Our Limit League side is now the C team

We stay in the same division of the Stockport Chess League

Marple C 3 - ECC 2 (Thurs 21st April)

Edwin's match was quick and bloody as ever, with him setting up an advanced position on the queenside and lobbing his h-pawn up the board to get at the enemy king, but it must have not worked as expected, with him finishing with a loss a while later.

Ian was looking in good shape, with some promising minor piece activity, but his opponent found a sudden bit of counterplay to pin Ian's queen to his king, and managed to swap off enough pieces before finally grabbing the queen so that Ian was forced to concede.

Geoff got a nice opening set-up but found the Chigorin Defence he was playing against just a little too solid to break down, and seeing his opponent's doubled pawns as too small an edge to work with, he agreed a draw, getting us off the mark.

Terry Cowling played the Albin Counter-gambit against me... one I apparently need to brush up on. For want of any more imaginative ideas, I grabbed the offered pawn and hoped to prove his counterplay wasn't enough. But eventually he won back the pawn, and my middle unconnected pawn looked vulnerable for a while, until I found way to wriggle it out of danger, but with no real prospects of a win, agreed a draw.

With that, we'd lost the match but on the remaining board were benefiting from the B-team's rotation policy, with Paul rested and reasonably fresh after the B-team's nailbiter of the previous night. Seeing his opponent's position looking a little rigid and crowded on the kingside, he pushed on on the queenside, getting a runner on the a-file and slowly dominating on that side of the board before finding a nice tactic to overcome some desperate defence and decisively get the little guy over the line - nicely done Paul.

At this point in the season we seem to be just getting edged in the tight matches, but having had a great run mid-season (4 wins from 5!) we've already improved on last year's wooden spoon with our final, very late game of the season still to come away to Altrincham a week on Tuesday.

Board    Marple C                               East Cheshire C

1       Terry Cowling (135)   0.5 - 0.5  Myles Heywood 

2       Jeff Barlow (117)           0 - 1      Paul Bamford

3       Neil Dainty (100)           1 - 0      Edwin Cooke

4       Toby Brown (106)          1 - 0      Ian Vaughan 

5       Trefor Thomas (88)    0.5 - 0.5   Geoff Smith

Result Marple C                3 -  2   East Cheshire C

Macclesfield C 3 - ECC 2 (Mon 11th April)

Heavily outranked on most boards we gave it a good shot!

1

Nick was in his match all the way but a pawn down made a minor mistake towards the end which cost him his game.

2

I sacrificed 2 pawns to rip open his castled king and had relentless pressure for most of the game, but my opponent did not falter. He spotted every trap and tactical switch which would have won me the game, avoiding several checkmate positions. Eventually he rode out the storm and I threw away a knight letting him win comfortably. I came very close to a win.

3

Keith played an even game before edging ahead for a well fought win.

4

After studying his opponent last time we played Macc Geoff was hoping to play the same player again. The initial line up was that he would not, but after we defaulted on board 5, David Mallinson dropped out on board 3 meaning the other 2 moved up a board and Geoff got his man. Sure enough his study paid off and he moved into a commanding position and a comfortable victory.

 

1 Marc Jouannet (129) 1 Nick Flaherty (113) 0

2 Mick Renshaw (128) 1 Edwin Cooke (102) 0

3 Tom Robson (109) 0 Keith Hodgson (95) 1

4 David Styles (87) 0 Goeff Smith (73) 1

5 Default 1-0

Score 3-2

 

ECC 2 - Macclesfield C 3 (Wed 17th Feb!)

Scores on the doors:
 
Paul Dasher Bamford 0 Marc Jouannet 1
Edwin The Fortunate 1 Mick Renshaw 0
Ian The Draw Tiger 1/2 Dave Mallinson 1/2
Keith The Draw Lion 1/2 Tom RObson 1/2
Geoff The Draw Not 0 David Styles 1
 
ECC 2 Macc C 3
 
 Early on we looked in a tight spot. Paul was doing okay on board 1 , as  
was I on board 2, with Ian and Keith looking slightly down on boards 3 and  
4 with Geoff even on board 5, it looked like a draw was probably. 

