Poulton 2 V Preston 4

Press / Admin Comment

Board 2 was first to finish. Seb sacrificed material for an attack, but Simon was able to bring his queen over to defend, create threats against Seb's king and eventually the extra material was too much. Next for board 3, where Sara won a piece in the middle game, but Edd created counter play against her king by doubling rooks on h-file with after a nice tactic that took advantage of Sara's overloaded king (defending a pawn on h7 and rook on f8). It required very accurate defence from Sara to repel this attack, after which she was able to convert for the win. On Board 4, Terence played well to go a piece up, but then got his bishop trapped. This led to a material equal end-game, but Curtis had the more active king and played well to swap off the remaining minor pieces and create an outside passed pawn, On Board 1 Ben had the more developed and active pieces out of the opening. Paul was able to repel various threats until he missed a fork that threatened mate and his knight.

Paul Fearnhead