Quite an eventful night! The choice of replacement captain did not
work out well at first: Tudor decided to do some pre-match warm-up
exercises (why? this was to be a game of chess, not a marathon) and went into
severe back-spasm. Keven and I called in, but it was clear we could not
lift him up the stairs in the Queens Arms (that sounds a bit strange!) so
arrived at Macc without him. The others turned up, even John, out of
breath from a hasty return from the other side of the Pennines, but Macclesfield
A-team did not seem to know we were coming, so those of the club who were not
playing Wilmslow in the Limit League eventually decided to sit down in grade
order and play us five. Result: 3-3 including the cunning Tudor ploy
of losing on the bottom board by default. Why cunning? Because we
did the right thing and defaulted on bottom board, we win this knockout game
since the score is modified by tearing off the bottom boards until a result
emerges – so we win 3:2 as follows:-
Macc
East Cheshire
1. P Cattermole (151) 0.5 0.5 G Brindle (167)
Geoff: Had a strong attack down the H-file
but allowed his advanced G-pawn to be taken giving check, which undermined his
attack and thwarted all his attempts to double rook and Q in time for
mate.
2. G Lawrence (149)
0 1 J Reed (168)
John: The master of the endgame triumphed via an elaborate and long
drawn-out zugzwang involving kings, bishops of the same colour and pawns (JR’s
sensibly not on squares the same colour as the bishops). When it was clear
he must gain a crucial pawn, his opponent sensibly gave up.
3. P Colville (140)
1 0 K Holton (141)
Keven: Found himself playing the French as black and it took too long
for him to sort out the combinations possible, losing on time as a result:
better stick to the Modern in future!
4. D Lobo
(139)
0.5 0.5 D R Taylor (135)
David: Feeling his age, played the move after the one he planned to
make, losing the en-prise knight he thought he’s moved to safety! Even so,
achieved at least parity with two passed pawns and a pin of the opposing knight
– might have won if he’d played on but was happy to get the draw when
offered.
5. A Brough (138)
0 1 N Flaherty
(121)
Nick: The star turn! Never looked in trouble or likely to lose,
calmly out-playing his higher-graded opponent to score the decisive victory
quite early on.
6. [ N
Other
1 0 Default
] board cancelled to prevent drawn match
Final
Score
2 3
Regards from the vice-vice-captain (DRT)
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