On Paul's board... I succumbed to the "Sniper - 
Botvinnik variation" - yes, that old chestnut.  My opponent  had used 4 
minutes on the clock and I had used an hour!  He knew the system well and 
has studied videos etc on it but told me afterwards that I was actually 
coming up with a fairly main line defence and was in with a shout, before I 
made a mistake..... 

After Paul succombed and with Geoff following shorlty after the outlook looked  
bleak, and there might be a possible whitewash on the cards. However Ian  
rallied to get in a drawing position and Keith grabbed a knight with ease  
taking a leading position and with me in the ascendancy we might get  
something.
 
I arrived late and was 5 mins down, not to worry I thought, then I saw my  
opponents - grade 128. Oh dear, I decided to play as tight as I could,  
defend and try to not make any mistakes. I played my current favoured "The  
Queens Sardines Gambit", where I start with a Queens Gambit then simply  
put as many pieces as I can into the square marked c1, c4, f1, f4. This  
has been working well this season. The game plodded on in a very dour  
manner, with my opponent adopting a Kings Indian Defence and slowly the  
game unfolded with the words of Mithrandir playing in my head at the exit  
of Moria, "Though shalt not pass!". I avoided any exchange of pieces  
keeping my pawn line intact and finally succumbed as my opponent swapped  
white bishops on move 12. By this time my knights had moved hobbit-like  
across to the right of the board and with little option to move his  
pieces, I sensed a building momentum. I raised my key and started to roll  
back the lid on my sardine tin (Farewell Tolkein, back to the tinned fish  
metaphor), exposing both my king and his king, but to my advantage I could  
quickly draft in support with my queen, rooks and remaining bishop. Things  
were looking good. He was on the toast ready to go under the grill, when  
in a move the Marquis De Laissez-Faire would have been proud of I gave my  
queen away.
 
Damn!
 
I was down, 2 rooks and a knight versus queen, rook and knight and equal  
pawns. I was surely done for! I played on hoping my position was strong  
enough and I might get a lucky fork to grab his queen. His prowess came to  
the fore and before long he had pinned my knight and was in a simple  
winning position. All I had left was subterfuge, I played my rook along  
the back row to the h file, it was checkmate if I had 2 consecutive moves,  
oh for such luxury! However, it worked, it diverted his attention, and  
instead of swiping my knight and rolling on to a comfortable win, he  
pushed his pawn to give him a way out of the check mate (that would never  
have been if he simply took my knight). I couldn't believe it, I had a  
chance, I pushed the rook to check, his king had only one move and there  
was now a serious danger he would either lose his bishop or queen and we  
could be level on points, but with me in a commanding position. He moved  
his king to the back row and I saw my chance, another shrewd check  
avoiding the obvious swap meant it was mate in one or two moves. My  
sardines on toast were done!

So I somehow managed to win and with Ian forcing/agreeing a draw  
for the team , the hope was Keith could press home his advantage and  
salvage a draw for the C team. In a tense finish and down on time, Keith  
managed a hard fought draw. Alas a 2-3 loss to Macc C  

EC C 2.5 - 2.5 Wilmslow (Wed 11th Nov)

Board    East Cheshire C                   Wilmslow

1       Bill Tait                    0 - 1     Kevin Moran  (160)

2       Myles Heywood    0.5 - 0.5  Colin Mills (147)

3       Paul Bamford           1 - 0      Christopher Guffogg (126)

4       Edwin Cooke            1 - 0      Michael Palmer (108)

5       Keith Hodgson         0 - 1      Robin Warhurst (103)

Result East Cheshire C 2.5 - 2.5   Wilmslow

Given we were outgraded on all boards, we were happy enough with a draw here, which continues our good run against Wilmslow having beaten them home and away last season.

Paul’s game finished first -  he got a heavy build-up of pressure on a central file, leading his opponent to make an error when needing to play very accurately to hold the position. Seeing his position about to cave in, Paul’s opponent resigned after not much hesitation.

