27 February 2019
‘Twas a satisfying night for the club: 4 teams in action – three of them winning by 3 games to 2 and one drawing 2½ all.
Most interesting time was at Leeds University where Team D were playing the Univ B team. To start with there was a mystery tour of the university in search of the actual venue. Followed by comedy routine from the university’s Top Board. It didn’t save him, or his team, from defeat. Great wins for Limewood from Richard Jefferies, David Halpin and Rob Ford.
D Team captain Steve might have a point in suggesting that for future matches there, visiting teams should meet up beforehand in a local pub and then go find the venue in convoy.
Team C were at home to Alwoodley D. The visitors arrived as Top Team in the Division but had probably been supplanted there by the time they left in defeat.
At Board 2 Philip May showed a split personality. First part of the game he was a WW1 squaddie isolated in his dugout taking potshots at the enemy, desperately trying to keep them back as they slowly closed in on him. Then in the blink of an eye he was out of the trench, transformed into a ravening hellhound rampaging across the terrain until the enemy surrendered in terror of being torn to shreds. Quite a game.
In contrast, across the room, Rodney Mitchinson (outgraded like the rest of the team) played on serenely and unobtrusively in a game that seemed to be continuing for ever, until he quietly revealed that he had actually won. Draws from Ian Carrigan and Paul Masiak completed the scoreline.
On the other side of the airline-style curtain that divides Business Class from Cattle Class, Team B were entertaining, if that is the right word, the only team below them in the Division 2 league table, Pudsey B.
It was a great evening for drawing, but not in the artistic sense as 4 of the 5 games ended that way. It was Matt Harris who broke the deadlock and won the match with the evening’s sole win. But credit also goes to the steadfast 4 who saved the match by gaining a halfpoint each even though heavily outgraded in some cases: Herbert Lockwood, John Grasham, Bob Maltby and Howard Brears.
Away at Alwoodley, Team A maintained their mid-table position with a draw against their host’s top team. There were 3 draws here, from Tom Leah, Paul Johnson and Robert Moneagle while the solitary win came from Siefaldin Holi.
Not a bad evening.