Thursday 3 May 2018

ECB - League Champions!

We had our last match of the season last night against Chorlton B and we knew that we just needed to pick up one game point on the night (one win or 2 draws) to clinch the League 2 title.  Obviously, nothing could go wrong, could it? ..... well, as it happened Chorlton gave us a real run for our money.

Steve Tr  0  Dave Kierman (150)  1
This game ignited into life and became a really crazy affair and unfortunately Dave's runaway h pawn ended up winning the day.

Geoff B  1  Paul Harnett (138)  0
Geoff was up against the Englund Gambit and it seemed a fairly level game until his opponent kindly dropped a piece and Geoff was able to finish it off.

Paul  1/2  Daniel Otto (137)  1/2
I managed to get an attack in (a rarity this season) but my opponent defended well and I couldn't finish it off and had to settle for a draw.

David T  1/2  Phil Bennett (122)  1/2
David maintained his unbeaten record this season, although he was happy to take a draw in this one in what turned out to be an inferior position.

Tudor  1  Howard Hughes (120)  0
Tudor seemed to have the best of the opening but then went a pawn down and was offered a draw.  The game continued and Tudor then went on to find a swindle to claim the full point.  He's been our trump card this season on the lower boards winning an amazing 8.5 out of 9! 

Roy T  0  Joel Prittie (100)  1
Roy looked solid in this until late on when unfortunately he inadvertently lost a piece.

So we managed to draw the match 3 - 3 on the night and that's enough for us to win the title by a clear point.  A big thank you for everyone who turned out for us this season.  We're normally fighting against relegation so this season has been a pleasant change.  This is only the start of it of course and we just need to find a rich Arab benefactor and we'll take Division 1 by storm... !