Blackpool and Fylde League Report from 20090101 to 20090131

Division A

Paul Evans threw away a winning position v Oleg when he touched his king by mistake. Leo blundered in a good position v Steven Gardner. Both had white. John Cooper was fortunate to draw with Roy Ellames after a poor opening. Colin Liddle had a solid draw with Michael Parker. Abigail had a roller-coaster game with Simon Rogers, whose flag fell with 2 minutes left. We had to stop play whilst another clock was set up. Moral:  always check clock flags before starting play or use digital clocks!

Division A

Division A

Both teams were missing key players.  Morecambe should have won this match.  John Lyth played a Leningrad Dutch but succumbed to Roy Ellames's pressure on the queenside dropping pawns and a rook.  Oleg dropped a piece after 7 moves but got counterplay until David liquidized to a won ending. Carl Heald dropped a pawn in an equal double rook ending and resigned in disgust.  Norman Blade played the Trompowsky against Simon Rogers who used a lot of time on the clock. Simon was behind in development but still won a pawn. Norman's pieces were fairly active and Simon dropped a piece in a tactical melee.  Frank Rushworth had a totally won game but dropped a piece after a horrendous blunder.

Division B

On board 1, Leo played the white side of a Queens Gambit Accepted and gained the superior position from the opening. However, Geoff defended well in order to gain the draw. On board 2, Kenny Quinn played the white side of a Ruy Lopez and got a significant positional advantage which he was able to convert into a win (this was the first game to finish). On board 3, Lynne Morrison played the white side of a Benko Gambit and seemed to have a reasonable position throughout most of the early middle game. However, Dave Ramsey picked up a couple of pawns which was sufficient. On board 4, Phil Raynor got the better of the early middle game playing on the black side of a King's Indian. However, Andy de Santos defended very well and blockaded the position eventually winning on time.

Division B

Division B

The teams were identical to those which met last October, when Preston 3 ran out as 3-1 winners. Chris Fielding had an early win after Kenny Quinn squandered a bishop and then resigned, due to his weak position. This was followed by hard-earned draws by Tom Fielding and Darren Lambourne (who did well to recover from lost time on his clock, after his bus had broken down). With at least a draw achieved, it was down to Geoff Pennington and Chris Riley to determine the match outcome. Chris did well to recover from being a pawn down to establish the 'upper hand' as the clocks ran down. With only a few minutes remaining, a draw was agreed and Preston 4 had won the match. This result represents an outstanding performance by Preston 4, given the significant differences in the gradings right across the boards.

Division B

On Board 1 Leo responded to Oleg's Queen's Gambit by playing the Slav Defence. Both players played solid positional chess and the game resulted in a fairly quiet draw. On Board 2 Abigail created a very convincing win against Ken Gorman. After a relatively short space of time she won two pawns with Ken having no compensation. She patiently converted this into a win. On Board 3 Dave Hartley allowed his rooks to be skewered by a bishop in a Sicilian Defence which Lynne had rather the better of. Further tactics followed which all favoured Lynne with major pieces penetrating and the White King awkwardly exposed. On Board 4, Lytham's new player, Ben O'Rourke came up against Colin Duerden. Colin had two rooks against Ben's rook, bishop and knight. He played superbly to obtain a thoroughly won position but seemingly lost sight of how to win the game perhaps due to the low amount of time he had on the clock. Ben escaped with a draw that he only just deserved in the rook and pawn ending where he was two pawns down. A pleasing result for Lytham.

Division C

In this Bispham derby Blaine McGrady and Peter Wallace on boards 1 and 3 ran out winners after up and down games against Harry Batty and Norman Thompson respectively.  Result of the night went to Alison Screen with a highly commendable win against Ron Broxson thereby giving the second team a share of the match and staying level on points with the first team.

Division C

Division C

Division C

Match played on the 03 February 2009.

Division C

Division C

Bispham 2 put up good performances on all boards against a strong Lytham 3 team.

Division A

Division A

Division A

Division B

Division B

Division B

Division B

Division C

Division C

Division C

Division C

Division C

Division C