ECB 5 - 1 Marple B

On a sweltering evening we managed to keep our cool last night and came up with some good finishing in a tense match.  The scoreline flattered us a bit and at one stage it looked like we were going to be lucky to draw the match at best.

John Reed  0  Andy Jenkins (140)  1
It can happen to the best of us.  An oversight by John let his opponent in for an unstoppable attack.

Geoff B  1  Terry Cowling (131)  0
Geoff got off to a flier and was 2 pawns up but then it became awkward and he had to give a pawn back before finishing it off.

Paul  1  David Preen (129)  0
In a tight game it looked like it was an even endgame but I managed to fix a weakness on his b pawn then come up with a tactic to force my a pawn through.

Keven  1  Chris Baker (126)  0
As usual Kev varied his opening and this Sicilian led to a very exciting game.  Kev was a pawn down but had more activity, particularly with his R's, and was eventually able able to sac a R on the h file to set up an unstoppable mate.

Jim  1  Tony Kay (124)  0
Jim also was a pawn down but had a strong "dragon" B.  He was later able to create an advanced passed pawn which caused his opponent to panic and Jim won easily at the end in a time scramble.

Tudor  1  Jeff Barlow (101)
Our secret weapon on board 6 gives us a 1 - 0 head start every match (no pressure on the next game Tudor!)  This time he created pressure and then struck with a N fork winning a Q.

So, we're sitting pretty at the top of the table and just need a draw from our last match to clinch the title - and if Altrincham drop any points in the meantime in their last 2 matches we've won anyway.

ECB 4.5 - 1.5 Macc C

We hosted bottom of the table Macclesfield C last night and this was a match we expected to win.  Having said that, they have picked up a few points from their last few matches and they didn't make it easy for us either.  Brief details:

John  1  Francis Moan (144)  0
This was the last to finish and Francis hung in there well until the pressure finally told and John picked up material late on.

Geoff B  1  Anthony Brough (140)  0
Geoff won a piece fairly early on and it counted in the end.

Paul  1/2  Joachim Trier (123)
I was a pawn up in a R + P ending but it got complicated (for me) and I had to settle for a draw.

Keven  1/2  Phil Caulkett (118)
Kev unleashed his pet opening and had some play before it fizzled out in to a middle game draw.

David T  1/2  Mick Renshaw (117)
Dependable David maintained his unbeaten record for the B's this season with another solid performance.

Tudor  1  Marc Jouannet (119)
Two attacking players slugged it out before Tudor found a winning attack against his tricky opponent for another good win.

This win sends us back to the top of the table and with just two games left it's all to play for.