A dramatic win at Altrincham: the victor explains ....

After a dramatic win away at Altrincham on 13th December '11, Edwin writes:
Finally after three matches I won my first game for East Cheshire and what a ripsnorter it turned out to be! Playing white and after a steady opening from both players, my gambit was to clear the diagonal so that I could capture his rook with my bishop. This involved a careful and extensive piece exchange disseminating the middle of the board to open up the channel. In response my opponent took my bishop with his queen allowing my queen to charge forward and reek havoc through his defenses. However once I was so far ahead, a little complacency crept in and I almost allowed myself to be mated after a careless move. In desperation to avoid check mate I lost both my rooks and ended up in an inferior position. Enter the end game, I had 3 pawns, 1 knight and 1 queen versus 5 pawns, 1 rook and 1 queen. After being perpetually checked and having pawns picked off, my opponent ran out of steam and I finally had a chance. I returned the salvo of constant checking bringing my knight into the game to assist the queen for the kill. A thoroughly enjoyable rollercoaster of a game. Victory at last!

C Team draws away vs Altrincham B

Andy Buckley (Captain) writes:

Alan on board one played a Q I D, lost a piece early on and was ground down.

Paul's game led to an all pawn finish and a draw was accepted.

Bill won on board 3 with a strong finish despite being a knight down.

Andy lost after a poor middle game left him three pawns down.

Edwin made sacrifice after sacrifice for position and a good win.

Scoresheet reads:
1. Callum McNulty 1, Alan Stokes 0
2. Pete Arland 1/2, Paul Bamford 1/2
3. Stephen Ward 0, Bill Tait 1,
4. Tom Hague 1, Andy Buckley 0,
5. John Roff 0, Edwin Cooke 1.
Total 2.5 2.5 (Draw)

Denton B 3 ECA 3

East Cheshire A earned its first point of the season on Wednesday night in a dynamic match against a relatively weak Denton team.

Dave T and I had a night to forget, losing with bad blunders, but Tudor and Keven had smooth wins to equalise the match for us.

1. K Ahmadi (155) 0.5-0.5 J Reed

John had to take on a stodgy Czech Benoni and managed to build an impressive pawn centre but his opponent created sufficient counterplay to draw the game.

2. D Boulden (146) 1-0 P Ramsey

I had a good opening and won a pawn but then got into time trouble. I played a combination that didn't work, panicked and allowed a mate in one! Not my finest hour.

3. D Holt (139) 0.5 - 0.5 D Newall

Dave N built up a winning attack but misplayed the execution of it and ended up a piece down for nothing. Fortunately Dave H offered a draw as he was about to lose on time.

4. P Boyd (123) 0-1 T Rickards

Tudor gradually outplayed his opponent in an even middlegame and built up a strong attack on his opponent's King which he finished in fine style.

5. D Taylor (114) 0-1 K Holton

Keven systematically turned the screw against his elderly opponent and eventually found a narrow path to victory.

6. D Cook (107) 1-0 D Taylor

David T won a pawn early on in a strange French Defence. However David's King's Rook was hemmed in the corner and, under some Queenside pressure, David blundered his other Rook.

We have a couple of months off now until 24th Jan when we are away to Macc. A.