ECA 5 Denton B 1

ECA made sure of their status as Division B also-rans with a convincing win over Denton B on Wednesday night.

Denton were rather distracted as they all got stuck in traffic on their way to our venue and one of their players did not turn up at all. Nevertheless we were missing our board 1 so we did well to produce such a good score.

Here is how it went.

1. Phil 1-0 D Toole (171)

I have to face David's Four Pawns Attack against my King's Indian and tried a risky sideline where Black does not move his e pawn. I allowed David to play e5 and it looked like I was getting crushed. However in time trouble he didn't spot the killer move and I was able to get at his King with my Queen and pick up a few pieces with check.

2. Dave N 1-0 Default

Dave N played 1. d4 with great panache and that was the end of that one.

3. Dave B 0-1 K Ahmadi (155)

Dave B was doing fine (as normal) after the opening but then had a hallucination and lost a piece. There was no way back after that.

4. Keven 1-0 P Boyd (123)

Adopting a solid "bore my opponent into a strategic blunder" strategy Keven gradually ground his opponent down with a smooth win. Karpov would have been proud.

5. David T 1-0 D Cook (107)

David T seemed to be without counterplay in a stodgy French defence but his opponent lost on time while looking for the winning move.

6. Paul 1-0 I Urwin (119)

Paul did his best to play a gambit but his opponent insisted that Paul won a pawn instead. Paul gradually consolidated his advantage and won more material.

Next A team match is away to Chorlton on Tue April the 3rd.

ECA 3.5 Stockport C 2.5

East Cheshire A team finally managed something that they haven't done for years - beat a Stockport team!

The night started off well with a very convincing win by Keven. After a defeat and three draws it all came down to my game. Fortunately my opponent played rather passively and I was able to bring home the bacon.

1. John Reed 0.5 - 0.5 Mark McNulty (145)

John had a dubious opening and had to struggle for a few hours to finally achieve a draw.

2. Phil Ramsey 1 - 0 Peter Taylor (141)

Playing against an Old Indian system I build up a strong pawn centre. However Peter managed to exploit some of the holes in front of my King and complicate things. Fortunately for me he played very unambitiously and I emerged from time trouble with a winning passed pawn.

3. Dave Broadbent 0.5 - 0.5 Peter King (137)

Dave again had a very strong opening and won a pawn in the middlegame. However he let his opponent win the pawn back and eventually a draw was agreed.

4. Keven Holton 1 - 0 Vic Rushworth (137)

Playing against the King's Indian Keven obtained a couple of advanced passed pawns in the centre of the board and then finished things off in fine style, checkmating his opponent.

5. David Taylor 0.5 - 0.5 Marc Jackson (130)

David seemed to be on the rocks after the opening as his opponent had a fearsome attack but David defended carefully and in the end had the better of a draw.

6. Paul Bamford 0 - 1 John Kelly (126)

Paul had a typical swashbuckling opening and ended up two pawns up but his opponent managed to win the exchange and then the endgame.

Next match in two weeks: at home to Denton B.

C Team vs Macclesfield C, Home and Away (Feb 2012)

The C Team has stayed mean by first losing at home to Macc C and then winning away six days later. Following the scoresheets and a few words from me are two accounts of epic games sent by Edwin and Andy W (thank you, Microsoft, for 'cut and paste'). Grades are ECF half-way where available; U/G = ungraded (Macc website).

East Cheshire C (Home) vs Macclesfield C, 15 February 2012

1. A Buckley (100) 0 R Pomeroy (140)1

2. I Vaughan (84) 0 R Murphy (135) 1

3. E Cooke (65 est) 1 D Mallinson (U/G) 0

4. Q Mohammed (52 est) 0 T Robson (74) 1

5. R Burrows (53) 0.5 A Howe (50) 0.5

Total East Cheshire C 1.5 Macclesfield C 3.5

Macclesfield C (Home) vs East Cheshire C (Away), 21 February 2012

1. Alan Sime (109) 0.5 Paul Bamford (134) 0.5

2. Tom Robson (74) 0 Andy Buckley (100) 1

3. David Styles (U/G) 1 Edwin Cooke (65 est) 0

4. Matthew Wade (U/G) 0 Andrew Walker (78)1

5. Angie Howe (50) 0 Roy Burrows (53) 1

Total Macclesfield C 1.5 East Cheshire C 3.5

Congratulations to both Roy and Andy W on their return to matchplay, with points.

