ECA 3.5 - 2.5 Macclesfield B

It was an epic battle last night in the crunch relegation dogfight against the only team in Division 1 who we have a realistic chance of beating.  It didn't start well for us though.

I was the first to finish.  I'd had the better of the opening and was in creative mode until I over egged it and it backfired badly losing a piece.  Tudor also started well, so much so that his opponent felt he had to execute a desperate piece sacrifice.  Unfortunately a few moves later this seemed inspired when Tudor succumbed to a deadly counter attack.

Meanwhile Geoff was a pawn up but his position looked awkward and was relieved when his opponent agreed a draw.  So, at the halfway stage we needed to win all of the remaining 3 games to bring home the bacon.  At this point that looked unlikely and even a draw might be pushing it.

Steve had an advantage in material, first a pawn then an exchange but then the position became very open with attacking chances on both sides.  Steve handled it well though and put together a decisive Q and N attack that finished things off.  John's game looked pretty even to the untrained eye (like mine!)  with his opponent having double R's on the open c file and an active Q but John had it all worked out and after a series of piece swapping he emerged 2 pawns up in a winning K and R ending.

This all meant that the match result was now all hanging on David's game.  By this time both players were very low on time but with David a pawn up and a minute better on the clock.  A draw offer came in which David may normally have been tempted to accept but in the interests of the team he soldiered on.  And in a very tense finish he played it well under pressure to force a resignation.  Well done David!

So we ended up winning a very exciting match and this rockets us off the bottom of the league.  Survival in Division 1 (if we want it!) is now pretty much in our own hands.

1 - 0  John v James Heppell (160)
1 - 0  Steve v John Paul Taylor (156)
1/2    Geoff v Phil Cattermole (151)
1 - 0  David T v Geoff Laurence (149)
0 - 1  Tudor v Phil Colville (140)
0 - 1  Paul v Joachim Trier (136)
3.5 - 2.5

East Cheshire New Year Social Evening on January 2nd 2018 

Our usual Christmas social is transformed to a New Year social! It will take place on Wednesday 2^nd January. The usual format will apply – please arrive with some food and/or drink to share by 7:30 so David can get us off and running with round 1 at 7:45, and there'll be the usual lengthy break in the middle to enjoy our combined food and drink and to chat.

As this is an unusual date for a social it would be helpful to get an idea of numbers attending so we can see in advance whether it will be successful: if you know you can’t attend you might like to let me know, similarly if you do intend to come. If you don’t yet know whether you will attend or not you might like to let me know when things become clear.

Holmes Chapel 5 - 1 ECA

We knew it would be tough against a strong Holmes Chapel team last night.... but just before 10.00  with 2 fantastic draws already agreed, and well in contention on other boards, it looked like we could actually get something from the match.  Alas, it was not to be.

Stuart Clarke (213)  1/2  John
John showed all his class to comfortably hold against his highly rated opponent.

Jon Blackburn (207)  1 - 0  Steve Tr
Steve plays the Dutch to win and sacrificed the exchange for 2 extra pawns in an exciting unbalanced game.  His opponent unfortunately got an initiative late on though and Steve ran out of time.

Patrick Bennett (176)  1 - 0  David T
As usual David proved hard to beat but just lost out in a pawn endgame.

John Turner (173)  1 - 0  Tudor
Tudor was last to finish and bravely dug in but eventually John's extra Qside pawns were decisive.

Mike Hancock (161)  1 - 0  Paul
I was in control of this one right from the opening and eventually set up a winning attack..... I'd seen the natural e-pawn push which was crushing but I bizarrely retreated my Q instead, which lost on the spot.  What an idiot.

Ian Bates (146)  1/2  Steve K
Many thanks to Steve for stepping in at the last moment and he did us proud.  He never looked in any trouble and was even up on time and earned a very credible draw.

Next up is Macclesfield A which also is no picnic.  The good news though is that Macc B have lost all their games and are joint bottom with us.  The relegation battle will start in the New Year!.

Macc 2 - 3 East Cheshire (Charnley)

David Taylor's report on last night's victorious result in the Charnley Cup at Macclesfield:

 

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)

Stockport A 5 - 1 ECA

It's never easy facing Stockport A and last night was no different - even though they were missing 4 or 5 of their other stars.  We got stuck in though and competed well and even managed to avoid the dreaded whitewash!  Brief highlights below, although I didn't see too much of the other games as I was too much under the cosh myself.

1 - 0  Allan Beardsworth (215) v John
John was up against Nigel Short's old school chum and had a go by pushing some pawns forward but unfortunately one of them got picked off and Allan then showed his technical ability.

1/2  Andy Reeve (203) v Geoff B
Man of the night Geoff soaked up some early pressure but was then able to equalize and was offered the draw.  Well done Geoff!  A great result.

1 - 0  Alan A Smith (194) v Keven
Kev seems to be enjoying life in Division 1 and plays with a smile on his face.  He got some early pressure in his game but unfortunately his opponent turned it around later on.

1/2  Mike Crowther (166) v Jim
Man of the night Jim (yes, there were at least 2 last night) did a great job against the always tricky City fan and produced an assured display for a solid result.

1 - 0  Mike Taylor (165) v Tudor
Tudor went the full distance and caused his usual problems but just got edged out in the end.

1 - 0  Mike Tunstall (156) v Paul
In an opposite castling game I was under pressure but managed to get double R's on the half open g file attacking his K.  With my other pieces well placed I thought I had some late counterplay before I blundered badly although I think I was losing anyway.

So, on a positive note this was our best result so far this season.  The only way is up.

A Team 0.5 - 5.5 Macclesfield A

Welcome back to Division 1 - a thumping defeat!

Our first match of the season saw us up against Macclesfield's A team who are a handy team.  After 2 hours of play though every board was being well contested and looked pretty even.  Unfortunately we just got edged out and, at the end, the result flattered Macclesfield somewhat.

John  0 - 1  Robert Shaw (200)
John had a decent game against his titled opponent but just fell short in the end.

Keven  0 - 1  Dave Risley (172)
Kev is useful with the white pieces and seemed in contention until he missed the dreaded backward diagonal tactic.

David T  0 - 1  Colin Davison (163)
In an exchange French, David made it difficult for his opponent as usual but just got picked off in the end.

Tudor  1/2  James Heppell (160)
Star man of the night was Tudor.  He had the better of this and was slightly ahead with the B pair in a minor piece ending.  When the draw offer came he was probably right to take it, particularly as he had been battling with British Gas all day over the dreaded annual boiler service.

Paul  0 - 1  Carl Gartside (157)
I had an edge out of the opening and had the initiative when I swapped off the Q's but unfortunately ended up losing when I ran out of time in a pretty drawn position.

Nick  0 - 1  John Paul Taylor (156)
After a solid opening by Nick this was a close game for a long time before he unfortunately lost a Qside pawn.  He made it difficult though and in an exciting time scramble where both players showed great calmness JP eventually managed to get over the line with an unstoppable pawn,

A disappointing result but we were certainly not outclassed......

D Team becomes the C team

Since we have only three teams this year our Limit League team has become the C team