One And A Half Out Of Two On Monday Evening

There were 2 matches at the Club last night. 

The 'A' team played Newcastle 'D' in Division 3 for the 2nd time in 6 days. We fared slightly better this time with a 2 - 2 draw. Kas steamrollered his opponent on board 4 very early on to record his 11th win of the season and put us into the lead. However,  the scores were soon levelled when new signing Bill Noble allowed himself to be mated on board 3. Rob played an excellent game on board 1 and had the advantage in the endgame but, unfortunately, lost on time - his first loss of the season. Ray then turned in a good performance on board 2 to gain the win that gave us a share of the points. We now sit joint 2nd in the table, along with Alsager 'B', 4 points behind Meir 'A' but with a match in hand. Click here to view the full match scorecard. This was the 'A' teams final game of 2014 but we start 2015 with a big match on 5th January against leaders Meir 'A'.

The 'B' team played their final match of 2014 against previously unbeaten Cheddleton 'H' and recorded an excellent 3 - 1 win to send us 2 points clear at the top of Division 4. Ernie and Robert both won their matches on boards 3 and 4 whilst myself and Neal drew our matches on boards 1 and 2. This was my 8th draw from 11 matches played this season - a statistic that the Finance Director refuses to let me forget !! The fact that I was playing an opponent graded 32 points higher than me seems to have eluded him. Neal should have won his game on board 2 after being 2 pawns up in the endgame. However, he overlooked a tactic that allowed his opponent to regain the pawns and he had to settle for the draw. Click here to view the full match scorecard.