The Chester Chess ChronicleChester and District League Champions Chester 1 are off to a good start after defeating fellow club mates and last seasons runners up Chester 2 by four games to one.
The defending champions started with weaker team than that which won the league last season, but were still no match for 2 who had been weakened even more so. Chester 2 were without Bob Clark and Martin Lee, who had recently left the club, and Tim Everrett who has switched to Chester 1.
The first game to finish was the game on board one between Chester 1's Ard van Bergen and new Chester 2 captain Paul Watson, which ended in a draw after the two players reduced to the material to just a few minor pieces and pawns each.
Chester 1 then took the lead after
On board five last seasons league overall top scorer Steve Lloyd took on Chester 1 debutant David Hulme of Crewe. Lloyd, playing with the white pieces, played a few too many passive moves in the early stages and allowed Hulme to get a strong kingside attack. Hulme soon reaped the rewards as his pieces came in to grab some loose pawns. Eventually Lloyd was able to break in the Queenside, but this was not enough and Hulme converted his material advantage into a win
Finally, club champion Chris Doran wrapped up the win for the champions, defeating the much improved Shaun McConochie after a
Demmon Wins Cup
Matthew Demmon, Chester's most recent addition, has won this years Coleby Cup after defeating Colin White in a playoff.
Demmon (and White) had scored 4½ points in the initial five round swiss tournament, defeating and overtaking outright leader Steve Lloyd in the final round. Lloyd, on four wins in as many games, was at one stage up 2 pawns and by 20 minutes on the clock. However Demmon kept battling and took advantage of a late blunder as Lloyd failed to make his advantage count.
CDL: 3 beat 4
In the second division of the Chester
The first game to finish was on board two, when Tim Everrett (3) agreed a draw with Steve Lloyd (4) after just 18 moves. Then Chester 4 took the lead, with Colin White getting a good win against Jon Maybery on board three. White smashed Maybery's kingside with an impressive attacking display.
Next there was another draw, this time between Ryland Morris (3) and Steve Haslam, before Chester 3 finally equalised with Ian Clayton defeating Freddy Campbell on board five.
In the final game, Graham Bromley defeated David Hulme in what was a close game which could have gone either way. This gave the third team a deserved 3-2 win.