Chorlton 3.5 East Cheshire A 2.5

Last night we put up a great fight against a strong Chorlton side and came close to a famous victory.

Paul lost early on and after three draws and a win from me it was all down to Dave's game. It looked like his opponent was going to run out of time but Dave made an illegal move and the extra two minutes awarded was enough for Philip to finish off the game and win the match.

1. Hope Mkhumba (184) 0.5 - 0.5 John Reed

John played a drawish version of the Four Pawns Attack against Hope's King's Indian and swapped off all the heavy pieces to share the points.

2. Chris Vassiliou (166) 0 - 1 Phil Ramsey

In another Four Pawns Attack against my King's Indian I played the same obscure sideline that I played against Toole recently and this time got a decent position. With us both in time trouble I played some speculative moves that were probably bad but put Chris under pressure and he eventually lost on time in a lost position.

3. John Horner (172) 0.5 - 0.5 David Taylor

David played a very solid Reti and snapped John's hand off when he offered a draw!

4. Philip Olbison (162) 1 - 0 Dave Broadbent

Dave once again won the opening and was several pawns up at the time control. Unfortunately Philip had a combination to win two pieces for a Rook and his bishops started to control the game. It looked like it would all end in a mad time scramble but the Dave played an illegal move and Philip had enough time to clean up.

From Dave:

Opening - French advance.

Terrific game v strong opponent (162) but wrong result. Phil Olbison was clearly uncomfortable with my opening. I won a pawn and there were lots of tactics in a complicated game. We were both in time trouble. I castled and immediately noticed he could then win my knight. I then turned the game around and 6 moves later was 3 pawns up and had him on the ropes! My move 36 seemed good just before the time control. However, he found a great reply with R*B to exchange his rook for 2 minor pieces. His minor pieces then took over but he was in serious

danger of losing on time. Unfortunately, I played an illegal move which gave him 2 extra minutes and rescued him. I was then in more time trouble and lost on time but by then he was in the better position.

I stayed until past 11pm with all the |Chorlton team looking at the game.

5. Richard Nurse (164) 0.5 - 0.5 Keven Holton

Keven played his "Bore Opponent" system as White and again got a good position with some positional pressure. However Richard did enough to hold the game.

From Keven:

I had the best of it and in analysis later he conceded I had all the chances but we played it out to a drawn N&P's ending in all scenarios.

6. Alan Beresford (150) 1 - 0 Paul Bamford

Paul's Modern Defence got squashed. Paul lost a couple of Queenside pawns early on and then could not stop Alan's Kingside attack.

We have a slightly easier match next week at home to Altrincham.