ECB 2 - 4 Marple B

After 2 successive wins, we were faced with an under strength Marple B and had high hopes of making it 3 on the bounce.  Unfortunately Marple played much stronger than their grades, on all boards, and we got turned over.

David T  0 - 1  Chris Baker (134)

David seemed ok out of the opening but ended up losing a pawn and the exchange and couldn't find a way back

Keven  1/2  Terry Cowling (133)

Keven's drawn game became very tactical as he explains:
  "My game was a Philidor  Defence . Terry had worked through the lines with Alex Longson !!  I got a lot of pressure but wasted a lot of time fantasizing about winning combo’s that each agonisingly  had a single flaw. In the end, I opted to exchange down but overlooked the loss of my e4 pawn. However, I had sufficient play & pressure to win it back and had marginally the better position but probably not enough to win."

 Tudor  1/2  Tony Doust (107)

Tudor was a pawn up but when the queens came off Tony played a really good endgame and with opposite colour bishops a draw was agreed.

Bill  0 - 1  Toby Brown (100)

As seemed to be the nature of the night, Bill was up against an inspired opponent who played well above his grade.  In a Grand Prix Sicilian, it started to get tactical and with pins on both sides it was Toby who came out the better and netted an extra rook.

Paul  1/2  Neil Dainty (112)

I played a quiet line of the French and whilst it gave me a solid position it didn't really give me much else.

Nick  1/2  Trefor Thomas (100)

Nick had active pieces and applied pressure but his opponent defended well.  With only queens and pawns left a draw was agreed.

So, too many draws and no wins for us on the night.  We'll have another go next Tuesday away at Stockport B.