Last week saw the Club Championship play out as per current standings with Ross getting the better of Alistair.  Likewise with John beating Sean and David and Gordon playing out a hard fought draw. With all games now completed in Series 1 Both Alan and David share the lead with 6/7 pts and both undefeated with 4 wins and 2 draws.

Most of the action was in the B/C Tourney where Valera won his first point over the board with a good win over Rose – Congratulations to Valera (now a fully fledged member !!) Rick didn’t have too much trouble with Savanna though he was probably a little frustrated that she chose to play on, when being 3 pieces down. !!

The fireworks of the night was in the battle of the two “Marks” A good attack by Mark Summers (MS) was initially spoilt by him leaving a Bishop en-pris! — Big + to Mark Woodward (MW)  He (MS) then did excellent work to reduce the deficit and win a Knight/Rook exchange. (Little + to MW)   MW then turned the screws but made a unsound Bishop sacrifice to threaten checkmate. (Big + to MS) However, feeling a little pressured MS failed to see the correct defensive move and had to sacrifice his Queen for a Rook. (Winning + for MW). However, possibly feeling a little over confident at this stage, MW failed to pay attention to MS doubling his rooks which led to MS swooping down the board to checkmate MW.   As can be in chess, a Crazy game by both players but hopefully one both enjoyed.

Many lessons to be learned but I think a crucial one is when playing on the clock don’t get swayed into playing at the same speed as your opponent.  When you come to an important stage with attack or defence, taking a little extra time to try and make sure you have looked for the best response, will always pay dividends in the long run.

Though some players in the Club Champs have played Series 2 games, this coming Tuesday is classed as the first round of Series 2 and so players will play the same opponent in Round 1 of Series 1 but with colours reversed.