Preston 2 V Poulton 1

Press / Admin Comment

Preston 2 welcomed in form Poulton with both teams knowing they could end the evening on top of the league, although current leaders Preston 1 would have a game in hand. With captain Peter Jowett having turned 50 recently he was away on holiday taking in some football grounds to tick off his visited list. Fortunately we had a very able substitute in Martyn Hamer and I took the captains armband for the night. I was playing Peter Garrett on board three and he put me under some early pressure with a form of wing gambit. I used up a great deal of time early on while I worked out how best to avoid any pitfalls in a tricky position. Eventually I began to unravel a bit and captured a protected pawn with a bishop with a view to exchanging a bishop and knight for two pawns and a rook. Peter declined my offer and instead tried to shore up his position, but after I retreated the bishop my position suddenly blossomed and an attack followed which brought about whites resignation. Shortly after Jim Sumner forced a win against Oleg Cukovs after building up a nice position and using his extra space and piece activity to win an exchange and stifle any counter play. Hamble Willow was under pressure from Paul Fearnhead on board four and Martin Mitchell was building a very nice position and slight edge against Martyn Hamer on board one, so the match was still in the balance at this point. To the relief of the home team Hamble managed to reach a drawn ending and the match was won. Meanwhile on one Martin Mitchell demonstrated excellent positional play to force home his advantage and salvage some pride for Poulton after a tight match. So Preston 2 now top the table with two games to play, but Poulton could still catch us and Preston1remain favourites with their game in hand.

Phil Taylor