On Board 1 - Leo Ainsworth went into an ending with 2Rs and Ps against R, N and the same number of Ps. He picked off more pawns to the point where Blaine McGrady (Bispham) had no alternative but to resign. On Board 2 - Abigail Pritchard had dominating control of the e-file and a knight poised menacingly in the vicinity of Peter Wallace's K. Firstly she won a pawn and then created forking threats with the knight which were unanswerable. On Board 3 - Phil Raynor picked up a couple of pawns in the early middle game and set about exchanging pieces off in order to get to a better ending. During this process Harry Batty went badly wrong and dropped a rook to a Q fork. On Board 4 - Ben O'Rourke's game was over very quickly - a show of overwhelming force against Gary Wolstencroft's K-side.
Old friendships were renewed in this first encounter of the new season. The lineups looked evenly matched but Preston prevailed thanks to Boards 2 and 4. Board 2 was first to finish, Kenny Quinn (white) soon winning material after a Ruy Lopez opening. On 4 Andy de Santos had the more active bishop in an opposite-colour bishop ending and forced the win. On 3 Dave Ramsey won a pawn early but Jon Wright`s stubborn resistance earned a draw. On 1 Neil Coward (black) completely outplayed Geoff Pennington in the opening (Morra Gambit declined) and was 2 pawns up but Geoff managed to steer the game into a drawn rook ending.
On Board 1: Steve Gamsby played a Colle System but Leo Ainsworth (Lytham) gambited a pawn in order to gain the more active position and win the exchange - going on to win the game. On Board 2: Dave Hartley (Poulton) played well to keep the game evenly balanced but eventually Abigail Pritchard's endgame technique told as she capitalised on a slender advantage. On Board 3: After a melee around the K-side Phil Raynor emerged with an extra pawn and a strong pawn centre. Ken Gorman tried to do his best to undermine it but eventually had to sacrifice a bishop to stop a pawn. After this, he was too far down in material terms. On Board 4: Ricky Lord managed to whip up an attack on the K-side taking advantage of Black's dark squared weaknesses. This one was over pretty quickly.
Board 4 was first to finish; Liam Bromley played solidly, David Tuke, making a welcome return to competitive chess, unfortunately blundered. On Board 2, Simon Rogers (Poulton) resisted all Kenny Quinn's attempts to break through his Sicilian Defence. Simon hit back in the centre winning material. On Board 1 a quiet encounter went into a knight endgame. Both Carl Tillotson and Mike Parker demonstrated good technique to earn a draw. On Board 3 the game was effectively decided in the time scramble approaching move 35. Andy de Santos firstly lost a piece, then Gary Bennett more than returned the favour to give Andy victory.
A fine victory for Morecambe who, without their 2 strongest players, were out-graded on 4 boards. On the other one Abigail could make no progress v Norman Blade. Leo and Phil seemed to have good prospects on the lower boards but to no avail. The much-improved Carl Heald pulled of a surprise win on top board against a slightly rusty Colin Liddle which decided the match. After reaching the allegro 2 pawns up on board 2 David Boyd allowed his opponent's queen to harass his king and recover the pawns, forcing a draw with just 3 minutes left each.
Board 4 for Preston was Pavlo Nefyodov - making his debut. After a series of good moves against in-form Peter Jowett, John Cooper missed an opportunity to win material and soon lost control of the game. Leo Ainsworth was in time-trouble versus Bob Taylor but his position was dire when he lost on time with several moves to play. Lynne Morrison lost a piece against Arulvel Kumar but on board 1 Colin Liddle played very solidly against Brett Lund with Black and was offered a draw which he accepted.
Poulton's Michael Parker saved the whitewash. Preston 1 turned out their strongest possible side and signalled their intention to complete a hat-trick by winning the title again this season.
