Fylde Individual Championship

This part of the bulletin was provided by John Cooper.

Second round results:-
 
Steve Lamb (1)       0     John Cooper (1)        1
Oleg Cukovs (1)      0     David Andrews (1)    1
Doug Williams (1)   1     George Ellison (0.5)  0
Michael Parker(0.5)1     Phil Raynor (0)           0
Pat Coleman (0)      0     Leo Ainsworth (0)      1
Dennis Davies (0)    1    Les Hughes (0)           0
 
No draws this round, which is quite unusual. The big surprise, for most of us, will be David Andrews' win with Black against our reigning champion, Oleg Cukovs. Evidently David's Yorkshire grade is more accurate than his current BCF grading (126).
David shares the lead with me, after an uncharacteristic blunder by Steve Lamb, and Doug Williams whose recent form has been tremendous. Following his recent victory against Oleg in a league match, Doug has now beaten Poulton's other star player George Ellison. George, who had a fine result at the recent Preston Congress, is sure to come bouncing back.
The other 3 games followed the form-book. Pat Coleman's bishop was trapped by the in-form Leo Ainsworth and Pat was unable to hold Leo after that. Les Hughes showed stern resistance to Dennis Davies in a game lasting 54 moves and I thank Les for sending me the score of his game. I heard that the inclusion of a recent game on the league website has produced many "hits"; so if you think have had an interesting game send me a copy of the score so that it may be considered for publication on the website.
 
The draw for the Third round, which is to be completed by 10 February, is as follows:-
 
            WHITE                        BLACK
 
David Andrews (2)           Doug Williams (2)
John Cooper (2)               Michael Parker (1.5)
Oleg Cukovs (1)               Dennis Davies (1)
Leo Ainsworth (1)            Steve Lamb (1)
George Ellison (0.5)        Pat Coleman (0)
Phil Raynor (0)                 Les Hughes (0)

Div B

Lytham Ex 2 v Poulton 1  3-1

At the halfway stage, Lytham Ex 2 took a two point lead at the head of the table with a convincing win over last season's champions, Poulton 1.  Lytham's top boards excelled by winning both their games even though they were outgraded in both cases.  Doug Williams beat Oleg Cukovs and Leo Ainsworth beat George Ellison.  Lynn Morrison, outgraded by Simon Rogers, also won to give Lytham Ex 2 the full points.

Div C

Preston 3 v Lytham Ex 5  3-1

Preston 3 are running riot in Division C having won all their first five matches.

Poulton 2 v Bispham  2½-1½

Poulton 2 stay in contention with Preston as a result of this win over Bispham.  For Bispham, Blaine McGrady is still unbeaten after four outings.  For Poulton, 13 year old James McConnachie has won his last four games.  Dave Hartley has also been playing solidly with two wins and three draws out of his six games.

Div B      
Lytham Ex 2     Poulton 1
D. J. Williams 1 0 O. Cukovs
L. Ainsworth 1 0 D. G. Ellison
L. Morrison 1 0 S. Rogers
M. Wood 0 1 K. Gorman
3 1
Div C
Preston 3     Lytham Ex 5
G. Pennington 1 0 S. Willder
D. Ramsay 0 1 R. Lord
K. Quinn 1 0 A. Burdon
D. Skidmore 1 0 G. Robinson
3 1
Poulton 2     Bispham
G. Ball ½ ½ B. McGrady
D. Hartley ½ ½ P. Saxon
C. McConnachie ½ ½ R. Broxson
J. McConnachie 1 0 N. Thompson