After Cumnor 1’s exploits in the Frank Wood Shield, it was back to the league with a visit to Bicester. Bicester 1 have had a good season so far and their only loss was against Cumnor 1 back in October. A close match transpired but Cumnor pulled the draw out of the bag when the pressure was on.
The evening did not start too well with Gareth’s loss to Richard Becket. However, Richard is one of the form players in the League so far this season with points 6.5 from 7 games. My (Liam’s) game was… putting it politely just awful and there is not much to say about that.
So with Cumnor two points down it was not going well nevertheless both Andrew and Simon picked up draws on boards 1 and 3. Mark got an all important win against Tom Maddox.
Surprisingly, Daniel was the last to finish. A win would mean the match would finish as a draw, anything less and Bicester would win. As the clock ticked down, Antony had two Bishops and a Rook v Daniel’s two Rooks and an additional pawn. Daniel also had bit of extra time on his clock so Antony offered a draw. Daniel refused the draw in a worse position and then won the time scramble.
Bicester 1 are having a great season – so holding them to a draw (and in an away match too, where we didn’t have the benefit of a stadium full of supportive fans) is a fantastic result.