First in was Pete Wallace on board 1 against Malcolm Wilkinson and then Harry Batty lost from a good position when Les Hughes caught him napping and took his queen on a discovered check. Norman Thompson came back from the dead to gain a draw against Bill Wilson and John Smith had a fine win against Liam Bromley with a Queen/Rook mate down the h file.
| Board | Poulton 2 | Poulton 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gamsby, Steve | 1 - 0 | Lewis, Jordan |
| 2 | Rogers, Simon N | 1 - 0 | Bennett, Judd |
| 3 | Hartley, Dave C | Draw | Heelis, Connor |
| 4 | Duerden, Colin | 0 - 1 | Lewis, Dominic |
| 2½-1½ |
| Board | Lytham 2 | Bispham 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ainsworth, Leo R | 1 - 0 | McGrady, Blaine |
| 2 | Pritchard, Abigail | 1 - 0 | Wallace, Peter |
| 3 | Raynor, Philip N | 1 - 0 | Batty, Harry |
| 4 | O'Rourke, Ben | 1 - 0 | Wolstencroft, Gary |
| 4-0 |
| Board | Preston 3 | Blackpool | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pennington, Geoffrey | Draw | Coward, Neil |
| 2 | Quinn, Kenny | 1 - 0 | James, Peter D |
| 3 | Ramsey, Dave L | Draw | Wright, Jon M |
| 4 | De Santos, Andrew R | 1 - 0 | Davies, Dennis |
| 3-1 |
| Board | Blackpool | Lytham 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coward, Neil | 1 - 0 | Ainsworth, Leo R |
| 2 | James, Peter D | Draw | Raynor, Philip N |
| 3 | Wright, Jon M | 0 - 1 | Morrison, Lynne GP |
| 4 | Davies, Dennis | 0 - 1 | Lord, Richard |
| 1½-2½ |
| Board | Poulton 3 | Blackpool | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers, Simon N | 0 - 1 | Mitchell, Martin |
| 2 | Lewis, Jordan | 1 - 0 | James, Peter D |
| 3 | Heelis, Connor | 0 - 1 | Wright, Jon M |
| 4 | Lewis, Dominic | 0 - 1 | Davies, Dennis |
| 1-3 |
| Board | Lytham 2 | Poulton 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ainsworth, Leo R | 1 - 0 | Gamsby, Steve |
| 2 | Pritchard, Abigail | 1 - 0 | Hartley, Dave C |
| 3 | Raynor, Philip N | 1 - 0 | Gorman, Ken |
| 4 | Lord, Richard | 1 - 0 | Duerden, Colin |
| 4-0 |
| Board | Preston 3 | Poulton 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tillotson, Carl A | Draw | Parker, Michael L |
| 2 | Quinn, Kenny | 0 - 1 | Rogers, Simon N |
| 3 | De Santos, Andrew R | 1 - 0 | Bennett, Gary |
| 4 | Tuke, D | 0 - 1 | Bromley, Liam |
| 1½-2½ |
| Board | Preston 2 | Preston 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fielding, Thomas | 0 - 1 | Lund, D Brett |
| 2 | Taylor, Phillip J | Draw | Peacock, Malcolm R |
| 3 | Pidcock, Alan | Draw | Taylor, Robert K |
| 4 | Pennington, Geoffrey | 1 - 0 | O'Mara, Paul |
| 5 | Kumar, Arulvel | 0 - 1 | Quinn, Kenny |
| 2-3 |
| Board | Poulton 1 | Preston 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ellames, Roy | Draw | Rutlidge, Cliff H |
| 2 | Ellison, D George | 0 - 1 | Taylor, Phillip J |
| 3 | Parker, Michael L | 1 - 0 | Reaney, Conor |
| 4 | Gamsby, Steve | 0 - 1 | Pennington, Geoffrey |
| 5 | Rogers, Simon N | 1 - 0 | Kumar, Arulvel |
| 2½-2½ |
| Board | Lytham 1 | Morecambe 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liddle, Colin | 0 - 1 | Heald, Carl |
| 2 | Cooper, John G | Draw | Boyd, David |
| 3 | Pritchard, Abigail | Draw | Blade, Norman T |
| 4 | Ainsworth, Leo R | Draw | Horman, Paul A |
| 5 | Raynor, Philip N | Draw | Jameson, Nick |
