Two cars from Penrith made the trip, in the pouring rain, to Lancaster for the 2nd leg of our friendly match. When we arrived, the sun was shining and we managed to find somewhere to park for free, so things were going well but not for long…
After about an hour, the first result came in; Yousef had lost to, the talented young man that beat me in our home match, Robert Hoggarth. A little later, a draw on board 2 between Dave Siddall and Lancaster captain, Richard Walsh. Quite some time passed before the next result, a loss for me against the only junior in the match, Om Jayar. The game was a very tactical Portsmouth Gambit and I managed to win black’s queen on move 8 but I paid too high a price for it. After all the exchanges I worked out that, on paper, I was 2 pawns down. I could have trapped his bishop on a1 but that would have allowed him to develop his other pieces so, as his king looked quite vulnerable, I thought it best to attack…not my best ever decision as he pulled his bishop back to block the attack and soon coordinated his other pieces.
On board 1, Jacob was having a hard time against a wide awake, Danny McMenamin and running low on time so, with no attacking prospects, Jacob offered a draw which was accepted. The results now came in thick and fast but with no wins for Penrith. Lewis and Steve both lost in similar circumstances, a piece down and trying in vain to prevent their opponent from queening. Richard and Dave Hood both managed very creditable draws against higher rated players.
So, a resounding victory for Lancaster by 6 – 2 which means that congratulations go to Richard and his team for winning by 3 points over both matches but despite the result, everyone enjoyed their day out in Lancaster and look forward to doing it again next summer.