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.