Poulton 2 V Lytham 1

Press / Admin Comment

Captains Simon and Colin agreed the grades of their respective team members based on the latest available (May 2023) ECF list:: Poulton 2: 1749+1406+1333+1253 = 5741 Lytham 1: 1936+1733+1722+1652 = 7042 Grade difference = 1301. Target winning margin for Lytham = 5 - 3 Note to Malcolm: I'm not sure how to reflect this in the Handicap section of the scorecard above. Please amend as necessary. Although heavily outgraded, Poulton came out fighting on all boards and made a real match of it: On board 4, Nigel was disappointed to lose the first point of the match with an annoying blunder, but in the return leg spotted a tactic to win a piece for 2 pawns and was then better for most of the game. Dave never stopped posing problems though and when Nigel rushed to exchange the final minor pieces, Dave found the zwischenzug that won back the piece and shortly after the game. On board 2, David came out of the opening of the first game a pawn to the good, but Phil had some initiative and was able to eventually squeeze out the win in the endgame. Phil continued in similar vein in the return game, securing an edge in the opening and building the advantage through to the endgame, queening his passed pawn first and forcing resignation. On board 3, both games were effectively decided by tactics in the middle game, with Peter ultimately getting the better of the exchanges and showing good technique to convert the advantage. On board 1, Simon took the fight to John in the first game with an old offbeat opening as Black, but John calmly defended, then turned the tables with a direct attack on Simon's king. Simon sportingly allowed John to complete his tactical combination and deliver checkmate. In the return game, Simon again played another favourite old line (Spassky-Geller, 1968?!) to launch a promising-looking king-side attack, but John again defended well and navigated to the safe haven of a rook and pawn endgame, whereupon the draw was agreed.

Colin Walker