At least I didn't lose to a 14 year old this time

This match was played in one of the final games of the South Cheshire shield, with 1st placed Newcastle facing off against second placed Crewe. A draw or a win for Newcastle would put Newcastle at the top while a win for Crewe would allow them to hop over Newcastle's heads into the lead. This would leave Newcastle in the unenviable position of having come runner up a great many times, and never first. So the pressure was on, and I was playing my nemesis, H, we have a rivalry with  him having beaten me twice and me having beaten him once.

In the event, I lost my game, making the tally between H and my self 3 to him and 1 to me. Unfortunately for me, H has learned to make use of the time on his clock, not rushing his moves so much. In fact we were both down to around 5 minutes on the clock by the time that he checkmated me with minor pieces on the back rank. One saving grace is that at least I didn't get beaten by a 14 year old this time, as H is now 15 rather than 14. It was an absolutely beautiful checkmate and only in the post match analysis was it spotted that the final checkmating move was illegal as it put White's King in check. As neither player (nor any spectator) spotted it at the time, the result stands.

Thankfully my team mates held the line, including a nail biting finish from the heroic JD, which went down to the last minute on each clock. This game culminated with JD getting a winning position, pressuring his opponent who made an illegal move, which JD claimed as a win, winning the South Cheshire Shield 2018 for Newcastle. 

My learning from the game, is that I need to work on tactics and calculation depth a little more, as I had neglected that area in favour of end game prep in recent weeks. It was a fun game in any event, and unusual in that the heavy pieces were swapped off first, it contained a sac of a piece for three pawns and a slightly illegal minor pieces checkmate.