Preston 1 V Lytham 1

Press / Admin Comment

Sorry for the short report - my game went to the wire and I didn't see much of the other games. First to finish was board four. Things looked fairly even until Alan lost his queen . Peter had sacrificed a bishop for two pawns in my game (board three) and had a dangerous passed pawn. Although a piece up I failed to properly take advantage of this and was stuck in passive/defensive position. Although Malcolm seemed to be doing well Brett had an inferior position and was short of time, and it seemed he might lose. Therefore I advanced my queen-side pawns in an attempt to generate some counter-play ( thinking I might have to win) and consequently lost two pawns. With 16 seconds to make 6 moves Brett produced a brilliant exchange sacrifice, and his plan led to mate. John sat there for a while seemingly unaware he had been mated - possibly he was in shock. At this point Malcolm was headed for the win , having managed to force Colin's king into the middle of the board. With four pawns for his piece Peter was winning. He had 13 minutes to my two minutes, and I was desperately clinging on. He advanced the original passed pawn to g7 but I was able to blockade it. With only 36 seconds remaining on my clock a draw was agreed. Malcolm went on to mate Colin for a fine win. Excellent performance by Lytham who came very close to winning. Preston 1 league champions.

Graham Ashcroft