Poulton 1 V Lytham 1

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Board 4 was first to finish after Paul was able to trap John's queen. On board 3, Ben decided to go for a (slightly dubious?) gambit line against William's 1. f4. William played the opening well and Ben had little compensation for the lost pawn. However he managed to equalise the position going into the end-game, and then took advantage of a pin to win a crucial central-pawn and went on to win. Board 2 entered a rook and bishop versus rook and knight end-game, with Oleg slightly better. Paul played well to hold the position, but did not realise he was into the extra 15 minutes, and lost on time. [When they played out some moves after the game, it looked like it would have ended as a draw.] The most exciting game was on Board 1, where Martin had a strong attack and won a queen for two pieces; but then Sam in turn had strong counterplay in the centre with various mating/forking threats. Martin had to give back his material advantage. He had the better of the end-game, but after rooks were traded, Sam was able to give up his last piece for Martin's last pawn to draw the game. See https://wordpress.com/post/poultonchess.wordpress.com/332 for two positions from the match.

Paul Fearnhead