Leyland 1 V Poulton 3

Leyland's final fixture of the season

Leyland's first season in the Blackpool and Flyde league came to a close this evening (Tuesday 30th April). Hopes of obtaining a draw from the match were extinguished when the final game was agreed a draw with just a Rook and a few pawns each. It had always look like Rob and Paul's game would be a draw when the match score reached 2-1 to Poulton. On board 3, Geoff appeared to play some interesting moves against Ken, and occasionally was a pawn up on a couple of occasions, Geoff's hopes of a good result, a win or a draw, unfortunately disappeared after he failed to see an attack on his Queen and defeat followed shortly. Sean playing on board 1 faired better, he was capturing the odd Pawns in the opening, and upon taking a 3 Pawn lead with a very advanced Pawn and Paul's remaining pieces a bit trapped and under developed, Paul resigned. Martin played the opening well and with what looked to appear to be a cleaver Bishop sacrifice to fork the King and Queen. Unfortunately for Martin, Andrew studied the the position for long enough to find the move the spoilt Martin's plan and escaped the fork. When Martin missed the discovery attack on his Queen, the game was lost. It was interesting that none of the four Leyland players were members of the chess club 12 months ago. So with only two drawn games in the season, we finished bottom of the division and look forward to playing again next season.

David Clayton