Match Report: 18/11/25
Match Report: 18/11/25
(by Tim Hilton)
Atherton 3 – 2 Eccles
https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/97089
A Division
Warrington League
Captain Tim is back! Tonight was Warrington league action where Eccles had a very tough assignment away at Atherton. And a case of me facing an ex club as I used to represent Atherton and know that they are always one of the favourites.
A tough challenge became even tougher as the usual very reliable chess addict Mick Connor had forgot to set his alarm and thus meant Adam Tyton could watch his homeland qualify for their first World Cup since 1998! Can the Eccles boys pull off a huge upset? Read on to find out!
Marcial Flores (Totty) on board 2 had black vs Jamie Barnes who has come out of nowhere and played his usual provactive opening. He always finds a way to generate play though and play became sharp and Totty offered a draw which was accepted.
I had a tasty looking battle vs Lee Kay who we know well from playing at Blue Club for years and always exchange some fun good natured banter. I played a game that I am very happy with (although I am sure mr engine will disagree!) Where I managed to invade on his weak e6 square and found a nice temporary exchange which left me with a deadly pased pawn. I had to be careful of potential threats of a perpetual (or more knowing my luck) but calculated carefully to neutralise them and level the scores!
Andy on board 4 like all of us had a tough one, black vs the strong and experienced Pete Mulleady and he was slightly worse a lot of the game but defended well and offered a draw in a level looking ending. Pete had a look at the other game still in progress and accepted.
This was a clash of the titans. The man with the hat Mike Surtees vs prodigy Ethan Norris. Mike arrived late from presumably hammering on Micks door and an interesting tussle emerged with Ethan coming down the queenside and Mike in his Rot style attempting to ram the pawns down Ethans throat. He sacced a pawn to try and break through, it looked dangerous but Mike was also very short of time and after some adventures emerged 2 pawns down with the Queens off which proved to be fatal. Mike was incredibly resourceful though and kept it going a long time but dropped a piece and had to throw in the towel to hand Atherton victory by 3-2. Still a great effort drawing over the 4 boards that was competed against a strong team!
MOTM: Andy Roberts
Andy showed how far he has come since joining Auntie Barbara’s Eccles army with a very solid performance and a draw as black vs Pete Mulleady Atherton.
Thanks Tim, great match report as always and great to have you back on board.
This is what Andy said about his game:
I was out of my comfort zone by move one! A rare sight for me is 1. b3 and not something I’ve experienced playing against over the board. I attempted to play solid and logical moves and this can be seen in the game, with neither player gaining an advantage through the opening and middlegame. My opponent did offer a draw which I declined initially because I was up around 10 minutes on the clock and had an isolated pawn to target. I could’ve held a slight advantage on move 31… with a6 but chose to play a5 and the game was dead even again. A few more moves were made after this and I couldn’t see any advantage either way so offered a draw which my opponent accepted after checking the result on the other boards.
Just click on the board to see the game.
Many thanks to Andy for putting his game through Chess drop for us to analyse and learn from.
I’m sure you and Pete Mulleady who is the captain of Atherton and a personal friend of mine enjoyed their games immensely and thank you for sharing.
Next Match :
Thursday 20/11/25
Eccles vs Wigan
2nd Division
Bolton League
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