My game was a topsy-turvy one and good fun – my opponent made a classic bishop sac on h2 which wasn’t fatal, but was tricky enough to deal with given g3 was the only place for my king to go and his knight was making a bit of a nuisance of itself. The best I could see was to respond in kind on h7, setting up a mate-in-one on the h-file which he opted to stave off with a 3-fold repetition.

After Edwin’s early–evening snooze lasted a little longer than intended, and was rudely interrupted by an anxious call from his captain at 7:35, his pre-match preparation strategy was proven to be entirely sound, with our well-rested and rejuvenated board 4 gaining a big space advantage out of the opening and using it well. He picked carefully his moment to swap off queens to give himself a positional edge in  the king and pawns endgame which proved decisive – well done Edwin.

Bill was heavily outgraded and battled gamely in one of those soul-destroying positions where the game seems to drift out of reach ever-so-slowly… and when his opponent managed to lodge a rook and both bishops on Bill’s 2^nd and 3^rd rank, it was curtains soon after.

Keith found himself the exchange up out of the opening but in a very open and dynamic position which his opponent ended up getting the better of.

Next match is the week after next against Sale, which on form should be another tight one…

Stockport C 2.5 - 2.5 EC C (Tues 6th Oct)

Board       Stockport C                            East Cheshire C

1       Marc Jackson   (131)  0.5 - 0.5    Bill Tait

2       John Kelly         (124)    0 - 1      Myles Heywood

3       Vic Rushworth (121)  0.5  - 0.5   Paul Bamford

4       Anthony Prime (102) 0.5  - 0.5    Keith Hodgson

5       Gareth Griffith (u/g?)  1   -   0      Duncan Chandley

Result   Stockport C             2.5 -  2.5  East Cheshire C

Some well-contested games in last week’s “local derby” with Stockport. 

Duncan was first to finish, his opponent getting the better of a game I didn’t manage to follow.

My game was next to finish, which made a nice change from last season’s habit of taking 2hrs 57 + for almost every game. My opponent made what seemed like a slightly suspect knight-for-pawn sacrifice in the middlegame to continue his initiative, though he did characteristically throw in the kitchen sink in the ensuing attack. With queens still on the board (albeit his was a little short of squares) I had to tread very carefully to prevent him building up in the centre to attack my uncastled king, but then the storm passed and I found a mating sequence.

Keith found quite a cute tactic in the middlegame with his rampant knights, giving up both to win his opponent’s queen, but his opponent found a clever way to shore up the position by getting interlocking pawn chains in such way that Keith’s only way to bash through was fraught with danger, with white’s doubled rooks ready to cause all sorts of mischief on the back two ranks, so Keith reluctantly but perhaps quite sensibly accepted a draw.

In quite an open position with his opponent eyeing up the h3 pawn and hoping to build up on the open g-file, Paul too took a draw, which also seemed like all that was there to be had.

And finally in Bill’s game…

I played White; after my e5, Black played the Lion defence with moves which don't vary whatever white plays e.g. Black played d6..Nf6..Nbd7..e5..Be7..O-O..

I think I should have attacked down the F file however I decided to attack down the C file which never took off. With the D file open Black got a N on f4 which was the only strong move either of us played! I drove it back and when Black made 4 consecutive single square Q moves I offered a draw with 10 mins remaining. Black readily accepted despite my feeling that Black had the stronger position.

Stockport C seem as strong as last season so a drawn match constitutes a pretty solid start to our season.

EC C 2 - Sale 3 (Wed 8th Apr)

Board

1  Bill Tait                        1/2 - 1/2 Vijay Kumar (142)

2  Kieran Newell                 1 - 0 Lionel Taylor (125) 

3  Geoff Clarke                   0 - 1 Peter Ning (120)

4  Ian Vaughan               1/2 - 1/2 Paul Gledhill (111)

5  Geoff Smith                    1 - 0   Andrew Parry (94)

Result  East Cheshire C    2 - 3   Sale

 

We had hopes of winning what was in effect the wooden spoon match but just came up short.

