A hard fought match. Robert Hanson forcing stalemate as both clocks hung: a piece and 2 pawns down.
An amazing result. This was Lytham's 1st victory in Div A since 2006/7 season. Preston were not at full strength, missing Brett Lund and Peter Jowett, but still outgraded Lytham on all but one board. New members Paul Evans and Colin Liddle both won with Black v strong opponents. Stalwarts Leo Ainsworth and Phil Raynor outplayed their opponents. John Cooper sacrificed a pawn to reach a strong position v Malcolm Peacock but in mutual time trouble Malcolm returned the pawn and created some unanswerable threats.
This was a close match despite the final score, with games on boards 1 and 4 ultimately deciding the outcome.
Preston were not fazed by having to play in the bar and pulled off a good win despite the distractions. Peter James managed Blackpool's only win on time in a level end game despite being behind earlier in the game. Dennis Davies accepted a draw from Darren Lambourne in what looked to be a losing position. Jon Wright and Neil Coward both lost. Jon blundered from a good position allowing Chris to win a pawn and post a rook on the 7th rank - forcing an easy win. On board one, Tom won a pawn in the opening, before grabbing two more in the middle game. Despite defiant efforts by Neil to save the game, Tom held on to his advantage leading to an easy end game.
Blackpool win
Poulton 3 needed to take 3 games to win this match. Jordan Lewis performed well against Michael Thistlewood, but Lytham 2 held the other boards to take the win.
The respective grades of the two sides were 496 for Lytham Ex 1 and 293 for Bispham meaning that Lytham Ex needed to win by 6.5-1.5. In the first leg Lytham Ex gave away two vital points on top and bottom boards conceding the match to Bispham. The 4-0 win in the second leg was something of a consolation but it was Bispham's night. Abigail Pritchard and Colin Liddle played well on the middle boards for Lytham, never looking like they were in any trouble. Performance of the night must go to Peter Wallace who played a fine king side attack in the Sicilian to win a piece - Phil Raynor managed to create a threatening passed pawn in the ending but the flag fell on his clock in a position that was still precarious.
| Board | Morecambe | Preston 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charleshouse, Glenn L | 1 - 0 | Pidcock, Alan |
| 2 | Lyth, John D | 1 - 0 | Taylor, Phillip J |
| 3 | Heald, Carl | 0 - 1 | Rutlidge, Cliff H |
| 4 | Blade, Norman T | 0 - 1 | Reaney, Conor |
| 5 | Rushworth, Frank S | Draw | Hanson, Robert |
| Board | Lytham 1 | Preston 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooper, John G | 0 - 1 | Peacock, Malcolm R |
| 2 | Evans, Paul A | 1 - 0 | Taylor, Robert K |
| 3 | Ainsworth, Leo R | 1 - 0 | Pidcock, Alan |
| 4 | Liddle, Colin | 1 - 0 | Leitch, Calum |
| 5 | Raynor, Philip N | 1 - 0 | Hanson, Robert |
| Board | Preston 1 | Morecambe | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lund, D Brett | 1 - 0 | Charleshouse, Glenn L |
| 2 | Peacock, Malcolm R | 1 - 0 | Lyth, John D |
| 3 | Jowett, Peter E | 1 - 0 | Heald, Carl |
| 4 | Taylor, Robert K | 0 - 1 | Boyd, David |
| 5 | Leitch, Calum | 0 - 1 | Blade, Norman T |
| Board | Lytham 4 | Poulton 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lord, Richard | 1 - 0 | Hughes, Leslie |
| 2 | Wilson, Allan | 0 - 1 | Lewis, Dominic |
| 3 | Thistlewood, Michael J | 1 - 0 | Bromley, Liam |
| 4 | Garcia Lucas, Diego | 1 - 0 | Wilson, William |
| Board | Poulton 3 | Bispham 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis, Jordan | 1 - 0 | Batty, Harry |
| 2 | Lewis, Dominic | 1 - 0 | Screen, Alison |
| 3 | Bennett, Judd | Draw | Broxson, Ron |
| 4 | Bennett, Gary | 1 - 0 | Wolstencroft, G |
