Denton B 2 East Cheshire A 4

On Wednesday night East Cheshire A achieved the double over Denton B with a solid 4-2 victory. The games on the bottom three boards were close but steady victories on the top three boards ensured the match was ours.


1. T Hilton (134) 0-1 Phil

My rapid-fire opponent played the opening and early middlegame well, achieving a slight advantage as he had a Queenside pawn majority that could be pushed whereas my central pawn majority was harder to mobilise.

However he pushed his pawns too early, ending up with an isolated advanced pawn that I blockaded and captured. I then managed to push my central pawn, exposing his King decisively.

2. D Holt (143) 0-1 Dave N

David Holt got nothing with his closed system against Dave's Sicilian. Dave pushed his Queenside pawns, creating pressure and eventually winning a pawn. David Holt defended stubbornly but Dave managed to checkmate his opponent in the endgame.

3. J Ryan (132) 0-1 Lembit

Lembit avoided the normal stodgy French Defence positions by playing the Exchange Variation. He then castled Queenside to get an attack on his opponent's King. The attack didn't materialise but Lembit did manage to win the exchange which was enough to win the endgame easily.

4. H Lombardo (120) 0.5-0.5 Tudor

Despite playing the King's Indian Tudor didn't manage to achieve the complications that he loves and in the end had to accept a draw in an equal or slightly worse position.

5. I Urwin (130) 1-0 Paul

This was one crazy game. Paul misplayed the Danish Gambit, allowing his opponent a decisive material advantage. However his opponent didn't seem to want the material and kept developing pieces instead. For about ten moves Paul's Rook was stuck on a1 with a Black Pawn on b2 able to take it. However Paul's opponent was worried about opening up the long Black diagonal.

Eventually Paul got out of the opening two pieces down but with a strong attack. Unfortunately his opponent managed to exchange off some pieces and Paul had to resign when the fire of his attack went out.

6. D Cook (108) 0.5-0.5 Nick

Nick had a nice opening but got his White Bishop blocked in. This meant that when he gave up the exchange to have two Bishops he didn't have enough compensation. In the end his opponent was the exchange and two pawns up. However his opponent didn't think that 15 minutes on the clock was enough time to win the ending so offered a draw!

So ECA stay top of the league but Marple B now have 3 games in hand.

The final game of the season is away to Stockport B on Tuesday 23rd April.