The Tideswell Turned

A fantastic end to the season for Fenton (if you ignore next week's final game for the 'B' team) saw a weakened Fenton team beating Rushall 3-2 in the Withnall Cup Final. Missing a couple of players who would have strengthened the team, those who turned out rose to the occasion magnificently. Our legendary non-playing Captain, Stuart Hull, stepped into the breach for a rare appearance on Board 4. Emu was unavailable but, fortunately, Peter Tideswell was persuaded out of semi-retirement to play on Board 5, and play he certainly did.

It all started badly though as Karl lost very quickly on Board 2. I managed to retrieve the situation by winning my game on Board 1 a little later. The match was then poised on a knife edge with Geoff in a losing position on Board 3, Stuart in a favourable position and Peter looking to be level. If the match had ended like this it would have been drawn and Fenton would have lost on board count.

At this point Geoff decided to knock a pint of beer all over both his and Stuart's boards. Unfortunately however this tactic didn't prevent Geoff from losing his game. It was then left to The Magician to give a Royal Command performance, with rabbits coming out of his hat all over the place, and finally pulling out a tremendous finish to win his game on Board 4. This left the match level at 2-2, with everything depending on Peter Tideswell on Board 5. Anything other than a win meant that Rushall would win the match.

With the rest of the team pacing up and down Peter went a pawn up. His opponent won the pawn back but Peter then gave up another pawn to give himself the chance to move a pawn to the 7th rank, supported by a rook. His opponent was unable to prevent him from promoting the pawn and, shortly afterwards, lost on time whilst a Queen down. This was a tremendous win for Peter bearing in mind how little he has played this season and the pressure he was under to produce a result.

Congratulation to everybody who has played in the Witnall Cup this season. This win completes The Double for Fenton following the Division 4 Championship.