The Peninsula Cup Final

St Helens AVCulcheth A
Mark Ellis0-1Marek Mazek
Dave Hill0.5-0.5Jonathan Smith
Tom Dugdale0.5-0.5Damian McCarthy
Barry Groves0-1Iain Johnson
Steve Potter0-1 Tom Vout
Keith Lyon0-1Steve Cole
Final Score1-5Culcheth White on odd boards

Match Report “By Captain Iain Johnson,”

Culcheth-Lymm headed to a new venue in St Helens to play the Peninsula cup final. Captain Johnson won the toss and chose White on odd boards.
With usual stars Marek and Jonathan on top boards inform player Damian gained promotion to board 3. The old stalwarts Iain and Tom were on 4 and 5 with magician Steve, following great wins against Jonathan Smith and Tom Dugdale providing a strong board 6.

With the unenviable task of playing black against Dave Hill , Jonathan held firm against the English and finished first with a good draw.

Marek produced another masterclass against Mark Ellis in an exciting battle to give Culcheth-Lymm the lead.

and after Damian agreed a draw with Tom Dugdale in a decent position but low on time it was left to the rear gunners to finish the job.

Iain beat old foe Barry Groves after a few scares

then Steve gained revenge against Keith Lyon and Tom did a typical Tom and beat Steve Potter in an interesting endgame to give the away team a 5-1 victory. Open top bus celebrations to come!

Culcheth A V Winwick A

Jonathan’s Game against Myles ended peacefully here with a draw.
Culcheth AVWinwick A (4/12/19)
Marek Mazek0-1Richard Clissold
Jonathan Smith0.5-0.5Simon Myles
Iain Johnson0-1Dave Stuttard
Robert Furness1-0Ken Johnson
Keith Maudsley1-0Ben O’Rourke
Steve Cole0.5-0.5Stephen Carr
Final Score3-3Winwick white on 1,3 & 5

Steve Cole V Steve Carr (click to play through) was also quite interesting. Steve miscalculated and lost a piece but then managed to pull the game back to a draw by skillfully liquidating all of the pawns.

Match details to follow…

Peninsula Cup Semi Final

Culcheth AVWinwick A
1. Iain Johnson0.5-0.5Richard Clissold
2. Damian McCarthy0.5-0.5Simon Myles
3. Robert Furness1-0Dave Stuttard
4. Tom Vout1-0Ken Johnson
5. Steve Cole1-0Leon Cox
6. Andy Coe0.5-0.5Stephen Carr
Final Score4.5-1.5Winwick White on odds

The A team progressed into the Final of this years Peninsula cup after a convincing win against a recently strengthened Winwick side. Despite a couple os last minute withdrawals we managed just about to field a full side.

Iain Johnson on top board was in control for most of his game and seemed well on the way to victory with a strong Queenside attack, however his opponent managed to exploit the opposite coloured bishops with the queens to create enough threats of his own to force a draw.

Damian’s game on board two is at the bottom of the page.

Rob on board three was a late edition to the team but he managed to comfortably convert his attack after giving up a pawn in an English opening as White.

Tom won quickly on board four, and on bottom board Andy Coe managed a solid draw against Warrington League veteran Stephen Carr.

Steve Cole managed a win on board five to secure the match;

In Steve’s game his opponent blundered a piece for two pawns in the opening, and the game ended with the following trap:

Playing the natural 19…… Rb2?? Black missed 20. Nc4+!! and Resigned as the rook is lost 1-0

(if 20……dxc4 21 Nb3 discovered check leads to mate).