YORK RI 'A' cruised to victory against a weak Calderdale 'A' team.

York appeared to be struggling early on with most games being close despite heavily out-grading their opponents, but in the end the York players came good.

The scoreline of 8.5-1.5 was expected at the start but was not an accurate reflection of the closeness of many games.

There were wins from David Adams, Paul Townsend, Jon Griffith, Paul Hopwood, Peter Cloudsdale, Steve Huxley and Herbert Lockwood and draws from Tony Slinger, Paul Johnson and, making a welcome return to the 'A' team, Barry Marshall.

York RI 'B' produced the performance of the day when they narrowly defeated Scarborough by 4.5-3.5 points despite being outgraded.

The match was always close and after six games had finished it was tied three points each.

In the penultimate game York recieved a large slice of luck when Tim Turner's opponent blundered a piece and resigned in a level position to give York the advantage.

The last game to finish was a complex endgame in which Eric Key played well to secure a draw and give York the win.

Earlier there had been some excellent performances as junior players Patrick Gower, on board three, and Tom Anderson, on board eight, both drew along with Laurence Cornhill and Norman Andrews. John Clark continued his comeback with a win on board four.

York RI 'C' let slip a four points to two lead to only draw with Calderdale 'B'.

York seemed on course for victory with wins from Richard Hardy, from a piece for two pawns down, David Findlay and John Lafferty and draws from Neville Pearce and Steve Webster but unfortunately neither of the last two finishers could grab the required draw.

York RI 'D' faced a difficult match with West Leeds and can take some credit from only losing by six points to two.

Two junior players, Fahad Yousif and Aaron Barker playing on boards two and three produced good results and drew their games, while John Goodfellow won on board five.

In the end the extra strength in depth of West Leeds proved crucial as they won on the bottom three boards.

In the York Evening League division two, Shepherds Two comfortably defeated Danger Squares by 4.5-1.5 points.

Also in the second divison Lady Anne Middleton Two defeated Nowhere Men by five points to one with wins from Neville Pearce, Colin Snowball, Lee Wilson, Steve Cooper and Andy Wade.

Neil Atkin won for Nowhere Men.

In the first divison, Lady Anne Middleton One defeated Shepherds by 4.5-1.5 points with wins from Tony Slinger, James Miers and John Knowles and draws between Jon Griffith and Nigel Dowker, Tim Turner and Richard Larkin and John Cawston and A Tyrell.

Updated: 12:20 Thursday, February 07, 2002