Thursday 6 December 2012

Stockport 5.5 East Cheshire 0.5

The last time we met Stockport in the Charnley Cup we lost 6-0. Obviously our hard chess work in the years since has paid off as this time we only lost 5.5-0.5!

Here is how we get on against a ridiculously strong Stockport team:


1. A Reeve (199) 1-0 P Ramsey

This was painful. As White I went wrong on move 2! After 1. d4 d6 you should play 2. e4 to transpose to a Pirc or 2. Nf3 to stop 2. ... e5. After 2. c4 e5 Black is already posing problems for White. After 3. Nf3 e4 4. Ng5 f5 5. h4? h6 6. Nh3 Qxh4 I was a pawn down for little compensation. I made further strategical mistakes and ended up with nothing to do but wait for him to kill me on the Kingside. He took his time, enjoying the slow torture, and then killed me with a positional Queen sacrifice. I don't think I managed one threat in the whole game!

2. A Smith (199) 1-0 J Reed

On the Black side of a Ruy Lopez John held his own for most of the game, only getting into trouble in time trouble towards the end of the game and losing a pawn.

From John: "Dropped the draw in time trouble. Big centre battle had evened out but just couldn't calculate endgame quick enough and played a stupid move after 3 hours of effort. Had a slight plus for a lot of the game."

3. P Cawley (190) 1-0 T Rickards

Tudor's winning streak sadly came to an end. I didn't see much of this but Tudor has a few threats to Black's King at one point but Black's threats ultimately proved to be stronger.

4. P Siddall (175) 0.5-0.5 D Broadbent

Dave got our one draw of the night with a solid French Defence against a very strong opponent.

5. S Murray (178) 1-0 K Holton

Keven used his normal "bore draw" strategy to get a solid position against Stuart. He then missed a chance to get an advantage and lost a pawn when he miscalculated a combination.

6. R English (175) 1-0 P Bamford

Paul got a slightly cramped position out of the opening and lost a pawn. He stayed in the game though and made his opponent work for the win.

That's it for 2012.

Looking forward to a promotion push next year!