Match Report: 02/04/25
Match report written by Eccles player: James Buckley
Match Card: https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/53014
Team Eccles suffered a 3.5 to 1.5 defeat on their visit to Culcheth. Unfortunately we defaulted on top board due to a pure accident, the result of genuine human error. Had we won that game, it would have resulted in a 2.5-2.5 draw. Never mind, lessons have been learned, and onwards and upwards, as they say.
On board two, captain James Buckley (me) came away with a somewhat fortuitous win, thanks to his opponent blundering his queen away in what had, up until then, been a tense game. I really felt for my opponent in making this mistake, because only two days before I had fallen for a simple back rank mate myself, after being in a promising position in a friendly game. These things happen to all of us from time to time, even grandmasters and world champions are not immune. I could only console my opponent and encouraged him to learn from his error. The game is reproduced here on chessdrop: mainly as a warning to everyone to “never let your concentration waver”…..
On board three, club stalwart and seasoned player Colin Winstanley put up another of his usual no compromise, solid performances. His was probably the hardest fought and best performance of the night and was the last to finish. Colin secured a draw, with which he pronounced himself “pleased”.
Despite Colin’s noteworthy performance, I am recommending Antony Mills and Christine Dean for joint “Man of the Match”.
Antony and Christine are to me, two of the people who make playing chess at Eccles a real pleasure. I hope they won’t mind me saying, but like me, they are players of relatively modest strength. However, they make up for this with their love of the game, their keenness to learn, the warm welcome they always give to new players and their dedication to making Eccles Chess the success that it is. They always turn out to play whenever asked, whatever the location and whatever the weather.
They never complain, but tonight they were placed in a difficult position. Culcheth has some of the most beautiful wooden sets and boards that you will see, but unfortunately they do not have the algebraic notation symbols on the side of the board. This can be awkward for the less experienced players when trying to notate, and so it proved for Antony and Christine tonight. Absolutely no blame is to be put on Culcheth for this, and there was no malice intended, but Barbara is going to ask that all clubs use “notation friendly” boards in future.
Anyway, congratulations to Culcheth on their win, and thanks to the players of Team Eccles who made it another enjoyable evening of chess.
Thank you James for sharing your match report, it was a most enjoyable read and Eccles look forward to the return match on Tuesday 29/04/25
Monday Night: Ladies & Learners from 7pm until 8.20pm. From 8.30pm until late there will be chess tuition, presentations and group participation, followed by Chess for Fun!
Wednesday Night: Chess for Fun with friendly and ECF Rapidplay games from 7pm. Anything goes from Classic, Rapid, Blitz and Bullet games. All levels welcome!
Free refreshments – Free local Parking – All donations welcome!
21 Church Street Eccles M30 0DF
Thank you for reading.