On a cold and freezing November night, newly promoted Macclesfield C entertain their neighbours from East Cheshire in search of their first point(s) of the season. Board 1 was first to finish in bizarre circumstances. Tudor and Denzil were slugging it out when Denzil thought that he had a winning move and played it with such confidence that Tudor resigned. Denzil had already realised his miscalculation and helpfully showed Tudor what he could have played to allow for a continuation. Next was Board 2 where I watched Marc play a4. c4, e4, f4 and g4. Never a dull moment with Marc but the wily Mr Taylor remained unfazed and got behind his opponent's defences and all of a sudden Marc's position collapsed 1-1. Next door to me on Board 4, Ant was cruising a piece up but his opponent put up an amazing defence before finally succumbing. Man with the Hat nicked a vital pawn and then a second one before trapping his opponent's knight in the middle of the board. 3-1 to Macc and just a half point required for the match. Unfortunately it wasn't to be and the experienced pair of Dave Broadbent and Bill Tait secured the last two points to level up the match.
With Macclesfield being outgraded on every board (Macclesfield average 121.0 - East Cheshire average 133.0) this was a creditable result and one that gives hope for what will undoubtedly be a hard season for us. Thanks to East Cheshire for 6 closely contested games played in an excellent spirit (with no draws).