Lytham 1 v Poulton 1

With so many new Players, after the long absence we have all had from the board, I can report an exciting victory for Lytham after a very close match. My game on board 3 was v Mike Kenworthy whom, along with David McCormick, had been brought in for Poulton at short notice. Mike played confidently in the early stages and was ahead on the clock but missed some nice tactical shots later on, having failed to exchange queens when the opportunity arose. Colin Walker and his family are new to this area and he and his son Sam, who played on board 1, were making their debuts for Lytham. David won the exchange and was always winning after that. Poulton's captain Simon, elevated to board 2 in the absence of former stalwarts, created severe problems for the much higher graded Paul Evans. Paul seemed to have a strong attack against Simon's king, but this was unsuccessful and Simon managed to promote a centre pawn into a second queen. However, in a completely winning position Simon overlooked the clock at the 35 move time control and lost on time. This Game-changer left Lytham 2-1 up and needing only a draw on top board for the match where Sam Walker was up against the very strong Martin Mitchell, another debutant for Poulton. A very sharp and complex game kept us all on tenterhooks but when the smoke cleared they reached an ending where Martin was a pawn up with no pieces other than opposite-coloured bishops and, despite some advantage on the clock, this was insufficient to win. With just seconds left on both clocks the players shook hands for a draw. Phew!!