| Culcheth A | V | Winwick A (4/12/19) |
| Marek Mazek | 0-1 | Richard Clissold |
| Jonathan Smith | 0.5-0.5 | Simon Myles |
| Iain Johnson | 0-1 | Dave Stuttard |
| Robert Furness | 1-0 | Ken Johnson |
| Keith Maudsley | 1-0 | Ben O’Rourke |
| Steve Cole | 0.5-0.5 | Stephen Carr |
| Final Score | 3-3 | Winwick 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…
| Culcheth A | V | Winwick A |
| 1. Iain Johnson | 0.5-0.5 | Richard Clissold |
| 2. Damian McCarthy | 0.5-0.5 | Simon Myles |
| 3. Robert Furness | 1-0 | Dave Stuttard |
| 4. Tom Vout | 1-0 | Ken Johnson |
| 5. Steve Cole | 1-0 | Leon Cox |
| 6. Andy Coe | 0.5-0.5 | Stephen Carr |
| Final Score | 4.5-1.5 | Winwick 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:
As well as the main league competition the Warrington league also runs three cup competitions. The “Peninsula Cup”, “Kalmar Cup”, and “Kalmar Shield .”
Each has slightly different rules. Described below on the league website:
The Peninsula Cup: This event is a handycap competition for teams of 6 players. When teams from different divisions are paired together the following applies:- Difference of 1 division 1½ points Difference of 2 divisions 2½ points Difference of 3 divisions 3½ points In the event of a drawn match the bottom board is eliminated. If the match score is still level the 5th board is eliminated and so on until a victor is found.
Kalmar Cup: This event is for teams of 5 players whose combined grade does not exceed 800. Defaulted Boards count as 160 grading points. Players must have either an ECF grade or a provisional grade from the WDCL to play in this competition. In the event of a drawn match the team with the lowest grading wins.
Kalmar Shield: This event is for teams of 5 players whose combined grade does not exceed 600. Defaulted Boards count as 110 grading points. Players must have either an ECF grade or a provisional grade from the WDCL to play in thiscompetition. Players graded over 140 are barred from this competition. In the event of a drawn match the team with the lowest grading wins.
So now that we know the rules a brief update on our cup fortunes so far! On Wednesday 30th November, the A team assembled for what was expected to be a tough match against Atherton. We had a team of Marek, Jonathan, Iain, Damian, Tom and Keith. Unfortunately it became clear at 8pm that the opposition had forgotten about the match which led to a win by default. The evening was not a complete write off however as it gave us a chance to hold an all play all fun club night in which Marek confirmed his status of our top board by winning all of his 5 games.
In the Kalmar cup and Kalmar shield however we have had disappointing early exits this year. The scorecards from these games along with a match report from Andy Coe are to be found below.;
| Kalmar Cup 4/11/19 | ||
| Winwick | V | Culcheth |
| Richard Clissold | 0-1 | Tom Vout |
| Dave Stuttard | 0-1 | Stephen Cole |
| Simon Myles | 1-0 | Andy Coe |
| Ken Johnson | 1-0 | Mike Rotchell |
| Stephen Carr | 1-0 | Nick Burriss |
| Winwick progress | 3-2 | Culcheth white on bds 2 & 4 |
Kalmar Cup match report (Andy Coe) v Winwick Monday 4th Nov.
Essentially I fielded a less than full strength team. They had their top players on show. Our combined grade was 724 I think they were in the 730’s. So we had the draw odds with us.
I (Andy Coe) lost to Steve Myles on bd 3 who has estimated grade 160, I had a good position up to move 18 but then blundered and lost quickly after that. 0-1
Steve Cole had good win on Bd 2 v Dave Stuttard
1-1
Tom Vout then had convincing win on Bd 1 with Black v Richard Clissold 2-1 to us.
Mike Rotchell was a wing passed pawn down in an endgame but both were in time pressure v K Johnson but in the end Mike lost the position 2-2.
Nick Burriss offered a draw to Steve Carr from an exchange up position but it was declined as Winwick would have lost the match on lower grade count. The position was complicated and Nick was very short on time. Unfortunately he blundered rook in scramble.
Final Score 2-3. The match went to the wire!
| Kalmar Shield 6/11/19 | ||
| Culcheth | V | St Helens |
| Nick Burriss | o.5-o.5 | Aaron Evans |
| Mike Rotchell | 1-0 | Keith Lyon |
| Nick Cooke | 0-1 | Ray Smith |
| Mike Brooks | 0-1 | Dave Kelly |
| Mike Selway | 0-1 | Mark Jones |
| St Helens progress | 1.5-3.5 | Culcheth white on bds 2 & 4 |