In our final fixture the A team faced Winwick. We were on top of the table going into this one and just required one point from the match to secure the title.
Against us were Winwick who have had a tough season and were sitting at the bottom of the league. The opposition captain bemoaned the fact that they had struggled to consistantly field their strongest players as the main reason for their troubles this year.
As the sides lined up this seemed to be the case again as Winwick were heavily outgraded on all boards.
In truth this final fixture was a fairly comfortable evening as Marek won extremly quickly on board two. This was followed shortly after by Jonathan’s almost as quick victory on board four. 2-0
At this point Damian had a comfortable position on board three, but recalling Jonathan and Tom Vout’s sacrifice in the previous fixture briefly wondered whether I ought to be offering a draw, in order to secure the vital half point we needed. However after a quick look at the other two boards it seemed that something truly calamitous would have to happen for us not to achieve the required scoreline and so decided to play on as I liked my position.
Soon enough White’s position collapsed in this game which secured the match result 3-0
Rob on board four gave his opponent weak doubled c-pawns early in the game and set about creating pressure against them. His game being of quite a positional nature took a little longer to convert, but a bit later in the evening he comfortably brought home his point 4-0
The toughest game of the night took place on top board, where Tom had given up his Queen for Rook and minor piece.
Tom stated afterwards he had been unhappy with his game but in the end his quality shone through as he turned the game around to give us a 5-0 winning scoreline.
A nice end to an excellent league season where we have regained the title after 3 barren years!
Absent from this fixture were Ilya Dubov and Tom Vout, but they also deserve a special mention as they have also achieved key victories for us this year.
Our final outing will come against Atherton in the Peninsular Cup final. This takes place on Wednesday 24th May.
