‘B’ Team Still Without A Win

The ‘B’ team are still without a win this season, but were desperately unlucky not to take all of the points against top of the table Crewe ‘C’ last night. Once again, Glyn got us off to a flyer on board 2, with an early win against one of our former Members, Julian Hawthorne. Jay looked to be cruising to a win on board 3, where he had a 2 pawn advantage in a Rook and 3 Pawns v Rook and Pawn endgame. Unfortunately, he then contrived to find the worst move on the board, blundering his Rook and the game. Dylan was next to finish, losing on board 4 and putting us 2-1 behind. Fortunately, Team Captain Chris Hankey was on top form on board 1, playing a brilliant endgame to level the scores at 2-2. Click here - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/117569 - to view the match score card.

Lucky Win For 'A' Team

The 'A' team were very fortunate to get a 2.5 - 1.5 win at Alsager on Tuesday evening. We were without Gerald Acey but Petru was back from Romania to take his place on board 2. Glyn got us off to a flying start with an early win on board 4. The other games lasted until well into the evening, with Petru being the next to finish on board 2, and losing in his first game since his return. That was followed by a great performace on board 1 by Alex, with a draw against FIDE Master, Jonathan Blackburn. That put the scores level and all eyes were on Kas on board 3. He was in a totally lost endgame, 2 pawns down and with his opponent having a pawn on the 7th rank, when his opponent blundered whilst in time trouble, and giving away a Rook for a Bishop. Kas quickly capitalised on this and, with his opponent's King trapped on the back rank, Kas had a forced mate a couple of moves later.  We are now just 2 points off the top of the table and with a game in hand. Next up is a home  mach against unbeaten Cheddleton 'A' on the 9th January, in what will be our toughest matchn to date. Hopefully Gerald will be available for this one as we will need to be able to field our strongest team. Click here for the match score card from Monday's match - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/117572.

There are 2 more matches for the Club before the Christmas break - the 'B' team are at home against top of the table Crewe 'C' in Division 2 next Monday 5th December, and the 'C' team are at home against Kidsgrove in Division 3 the following Monday 12th December.

Re-Arranged Match

The postponed match between Cheddleton 'B and Fenton 'B' has now been re-scheduled for Friday 13th January. Let's hope that's not ominous!!

Match Postponement

The ‘B’ team match at Cheddleton this Friday has been postponed at their request as it clashes with the England v USA World Cup match, which is a bit of a surprise as I didn't realise that Cheddleton had any players in the England team!!

'C' Team Slump At Home To Meir

The 'C' team went down by 4-2 at home against Meir last night, the first time we have lost a match against them since 2015. There was little between the two teams in terms of overall rating. They outrated us by 29 points over the 6 boards, which is negligible. A first league win for Gennady on board 6, along with draws on boards 2 and 5 for Jay and Matt, were all we could muster on a disappointing night, where we expected to do a lot better. Click here for the match score card - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/117560.

Macclesfield Mauled

The ‘A’ team had a terrific win last night, beating Macclesfield by 3.5 - 0.5, for our first win of the season in Division 1. There were wins for Gerald, Alex and Chris on boards 1,2 and 3, together with a draw for Glyn on board 4. Next up is an away match at Alsager ‘A’ on the 29th November. Click here to view last night’s match score card - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/117558.