Some you win, some you lose

Both Crewe’s division 5 teams were in action this Wednesday and
experienced wildly contrasting fortunes.
Playing Newcastle in what appeared to be a very evenly matched
contest our F team managed to score less than one half in total!!!
However, all four games lasted well beyond the other match and each
was keenly contested. George, Mike, Reinhard and Kobus all had
chances but were eventually well beaten on the night and
congratulations to Newcastle on what must be a welcome and uplifting
result for them.

The other match of the evening found our E team continuing their
challenge for the title against Cheddleton’s F team who had reverted to
their more usual junior line up. This caused a last-minute reshuffle to
Crewe’s team to try and even out the grades where possible and the
games ensued. On board 4 Lucasz was in dominant mood from the off
and within 15 moves had trapped his opponents queen. Thereafter,
victory was inevitable and duly came in quick succession; another
Excellent and Efficient performance from our E team regular.
Boards 1 & 2 however were not going to script and Simon was a piece
down on 1 and Julian was under the cosh with an onslaught of an
attack.
Meanwhile on board 3 I was treading water, waiting to see how the
other games developed fearing I might have to force a win just to get a
draw for the team!
Julian on 2 had eked out an escape and eventually eased his way into
the attack. Unfortunately, I think his opponent had overstretched
himself in his onslaught and suddenly Julian was two pieces up for
around 3 pawns. Some careful positioning followed and finally so too did
the victory, giving us a 2 – 0 lead.
Immediately, I decided to get off the fence as I was beginning to get
splinters and was liable to do something rash; I offered a draw which he
gladly accepted giving us the match with 2.5 – 0.5 lead.

Within a very short time Simon had miraculously snatched a final victory
from what had seemed an inevitable defeat (lucky was the word he
himself used!!!) and the team was able to relax with a job well done and
a 3.5-0.5 win.
The E team’s main challengers for the league have a game on Friday
and Monday so all eyes glued to the screens clicking the refresh button
for the result then!!!!!
The Ees have one game left later in April before the final showdown at
the Mals on the 8th May, when the two title contenders will be going
head to head in the last game of the season.