Geoff Smith’s opponent managed to get a fierce attack on his kingside-castled king whilst keeping Geoff’s defenders deflected, and in the end Geoff had only a choice of ways to get mated by white’s well-lined-up pieces.

Geoff C spotted that he had the opportunity to claim a draw by threefold repetition with his opponent a pawn up (with rook, pawn + minor piece also on each side) but with a powerful pin on his opponent’s bishop not seeming to be readily solvable, played on with hopes of winning it. But his opponent found a way to untangle his position and Geoff was soon on the defensive. In the end, the key feature seemed to be that his opponent’s pawn was on the 6^th rather than the 5^th rank and therefore in various lines not catchable in time…otherwise it seemed the position would still have been drawn. But then you can’t will them backwards sadly (I know I’ve tried).

Ian found himself a pawn down (4 v 3) with all pieces off the board but managed to get one of his 3 away from the rest of the action and so it eventually became a runner. Pawns promoted on consecutive moves, both without check, and his opponent agreed to a draw, still a pawn up but without the time to find a winning continuation.

In Bill’s game…

playing as Black it was a QGD and strangely I had no attacks to defend until the end. I exchanged my KB for his QN in the opening giving him doubled QBPs with no means of correcting his position. This allowed me to attack the backward QBP, his exposed QRP and then switch sides to attack his Kside castle. He managed to defend all this successfully and gained the initiative for a time against my exposed K. I dovetailed all the Ps (none were exchanged in the game) and with me reluctant to play my QNP forwards it was a drawn game with no other possibility of breaking the stalemate. This game had little excitement.

Kieran was disappointed to not be able to repeat the ‘Newell Mega-gambit’ from his only other game as white (inadvertently “sac” a bishop on move 6, somehow win anyway) as his opponent played a different first move, but when his opponent was tempted by a poisoned pawn in the middlegame, Kieran managed to win it back with another pawn and the momentum. Which was more than enough as Kieran closed it out without any fuss.

So we end up propping up Division 3, but end up still smiling and with the feeling we’ve got our money’s worth over the course of the season in the way of combative games and interesting positions. Our stand-out performer has been Kieran, who with an impressive 5 out of 6 mostly on board 2 may alas now have too high a grading to have a C-team future.

Cheers to all who played, and for next season we can prepare an assault on the giddy heights of mid-table!

Altrincham 5 - EC C 0 (Tue 31st Mar)

Board    Altrincham B    5     0  East Cheshire C 

1  Karl Lockett (142)      1     0  Bill Tait

2  Richard White (134)    1    0 Myles Heywood

3  Bill McCartney (137)  1    0 Geoff Clarke

4  Thomas Hague (104)  1     0  Edwin Cooke

5  Wayne Kranz (63)      1     0   Hartley Oldham

Result  Altrincham B    5     0  East Cheshire C

 

It looks a lot worse than it was! I would say that, wouldn’t I, but we were left slightly scratching our heads at the end as to how from 5 well-poised matches we scored not even a draw.

The general theme seemed to be that our opponents got what seemed an oh-so-slight edge and then converted very efficiently.

Geoff came closest, making mate threats before his opponent found a clever idea to turn the tables. Hartley and Edwin had no better luck – I wasn’t able to follow too much of their games though.

In Bill’s game against Karl Lockett…

to my e4, black played e3 with a QI type defence. I didn't have much difficulty but neither of us seemed to have the initiative - I certainly didn't. I did however try to push forward but neither side got over the half way line until the end game. All pieces swapped off however with his remaining N (5Ps each) he took my QRP. This resulted in his N becoming trapped by my K. (Interestingly this is the 3rd game this season against strong opposition where their N has become trapped in a corner.) In swapping Ns I regained the P however Black had the opposition resulting in a straightforward end game win for Black. No obvious advantage (until the end) in a lengthy game, so disappointing not to get a draw.

And as for me, as black in a King’s Indian defence my mistake was to allow white to build a little too easily and then bolster a fortress with a knight on d5. I tried to create counterplay, a little desperately, with h5, and swing my queen through the centre while white’s back was turned preparing a queenside attack, but with time short, didn’t find the now-essential best moves and the position caved in.

