Preston 3 v Preston 4

Preston`s two Div B teams started their seasons with this emphatic victory for Preston 4.
First to finish was Board 3 where Sebastien, employing his trademark Larsen`s opening (1. b3) developed sensibly, gained control of the open c file and won the game with a clever tactical flourish.
On Board 4 Jon severely disrupted Curtis` pawn structure in the middle game, add your comments, Jon.
On Board 1, Hambel, a very welcome recruit to Preston this season, was playing Paul who needs no introduction. In an entertaining game Paul had gained queenside space. When the queens came off a tactical melee involving rooks, white`s two bishops and black`s two knights resulted in an endgame of black rook v white bishop but crucially white had a pawn on the seventh rank protected by the bishop and a draw was agreed.
On Board 2 Becky and Danny battled away in a game that swung one way then the other. In the middle game white was a piece up but black`s major piece pressure on f2 regained the piece. The queens came off leaving a notoriously tricky double rook ending.
Congratulations to Preston 4 and good luck for the season.

On Board 4, Black avoided the Smith-Morra by transposing into the Alapin (3…Nf6). A slight mistake by White allowed Black to disrupt the kingside pawns, but the match was ultimately decided by a blunder allowing Black to go into an endgame a piece up. White still provided some stubborn resistance, until the dark-squared bishop was able to get around the back of the White pawns.