| Board | Lytham 3 | Bispham 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regan, John | Draw | McGrady, Blaine |
| 2 | Lord, Richard | 1 - 0 | Broxson, Ron |
| 3 | Coleman, Patrick N | 1 - 0 | Wallace, Peter |
| 4 | Sansom, Keith | Draw | Batty, Harry |
| Board | Blackpool | Preston 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coward, Neil | 0 - 1 | Fielding, Thomas |
| 2 | James, Peter D | 1 - 0 | Riley, Christopher |
| 3 | Wright, Jon M | 0 - 1 | Fielding, Christopher |
| 4 | Davies, Dennis | Draw | Lambourne, Darren |
| Board | Poulton 2 | Preston 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gorman, Ken | 0 - 1 | Pennington, Geoffrey |
| 2 | Hartley, Dave C | 0 - 1 | O'Mara, Paul |
| 3 | Duerden, Colin | 0 - 1 | Quinn, Kenny |
| 4 | Ellison, Marjorie A | Draw | De Santos, Andrew R |
| Board | Blackpool | Poulton 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitchell, Martin | 1 - 0 | Rogers, Simon N |
| 2 | Mitchell, Martin | 1 - 0 | Rogers, Simon N |
| 3 | Coward, Neil | 1 - 0 | Gorman, Ken |
| 4 | Coward, Neil | 1 - 0 | Gorman, Ken |
| 5 | Davies, Dennis | 0 - 1 | Wilkinson, Malcolm |
| 6 | Davies, Dennis | Draw | Wilkinson, Malcolm |
| 7 | Wright, Jon M | 1 - 0 | Duerden, Colin |
| 8 | Wright, Jon M | 1 - 0 | Duerden, Colin |
| Board | Poulton 3 | Lytham 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leah, Tom | 0 - 1 | Morrison, Lynne GP |
| 2 | Heelis, Connor | 0 - 1 | Wilson, Allan |
| 3 | Lewis, Jordan | 1 - 0 | Thistlewood, Michael J |
| 4 | Bennett, Gary | 0 - 1 | Robinson, Geoffrey W |
| 5 | Leah, Tom | 0 - 1 | Morrison, Lynne GP |
| 6 | Heelis, Connor | 0 - 1 | Wilson, Allan |
| 7 | Lewis, Jordan | 1 - 0 | Thistlewood, Michael J |
| 8 | Bennett, Gary | 0 - 1 | Robinson, Geoffrey W |
| Board | Poulton 1 | Bye |
|---|
| Board | Lytham 1 | Bispham | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ainsworth, Leo R | 0 - 1 | McGrady, Blaine |
| 2 | Liddle, Colin | 1 - 0 | Broxson, Ron |
| 3 | Pritchard, Abigail | 1 - 0 | Batty, Harry |
| 4 | Raynor, Philip N | 0 - 1 | Wallace, Peter |
| 5 | Ainsworth, Leo R | 1 - 0 | McGrady, Blaine |
| 6 | Liddle, Colin | 1 - 0 | Broxson, Ron |
| 7 | Pritchard, Abigail | 1 - 0 | Batty, Harry |
| 8 | Raynor, Philip N | 1 - 0 | Wallace, Peter |
Fylde Championship
First Round Results
| Board | White | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malcolm Peacock | 1 - 0 | Abigail Pritchard |
| 2 | Jon Wright | Draw | John Cooper |
| 3 | George Ellison | 1 - 0 | John Regan |
| 4 | Phil Raynor | 0 - 1 | Paul Isherwood |
| 5 | Oleg Cukovs | Dennis Davies | |
| 6 | Les Hughes | 0 - 1 | Michael Parker |
| 7 | Tom Fielding | Pat Coleman |
Two results from Round 1 are awaited but there are still a few days to go before the closing date.
The results of 4 of the 5 games played so far have followed the form book. The exception has been my own game with Jon Wright, an excellent result for Jon who fully deserved to draw in a game which reached an equal King and Pawns endgame after 48 moves.
The defending champion George Ellison won quickly against new entrant John Regan. Paul Isherwood was slightly better against Phil Raynor after 18 moves but Phil then made an over-ambitious foray with his queen and lost her when she became trapped. Our highest-graded player Malcolm Peacock played an outstanding game, involving control of the centre and a queenside attack, against the League's Junior Champion, Abigail Pritchard, who has just returned from Vietnam after representing England in the World Junior Championships.
Michael Parker was given a tough game by his underrated club colleague Les Hughes and the position was level after 23 moves when Michael forced an entry after doubling his rooks.
The remaining results from Round 1 have been estimated for the purposes of the 2nd Round Draw.