Thursday, November 20, 2014

First Loss Of Season For The 'A' Team

For the second match in succession we were without both Ray and Rob, this time against Newcastle 'C'. Even so, we should have got at least a point out of the match. With the score standing at 1.5 - 1.5 and only Kas's game on board 4 to finish we looked on course for a win. Kas was playing an ending with Queen, Bishop and Pawn against Queen and Knight. Despite several opportunities to exchange Queens he chose not to and, with both players down to about a minute on the clock, Kas blocked his King in with his own pieces and was mated, giving Newcastle the match by 2.5 - 1.5. This was Kas's first loss of the season. Mike also lost his first game of the season on board 2. Ernie played a nice sacrifice in his game on board 3 to score yet another win, while the Chief Executive held Martyn Harris to a draw on board 1. Click here to view the full match scorecard. The only thing going in our favour last night was that Meir 'A', who are just above us in the table, were beaten at bottom of the table Crewe Bishops, so we didn't lose any ground.