ECC 0.5 - 4.5 Stockport C

Please see the report of last week's match from our on the spot reporter - Tudor.

Astonishing match by East Cheshire's Finest

East Cheshire gallant lads ran up against formidable opposition from the Stockport All. Stars recently. Your sports correspondent witnessed the battle.

For some time the match was evenly balanced. Then the players shook hands and started the clocks. It was then that the games began to swing in favour of the all stars.

At first, my attention wears grabbed by Edwin's game against  Gareth Griffiths,the Stockport Captain. From the start, this contest had an air of unreality about it.

 Gareth had an array devices to assist his play. These included special chess-player's yellow and red ear plugs, , and a tin of tasty looking gob-stoppers. 

The opening took on a surreal air, as Edwin began making incalculable gambit moves. I quickly lost the thread of the game, as each player found moves other than those I expected.  Pieces were moved in unanticipated fashion. Then, as I turned my attention to the other games, there was another flurry of activity, and Edwin was facing an irresistible attack from queen, two rooks, and a bishop all intent on doing terminal damage. Edwin's plan of keeping his king in the centre had backfired. "I made mistakes on moves 5 and 9" he told me. I confessed that I hadn't noticed them.

Meanwhile, things were hotting up on other boards. There was a particularly tactical battle going on between our captain Steve McCall  and Brian McGlone. The players chose all-out attack, with pawns flung forward against kings on opposite sides of the board. It began to look as if one move would end the contest. 

Steve appeared to have lost a piece, which forced him into an even more vicious attack. I thought it might succeed but it needed a tricky intermediate move. Steve ran out of time, and Stockport notched a second win.

Boards one and two were epic grandmaster battles. Paul wriggled against a vicious king side attack threatening a sacrificial win. Although that was avoided, the position had deteriorated fatally.

On board two, David Taylor excited his uncanny ability to suck the life out of his opponent's position. Move after move consolidated his own forces, pinning back Peter Taylor (no relation). The titanic encounter continued and for a fleeting moment there seemed the possibility of the game opening up. 

I turned to another close battle on board five. Dave Harris accumulated material advantages but his opponent refused to give up, and found a way of getting one piece back, with some sneaky chances of a perpetual, or even a cheapo checkmate. 

Meanwhile The other David had re clamped the position. Long after I left, the inevitable draw was agreed.  What's that chess saying about 'biting on granite?'p

The season seems to promise another one with more roller-coaster rides at the East Cheshire fun-fair

East Cheshire C  0.5 - 4.5 Stockport C

1	Bamford, Paul	0	1	Mason, Jeff
2	Taylor, David R	½	½	Taylor, Peter H
3	Cooke, Edwin	0	1	Griffiths, Gareth
4	McCall, Steve D	0	1	McGlone, Brian
5	Harris, David	0	1	Kelly, John