September was disappointing for Stafford B in division three of the Wolverhampton League. We began with a home defeat to Brewood B by 3 matches to 2. David Barker was the only winner on board 5 and when Denis Nesbitt’s game was drawn on board 3, Brewood secured a deserved victory. The woes continued when we were unable to find enough players able to make the long journey to Stourbridge and the match was conceded. October did not look much better midway through the match at Mercia. We had to concede board 5 as only 4 players were available and when James Topp on board 4 had to resign in the face of an overwhelming material advantage we were two boards down. The game turned round on board three when Peter was able to infiltrate his queen onto his opponent’s second rank. He followed up with a knight check and the Mercia board 3 resigned rather than lose his queen. Andrew Leadbetter on board 2 with the black pieces was forced to advance his king side pawns to prevent a strong attack. The advance worked in Andrew’s favour as his queen, rook, knight and pawn combination forced an inaccuracy in white’s defence leading to a win for Andrew that levelled the match. Ken McNulty was the last to finish on the top board. He was in time pressure in a rook and pawn endgame and the prospects of a win seemed remote. Then Ken was able to create a passed central pawn which he subsequently gave up to move his opponent’s king away from a flank pawn. With the flank pawn bound to promote the Mercia board one resigned giving a 3-2 win to Stafford. |
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