Edwin writes:

Another swashbuckling affair from Mr Delmonte (tonight's personal pseudonym), proving there is actually more to life than oranges and tinned peaches.

A fairly standard opening left me in an unsatisfactory position where his king was neatly tucked away on the queen sideand mine was exposed in the middle. But hey! It was my go, time to light the touch paper! Since there was a lot of space, I tried to swap his bishop for a knight, thus living me the power of two bishops on the diagonals. I quickly followed this up by pushing his knights into defensive positions making them redundant before launching a salvo of heavily supported prawns to almost queen.
It worked! God knows how, but outside in the fresh air afterwards The Man From Delmonte, he says, "Yes!"

Definitely a food theme here - I like the heavily supported prawns: Ed.

Andy W writes:

Sure I felt nervous, it had been over 18 months since my last match win and only my second match of the season.

The kid facing me looked edgy in a cool kind of way. I sensed he was keen for some action and up for the fight.

1. I punched the clock and he opened 1.e4... confident and matter of fact. I licked my lips nervously, considered the Sicilian but played safe with ...e5. I pushed the button on the clock.
2. Without hesitation he

played 2.Bc4... and it was back to me. I sat and looked at the board for a good 2 minutes hoping the throb in my temples was going to subside. I retorted with a nice safe ...Nf6 (Berlin
defence) and pushed the time button.
The nerves were starting to ease.
3. He played 3.Bxf7+... with a confidence that sent my head into a spin.... what!! Another 3 minutes passed as I evaluated his gambit - this was new territory for me. What had I missed? I had no choice but to reply ...Kxf7 so losing the ability to castle and pushing my king off the back row... and I was already 5 minutes off the pace and feeling very vulnerable and not at all comforted by having a material advantage.

4. He played Nc3... which seemed a bit off beam to me as 4.Qf3... or 4.Nf3... would have put pressure on my exposed king. Still, feeling somewhat defensive in the face of such aggression I played ...c6 to block the advance of his knight.

5. Nf3... as expected and I played ...Bd6 to open my back row, develop the bishop and defend e5. Maybe ...d6 would have been better??

6. d4...Re8. I saw this as an opportunity to get the king behind the rook and also to strengthen my control of the centre An exchange follows:
7. Pxe5 ... Bxe5
8. Nxe5 ... Rxe5 to leave me reasonably in control of the centre with the rook out very early and pinning d4, and still with a material advantage... I was now starting to think 3.Bxf7+... was bluster on behalf of my opponent as I couldn't see any advantage to his gambit at this point.
9. Qf3 ... D5
10. 0-0 ... Kf8 I felt that my king was now safe and his unusual aggressive opening had come to nought.
11. With the king released from the pin he now made the error of Rd1... to bring pressure on d5
but my reply of ...Bg4 gave him something to think about as my bishop pinned his queen to his rook!
At this point I thought the game was turning in my favour and I now made up the time deficit.
12. Not wanting to back down, he played Qg3... to threaten the rook exchange. I declined with ...Nd7 so developing my pieces further.
13. Re1... moves his rook to safety and I made the decision to attack king's side and replied with ...Qe8
14. He's not beat yet and played Qf4... (I felt that Bf4 may have been better) I replied ...Qg6
15. g3... (?? I think f3 would have been better) ... Rf8 signals my firm commitment to the king's side attack 16. Qd2 ... Bh3 that'll be useful later!
17. b3 (??) ... Rf7
18. Ba3 (??) and then my attack commences with ...Nxe4
19. Nxe4 ... Rxe4 20. Rxe4 ... Qxe4 mate in 1 and he should have resigned at this point 21. f3 (??) ... Qxf3 22. Bb2 ... Qf1+ 23. Rxf1 ... Rxf1+ and mate.

So despite the shaky start, it was a tense game and I won through in the end....phew!

Altrincham A 2.5 ECA 3.5

At last, a win for the first team!

We slightly out-rated our opposition for a change and wins for Dave N and I saw us scrape to a 3.5-2.5 victory.

1. Y Kolodiy (178) 0.5-0.5 J Reed

Sadly for John his opponent did not play the Queen's Gambit but - obviously scarred by his previous defeat - tried a Benoni. John seemed to have a nice position with extra space and pressure against some weak pawns when Yaroslav unleashed a fearsome combination which ended in a drawn endgame.

