Rapidplay Cup

There were no surprises in round 1.

Poulton 1 v Blackpool 2  2½ - 5½

There was no handicap involved since both teams were almost the same strength.  The Blackpool side adapted themselves to the quickplay system better than Poulton.  For Blackpool, Paul Evans and Jon Wright comprehensively outplayed Oleg Cukovs and Ian Wright.  Ken Gorman (Poulton) and Dennis Davies (Blackpool) were evenly matched, winning a game each.  George Ellison (Poulton) versus Michael Parker (Blackpool) - a draw was agreed in their first game as both players were short of time in a complicated position.  In their second game, Michael Parker unwisely played a variation which caused him problems and the threat of the flag falling on his clock left him with insufficient time to guard against the numerous threats that George was creating.  

Lytham Ex 1 v Bispham  8-0

Lytham vastly outgraded Bispham - Lytham included Peter Jowett (graded 187!) who made a welcome return after a three year absence.  Under the terms of the handicapping system Lytham needed to win 6½ - 1½.  The match was not as one sided as the score suggests and Lytham's captain, John Cooper, had a couple of tough games on board 2.  Ron Broxson might well have drawn the second of the two games but blundered in the closing stages.

Blackpool 1 v Lytham Ex 2  8-0

Vastly outgraded on all boards, Lytham could not cope with the experience of their opponents.

Div A

Preston 2 v Preston 1  1 - 4

Div B

Lytham Ex 2 v Preston 3  3½ - ½

Lytham's Doug Williams blotted Geoff Penningon's excellent record over two seasons, winning material in the middle game:  Doug Williams is graded 40 points higher than Geoff so there was no disgrace in this loss.  Preston's Thomas Fielding missed spotting a draw in a rook and pawn ending against Phil Raynor.

Blackpool 2 v Poulton 1  1½ - 2½

Poulton slightly outgraded Blackpool.  The outstanding performance was from Poulton's captain, Simon Rogers, who beat Neil Coward.