Wilmslow 2 - ECC 3 (Mon 16th Feb)

Board Wilmslow             2 - 3 East Cheshire C

1. Kevin Moran (152)       1-0 Myles

2. Colin Mills (154)           1-0 Paul

3. Robin Warhurst (105)   0-1 Kieran

4. Anthony Flynn (99)       0-1 Edwin

5. T Horrocks (89)           0-1 Geoff Smith

As in the home version of this fixture, we sneaked the win and in the same way, outgunned on the top 2 boards but managing 3 impressive wins on the other boards.

Geoff was first to finish, and in style thanks to a lethal N check discovering a B attack on his opponent’s Q .

Edwin found himself in a typically bonkers but fun-looking double-edged position with both players’ castled kings vulnerable in the middlegame thanks to a cleared h-file and both player’s defending fianchettoed bishop having been lost. Edwin always looked a half-move ahead though, leaving him a P up when it simplified to an endgame. Edwin declined the draw and pushed on, and got his man in the end.

Paul found himself as black in a relatively slow game, but though his opponent’s attack lumbered slightly, eventually it came crashing through and Paul resigned.

Kieran necessarily ceded a time advantage to his opponent having scrambled back from London that evening, and having lost a pawn early on, it didn’t look promising, but suddenly there was counterplay, the pawn was won back, and a tricky endgame was won.

Which meant my game wouldn’t influence the result and a good thing too. As white in a queen’s gambit, I didn’t deal well with my opponent’s response, following the wrong plan going into the middlegame leaving my bishop clumsily-placed on d3 and, as it turned out, short of escape squares in the event of a pawn storm by black. Having lost B for a P, it eventually reduced to a N + 2Ps v 3 Ps endgame which I couldn’t hold.

Having been rooted to the bottom of the table previously, we're now in a 4-way fight with Wilmslow and our final 2 opponents, Altrincham B and Sale, and could still finish 3rd of 6...

Macclesfield 3.5 - ECC 1.5 (Mon 19th Jan)

Board Macclesfield B 3.5-1.5 East Cheshire C

1. N. Evans (145) 1-0 B. Tait

2. D. Lobo (151) 0-1 K. Newell

3. A. Brough (144) 0.5-0.5 E. Cooke

4. M. Renshaw (140) 1-0 H. Oldham

5. M. Jouannet (121) 1-0 K. Hodgson

After the home leg of this fixture in December, we were under no illusions about the strength of the Macclesfield team, a little misplaced in our division given their strength on all boards. As such, a win and a draw and some combative games all round seemed a decent return. The big inexplicable blunder of the night was the team captain picking himself plus 5 others for a 5-board match (?!), and so sitting this one out, which did however mean I was able to follow some interesting games.

On board 3, Edwin's manoeuvrings left him with an extra pawn, doubled on the h-file though it was. In attempting to consolidate that gain, Edwin found his opponent gaining some activity and an early draw was agreed. With 20-20 hindsight, 14 f6! would have led to some interesting lines with perhaps a strong attack against black's injudiciously castled king, but then bridging a 45-point grading gap to have slightly the better of a draw was certainly not to be sniffed at!

Hartley found himself in a lively middlegame with queens swapped off and almost all minor pieces highly active for both players, but was always that annoying half-move behind and ended up elegantly checkmated by his opponent's knights, pawn and bishop.

In Bill's game: "I attacked on his K side castle losing 2 minor pieces to a R, however all my pieces were active. I couldn't break through despite a pinning a N on his K. His Ps just managed to keep me out and he deservedly won. No complaints."

Kieran confirmed himself as the form man of the C-team with another fine win. Already a piece up by the time I properly tuned into his game, Kieran built a commanding position, getting the stronger attack in front of slightly exposed kings and forcing through the necessary swap-offs to neutralise any counter-threats and convert the full point with minimal fuss.

Which meant that - improbably - a win for Keith on board 4 would have meant a drawn match. However, a slight miscalculation in a long and complex serious of swap-offs left Keith a bishop down, albeit a "bad" bishop, and with Keith slightly ahead and pushing on energetically in the race to queen a pawn. Eventually though, his opponent regrouped and covered the back rank and the game was up for Keith.

No cheap win on any board for Macclesfield B then, a creditable result in itself!

EC C 3 - Wilmslow 2 (Weds 14th Jan)

Board East Cheshire C       Wilmslow

1 Myles Heywood          0 - 1 Kevin Moran (152)

2 Kieran Newell             0 - 1 Colin Mills (154)

3 Keith Hodgson            1 - 0 Robin Warhurst (105)

4 Geoff Clarke                1 - 0 Anthony Flynn (99)

5 Ian Vaughan                1 - 0 Ashley Weinberg (79)

Result East Cheshire C 3   2  Wilmslow

Having been edged out in a few of our recent matches, finally it was our turn to win a close match, our maiden win of the season. Here's how it happened in the rough order in which the games finished...

On board 5, with Ian on white early trade-offs left knights versus bishops. Ian's knights were active, and in the end game helped to stop pawn promotion. An exasperated groan from his opponent told us Ian had got his man, with black resigning after a knight fork took his last piece. Geoff managed to get the win just after on board 4.

As for Keith on board 3:
I blundered at the very outset of my game losing my bishop without reply and thereafter was very much on the defensive throughout my middle game. However my strength lay in my trusted knight which in the end game managed to pin my opponents rook with a pinned check, and without reply I captured his rook without losing my knight. My pawns were well placed and advanced and the game thereafter turned to my advantage, with my opponent forced into an impossible position and then resigning. Blunders from us both,me at the beginning and my opponent at the end made for a great game to win!

And with that, we had won the match - a good job, as our positions on the top 2 boards began to slide. With time running out, Kieran looked to have turned the screw as black but missed a way for white's major pieces to invade his position, and once they got through it was curtains.

Having played a cautious opening as black and hoping to bounce back in the middlegame, I spent perhaps an hour slowly ganging up on white's lonely middle pawn and wondering whether or not I could take it. It transpired that I couldn't as having made the capture I became the target myself, and all manner of nasty pin threats followed with me quickly leaking material before becoming overrun.

This win lifts us off the bottom of the table and means that if we can repeat it in the return fixture in February, we might just stay there...

Stockport C 3 - ECC 2 (Tues 6th Jan)

1 Marc Jackson (135)   1 0  Paul Bamford

2 Vic Rushworth (132)  0 1  Myles Heywood

3 John Kelly (108)         0 1   Kieran Newell

4 Anthony Prime (112)  1 0   Ian Vaughan

5 Ian Anderson (99)       1 0   Geoff Smith

Result Stockport C      3 2  East Cheshire C

My game finished earliest - in a complex position with both sides attacking in front of slightly exposed kings, Vic allowed a knight fork to win the exchange, and on further inspection, a second exchange, and despite an injudiciously-timed swop-off of queens, I was able to crunch my pawns on in the end.

Ian found himself worse after a few moves - white maintained momentum well and didn't allow Ian any counterplay. In good form with 4 wins from 4 for the D-team, Geoff resisted stubbornly having found himself down a piece for much of the game but was worn down in the end.

Kieran came into this game having the previous weekend jointly won the Shropshire Congress Minor section with 4.5/5 and a performance of 159 - well done! This game didn't start so well with him losing a piece after 6 moves (oops!) but after his opponent allowed Kieran to take his h2 pawn, Kieran generated some momentum and with both queens very active and an open position ensuing, he got his checkmate in first. Well played, though I'm not sure that makes your bishop 'sac' a playable gambit Kieran ;)

That left just Paul's game to finish, though with his opponent having had the better of the opening, Paul sacrificed a pawn in a bid to free up his position... which worked for a while but then his opponent started generating threats on the 7th rank and it was game over.

Tantalisingly close to a first win of the season again, but we wouldn't have long to wait...

ECC 1 Macclesfield 4 (Weds 3rd Dec)

If Macclesfield A are a tough outfit, then their B team are even more misplaced in the 3rd Division. They are very strong with grades from 155 to 121. Their combined total was nearly 700!

Despite this the C team came very close to a draw! Roy and Geoff Smith were first to finish having fought bravely and giving their opponents lenghty matches. Geoff Clarke was cruising playing white, a piece ahead with a N posted on e6 supported by Ps on d5 and f5. Neither side could castle. Playing next to me I could see his opponent struggling to stay in it however he counter-attacked strongly and Geoff fell victim to a well worked checkmate.

I played against an opponent who started d4 and then Bg5....I don't know what that one is, however I played a Slav type defence and was never under any strong pressure. With both sides down to Ps and one R each a drawn position was reached.

Hartley, in his first match of the season, playing black went 2 Ps up and was very strong in the endgame, both sides with 1 B each. Both were down to their last 5 min and a draw was reached when the flags of both were ready to fall.

In the circumstances a good result.

Cheers Bill

Sale 2.5 ECC 2.5 (Mon 10th November)

A well-contested draw with some interesting individual games in Monday’s away game to Sale.

On board 3, Geoff seemed to be in decent shape, but then his opponent managed to swing round for a kingside attack, and with queen and knight suddenly bearing down on h2, Geoff was forced to resign.

On board 4, with the game moving towards a bishop-and-pawn endgame, Ian considered pushing on for a win for the good of the team, but without enough of an edge, a draw was agreed soon after.

Debuting for ECC on board 2, Kieran played a deceptively quiet opening as black before striking out with g5. Soon Kieran had a dangerous-looking pawn pushing on on both sides of the board, and even with some minor pieces still on the board, it was too many plates to keep spinning for his opponent, who resigned. Great stuff Kieran.

I was playing a previously strong but currently rusty opponent on board 1, who allowed me to win a pawn and the initiative a little cheaply in a QGA. I was able to build an attack on the f7 square with my knights active and so win further material, and though his suddenly well-coordinated pieces found a bit of worrying counterplay, I was able to swap off and force home my extra pawns in the end.

With the draw secured, this left Keith’s game still to finish. But his opponent had built a small advantage carefully and well throughout the game despite some obstinate defence from Keith, and in a Q+N v R+B+N position, with no easy way of getting some crucial piece co-ordination, his opponent’s queen starting mopping up pawns and advancing his own and Keith reluctantly resigned.

Well played all!

ECC 1 Altrincham 4 (Weds 5th November)

No shame last week in a reverse to an Altrincham team who played well and seem strong candidates to win the division this year (though I reserve the right to reuse that line for our next loss!)

On Board 4, Edwin seemed to be sliding gently towards a draw, but with no Hamlet moment materialising this time alas, a blunder at a critical point was terminal for him. In Ian’s game, without much apparent counterplay and two pawns down in a late middlegame, Ian made what seemed a slightly cheeky draw offer. His opponent refused, but Ian made serious inroads in the endgame, and his opponent breathed a huge sigh of relief as Ian finally had to resign.

In Keith’s game:

"An early swap off of queens forced by my opponent weakened my development and defences immediately and put me on the back foot. By this time I was one pawn down and struggling to develop my remaining pieces. His development of his two rooks and knight caused me all sorts of problems resulting in my knight being trapped alongside my king for which I had no answer with a potential mate looming. No choice but to resign. A good strong player which belied his current grading."

As ever, mine and Bill’s slightly more measured/plodding playing pace meant our games were last to finish.

My game ebbed and flowed, with an early queen swap off allowing me to gang up on and win a doubled pawn, from which point he got the better of the middle and endgame, and in the end, short on time and with his extra pawn on the 6^th rank, I was glad to put the handbrake on with a well-placed bishop and slink off with a draw.

Bill's opponent played a strong opening, and Bill chose to cede a pawn with a view to freeing up his slightly tangled position. His opponent won a piece but couldn't hang onto it, and with his opponent still in the ascendancy, Bill wriggled very nicely to come away with a draw.

Club re-opening

The Club will re-open for the 2014-2015 season on Wednesday 3rd September