The first board to finish was surprisingly, Dave’s board 5. Playing white against Alan Little, he played a great opening and Alan quickly found himself in trouble. Shortly after, Dave had won….A great start for our C team.
Sadly, the rest of us couldn’t match Dave’s result and after quite some time, Yousef on board 3 against James Ovens and Nathan, board 2 against John Lydon, were beaten.
Next came board 1 where I (Andy) was playing Ian Mackay in a highly tactical, trappy game. I opened with d4 just to avoid a Caro Kann but instead, Ian played a Nimzo-Indian Defence, which I think was a bit more to my liking. I lost a pawn quite early in the game but managed to get it back after about 40 moves but on move 53, I was forced to give up a rook to stop a pawn from promoting. I lasted another 5 moves. With Ian about to win my passed pawn, I threw in the towel.
Meanwhile, on board 3, Richard was up against Bill Burgess and from what I could see, there was never much in it. Material was equal and there didn’t seem to be any obvious weakness on either side so they agreed to draw the game.
So, another defeat for our C team but we won’t let it bother us too much.
The League table is below with any points gained or lost against Barrow, who have withdrawn from the league, deducted.
