The Chester Chess ChronicleDefending Wirral League Knock-Out champions Chester are through to the next round after a home victory over Wallasey.
Captain Steve Lloyd's team featured a mix of first and second team players for their match against the '06 winners, who arrived with a weaker than expected team. Despite this, Chester knew they would still be in for a tough game, and after aproximately one hour went one nil down, as Mark Spriggs defeated Shaun McConochie on board five with a clever combination.
Chester later equalised thanks to board three Matt Demmon who defeated Ed (A) Taylor, and this was followed by a draw between Paul Watson and Leon Wolszczak. Chester then took the lead after board six Joe Nemcek defeated Andrew Jackson.
Jackson sacrificed a piece in the opening but did not get enough compensation, and by the end of the game Nemcek had an overwhelming advantage.
Victory was sealed on the top two boards, with board one Chris Doran agreeing a draw with Edward (H) Taylor and board two Ard van Bergen beating Wallasey captain Jeff Povall.
The final game saw Steve Lloyd play Graham Heath. The game seemed destined for a draw, but poor moves late on from Lloyd gave Graham Heath a forced win in three moves. Fortunately, he did not see it and the two players agreed a draw, making the final score 4½-2½ to Chester.
First Win For Four
Meanwhile Chester & District Leag-
Both sides were understrength for the match, with two Chester players involved in the cup match, though Holywell looked stronger on paper. However, it was Chester who finished victorious. Wins from Paul Harnett and John Vernon, and draws from Dave Hulme and Steve Haslam were enough to give Chester a 3-2 win.
Narrow Defeat For Three
A severly understrength Chester team was defeated 3-2 away at Rhyl in the Chester & District League.
Harry Bullard got the only win for Chester on board two, whilst Tim Everett and Geoff Townsend got draws. Harry Bullard reports that Townsend came from behind to secur-
Juniors Lose Again
The Chester YMCA Junior team have suffered another home defeat, this time to Wrexham 2.
On board five Martin Smith in his first game was defeated by Dilip Menon, which was followed by board four Kartik Uphadhyay, also his first game, losing a close game to Don Caswell.
Wrexham had the result sewn up after an hour and a half and Wrexham's top junior Davin Menon defeating Marvin Hayes. Chester did get some pride back, with board three Bharat Sharma gaining an impressive win over Wrexham Junior Oliver Manley. Finally Chris Fozzard drew with Bill Davies on board one.