Family commitments meant that I was unable to play in last night's Jackson Cup Final so Rob has submitted the following report - no doubt hoping to win a Booker Prize !!
This is the story of how the Cup was won!
After a 'lets do it for Steve' Churchillian type speech the team settled down to do the business.
First to finish was Stuart on board 5 who surprisingly was NOT in time trouble ! This was followed by Neal drawing on board 4 (this was achieved as he had only had 1 pint of beer - apparently 2 pints and he loses every match !!
Geoffs game on board 3 was a puzzling game. Geoff had a strong attack against his opponent then somehow became a piece for several pawns down. In the end Geoff had 6 pawns v Bishop and a couple of pawns and at this point a draw was agreed.
The penultimate game was Derrick's on board 2 who had a queen and rook ending against his opponent. Crucially Derrick also had a couple of extra pawns and his opponent was in time trouble which resulted in the inevitable win for Derrick. This meant that Fenton needed a draw on board 1 to lift the cup. To make sure that Rob was aware of this Derrick pushed the scorecard right under his nose !!
With the biggest attendance of the season watching, Rob went into the endgame a pawn up, but his opponent had a strong pin on a pawn. However like Derricks opponent, Robs opponent was also in time trouble. Rob, resembling the ice-cold calmness of Bjorn Borg, methodically reduced the game to a king, rook and pawn ending. The final twist was that Rob 'blundered' when his opponent had 8 seconds left and lost his rook. With his opponent making moves in lightning fast time Rob kept his calm knowing that he would win on time. However his opponent made a move that resulted in stalemate which meant the cup was Fentons!!
However the drama did not end there as Neal who was observing Robs match thought he had been mated and in true "Steve pessimistic style" told Stuart he had lost!! Stuart filled the scorecard in with the final match result a draw which would have meant Lichfield would have won on board count. No wonder Rob, who was smiling from ear to ear, was puzzled when people came up to him with words of comiseration!! It was only after the team knew that Rob had drawn and the scoresheet amended did celebrations start.