EC C 3 - Wilmslow 2 (Weds 14th Jan)

Board East Cheshire C       Wilmslow

1 Myles Heywood          0 - 1 Kevin Moran (152)

2 Kieran Newell             0 - 1 Colin Mills (154)

3 Keith Hodgson            1 - 0 Robin Warhurst (105)

4 Geoff Clarke                1 - 0 Anthony Flynn (99)

5 Ian Vaughan                1 - 0 Ashley Weinberg (79)

Result East Cheshire C 3   2  Wilmslow

Having been edged out in a few of our recent matches, finally it was our turn to win a close match, our maiden win of the season. Here's how it happened in the rough order in which the games finished...

On board 5, with Ian on white early trade-offs left knights versus bishops. Ian's knights were active, and in the end game helped to stop pawn promotion. An exasperated groan from his opponent told us Ian had got his man, with black resigning after a knight fork took his last piece. Geoff managed to get the win just after on board 4.

As for Keith on board 3:
I blundered at the very outset of my game losing my bishop without reply and thereafter was very much on the defensive throughout my middle game. However my strength lay in my trusted knight which in the end game managed to pin my opponents rook with a pinned check, and without reply I captured his rook without losing my knight. My pawns were well placed and advanced and the game thereafter turned to my advantage, with my opponent forced into an impossible position and then resigning. Blunders from us both,me at the beginning and my opponent at the end made for a great game to win!

And with that, we had won the match - a good job, as our positions on the top 2 boards began to slide. With time running out, Kieran looked to have turned the screw as black but missed a way for white's major pieces to invade his position, and once they got through it was curtains.

Having played a cautious opening as black and hoping to bounce back in the middlegame, I spent perhaps an hour slowly ganging up on white's lonely middle pawn and wondering whether or not I could take it. It transpired that I couldn't as having made the capture I became the target myself, and all manner of nasty pin threats followed with me quickly leaking material before becoming overrun.

This win lifts us off the bottom of the table and means that if we can repeat it in the return fixture in February, we might just stay there...