The match, played over three boards, began shortly after 2 pm. Jacob and Matthew Mackenzie, on board 1, started at a blistering pace so that, before boards 2 and 3 were out of the opening, they had reached the endgame. Both had a rook and four pawns but Jacob had a bishop against Matthew’s knight. Here, Jacob declined a draw offer and after the rooks came off, declined another but eventually it became clear that a draw was all he could hope for and that’s how it finished.
On board 2, Alice had managed to get both her rooks onto Russ Hayley’s 2nd rank and with her queen on the ‘h’ file bearing down on white’s King’s position, looked to have an overwhelming attack. However, Alice’s king was vulnerable to attack from Russ’ active queen and though Alice could escape the checks, she couldn’t prevent them and that game too, ended in a draw.
Meanwhile Dave, playing Alan Llewellyn on board 3, had got to the endgame with a rook and pawn against Alan’s lone rook. Dave’s pawn, on the ‘g’ file was protected by his king and with his rook on the ‘f’ file, keeping Alan’s king away, he managed to force the pawn through, winning the game and the match.
So, it was close but Penrith A got the desired result, a 2-1 win which, by Dave’s own admission, could easily have been a draw.
The League table looks like this:
