Fylde Individual Championship

FYLDE  CHAMPIONSHIP 2006/7

FINAL REPORT

by John Cooper

Fifth round results

Congratulations to George Ellison on winning the Fylde Championship once again. I say “once again” because, according to our records, George has won it on 7 previous occasions since 1970.  His last Championship Title was almost 20 years ago, but it should be remembered that no championship was held in the 90s. George has maintained the form he showed as a joint winner of the Challengers Section of the Preston Congress last March and is a very worthy Fylde Champion...

Unfortunately, after the excitement of the 4^th Round, the 5^th Round proved to be an anti-climax.

Leo was due to play George in the “Clash of the Veterans” but personal circumstances made it impossible for him to fix a date for the match and he therefore felt obliged to concede it to George. I know that George was very reluctant to win in this way but Leo’s withdrawal left no alternative to me as Controller.

My own game with Doug Williams was played just before this and a win would have enabled me to join George on 4½. I had the better position after 20 moves with attacking chances on both wings. Doug defended skilfully, forcing exchanges, and we adjourned with King, Knight and 5 pawns each in a position where neither side could force a win.

Paul Evans has given me a very full account of his game against Abigail and tells me that she played a really outstanding game and had several winning opportunities. There was plenty of attacking chess despite mistakes on both sides. Abigail has played well in this Championship against some of the strongest players in the Fylde and shows tremendous potential.  She is also awarded the title of Fylde Junior Champion on the strength of her performance in this competition (PR).

Another Poulton player, Ian Wright, has made a strong championship debut and signed off with a draw after over 100 moves against the much more experienced Michael Parker! A win against Pat Coleman has enabled Jon Wright to achieve a very creditable 50% score in his first appearance in the Championship for many years. Another Blackpool success came with Dennis Davies’ win against Les Hughes.

I regret that the game between Phil and Oleg has not been played and I have had to record a 0-0 result under Rule 4.

Challenge Cup Semi-Final

Lytham Ex v Preston  3½-4½

Lytham faced a tough assignment as Preston outgraded them on every board.  Heavily outgraded in some cases.  However, Lytham did surprisingly well losing by only the narrowest of margins.  After his remarkable performance in both League and Cup matches, Doug Williams had a rough time against Bob Taylor and lost.  Phil Copeland was the first to lose against the steady Cliff Rutlidge.  On top board, Lytham's John Cooper took an advantage of an error by Malcolm Peacock in order to snatch a draw.  As for Lytham's three wins:  Lynne Morrison played skilfully in order to win against Andrew de Santos.  John Regan beat much higher graded opposition.  Leo Ainsworth really excelled to win against Phil Taylor with a fine attack on the Black king.