The 'A' team travelled to Crewe on Wednesday evening, where a win against 2nd placed Crewe 'A' would have taken us to the top of the table. We outrated Crewe on 3 of the 4 boards, so had high hopes of winning the match. Unfortunately, these matches don't always turn out the way you hope or expect, and this was one of those nights.
Petru made a mistake early in his game on board 3 and succumbed to a loss against his highly rated young opponent. Gerald was unable to make any headway in his game on board 2 and it petered out into a draw. Next to finish was Chris Hankey on board 4. Both he and his opponent had 2 Rooks in attacking positions and the draw was agreed as the likely outcome was going to be a perpetual check. That left us relying on Alex on board 1 to pull something out of the fire. Unfortunately, he was in a losing position and, with both players on less than 10 seconds remaining, his flag fell, giving Crewe the win. Congratulations to Crewe, who now move to the top of the table.
Next up for the 'A' team is another trip to Crewe on the 8th February, when we take on 2nd placed Crewe 'B', in what will be another tough match.
Click here for the match score card for Wednesday evening - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/117588.