report-1-19

BLACKPOOL & FYLDE CHESS LEAGUES

REPORT 1/2019/20

With three opening victories Preston First team look set to wrest back the Division A championship from last year's winner Lytham Firsts. Preston sharpened their claws initially with a 1.5 - 3.5 victory in their Derby match against Preston Seconds, with wins for Brett Lund, Malcolm Peacock and Alan Pidcock. Peter Thompson was the only point win for the Seconds and Phil Taylor and Graham Ashcroft drew in an entertaining tit for tat game. The Firsts' second victory came in a close match against Poulton firsts which they won 3-2. I copy below, the warlike report of Preston's captain Graham Ashcroft.

"TORA ! TORA ! TORA ! Attack ! Attack ! Attack !"
This was Captain Phillip's message to his Poulton team as the divine wind brought his team to Jalgos. First to finish was board 5 where Paul O'Meara cleverly prevented the white king of Paul Fernhead from castling. Focussing his pieces on white's centre he quickly forced the win. Next on board three Graham Ashcroft performed Hari Kari by carelessly moving a knight which was defending f7. Ben Fernhead's pieces slammed into f7 like a stack of Kamikaze pilots. When the dust had settled Ben had queen for Graham's rook and Knight. Ben still had some work to do but skilfully won the endgame - well done Ben. At the battle of Midway Peter Garrett sacrificed a pawn, and then a second pawn, to create threats. Even though two pawns up Malcolm Peacock still had to play well in order to stifle these threats. Peter's attack was unsuccessful but produced an interesting game. In the last few seconds did I hear him mutter ( in true Kamikaze style) "Glory to Emperor Phillips"! On top board Brett Lund had managed to shatter Dave Phillip's pawns so they resembled a group of disparate Japanese islands. As the Americans did in World War 2 Brett was able to capture these on the way to ultimate victory. Finally Simon Rogers had created a magnificent pair of connected and passed pawns which steamrolled forward much like the Japanese fleet on route to Pearl Harbour. Sadly for Carl Tillotson, we know how that story ended. In years to come people may ask "Where were you at the battle of Jalgos?" Sayonara.

Preston First third win came with a 3.5 - 1.5 victory at Lytham Firsts. The latter team had lost four of its five regulars from last year but three players did hold on to draw against higher graded players. Wins for Malcolm Peacock and Alan Pidcock secured the triumph for Preston.

Morecambe also won their first two matches to keep in touch with Preston Firsts. Their first match resulted in a close 2-3 victory at Poulton Firsts with wins for Glenn House and Robin Moss while Alan Giles and Michael Farthing drew with Peter Garrett and Maryna McKeown. Poulton'sYoung Ben Fearnhead had a fine win over Norman Blade. Morecambe's second match win was a 4-1 thrashing of Lytham Firsts and the 200+ team grading gap reflected this. Glenn House, Robin Moss and Carl Heald all defeated their opponents, John Cooper, Rob Gallagher and Colin Wilks, while John Lyth and Richard Collins both drew with Phil Raynor and David Aspinall respectively. Watch out Preston Firsts!

In Division B Preston Thirds have also begun well with one draw and a win.
Their first match was a 2-2 draw at Lytham Seconds and this was followed by a 2.5 - 1.5 victory over Poulton Seconds. Against Lytham, William Moffatt beat Lytham's Colin Wilks but David Aspinall's win over Paul O'Mara evened the score and the other two games were both drawn. In their second game Geoff Pennington ended Ben Fearnhead's fine start with a win and Andrew De Santos also beat Dave Hartley. Poulton's Paul Fearnhead claimed the scalp of Patsos Charalampos and Joss Daune and Ken Gorman battled out a draw. Lytham Seconds also claimed a victory over Bispham by 1.5 - 2.5 to share top spot with the Preston club. Peter Wilson and Colin Wilks scored the important victories over Jakub Sosinski and Keith Wilcox respectively although Peter Wallace earned a point over Darren Pickering. David Aspinall's draw with Blaine McGrady secured the win for Lytham. Bispham did pick up a point with a 2-2 draw at Poulton Seconds, top boards Jakub Sosinski and Blayne McGrady beating Ben Fearnhead and Simon Rogers respectively. However a win for Paul Fearnhead over Peter Wallace secured the match draw as Bispham defaulted on board 4.

The Division C match between Poulton Thirds and Leyland saw the latter score a fine 1.5 -2.5 win. Dave Hartley and Ben O'Rourke drew on top board and Poulton's Dave McCormick beat Geoff Key on board 4. Victories on boards 2 and 3 for Leyland players David Clayton and Ken Lawson over Ross Loughlin and Andrew Lane won the match for last season's newcomers. Lytham Thirds beat Poulton Thirds 3.5- 0.5 to top the table. Bob Tinton and Ray Pomeroy beat Ken Gorman and Boris Garanins while Pat Coleman and Dave Hartley drew.
Poulton Thirds sadly defaulted on board 4 giving Lytham the 3.5-0.5 victory.

John Regan