report-5-18

Report 5/18 February 2019

In Division A Preston Seconds secured two 3.5 - 1.5 victories in the month to go top of the table ahead of Poulton Firsts. Their first win was achieved against Lytham firsts with wins for Conor Reaney, Peter Thompson and Philip Taylor over Paul Evans, John Cooper and David Aspinall respectively. On the top board, Peter Jowett and Roy Ellames fought out a tense draw and Lytham's Rob Gallagher beat Cliff Rutlidge to gain a consolation win for the visitors. In their second victory, Preston Seconds overcame the then current leaders, Poulton Firsts. Conor Reaney and Philip Taylor won again beating Barry Hymer and Peter Garrett while top board Peter Jowett triumphed over David Phillips. Graham Dobson was the only home victor over Peter Thompson and Mike Parker and Cliff Rutlidge had a battling draw.

A strong Morecambe team maintained their 1 point lead on top of Division B by victory at Preston Thirds. On top board, David Tuke's tenacity was finally driven to submission by John Lyth who took full advantage of his space advantage. On board 2, Harry Patsos held a promising middle-game position but was unable to turn this into a win as Alan Giles gradually took control by seizing the only open file to make it 0 - 2 to Morecambe. A draw was the result on board 3 after Sean Parker sportingly agreed to this despite his opponent Andy De Santos being in difficult time trouble. Well played Sean. On board 4 Andy Wickens won a pawn with a clever Bishop sacrifice and went on to defeat Raja Haaris to secure the match victory for Morecambe. The only other match in this Division saw Lytham Seconds beat Bispham first to move into second place in the table. Lytham Captain, Phil Raynor drew with Blaine McGrady on board 2 under the perpetual check rule but wins for Rob Gallagher, David Aspinall and Robert Tinton against Jakub Sosinski, Keith Wilcox and Ron Broxson earned the match win for Lytham.

Poulton Seconds all but secured the championship of Division C with two wins to maintain their 100% win rate this season. Simon Rogers and Ben Fearnhead wins on the top two boards against Poulton thirds, Liam Bromley and David Hartley, gave them a good start, and a draw on board 3 by Les Hughes and Paul Worsley secured the match victory. At least Paul Fearnhead scored a consolation win for the Thirds in beating Ken Gorman on board 4. Poulton Seconds then beat Leyland 3 - 1 to go 7 points clear at the top of the table. This was a fine result for the home team against stronger opposition as Dave Hartley beat Steven Hughes, Ken Gorman beat Martin Craven and Paul Fearnhead beat young Bharath Cheralathan. On board 1, the 171-graded Sean Fitzgibbon took advantage of a slip by Paul Worsley to secure Leylands only point. In the only other match in Division C, Lytham Fourths beat Poulton thirds by 2.5 - 1.5. This was Lytham fourths second victory as Graham Taylor and John Cox both won against Paul Worsley and Marjorie Ellison. Dave Hartley gave Poulton hope when he overcame Colin Wilks on board 2, but Keith Sansom and Leslie Hughes agreed a draw in a bishop v knight ending.

In the Rapid play Handicap Cup Preston needed to beat Poulton 6 - 2 on handicap but in the event lost anyway with the 3.5 - 4.5 actual score translating into a 0.5 - 7.5 Poulton victory. Poulton will now play Bispham in the final.

John Regan