The Crown Hotel, Eamont Bridge was the venue for our A versus C derby match. The games got under way about 1 pm, all except board 4. Michael was supposed to be playing Dave H but Dave was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately, Dave lives only 5 minutes away so, a quick phone call later and Dave arrived.
Oddly, it was board 4 which finished first. Dave had played a text book opening but early in the middle game, he must have made a mistake as, with bishop and queen attacking Dave’s h7 pawn and rook hitting f7, Michael had an unstoppable mating attack.
I think my game, against Jacob on board 2, was next to finish. I thought I was being clever by winning a pawn with a bishop sacrifice but it seems, I should have spent those two or three moves developing my queen’s side pieces, rather than pinching pawns. I did, eventually, develop my knight and bishop but not soon enough to defend against Jacob’s multiple mating threats.
Next came board 1, where Cameron seemed to be holding his own against Holden but Holden turned up the pressure and forced the win of a piece. Cameron held out a little longer but eventually, had to face the inevitable.
Andrei put the final nail in the coffin with a win against Richard on board 3. Richard played his usual tight game but Andrei targeted any weakness and broke through to give our A team a resounding 4-0 victory.
So, a whitewash for our C team, in stark contrast to their last result against Maryport C but there’s a big difference in ratings between Maryport C and Penrith A. Penrith A are now 3 points clear at the top of the table.
The League table is below with any points gained or lost against Barrow, who have withdrawn from the league, deducted.
