Fenton went down 4 - 1 against Crewe in our first match of the season last night. The match was a graded friendly but, unfortunately, we lost two of the team when both Ray and Glyn had to withdraw, so we were always struggling to compete. Our newest Member, Reuben Ricketts stepped in on board 5 and, although he lost, he put up a very good performance. I was ridiculously bad on board 2 and got into trouble very early on. I ended up losing a pawn and then left a Rook en prise - enough said !! Sam got a terrific win on board 4, despite being a pawn down going into the endgame, where he outplayed his opponent. Grenville was the last to finish. He had a very good position in the middle game and looked to have at least a draw, but he then went astray and lost the exchange of a Rook for a Knight, resulting in a lost position. Petru, as usual, talked a better game than he played on board 1, but played on until the bitter end in a hopelessly lost position.