2. K Lockett (169) 0-1 P Ramsey

Karl played his favourite English system and I was probably a bit hasty in pushing pawns on my Kingside and ended up with some hanging pawns in the centre. Karl allowed me to consolidate though and missed a couple of tricks in the middlegame which allowed me to win a piece.

3. R White (135) 0-1 D Newall

Dave's Bird's opening resulted in a strong Kingside attack which his opponent was unable to counter.

4. T Tomkins (130) 1-0 D Broadbent

Dave lost a piece early in the middlegame. He then won it back but at the expense of giving his opponent a winning attack.

5. D Hughes (134) 0.5-0.5 K Holton

Keven's Reti opening didn't seem to lead to any pressure and after a quiet game (unless I missed something) a draw was agreed.

6. R Clucas (127) 0.5-0.5 D Taylor

In a rather stodgy French Defence the pieces were swapped off and a draw agreed.

Our goal this season is to score points against Altrincham A and Denton B and finish mid-table so this was a job well done.

Our next first team match is Stockport C at home on Feb 29th.

Macclesfield A 4.5 - ECA 1.5

After the close match earlier in the season we were hoping for more excitement tonight but all we got was a gradual grind down against a strong Macc. team. At least we don't have to play them again this season!

1. D Risley (171) 0.5 - 0.5 J Reed

Playing against a Bogo-Indian John had the better of things and built up some useful Queenside pressure but Dave managed to exchange pieces for a draw.

2. D Lobo (153) 1 - 0 P Ramsey

In a topsy turvy game I started off better, then was losing and was finally easily winning. The problem was that we were in the allegro finish and my flag was about to fall. In a fluster I made a ridiculous move when I actually had a bit more time than I thought. Someone get me a digital clock for Christmas!

3. V Kumar (155) 0.5 - 0.5 D Newall

Dave played his favourite Colle / Birds system and gradually built up some Queenside pressure but Vijay managed to hold.

4. G Laurence (150) 0.5 - 0.5 D Broadbent

Dave played actively in the opening and had a very comfortable position but not enough to beat his solid opponent.

5. J-P Taylor (146) 1 - 0 P Bamford

Paul played a closed system against the Sicilian but his Kingside pawn pushes backfired as J-P ended up eating one of the Kingside pawns and winning the endgame.

6. P Cattermole (138) 1 - 0 S Howells

Sion played a positional gambit but didn't seem to have enough compensation for the pawn and was gradually ground down.

So not a very fun night for East Cheshire.

Next match is away to Altrincham on Feb 6th. Let's hope for some fireworks then!

EC C 3; Macc B 2

The C Team visited Macclesfield B and won by 3 to 2 this week, despite being outgraded on every board (very substantially on the lower boards: their average grade - 144). Special thanks to Edwin who stepped in at the last minute and won against a tough opponent. See his comments below.
G Laurence (150) 0, P Bamford 1
PWR Caulkett (148) 0, S Howells 1,
JP Taylor (146) 1, B Tait 0,
R Pomeroy (137) 1, I Vaughan 0,
PJ Colville (137) 0, E Cooke 1.
Edwin writes:
"Playing White on Board 5 and drafted in at the last minute to play, this game got off to a stolid start. I pushed my pawns down the right hand side seeking to gain an advantage leaving my king perilously unprotected.
This attack was thwarted but Black was pushed back into a tight space and failed to spot my deft switch of attack to the left flank. Here I constructed a devilish plan to force back his queen confining his pieces further. Unfortunately my opponent, Archimedes, mixed his metaphors and pulled his finger out of the dam allowing my troops to pour forward washing away any chance he had of avoiding defeat!"
Ian writes:
" My game, of the 1. e4, e5 variety, although lost was interesting, with tactics and potential counterplay right up until the last handful of moves."

Whitewashed by the 3Cs scholars from Oldham

3Cs visited on Wednesday 4 January 2012, and rather unsportingly have probably been practicing! Just as in the pound shop, there is no need to ask - it's 0-1.
Sion Howells v. Daniel Abbas
Andy Buckley v. Ahmed Abbas
Ian Vaughan v. Sam Hayman
Edwin Cooke v. Jack Mundy
Qasim Mohammed v. Robert McLean
Congratulations, 3Cs.