We arrived at Maryport a bit late…two weeks late, in fact, as we had arranged this match for January 18th but their venue contacted captain, Andy Pringle, to say that they’d double booked. The soonest available Saturday was February 1st. I agreed to that date but decided that we should play with the team that was available on January 18th which meant that we had only one regular B team player, Andrei.

My game was first to finish. Dennis played the opening well and built up a few threats after we’d castled on opposite sides. Everything was pretty even up until I played a knight fork on his Queen and both rooks. After that it was, understandably, just a matter of time before I could force mate.

The remainder of the games were still very close, although, Lewis looked quite comfortable on board 2, against James Todd and as expected, he too went on to win.

Steve was plying a young man, Miller Bowes, who hasn’t played many long games so, up against an opponent who thinks 2 hours is a short time control, it’s no surprise that he was finding it tough going. Steve never lets up. keeping his concentration, he exploited Miller’s every weakness until he broke through to win a third point for Penrith B.

Andrei faced a tough opponent in the form of Neil Druggan on board 1. Neil has won his fair share of games but Andrei is very patient and when he finds a gap in your defences, he’s all over it like a rash. I didn’t see the opening, so don’t know if Andrei was familiar with it but he eventually forced that weakness and exploited it to the full.

That win puts our B team on level points, in second position in the league behind our A team. 

The current League table is below: