Wellington A V Priorslee Lions

Well with Wellingtons title challenge hanging by a thread this was a really a must win match for them. We are still leading the pack and needing 3points to from a possible 8 to lift the trophy for many years ,we could afford a slip up, but we went really fancying that we could take 2 points, and end Wellingtons slim chances.

Well Wellington tried abit of gamesmanship by switch the order of the top 3 boards a ploy we have done ourselves in the past , really in hindsight it was a great compliment to us as we on paper are far the weaker team.

To my surprize it meant I would be playing Toby their usual board one but someone that I personal tend to do well against , it also pitted Colin against Glyn who had only the previous week beaten convincingly. Tonight with Gary on bottom board we really felt this was going to be our night.

For much of it thing were going fantasticly Adrian on one was playing a very comfortable game and always seemed to have a slight edge . Toby had given me a pawn on move 7 and I was doing everything I could to use it to my advantage. Glyn was again delivering a masterclass on 3 and had within an hour gone rook for 2 pieces and queens off the board, Steve on 4 was slightly worse against James and Gary was well on the way to delivering  the much anticipated point on the bottom board. No game was finsihing early though as Colin stubbonly refused to throw the towel in what was a hopeless posistion. With 45 minutes of my game remaining 35mins on my clock and 10 of my opponent I had what I thought a big enough advantage to win but thought I would go have a closer look at the other boards ready to offer the draw and secure the match points. To my shock and slight horror what I saw was Gary had got himself in a right mess and was about to lose, Steve also about to lose Glyn clearly winning , Adrians drawish but I was well aware he was seriously down on time and his opponent having a quickplay rating nearing 200 was always going to be problems. I returned to my own game with new determination that I must not take risks and secure a victory rather than my usual draw.

A little time went on and indeed the dominoes were falling Gary then Steve, a quick glance at Adrians board and although nothing still concern of a time scramble I was relieved to hear Adrian offer a draw and it accepted 2.5-0.5 but winning on the remaining 2 boards was just a case of proving the results Toby quickly resigned 2.5-1.5 and it was left to Glyn to deliver the killer blow, even thought this turned out to be abit nervy as his opponents clock had fallen and he was playing on and on , totally won on the board but would still lose the match if he didn't claim the win or finish over the board. Finally Glyn noticed and the match was tied and Wellingtons chances of the title still alive but barely and with them playing Newport next only one will still be in the hunt after that match.