Three club members headed down to Alsager on Tuesday night, to participate in a simultaneous exhibition against one of NSDCA's top players FM Jonathan Blackburn, in aid of the British Red Cross. Whilst confident at the beginning, as the room began to fill with more and more players Jonathan began to realise the mountain of the task ahead of him. Nether-the-less, he set about putting as many different openings for white around the 18 boards as he could muster, and the players settled in to see if anyone could best the talented Welsh pro.
Over on Joachim's table, Jonathan spent the game fighting a strong attack on the Kingside, but with precise strategic positioning was eventually able to overwhelm black by ensuring his opponent's two rooks could never connect without abandoning the attack.
Meanwhile, around the rest of the room, players were dropping left, right and centre, but understandably Jonathan was beginning to tire. Whilst taking three scalps from the Macclesfield contingent, he finally made a mistake against departing member John Ewens who took a well deserved victory, after enduring two losses against Jonathan in the previous season's league matches. Jonathan finished the evening with just two losses and two draws, a valiant effort.
Macclesfield Chess Club would like to extend a warm thank you to Jonathan Blackburn and the Alsager Chess Club for arranging this charity event, a wonderful gathering of community chess, and we look forward to more events like it.