All Together Now

Played at the Navigation last evening -

Marple 1              V      Chorlton 1      : Reyner Shield:    04/02/2016

1 A Longson        1-0       H Mkkumba
2 M Fernandez    1-0       M Carpenter
3 S Hegarty       0.5/0.5    P Macklin
4 G Trueman      1-0        R Doney
5 N Livesey       0.5/0.5    D Lee
6 A Hall             0.5/0.5    S Foulkes
7 D Preen            1-0        P Harnett

                           5.5/1.5

As the teams lined up prior to kick off in this important Manchester Cup match I made Chorlton slight favourites. Although our top three boards were extremely strong Chorlton have tremendous strength in depth as shown by the fact that their board 5 player has a grade of 177.
Things started well when Michael won very quickly with the Black pieces on board two. I was taken aback somewhat as I had looked at the position a few minutes earlier and didn't know who was better......(1-0)
Nigel was outgraded by nearly thirty points but you would never have known it from looking at his game. Both sides played very solidly in a quiet position and a draw resulted. (1.5- 0.5).
In my game Ron postponed development in favour of what did look like a potentially dangerous Kingside attack. I really had to defend accurately and in doing so fell a long way behind on the clock. That didn't matter though as once Ron retreated and the centre turned Black the game became very easy to play. (2.5- 0.5).
David then won what seemed to be a very interesting game on board seven. The pawn balance seemed to change quite often and I would be very interested to see the moves. We were almost there. (3.5 - 0.5).
Sarah took us over the line. I suspect you would have to travel a long way to see a stronger board three club match game than Miss Hegarty against Mr Macklin. Paul has only just returned to competitive chess after a few years absence, my recollection is of him having a grade around 210. Sarah took the initiative and eventually won a pawn. The Bishops of opposite colours were a strong drawing factor though and putting the team first Sarah agreed to the draw that ensured we won the match. (4 - 1).
Alan played extremely well with the Black pieces against Stan. A double Rook ending resulted that looked drawish to me. Given the match situation Stan had to play on but he never looked like getting anywhere and when the players agreed a draw  it may have been that Stan had overplayed his hand, although for Alan to try to win would  have been very risky with little time left. This was a good result for Alan against a highly graded opponent.  (4.5 - 1.5)
Alexs game had seen a blocked position for a long time. Amusingly all the White pawns were on light squares and all the Black pawns on dark ones. Alex seemed to be calling the shots though with a breakthrough on the Kingside always a possibility. Eventually something must have gone wrong for Hope and true to style Alex concluded the evenings entertainment with not one but two completely sound Knight "sacs" on the g5 square. (5.5 - 1.5).
This was a terrific result against strong opposition and a match in which everyone played a significant part.  Thanks to all including Louise for her unpaid chauffeuring services.