| 2-3 |
| Board | Preston 1 | Lytham 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lund, D Brett | Draw | Liddle, Colin |
| 2 | Jowett, Peter E | 1 - 0 | Cooper, John G |
| 3 | Taylor, Robert K | 1 - 0 | Ainsworth, Leo R |
| 4 | Nefyodov, Pavlo | Draw | Raynor, Philip N |
| 5 | Kumar, Arulvel | 1 - 0 | Morrison, Lynne GP |
| 4-1 |
| Board | Poulton 1 | Preston 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ellison, D George | 0 - 1 | Lund, D Brett |
| 2 | Parker, Michael L | Draw | Jowett, Peter E |
| 3 | Cukovs, Oleg | 0 - 1 | Peacock, Malcolm R |
| 4 | Rogers, Simon N | 0 - 1 | Taylor, Robert K |
| 5 | Lewis, Jordan | 0 - 1 | O'Mara, Paul |
| ½-4½ |
| Board | Bispham 2 | Poulton 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wallace, Peter | 1 - 0 | Wilkinson, Malcolm |
| 2 | Batty, Harry | 0 - 1 | Hughes, Leslie |
| 3 | Thompson, Norman | Draw | Wilson, William |
| 4 | Smith, John Anthony | 1 - 0 | Bromley, Liam |
| 2½-1½ |
| Board | Lytham 3 | Lytham 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lord, Richard | 0 - 1 | Regan, John |
| 2 | Wilson, Allan | 1 - 0 | Robinson, Geoffrey W |
| 3 | Coleman, Patrick N | 1 - 0 | Weeks, William J |
| 4 | Sansom, Keith | 1 - 0 | Thomas, Anne |
| 3-1 |
| Board | Morecambe 2 | Lytham 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jameson, Nick | 1 - 0 | Lord, Richard |
| 2 | Rees, Ben K | Draw | Regan, John |
| 3 | Marshall, John | Draw | Coleman, Patrick N |
| 4 | Bourn, Barry D | 0 - 1 | Sansom, Keith |
| 2-2 |
| Board | Lytham 4 | Bispham 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilson, Allan | Draw | Wallace, Peter |
| 2 | Dawber, Dave | 1 - 0 | Batty, Harry |
| 3 | Gibbins, Len | Draw | Smith, John Anthony |
| 4 | Garcia Lucas, Diego | 1 - 0 | Screen, Kenneth |
| 3-1 |
Report on the Fylde Championship 1st Round
| White | Black | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Malcolm Peacock | 0 | 1 | Phil Raynor |
| Richard Lord | 0 | 1 | Colin Liddle |
| John Cooper | 1 | 0 | Jon Wright |
| Dennis Davies | 0 | 1 | George Ellison |
| Michael Parker | 1 | 0 | John Regan |
| Les Hughes | 0 | 1 | Oleg Cukovs |
| Abigail Pritchard | 1 | 0 | Liam Bromley |
| Pat Coleman | 1 | (bye) |
No draws and all results except one have followed the form book. The exception was a sensational surprise win with black for Lytham's Phil Raynor against the current Fylde Champion, Malcolm Peacock. Malcolm started well and reached a winning position after 26 moves but in time trouble he uncharacteristically misplayed his attack against Phil's king. On move 29 Malcolm sacrificed a rook unsoundly and lost on time a few moves later.
Colin Liddle, a strong new entrant this year, also won with Black after a blunder by Lytham clubmate Richard Lord. Jon Wright failed to castle into safety and was unable to repeat his success last year when he drew against John Cooper in round 1.
In the veteran's clash, Dennis lost a pawn against George on move 10 and, after steady play by George, ended up a bishop down. Michael won a pawn against John Regan but John defended well and held on before losing the endgame.
Les Hughes lost to his higher rated Poulton clubmate Oleg Cukovs, British under 15 Girl Champion Abigail also won against another debutant, Liam Bromley from Poulton.