Fylde Individual Championship

Oleg Cukovs increased his lead over the rest of the field to one point.  It was no easy win against Steve Lamb who sacrificed a piece for three pawns but eventually lost the end game.

John Cooper versus George Ellison was another battle royal lasting sixty moves:  John had the upper hand but George recovered well to take a well earned draw.  Andy Jaques won his second successive game to take him up to joint second.

The only person who can stop Oleg from becoming the Fylde Champion is his club mate from Poulton, George Ellison.  In the event of George winning their could be a triple tie for the title.

Div A

Preston 2 v Lytham Ex 1  4½-½

A weakened Lytham team were unfortunate to meet an exceptionally strong Preston second string.  This result gave Preston 2 the Division A title albeit by half-a-point on board count.

Preston 1 v Blackpool 1  1-4

Although Preston were perfectly justified in claiming the match by default, their Captain, Brett Lund, sportingly agreed to postpone the match until a later date.  It sort of backfired for Brett but Preston 1 would still have finished runners-up with a score of 5-0 because of the half-point disadvantage on board count.

Blackpool exceeded all their expectations - Darry Wolstencroft on their top board inflicted one of the very few losses that Brett Lund has suffered.  Andy Jaques beat Bob Taylor, David Gillespie beat Ken Quinn and both Steve Lamb and Michael Parker drew.

Div B

Preston 3 v Lytham Ex 2  ½-3½

Lytham Ex fielded a stronger side than Preston and managed to win convincingly.  Andrew de Santos saved the whitewash for Preston by drawing against Lynn Morrison.

Div C

Bispham v Lytham Ex 5  2½-1½

A useful win for Bispham which keeps them in with a chance of finishing runners-up - but they have an uphill struggle in their last match of the season which is against the leaders, Lytham Ex 4.  Blaine McGrady has been a tower of strength for the Bispham side:  undefeated with four wins and five draws.

Lytham Ex 4 v Poulton 2  2½-1½

This win sees Lytham Ex 4 retaining the top spot.

Blackpool 3 v Poulton 3  2-2

Dennis Davies gave Blackpool the lead by beating promising James McConnachie of Poulton.  Team mates Charlotte Woods and Abigail Pritchard put Poutlon ahead, continuing their successful season.  Charlotte Woods beat Patrick Cregan, who recently scored 2½ out of 5 at the Blackpool Chess Congress.  Abigail Pritchard beat Anthony Withington, who is in his first season at Blackpool.  The match ended in a draw when Michael Parker beat Poulton Captain, Chris McConnachie.  Chris gave a spirited performance before losing the end game.