A good result, as we were missing some first choice players. There was a win for John Roche on his debut, in his first serious game for nearly 20 years. The other winner was Tom Tomkins, whose opponent seemed to get bored with the blocked position and offered a draw. Tom rightly refused, and went on to win - the game is below. There were draws for James Lawrence and Simon Calvert, and defeats for Alan Tyson and Tony Lane.
We were soon 3-0 down after defeats for Thomas Hague and James Lawrence, and a default due to Sheraz putting the wrong date in his calendar! But then Tony Lane won against the same opponent who beat him in last month's Summer League match, Bill McCartney won with a crushing attack finishing with mate with 2 minutes left on his clock, and Simon Calvert finally levelled the scores winning his endgame. Unfortunately the MCF has a rule whereby teams who default boards without notice are penalised an additional game point, so we ended up losing 3-2. We benefited from this rule on a couple of occasions last season, but I can't help feeling that it's a silly rule; after all, the offending team is already starting the match 1-0 down.
23/09/2025 - Stockport II 3½ Altrincham 2½
A close match between two well balanced teams. There was an early defeat for Sheraz, followed by draws for James, Mark and myself, and a defeat for Tony. My game was a variation of the Dragon where Black sacrifices two Rooks and a pawn for White's Queen, see below. Another material imbalance was in Steve Douglas's game, where Steve had Rook & pawn against Bishop and Knight. It was looking drawish until Steve's opponent overstepped the time limit.
[Event "Wahltuch Trophy; Stockport II 3.5 Altrincham 2.5"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2025.09.23"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Gareth Griffiths"]
[Black "Reg Clucas"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[BlackElo "1772"]
[ECO "B76"]
[EventDate "2025.09.23"]
[WhiteElo "1866"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.O-O-O d5 { Gareth hasn't been playing the open Sicilian for very long, and this move seemed to take him by surprise. } 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.exd5 cxd5 12.Nxd5 Nxd5 13.Qxd5 Qc7 14.Qxa8 Bf5 15.Qxf8+ { I had a long think here, because I couldn't remember whether it is better to recapture with the King or the Bishop. I eventually made the correct choice, but failed to back it up on the following move. } 15...Kxf8 16.Bc4 Kg8 ( 16...Bxb2+ 17.Kxb2 Qxc4 { I rejected this because I was worried about the dark square weakness around my King, but in retrospect it looks good for Black. } ) 17.Bb3 h5 18.Rd2 Be5 19.g3 Qb7 20.Rd5 Bf6 21.Rf1 Be6 22.Rd2 Bxb3 23.cxb3?! ( 23.axb3 Qa6 24.Rd8+ Kg7 25.Rfd1 Qa1+ 26.Kd2 Qxb2 { is pretty much equal. The text allows Black to eliminate White's Q-side pawn majority. } ) 23...Qa6 24.Rff2 Qxa2 25.Bd4 Bxd4 26.Rxd4 Qxb3 27.f4 Qb6 28.Rfd2 Qc6+ { It isn't easy for either side to play for a win here, and it peters out into a draw. } 29.Kb1 Qh1+ 30.Ka2 Qc6 31.R2d3 Qe6+ 32.b3 Qe2+ 33.Rd2 Qa6+ 34.Kb2 Qf6 35.Ka2 1/2-1/2