Malpas & Oswestry 1 went down 3-2 at home to Wallasey 1 in Division 1 of the Wirral Chess League on Tuesday April 3 at The Old School Tea Rooms, Malpas, by kind invitation of Gemma and Gareth Moon.

The first result was on board 5 where John Davies resigned to Mark Spriggs after losing a knight in the opening to give the visitors an early lead. There were then a draw agreed on board 4 between Peter Fisher and Mike O'Mahony and then on 1 between Charles Lowick Higgie and Colin Hughes. The match was sealed when Peter Lovatt lost on 3. Finally Dave Bennion won on 2 with white, in a very exciting game, where David unsoundly sacrificed a rook for a number of pawns, but his opponent, Mike Coffey failed to find the best defence and the pawns marched down the pawns to queen.

There was better news in the Chester League, where Wrexham 1 agreed to concede the postponed match at Malpas with Malpas & Oswestry 1. It is the only outstanding fixture in Division 1 and no matter what the result Malpas & Oswestry 1 finish bottom and Wrexham 1 finish 2nd. However Malpas & Oswestry 1 look set for another season in Division1 as Wrexham 2 won Division 1 and will not accept promotion as there is overlap between their first and second teams. None of the other sides in Division 2 are thought to want promotion.

In Division 4 of the Wirral League Malpas & Oswestry 2 won their final fixture 4-0 against Chester J on Thursday April 5 at The Old School Tea Rooms. Malpas won the bottom two boards relatively quickly, they were both games of fluctuating fortunes. Last to finish was board 1 where the Malpas & Oswestry Captain Jonathan Smith cooly played out a ending where he had an extra pawn which he promoted. All the Chester J players played out to mate. This result means that Malpas & Oswestry finish 2nd in the table. Last season they finished next to bottom.

On Wednesday April 18 Malpas & Oswestry play Chester in the semi-final of the Wirral League Cup, over 7 boards. Chester has the best players of four Division 1 sides, and is lead by John Carleton, rated 220. However Malpas will be playing 3 players from the Newport Club in Shropshire, including Nick Arkell, brother of grandmaster Keith Arkell, and is himself rated 196, so he will be on board 1 against John Carleton. Spectators are welcome, the match starts at 7.30pm.