Three wins and a near miss

East Cheshire A kept their promotion drive on track with a 3.5 - 2.5 victory at Altrincham.

Graham lost a game he could have won and Dave N won a game he should have lost so in the end the luck cancelled out and our strength showed.

1. John Reed 1-0 Y Kolodiy (160)

Is the Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation a forced win for White? John thinks so and here is more evidence. John bashed out his first 15 moves in about 5 minutes and ultimately had to apologise for knowing the opening so well. Kolodiy played actively but got ground down.

2. Graham Ball 0-1 K Lockett (159)

Graham appeared to have a slightly dodgy opening (too many pawn moves on the Kingside maybe?) but played actively and created some nasty threats. He appeared to be winning but then allowed Karl a mating attack.

3. Phil Ramsey 1-0 N Lowe (148)

I played a Reti / Catalan hybrid and Nick seemed rather unsure what to do against it. After 20 moves Nick had used nearly all his time and he then collapsed in the middlegame complications.

4. Dave Newall 1-0 R Clucas (UG)

Dave played his favourite Accelerated Dragon and got a very nice position from the opening with pressure on White's queenside pawns. However he then blundered a piece but still managed to win by pushing his central passed pawns.

5. Alan Stokes 0-1 T Tomkins (131)

Alan played a very patient English opening but finally lost his Queen and the game.

6. Dave Broadbent 0.5-0.5 D Hughes (130)

Dave played the French Defence and quickly assumed the initiative with a kingside attack. However David defended well and eventually managed to block off the whole board!

Thanks everyone for making the long trip to Altrincham.

ECA has a few weeks off now until we play Stockport C on March 17th.