Chester were without both Ard van Bergen, who had recently left the club, and Graham Bromley, who was busy climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, yet were still favourites for the match.

The unexpected departure of Ard van Bergen meant captain Steve Lloyd needed to find a replacement, however this proved to be difficult as many of the club members were ineligable, having already played for Joe Nemcek's second team. Lloyd eventually settled on the up and coming Marvin Hayes, although this seemingly was to simply fill in the numbers.

If Chester were already considered to be one nil down, what happened next seemed disasterous when board one Chris Doran was defeated by Stephen Carr. Doran had been perhaps a little too ambitious with his sacrifices and ended up two pieces down with little or no compensation.

On board four, captain Steve Lloyd took on Liam Cadigan. Both players p-

It seemed Chester were in for a difficult night, especially when David Bryan dropped his knight to David Ball on board 3. Bryan was in a comfortable position until his blunder. Chester must have feared the worst when board two Matthew Demmon seemed to blow a pawn endgame against Tony Blades, howev-

Surprise inclusion Marvin Hayes took on Matthew Thompson on board five. Despite the clear difference in ability, Hayes was able to hold his own for most of the match until an unfortunate mistake saw Thompson go a knight up. This material advantage was soon increased to a rook and two knights as Hayes began to crumble. However, Hayes found himself back in with a chance after a terrible blunder by Thompson. Hayes was able to queen a pawn with check and pick up a knight. The position was now at least drawn, if not winning for Hayes. Unfortunately Continued on page 2.