23 November 2016
Philip May has returned from his unexpected holiday in Intensive Care among the wurzels of the West Country, eager to resume normal activity.
Tonight Philip sallied forth, a little sooner than had been planned, to play Top Board for our ‘B’ team against the team that is the current leader of the Division.
And what of the night’s matches?
Consider:
~ Team A: grades 146 to 108 v Rose Forgrove E: grades 95 to 78: result 4 – 1
~ Rose Forgrove D: grades 136 to 104 v Team B: grades 101 to 42 : result 4½ – ½
The overall results were no shock. The only surprise was that the higher-graded team did not achieve a complete whitewash in both cases.
Rose Forgrove snatched a win on Board 4 against the A Team while Steve Hodgson clocked up another against-the-odds draw for the B Team. This is the second League game in succession where Steve has saved the team from complete wipeout.
On other boards too, Forgrove D were made to work hard. Philip May playing Keith Riach at Board 1 (latest YCA running grades 96 v 146) survived 58 moves while Board 3 saw a 58-mover on which time ran out. There was strong play from Barry Fulthorpe (Board 2) and Steve Kelley (Board 5) who both kept their much-higher-graded opponents busy for much longer than might have been expected. We don’t like to make it too easy for the other side.