Fenton put on a great performance in our Major Cup Final match against Crewe last night. Ray, who would have been playing on board 1, dropped out late on the morning of the match, leaving us struggling to find a team. However, find a team we did and, despite being outrated on every single board, and overall by almost 1200 points, we only lost by 3-2, and should actually have won the match.
We went into a 2-1 lead, following a terrific draw by Phil Smith on board 5 against an opponent rated almost 400 points higher and a draw by Steve on board 2 against an opponent rated over 170 points higher. This was followed by a great win for Glyn on board 1, once again, against a higher rated opponent. All eyes were then on boards 3 and 4. Derek, playing on board 4 was up against an old Fenton player, Julian Hawthorne, and looked to have great drawing chances until he blundered a Knight away and, ultimately, the game. Mycle, playing on board 3, was up against an opponent rated over 320 points higher and, after winning a Pawn, he exchanged a Rook for 2 Knights, followed by winning another Pawn. This left him in a totally won position, at which point he began to go badly wrong and had to give up material, leaving him in a lost endgame. A great shame because he had played incredibly well and a draw would have won us the match on board count.
Not a winning end to the season, but a match in which we performed far better than we could have expected, given the circumstances.
Click here for the match score card - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/140737.
We now look forward to the South Cheshire Shield - the Summer League organised by Alsager Chess Cub. Our opening match is next Thursday, when we are away against Kidsgrove.