Exeter 5-3 Teignmouth, Peter Rooke Cup semi-final 10 March 2018

EXETER (H)					TEIGNMOUTH (A)

Lowe, Chris (B)		 176 	½-½	163	Ingham, Bill (W)
Regis, David (W)	 166 	0-1	125	Cockerton, Mark (B)
Amos, Jeremy		 147 	1-0	122	Henry, Ian
Walker, Harry		E140 	½-½	108	Doidge, Charles
Whittington, Reece W	 131 	1-0	E90	Stuart, Brian
Sachdeva, Deepak	E130 	1-0	 84	Webster, Alan
Kelly, Edmund		 114 	1-0	 83	Chubb, Raymond
Gardner, Douglas	E50 	0-1	 67	White, Michael

				5-3

On paper, the home team were comfortable winners, and so the score might suggest, but, as they say about football, the game isn't played on paper, and the score hides a closer contest than you might suspect.

Exeter's captain Dave Regis was first to finish, but not in the way he would have wanted, when he walked straight into Mark Cockerton's trap which netted the white queen. It was with some relief that he saw the score quickly levelled by Deepak Sachdeva when Teignmouth captain Alan Webster tried to make trouble but found the trouble all on his side.

Harry Walker grabbed a pawn with his Queen but couldn't escape a 'perpetual attack' and had to agree a draw. Jeremy Amos put the home team ahead after pressing hard with a protected passed pawn, which he sacrificed to reach a pure Pawn ending which was more clearly won.

Brian Stuart seemed to have some chances with two passed pawns in an endgame of Queen against two Rooks, but Reece found a resource and put Exeter two ahead with two to finish.

The contest of Queen against two Rooks also featured in Edmund Kelly's game against Ray Chubb, when the Rooks kept out the Queen, picked off pawns, and slowly ushered a passed pawn up the board.

With Edmund's win, Teignmouth could no longer catch up, and Chris Lowe decided not to see if his extra pawn could be converted into a win against Bill Ingham.

Games/PGN to follow.

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