Not surprising really, seeing as how 3/5ths of the first division teams are from Crewe, but the A team had to face back-to-back derbies recently.
First up was the Crewe C derby.
I managed to get an early point on the board for us, after Karl walked into some back rank problems. All the old timers in the club are getting worried about having to face 12 year old Oskar, and this time it was Dave Hulme’s turn. Anyone who follows the news at all knows that Oskar just keeps improving as he gets taller. He had Dave on the ropes early on, picking up a pawn and clamping down on the queenside, Lucky for the “A”s he then allowed Dave to escape and win a pawn, and the game then drifted into a draw. Harry blew open Andy’s defences to seal a nice win, and Richard beat Kamil. 3-1 to Crewe A.
Then came the big one: we have had AvB, now for BvA. Dave Dastardly Lambton had outdone himself this time. An old dirty trick, pulled by many a team in the past, was that he put himself on board one, rightly thinking that Richard Lee would just beat whoever sat down in front of him. Sure enough, Richard kept a plus all the way, then started collecting material in a convincing display of endgame technique. Anyway, that game was was the last to finish, I am doing this the wrong way around, just like in Pulp Fiction, another tale of the dodgy. Going back to the start, there was an strange occurrence on board 4; Dave H lost to Martin Frisher. Not that strange you might think, as their ratings are pretty similar. What really got club members scuttling over, from all corners, was that the game was over in 5 moves. When I say over, I mean checkmate was on the board.
I had what I thought was an edge all the way through my game against Gee, but she won the crucial battle, the blitz finish. The main dirty trick pulled off by the B captain was that he had only gone and flown in an ex club champion for the match! As Harry said , it was lovely, and not so lovely, to see Carmel back in the country. Carmel and Harry played a rook ending to death, but even though Harry nearly smashed his clock to bits at one point when he had only a second left, the game was drawn. Crewe B 2.5- Crewe A 1.5.
So Crewe B beat Crewe A again; the history book on the shelf is always repeating itself.
Crewe B have been in fine form and head into the new year well in front of the pack. Let’s hope they can win the league for Crewe CC.
ps. Dave H was mocked without mercy after the match, but on the way home I remembered that I resigned a league game in 5 moves, many a year ago, after a “pre-move” lost me a piece. That may or may not make him feel better.