We kicked off the week with the D team travelling to Macclesfield on Monday 14th for a tough Division 2 match. Facing the team with the highest ratings in the division at 7288, we decided to pick a stronger team than planned but were stil outrated by just under 380 pts. Ebube played well to force a draw (bd 4) after being down a couple of pawns, before David Lambton produced an excellent win on bd 1. Jules secured a draw (bd 3) as the skipper got outplayed to leave the final result 2-2, to continue the D team’s promising start to the season with 5 pts from 3 matches to sit top of the table for now.
Tuesday saw another packed house at St Mary’s with our highest attendance since the June rapidplay nights, with 3 matches and a number of Club championship games taking place, while the social room was also packed including 4 or 5 more potential new members.
In the Major Cup (U1825) we faced Alsager in the semi final, and were strong favourites with a 600 pts rating average over the 5 boards. Jules got us on the scorecard with a safe draw on bd 5, before Andy Raeburn got the better of the top board clash and then David H won on bd 3 to make sure we would progress to the final (as even if we lost the two remaing games, we would win on tie break). Martin F converted his advanatge into a full point on bd 2 to leave Karl playing the last game and also winning to give us a comfortable win 4.5 -0.5
In division 3, we had the first F vs G derby with the F team being slightly higher rated but not by any significant amount. First to finish was a surprise result on bd 4 as G team skipper Steve overturned the biggest difference (173 pts or 231 on latest ratings) to gain a win. Then on bd 1, F team captain Nigel held the higher rated Nev to a draw by just after 9 o’clock. We then had a long long wait for the other two games to conclude. On bd 2 Richard Fish (F team) was pushing for a win after an early sacrifice, but Pawel held his nerve to stop Richard and eventually piece was a agreed with a draw. The last game to finish saw George Bulbeck typically low on time, play approx 50 moves in increment time before grinding out a win to save the match for the F team. Honours even 2-2.
The H team hosted Kidsgrove in div 4. The match was secured by wins on the top 3 boards from Kobus, Adam and Tim as we ran out 3-1 winners. Having played four matches already the Hs sit top of the table for now with 5 pts, while all other teams have games in hand. Tim has started the season superby with 4/4 and will look to extend that run when the H team play at Meir next week.