Evening Gazette Silver Queen

The first moves of the new season are always in the "Evening Gazette" Silver Queen competition which is a blitz tournament (10 minutes per player on the clock).  Eighteen hardy souls turned up at Lytham Ex-Serviceman's Club with the one aim of wresting the Silver Queen trophy from its long-standing holder, Brett Lund.  However, Brett did not appear so we were going to have a new Champion for 2008.

John Cooper and Paul Evans of Lytham and visitors Paul Isherwood (Poulton) and Martin Mitchell (Blackpool) would all have fancied their chances at the outset.  There were no surprises in round 1.  However, in round 2 Isherwood and Cooper drew their game while Evans and Mitchell went into round 4 with three wins each.  In an exciting game, Mitchell came out on top to become the clear leader going into round 5, half a point ahead of Isherwood.  These two were drawn together in round 5 and a battling draw ensued.  Both Isherwood and Mitchell won their final round games so Martin Mitchell became the Champion with 5½ out of 6.  Paul Isherwood, also unbeaten, finished second with 5 out of 6.