The 'A' team were very fortunate to get a 2.5 - 1.5 win at Alsager on Tuesday evening. We were without Gerald Acey but Petru was back from Romania to take his place on board 2. Glyn got us off to a flying start with an early win on board 4. The other games lasted until well into the evening, with Petru being the next to finish on board 2, and losing in his first game since his return. That was followed by a great performace on board 1 by Alex, with a draw against FIDE Master, Jonathan Blackburn. That put the scores level and all eyes were on Kas on board 3. He was in a totally lost endgame, 2 pawns down and with his opponent having a pawn on the 7th rank, when his opponent blundered whilst in time trouble, and giving away a Rook for a Bishop. Kas quickly capitalised on this and, with his opponent's King trapped on the back rank, Kas had a forced mate a couple of moves later. We are now just 2 points off the top of the table and with a game in hand. Next up is a home mach against unbeaten Cheddleton 'A' on the 9th January, in what will be our toughest matchn to date. Hopefully Gerald will be available for this one as we will need to be able to field our strongest team. Click here for the match score card from Monday's match - https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/117572.
There are 2 more matches for the Club before the Christmas break - the 'B' team are at home against top of the table Crewe 'C' in Division 2 next Monday 5th December, and the 'C' team are at home against Kidsgrove in Division 3 the following Monday 12th December.