Carlisle Castle was the venue for this year’s Eden Trophy match with a starting time of 12 noon with a time control of 1 hour and 45 minutes. The early start was intended to avoid being disturbed by the orchestra that was performing that evening. However, they started practicing much earlier than expected but I don’t think anyone found it too distracting.
Penrith’s top four boards were rated rather higher than Carlisle’s. The middle boards were fairly even but our lower four boards were rated quite a bit lower. Nathan on board 9 for Penrith had the easiest win as his opponent, Bobby Clay didn’t show up, sadly meaning that Nathan didn’t get a game but won the point by default. I think my game against Bill Burgess was next to finish. With two bishops and 5 pawns each, all on the same files, we agreed to a draw. Our lower boards found the going tough against higher rated opponents and despite putting up stiff resistance, we lost all four lower boards. Our top boards, on the other hand, scored six points from seven games. Alan Hiatt got the better of Eggert but Holden, Alice, Dave S, Steve and Cameron all won their games leaving only one game in play which would, if won by Carlisle’s John Lydon against Lewis, draw the match. It didn’t look too good for Lewis as he had to defend with a rook against a queen but John couldn’t find a way through and eventually lost on time.
In the end Penrith won by two points 7½-5½ and retain the Eden Trophy for another year. Thanks to Paul Rivers for coming up with a great venue and to everyone who took part without whom, there wouldn’t have been a match.