Poulton 1 V Preston 2

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A closely fought match. Board 1 ended in a quick draw. On Board 2, Oleg seemed to enter the end-game with material equal but better pawn structure, and the ability to make an outside passed pawn. As ever, he played the ending effortlessly to convert the win. On Board 4, Paul managed to go a piece up. Simon created counterplay with some connected passed pawns. Both players had theiir chances, but it ended up with rook and king against rook and king for a draw. My match was last to finish. Hambel got the better of the middlegame to get a strong knight against my bad bishop. After all other pieces were traded off, she was thus pressing for a win. After about 50 moves, and with time running out for both players she managed to convert. Whilst I was able to queen a pawn first, she queened next move with check, and was able to exchange queens to leave a position where I could not stop her queening a second pawn. For some positions from the match, see: https://poultonchess.wordpress.com/2022/10/25/poulton-1-v-preston-2/

Paul Fearnhead