In spite of being heavily outranked by 48/47/54/79-218 and without captain and superstar (Bispham style) Blaine McGrady,the home team performed with their usual effort and sportsmanship. Kenny Quinn was first in against Gary Wolstencroft and then Harry Batty flattered to deceive by gaining an early advantage before Arulvel Kumar decided on a central double pawn advance and Harry was reduced to sporadic surprise attacks but Arulvel saw them all coming so they weren't surprise attacks any more! Norman Thompson played well before falling prey to Dave Ramsey's persistence and the game between Peter Wallace and Geoff Pennington proved to be the best of the night and a late draw was agreed with lots of pieces still on the board. So for Bispham the learning curve continues but the only way is onward and upward so watch this space!!! (In Blaine's absence this report was submitted by acting captain for the night Harry Batty).
A very tight match after Poulton arrived 20 minutes late! The in-form Phil Raynor played solidly against Michael Parker and was first to draw, followed quickly by a "grandmaster draw" by 2 veterans on board 2. Oleg Cukovs' endgame skill secured his victory over Leo Ainsworth, utilising a queenside pawn majority. In his debut in the league for Lytham-Ex 1 Ben O'Rourke won easily against veteran Dave Hartley. At 2-2 the result depended on the outcome on top board where Roy Ellames pressed hard in an ending with K,R equal pawns and opposite coloured bishops but was unable to break through. Honours even!
The New Player was Bill Wilson. Unfortunately the Poulton side defaulted on two boards giving the home side an easy win.
Although outranked on three boards Bispham were deserving winners by three games to one. On board 2 Peter Wallace, black, slipped up and and sacrificed a knight for a pawn but hung on for 38 moves against Paul Jackson. Norman managed a fork late on to take Barry Bourn's rook thereby effectively ending the game. With Blaine McGrady already having won (see game following) Harry Batty had the luxury of only having to gain a draw to win the match. In the event John Marshall was under time pressure as well and by moving his under pressure King wrongly gave up his back pawn and resigned after seventy moves. Blaine's game against Paul Horman was only twenty moves but it was a good game as follows - (Blaine white). 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 c*d4 4.N*d4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.h3 0-0 8.Be3 N*e4 9.B*f7# R*f7 10.N*e4 b6 11.Ng5 Rf6 12.c3 e5 13.Qb3# d5 14.Ndf3 Rd6 15.Ne4 Rc6 16.Rd1 Be6 17.Neg5 Qe8 18.N*e6 Q*e6 19.R*d5 Na6 20. Ng5 black resigns
| Board | Bispham 1 | Preston 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wallace, Peter | Draw | Pennington, Geoffrey |
| 2 | Batty, Harry | 0 - 1 | Kumar, Arulvel |
| 3 | Thompson, Norman | 0 - 1 | Ramsey, Dave L |
| 4 | Wolstencroft, Gary | 0 - 1 | Quinn, Kenny |
| ½-3½ |
| Board | Poulton 2 | Blackpool | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers, Simon N | 0 - 1 | Coward, Neil |
| 2 | Hartley, Dave C | 1 - 0 | James, Peter D |
| 3 | Gorman, Ken | 1 - 0 | Wright, Jon M |
| 4 | Pouncy, John | 0 - 1 | Davies, Dennis |
| 2-2 |
| Board | Poulton 3 | Bispham 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis, Jordan | 0 - 1 | McGrady, Blaine |
| 2 | Bennett, Judd | 0 - 1 | Wallace, Peter |
| 3 | Heelis, Connor | 1 - 0 | Batty, Harry |
| 4 | Lewis, Dominic | 1 - 0 | Wolstencroft, Gary |
| 2-2 |
| Board | Lytham 1 | Poulton 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liddle, Colin | Draw | Ellames, Roy |
| 2 | Cooper, John G | Draw | Ellison, D George |
| 3 | Raynor, Philip N | Draw | Parker, Michael L |
| 4 | Ainsworth, Leo R | 0 - 1 | Cukovs, Oleg |
| 5 | O'Rourke, Ben | 1 - 0 | Hartley, Dave C |
| 2½-2½ |
| Board | Lytham 4 | Poulton 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coleman, Patrick N | 1 - 0 | Wilson, William |
| 2 | Dawber, Dave | 1 - 0 | Bromley, Liam |
| 3 | Wilson, Allan | 1 - 0 | Default |
| 4 | Weeks, William J | 1 - 0 | Default |
| 4-0 |
| Board | Morecambe 2 | Bispham 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horman, Paul A | 0 - 1 | McGrady, Blaine |
| 2 | Jackson, Paul Robert | 1 - 0 | Wallace, Peter |
| 3 | Marshall, John | 0 - 1 | Batty, Harry |
| 4 | Bourn, Barry D | 0 - 1 | Thompson, Norman |
| 2-2 |
Report on the Fylde Championship Round 2
| White | Black | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Colin Liddle (1) | ½ | ½ | Michael Parker (1) |
| Oleg Cukovs (1) | ½ | ½ | John Cooper (1) |
| George Ellison (1) | ½ | ½ | Abigail Pritchard (1) |
| Phil Raynor (1) | 1 | 0 | Pat Coleman (1) |
| John Regan (0) | 0 | 1 | Malcolm Peacock (0) |
| Jon Wright (0) | 1 | 0 | Richard Lord (0) |
| Liam Bromley (0) | 0 | 1 | Dennis Davies (0) |
| Les Hughes | 1 | (bye) |
After a drawless first round there were three draws amongst those leading at the start of round 2. Tough at the top! The only winner amongst these was Phil Raynor who won comfortably against clubmate Pat Coleman and so made amends for losing to Pat in the last round of last season's championship.
John Cooper missed an opportunity to share the lead with Phil after winning a pawn in a knight and pawns endgame with Oleg (who is an end game specialist). Instead of consolidating, John sacrificed a pawn to create a passed pawn but Oleg was able to hold on.
Colin sacrificed two pawns for an attack against Michael but, with opposite coloured bishops on the board, had a slightly better position at the end when he accepted Michael's draw offer. George also went a pawn down against Abigail but, after obtaining some pressure, offered her a draw after twenty seven moves and this was accepted.
John Regan started well against Malcolm's French and worried Malcolm when he sacrificed a piece to open up his kingside. However, John overlooked a defensive move available to Malcolm which stopped all mate threats and John was forced to resign on move 27 when he was about to lose a second piece.
Dennis had a won game after 45 moves and the result was never in doubt, although Liam held out for another 25 moves. Dennis's team mate Jon Wright was also successful against Lytham's Ricky Lord.