Poulton 3 V Leyland 1

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New Player - Poulton B4, David McCormick With just one grading point separating the two teams, it was going to be an interesting match to see if either team could come out on top in the first fixture of the new season. Or would it be a draw? Ken, white on board 3, started off in blistering style, opening up Andrew's King side and making Andrew's King very vulnerable. Not only did Ken have this advantage, he also had an advanced e pawn that soon became passed and looked very strong. Ken looked to have lots of opportunities to get his Queen and Rooks into the game, but when I looked at the position towards the end of the middle game, it was fairly even, two Rooks and a Knight each. Andrew was becoming to get back into the game and threatening the isolated e pawn with the addition of his King. At this point the match looked to be turning in Andrew's favour. When I looked later on, Ken's remaining Knight had vanished from the board, and his isolated e pawn looked very weak. Over on board 4, Geoff was beginning to loose some pawns and it was getting into an end game that was going to see Poulton pick up the first match point. Ben's game against Dave on board 1 always looked even, although Dave was advancing his Queen side pawns. My board 2 match was starting to look favourable to me as Ross had somehow managed to loose a piece on the Queen's side of the board when an attack looked imminent in the middle of the board. With Geoff loosing on board 4 and Ken looking to have a poor position, I was hoping Ben would manage a win, so if I could take advantage of my extra piece, we would secure a draw. My game became quite open, and with the Queens left on the board, Ross tried had to get the advantage with some interesting tactics. By now Ken's chances didn't look good. but he still had the pawn on the 6th rank and his Rooks were in the open. Then suddenly, Andrew managed to put his pieces on the wrong squares that allowed Ken to get mate with his Rook on the 7th, protected by the pawn, and Andrew's King trapped on the back rank with his own pieces. So with Ben accepting a draw on board 1, we had a loss, a win and a draw. By this time I had captured an additional piece and had two passed pawns on the a and b file. With all the opportunities of chances to get a win, Ross resigned and the match was a win for Leyland, 2.5 v 1.5. The first victory for Leyland in the Blackpool and Flyde league. David Clayton - Leyland Captain.

David Clayton