DIVISION Two of the Warrington and District Chess League has been blown right open as leaders Atherton have suffered two big defeats in a row to local rivals.

Early in the season it had looked like Atherton were cruising to an easy league victory as they won their first five games, while last season's top challengers Padgate and Wigan Knights suffered early upsets.

However, since the turn of the year things have begun to turn a little sour for Atherton who first dropped points against Ormskirk, and since Christmas have lost to both Wigan Knights and Padgate.

Atherton's most recent defeat against my own club Padgate was in fact our fourth win in a row and took us up to joint second place with St Helens, as we looked to try and recover from losing our first two games of the season.

So as things stand at the moment Atherton still sit top on 10 points despite suffering three defeats. However, both Padgate and St Helens in joint second on eight points have played two games fewer and, should we both win them, both would go two points clear at the top.

However this will not happen as Padgate and St Helens are due to clash on the 3rd of March in what should be a mouth-watering encounter.

Just a few points further back are Wigan Knights on six points and Ormskirk on four points, both these teams are still in with a shout.

Runcorn however are really struggling, having lost all five of their games so far and sadly look doomed to be playing in Division Three next season unless there is some kind of massive turn around very soon.

This week's profiled game comes from Padgate's most recent match against league leaders Atherton.

The game itself is not of the highest quality as in in fact my opponent blunders a piece early on. However, I think it is an interesting lesson on the perils of getting too greedy as in the game I decide to grab an extra pawn which led to me facing a dangerous counter attack and in the end I was faced with having to find the only move that avoids defeat!

McCarthy, Damian v Hosie, Peter

WDCL DIV 2 20.01.2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Bc5 6.Nxe5!?

Usually I would castle here and look to play a bit more quietly, however I must have been in a bit more of a fighting mood this evening!

6...Bxf2+ 7.Kxf2 Nxe5 8.Rf1 Nf6

[There is no future in 8...Qh4+ 9.Kg1 Qxe4 10.d4 And blacks king is caught in the middle]

9.d3 0–0 10.Kg1

Ideally I would have liked to have played Bg5 here, however this fails to Nxe5+. My misplaced king being punished, so I decided to adopt a safety first approach before attacking

10...h6

preventing my bishop pin, however g6 may become a target as it is no longer defended due to my bishop pinning the f7 pawn.

11.Nc3 c6 12.Qe1 Bb7 13.Qg3 Ng6??

A total blunder losing the piece straight away

14.Qxg6

My opponent had missed the fact that the knight on g6 was not defended due to the pin mentioned earlier on the f7 pawn 14...Kh8 15.Bxf7 already a piece up the sensible thing to do would be to sit back swap off pieces and win the endgame. However I greedily devour an extra pawn, but in doing so open up the f file and give my opponent a bit of play due to my weak back rank.

15...Qe7 16.Bb3

A natural looking retreat, however perhaps e5 might have been a safer option.

16...Qc5+ 17.Kh1 Ng4

Black now has a variety of deadly threats. The obvious being the back rank mate Rxf1, however if I am not careful and played something like Bd2 I could fall for 18...,Nf2+, 19.Kg1,Nh3+ 20.Kh1,Qg1+ 21.Rxg1,Nf2 smothered mate!

18.Bxh6

In the light of all the previously mentioned threats I decide to return the piece for a two pawn advantage

18...Nxh6 19.Rf3 Rxf3 20.gxf3 Rf8 21.Rg1 Qe7 22.Rg3 d6 23.Qe6 Qc7 24.Kg2

I was seriously considering an immediate Rg6, however I felt with a two pawn advantage why take chances!

24...Bc8 25.Qg6 a5 26.Be6 Bxe6 27.Qxe6 Qd8 28.Rg6 Nf7 29.Qg4 Nh6 30.Qg3 Qe7 31.Qxd6

I spent a disproportionate amount of time deciding whether to capture with the rook or the queen here!

31...Qf7 32.Qg3 Kh7 33.Rxc6 b4 34.Nd5

I felt better then Rc7 straight away as now after Rc7 next move black is denied f6 for his queen

34...Qd7??

loses on the spot, but four pawns down blacks position is hopeless anyway

35.Rc7

Faced with the choice of either losing his queen or allowing checkmate, black takes the third option and shakes hands.

1–0