Preston v Lytham St Annes 1

The first Challenge Cup Final for four years. Both clubs fielded strong teams.

Also occurring tonight at Jalgos was a Preston Junior/new players team against Crusaders, arranged and captained by (non-playing) Malcolm. So an eight board final, Preston v Crusaders, together with a normal club-night, resulted in some very old boards and sets making an appearance this evening. The cupboard was truly bare.

Back to the final

Board 1 : Paul sacrificed the exchange for a dangerous attack. Pete knew he was really in a game and reported that it was of a high quality. Pete sacrificed the exchange back in order to simplify his defence. With queens and a few pawns each a draw was agreed and Pete seemed the more relieved.

Board 2 : Jim appeared to have a better position and was threatening mate on g7 with a knight and queen attack. John was able to swap queens off to extinguish this attack and the position now looked equal and possibly better for John. Following more exchanges only pawns remained. Both players queened a pawn but Jim was first to do so and therefore led with the checks and although equal material John’s flag fell.

Board 3 : Malcolm seemed to have some early initiative but the middle-game became quite complicated. Malcolm stated that he thought he may have been losing at this stage but after a series of exchanges he emerged the exchange up ( with Colin having an extra pawn). But after Malcolm forced an exchange of queens he regained his pawn and forced the win.

Board 4 : As the two Phils came head-to-head the home player won a pawn and had a good position. Phil Taylor explained that his pieces were defending though and not attacking as he would have liked. Gradually the Lytham Phil used his active pieces to win back the pawn and a draw was agreed.

Board 5 : In my game I had a rook on b2 ( threatening the c2 pawn) and had the other rook exerting pressure on the half open f- file. My g5 pawn was about to move to g4, forcing the knight on f3 to move, and the rook capturing the f2 pawn with check. Followed by the capture on c2 by the other rook and in my mind total mayhem for white. However in my deluded state I had completely underestimated the danger of Dave’s counter-plan.

“How come dumb stuff seems so smart while you’re doing it” – Dennis the Menace

Dave penetrated down the h file and then connected both his rooks on my back rank. The end came when Dave executed a lovely little combination which I had overlooked, which resulted in him winning the exchange. With his active rooks he exchanged my one remaining rook and this effectively ended the game.

Board 6 : Hambel had built up a decent position, not winning but certainly better, although material was equal. Her opponent Charles inexplicably failed to make the time control ( and had only made 21 moves when he should have made 35). When Hambel pointed out to him that he had lost on time he seemed totally confused by the situation.

Board 7 : Andre won the exchange and going into the endgame had a rook for Seb’s knight with four pawns each. It looked a certain win for Andre. However Seb, with the tenacity of Gnasher protecting a bone from a rival, would not give up and promptly pushed a passed pawn and hoped to distract Andre from a winning plan. He eventually queened this pawn which Andre had to give up his rook for and Seb accurately held on for the draw.

Board 8 : In the opening Darren pinned Danny’s F3 Knight with his bishop on G4. However he had overlooked Danny sacrificing his bishop with a check capture of the f7 pawn. After king takes, the F3 Knight checked the black king and the g4 bishop was lost. White is a pawn up and black’s king un-castled. Danny won two further pawns and closed out to a won endgame.

About a third through this fixture, with me losing to Dave, Seb looking lost and Paul’s dangerous exchange sacrifice causing Pete some consternation the result was definitely in the balance and much credit to Lytham for pushing us all the way.

Big Sam recently said he was as good as Pep, Klopp et al. Malcolm not only played in this fixture (and won), but supervised the Preston v Crusader game and was also seen welcoming a new player to the club, and must surely rival Big Sam for coach of the year.