Longbridge Chess Club faced a difficult challenge last night against a very strong South Birmingham A side in the 7400 Rapidplay competition. Despite some hard-fought games and determined performances across the boards, South Birmingham ultimately came away with victories in both rounds.
Round 1, 3-1
The first match ended 3–1 in favour of South Birmingham. Stephen Woodhouse and Carmelo Tirado Simarro both secured solid draws against tough opposition, while Marcus Walsh and Gavin Cartwright narrowly lost their games.
Round 2, 2½–1½
The second round was much closer, with Longbridge pushing hard for a result before eventually falling 2½–1½. Carmelo produced an excellent win to score our only full point of the round, while Gavin earned a respectable draw. Marcus and Stephen both battled hard but were unable to turn their positions into points on this occasion.
One interesting feature of the evening was the appearance of Corey Hazlehurst on board one for South Birmingham. Corey is also part of our Worcestershire League team, making for a slightly unusual evening where familiar faces found themselves on opposite sides of the board.
Although the overall result did not go Longbridge’s way, the match provided valuable competitive experience against one of the stronger teams in the league. There were still several closely contested games throughout the evening, and plenty of positives to take forward into future fixtures.
Longbridge now look ahead to the next round, hoping to bounce back stronger and return to winning ways.