to finish with a draw in his pocket.

Jochen Wittmann 1-0 Cengiz Hasman
John Reid 1/2 David Cutmore
Frank Chin 1-0 Martin Cutmore
Pepe Vives 1/2 Vincent Sagues
Robin Oakley 1-0 Dervish Kiamil

Come on the Hackney!

We won the match 7-1. Come on the Hackney!

Simon Ansell 1/2 Peter Batchelor
Abimbola Adelaja 1-0 Milos Gaj
Adrian Casillas 1-0 Ajoy Solomon
John Reid 1-0 Anthony Fulton
Emyr Jones 1-0 Guy Batchelor
Peter Burgoyne 1/2 - Keith Jones
WALKOVER 1-0 DEFAULT
WALKOVER 1-0 DEFAULT

An ashen-faced player manager Mark Rivlin cut a forlorn figure as he bravely faced up to the Sky Sports cameras following Hackney 3's mauling by the students at Imperial College in London League Div 4. Said Rivlin: "We weren't at the races tonight. After Lee Bullock got mated the house collapsed like a deck of cards. It's just not good enough.

Hackney’s team had a successful weekend on 14 and 15 January in Rounds 3 and 4 of the 4 NCL Division 3 South. We won both matches by 4-2, and are now on 6 points out of 8, in a group of 8 teams sharing 4th-11th place. In true Rivlinesque style, however, I am taking each game as it comes and do not want to encourage talk of promotion. The season is a marathon, not a sprint.

Hackney 3's recent run of good form in London League Division 4 was brought down to earth by London Deaf. With three adjournments we stand 0-5; Peter Burgoyne, Chriss Gribben and Paul Murphy hope to win their adjourned games to save face for beleaguered captain Mark Rivlin who told Sky Sports: "To say I'm disappointed would be an understatement. We weren't at the races today; I put it down to myself and three other players being caught by the Paparazzi coming out of Dougie's nightclub on the Lower Clapton Road."

We went down 5-3 in the Middlesex League Division 1 at Willesden and are now on 3/4. We were black on odd boards.

John Reid, 187 1-0 Dominic Foord, 188
Nick Walker, 191 1/2 P Batchelor, 188
Frank Chin, 179 0-1 M Gaj FIDE 2005
Mike Tasker, 178 1/2 A Solomon, 169
Emyr Jones, 164 0-1 A Fulton, 165
Terry Donnelly, 164 1/2 G Batchelor, 164
Jon Tennyson, 162 1/2 V Hernandez, 158
Peter Burgoyne, 142 0-1 K Jones, 140

Hackney pipped past the post last night at The Prince with a 4.5 - 3.5 win:

Simon Ansell, 213 1-0 Alecos Ethelontis, 200
Bob Eames, 206 1-0 Chris Russell, 187
Bola Adelaja, 209 1-0 Fiona Steil-Anton, 180
Jerry Bloom, 190 1/2 Phil Makepeace, 194
John Reid, 187 1-0 Yaroslav Orishko, 182
Kevin Bowmer, 182 0-1 Joel Bird
Mike Tasker, 178 0-1 Xi-Yang Guo, 181
Emyr Jones, 164 0-1 Graeme Jenkins, 171

The old Hackney spirit of fight was in full force in a brave showing against a higher graded Metropolitan in our latest London League Div 4 encounter. Solid draws by Mark Rivlin and Gerald Howgate were backed up by interesting adjournments for Shaun and Maria Tracey and Peter Burgoyne. Matthias Lataille, Jack Morgan and debutant Chris Gribben battled hard, each eventually losing. Special mention for Chris who almost turned round a completely lost position into an unlikely draw. Captain Mark Rivlin told Sky Sports after the game: "I'm proud of the lads (and Maria).