Preston 1 V Poulton 1

Press / Admin Comment

For Handicap purposes we estimated Jonathan @1700.and Preston had to win 4.5-3.5. I decided to be non-playing captain for the night so kept a keen eye on all the games. Poulton took white on all boards for the first session, with Preston having white on all boards for game 2. Board 1 - Oleg lost the exchange as white and Jim won the ending....The second game Oleg played very solidly and Jim never really looked ike creating much and a draw was agreed. Board 2 1-1 seemed fair on what I saw. Kuba had a small plus in game 1 as white but Phil held it and then in the last few minutes when it went into an ending Phil got his king active which mopped up into a won king and pawn ending. Game 2 was the opposite in a very tricky game Phil was probably winning but lost on time. Board 3 Ben back from University was in ruthless form v Sebastian. Game 1 saw black's king caught in the middle and eventually after a tactical melee the king was mated on its own square. Game 2 saw Ben react aggressively v 1.d4 2.Nc3 by playing Nc6 and an early e5 Budapest type move. Sebastian took the booty but the pawn got to d4, then took on c3 and then won a piece after about 10 moves the ending a piece up was easy for Ben. Board 4 .Game 1 with Paul as white was very impressively played by Paul. Jonathan played too passively and Paul smoothly built up a very dangerous attack.against the castled king culminating in a killer g6 pawn move. In game 2, Jonathan had some advantage early on....didn't see the end - Paul told me after he was somewhat fortuitous to win. An excellent match - Poulton fully deserved the victory with both Fernheads in top form. The handicap didn't come into it.. Notes by Pete Jowett

Peter Jowett