report-3-19

BLACKPOOL & FYLDE CHESS LEAGUES

REPORT 3/2019/20 - DECEMBER

Only three games to report on in December, two in Division A and one in Division B.

In Division A Preston Firsts enhanced their lead at the top of the table with a very close hard fought win against Morecambe. Despite Brett Lund being worried about his dog behaving during his match against Glenn House on board 1, he managed to draw without any trouble. And the dog was quiet too! Boards 2, 3 and 4 were also draws between Martyn Hamer, Malcolm Peacock and Graham Ashcroft against Robin Moss, John Lyth and Carl Heald respectively. As the match was then all square, everyone crowded around board 5 where Morecambe's Nick Jameson was the exchange up against Carl Tillotson. Unfortunately for Nick he was shocked to note his flag had fallen and that he had lost on time. 3 - 2 to Preston.

Preston Seconds were involved in the second Division A match and comfortably beat Lytham First team by 3.5-1.5 although the visitors initially appeared to have the upper hand. Lytham's Rob Gallagher beat Conor Reaney on board 2 and Peter Wilson and Alan Pidcock drew on board 5. Preston's Peter Thompson took full advantage of a horrible blunder by David Aspinall to even the match and home wins on boards 1 and 3 saw Preston home. Peter Jowett and Phil Taylor were the victors overcoming John Cooper and Philip Raynor.

The Division B match saw a change of fortune for the Preston clubs when the Thirds succumbed at home to Poulton Seconds. There were good wins for the visitors' Ben Fearnhead and Ken Gorman against Geoff Pennington and newcomer Andrew Thornley but on board 2 Bill Moffat won a piece to defeat Paul Fearnhead giving Preston some hope. In a game of attacking chances on both flanks, the two board 3 players, Andrew De Santos and newcomer H. Grundy agreed a draw to leave the score 1.5 - 2.5 in Poulton's favour. Despite this defeat, Preston Thirds retain leadership of Division B with only 3 points separating all four clubs in this league.

Wishing all the Fylde Chess community a very happy festive season and a very matey 2020 to come. John Regan 21/12/2019