report-2-18

Report 2/18 November 2018

Like the recent world Chess Championship standard 12 matches played between Norway's Magnus Carlsen and the USA's Fabiano Caruana, draws have been dominant.

In the only match in Division A, a slightly weakened Preston Seconds were held to a 2.5 - 2.5 draw against an equally weakened Poulton Firsts. Preston's Peter Jowett beat Oleg Cukovs on board 1 but on board 5, Poulton's young Ben Fernhead impressed to beat his higher graded opponent William Moffatt to ensure that both teams had one won game. Cliff Rutlidge v Barry Hymer, Phil Taylor v Graham Dobson and Paul O'Mara v Peter Garrett were all draws to establish a fair result on the night. These two teams still share first and second in the table with Poulton edging ahead with a better points tally.

In Division B, Preston Thirds lost narrowly to Lytham Seconds by 1.5 - 2.5. Phil Raynor beat Geoff Pennington on board 1 while David Aspinall secured a second Lytham win on board 2 against Andy De Santos. Preston debutant Josh McHaffie scored a fine win over Bob Tinton, but his fellow debutant, Chris Soames, could only draw with Ray Pomeroy on board 4. In the other match in this Division, Morecambe were held to a 2 - 2 draw against Bispham Firsts, with Blaine McGrady defeating the home board 1 Nick Jameson as Morecambe's Michael Farthing beat Peter Wallace on board 3. Sean Parker drew with Keith Wilcox and Andy Wickens drew with Ron Broxson to even the match. Morecambe lead the division by one point over Preston Thirds.

Draws were also evident in Division C when Lytham Thirds held Poulton Thirds 2 - 2 and Lytham Fourths were held to a 2 - 2 draw against the new team Leyland. Lytham Thirds captain Pat Coleman beat Les Hughes on board 3 while on board 2 Poulton's Dave Hartley did well to beat Ray Pomeroy. Games on board 1, Bob Tinton v Ken Gorman, and board 4, John Regan and Paul Fearnhead were both drawn. In their first home match, Leyland crashed to 0.5 - 3.5 defeat against Poulton Seconds who replaced Lytham Thirds as table toppers. Martin Craven scored the half point for Leyland drawing with Paul Fearnhead while Ben Fearnhead, Paul Worsley and Ken Gorman all won for Poulton against Steve Hughes, David Clayton and John Morgan respectively.

In the Rapidplay handicap Cup, Poulton Seconds beat Lytham Seconds by 6 - 2 with 2 wins for Simon Rogers over Pat Coleman, and two wins for Paul Worsley over John Cox. In their two games, Liam Bromley and Keith Samson each won a game while Dave Hartley and Colin Wilks both shared two draws. In the other game played, Bispham and Lytham Firsts drew 4 - 4 with the former going through on handicap. On board 1 Jakub Sosinski and Rob Gallagher shared the points in both of their games, Blaine McGrady scored 0.5 to 1.5 against John Cooper, Peter Wallace also scored 0.5 to 1.5 against David Aspinall but Keith Wilcox scored 2 - 0 over Andrei Short to obtain a 4 all scoreline.

John Regan