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.