Pearce pays price for misplay

The venue was once again the excellent Spa complex and Neville Pearce came closest to winning a prize in the intermediate tournament.

Going into the last round he was joint leader with three points

from four games and had the white pieces in the last round. Unfortunately he misplayed the opening, a Caro Kann advance variation, and lost a pawn

early on for no compensation and he was never able to recover.

In the same section Laurence Cornhill had an outside chance of finishing in the prize money, but he also lost in the final round to end with three points from his

five games.

Other York players in the intermediate section were Dennis Danks and Norman Andrews, who finished on the same points with Mick Rawlings close behind.

In the open section Nigel Holroyd made a rare appearance and scored a creditable two points.

In the major section, Eric Key was the top performer of the York players and scored three points.

John Cawston and Don Baldwin both had poor tournaments and

only scored one point each.

In the minor section Colin Snowball, John Knowles and Sri Sriharan all competed, but without troubling the leaders.

It was the same story in the

foundation section.

John Lafferty, Graham Marshall, Bill Fulton and Steve Webster all played respectably, gaining at least two points each, but none

of them challenged the leaders on the final day.

This week the York Evening League starts with champions Cavaliers 'A' out to defend the title they have won the previous two years.

Last year they won at a canter but I expect Minster Inn and a resurgent Shepherds team to

be the two teams to push Cavaliers 'A' the hardest.

Due to no relegation from the first division and Shepherds 3 folding, the second division only

has five teams this year, so each team will play the other four sides three times instead of the usual two. This should lead to the strongest team winning as the impact of upsets is reduced.