However our next match is at home to Holmes Chapel who tend not to play their strongest team out on their travels - therefore the season is not over yet! We still have every chance of staying up!
Tudor's view on last night's activities:
"On the positive side, Chauffeur Jim provided excellent limo service. No added fee for front seat bum warmer (recommended for all arthritis sufferers.
On the negative side, the gentlemen of Macclesfield put out a team strong enough to get back into the first division if it were to be relegated. Which, after this performance they won't be.
Steve uncharacteristically departed early. His mimed gesture suggested he had lost, or was going home to slit his throat.
The Brilliant Brindle shone again, providing 100% of our points. later he said modestly it was a dull stodgy game. He should be so lucky.
Keven concurred about his own stodgy game. Maybe preoccupied with stock market fluctuations or the fate of his garden sticklebacks, he fell into a comatose state and drifted to defeat.
Chauffeur Jim, as far as I could see, defended with the Celtic fortitude of the Welsh rugby team.
Glancing to my
left, I saw he had been handicapped with pieces far too small for the
size of board which made calculations tricky. Even so, he nearly grabbed
a win in a multiple blunderfest with a minute or so on each clock.
On board five, I felt unusually outplayed by my opponent. This season I have more often found ways of outplaying myself. In another trial of Larson's subtle 1 b3, I found a promising but dubious line looking like a Fromm gambit. A sacrifice take back control of the black squares seemed promising, but the 32 white squares did for me.
Then, in the last game to finish, Nick's bold plan of sacrificing a bishop for two pawns gradually turned into an ending in which Nick could have kept us waiting even longer, if he hadn't finally left a piece where it could be taken.
This was shortly after the lights fused and then came back on to dazzling effect. (Only a modest level of hyperbole in the telling)
So there we are. Opinions are split as to whether we should have a clean exit from the first division, or beg for an extension...
My opinion is split on whether I should persist with 1 b3, or try something less European, such as the English opening, or the Scotch game."
| Bd | Macclesfield B | Home | Away | East Cheshire A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gartside, Carl | 1 | 0 | Tranter, Steve |
| 2 | Soames, Anthony R | ½ | ½ | Brindle, Geoffrey |
| 3 | Davison, Colin FS | 1 | 0 | Holton, Keven R |
| 4 | Laurence, Geoff | 1 | 0 | McKie, Jim M |
| 5 | Cattermole, Philip J | 1 | 0 | Rickards, Tudor |
| 6 | Trier, Joachim | 1 | 0 | Flaherty, Nicholas C |
