Lytham 1 V Poulton 2

Press / Admin Comment

The Rapidplay grades used were 1987+1882+1825+1634=7313 for Lytham and 1586+1470+1332+1209=5597 for Poulton, meaning that Lytham needed to score 6.5 and Poulton 2 to win on Handicap. Despite the final scoreline, the result was in the balance until the final minutes of the match. Lytham won the first half 4-0, but only after Phil managed to fight back from being a full piece down against Peter, and Nigel eventually lost a close encounter with Dave. William and David finished their second game quickly, leaving the arena just as the other games were warming up. I blundered a pawn and - worse - left John with a much better position and a big time advantage, and while Phil seemed to have the upper hand against Peter, Dave was a piece down and looking for tricks against Nigel... John continued to press on the board and even more so on the clock, which unfortunately backfired as he allowed an unusual snap mate by a rook and bishop in an otherwise equal position. Phil then delivered a much more convincing mate. The match then ended on an unusually humorous note... Dave and Nigel were unaware of the match score.... Nigel was still a piece up and asked if he could take a photo of the board "before Dave outplays me and wins at the end!". The pause for the photograph allowed Dave time to check the match score, at which point he sportingly resigned, meaning that the photo captured the moment of Nigel's well deserved win. A nice end to an entertaining evening's chess!

Colin Walker