Penrith II were at home to a strong Carlisle II team on Saturday, in the first round of the Whitaker Trophy. Vastly out-rated, Penrith were awarded a two point head start which, unfortunately, wasn’t enough.

Carlisle quickly reduced their deficit to one point after Captain, Paul Rivers scored a quick win against Dave Siddall on board 1.

Some time later, Richard, on board 3, went down to George Glover which cancelled out the handicap points.

Meanwhile, on board 4, Dave Hood was conducting a king hunt against Alan Hiatt but couldn’t find a way to trap the elusive monarch and with his time ebbing away, Dave rushed a move which allowed Alan to force checkmate.

On board 2, Andrei was struggling to make any headway against Stephen Barnes who knew by now, that a draw was enough to win the match. Andrei kept trying for the win but eventually, he had to settle for a draw. As it happens, the result on this board made no difference to the result of the match.

Penrith lost by 3½-½ which, after the handicap was deducted from Carlisle’s score, made the final result Penrith II ½ Carlisle II 1½. Ah well, better luck next season

Penrith C were also at home and they too were up against a stronger team in the form of Maryport A.

Ciso was our first casualty, going down to Matthew Haworth on board 2.

Next was board 3. Captain, Gary Sharkey sacrificed a bishop to prevent me (Andy) from castling and followed it up with a mating attack.

On board 1, Devon had a strong attack against Greg Millar’s king’s position but Greg found all the right moves to defend his position and emerged from the complications a piece ahead which eventually forced the win.

Now three points down, with one to go, we were all hoping that Nathan, on board 4 against Terry Tyson, could prevent a whitewash. Neither player appeared to have an advantage and Nathan held on for a draw.

So, another 3½-½ loss but it was always going to be tough against Maryport A who won the league a couple of seasons ago.

The current League Table looks like this: