MAJOR CUP K.Od

The U150 Major Cup team travelled to cup holders and favourites Cheddleton last night as overwhelming underdogs. The match went to form as Cheddleton won 3.5-1.5, but from all accounts was closer than result suggests. Early losses on boards 1 and 4 did not help our cause, with the three others putting up a spirited fight. On board 2 Neville Layhe secured a draw to leave Ola Titiloye on board 3 and Dave Price on board 5 in play. Ola managed to win a long end game while Dave eventually fell on his own sword from a promising position. Cheddleton will face either Fenton or Newcastle in the final.

INTERNAL WINTER TOURNEY

Neville Layhe has surged ahead in the “A section” of the winter tourney with 3 wins from 4 games. Closest contender is unbeaten Karl Lockett with 1.5 pts from 2 games. Several players have yet to take part in the tourney.

In the B section we have five players all on one point so there is all to play for. Simon Layhe, James Marshall and Dylan Sayers all have 1 from 1 and Steve Ballantyne and Les Hall have 1 from 2.

The Winter Tourney is there to provide competitive chess when members are not involved in league matches, and with a heavy fixture schedule for the club it is proving difficult to get many games played. The tourney will run to 31st May, so hopefully members can get the majority of their games played.

New members will be encouraged to join in the appropriate section for their ability.

C Team held by Stafford B

The division 4 match last night ended all square (2-2) and leaves the C team hot on the tail of league leaders Cheddleton E. The C team (with 12 pts from 9) are 1 point behind the leaders with a game in hand while Newcastle E sit 3rd a further 2 pts behind having already played 10 matches. The biggest threat comes from 4th place Cheddleton F who have a game in hand on our C team and sit 2 pts behind. In the drawn match captain Dave Price won on board 2 and James Marshall won on bd 3.

E Team Beaten

The E team suffered their first defeat of 2017 last night at home to Division 5 title chasing Meir C. A resounding 3-1 defeat saw the visitors take top spot on board points with Fenton C having a game in hand. The bright spot for the Eees was Simon Layhe’s 2nd win of the week. Amazingly Simon has doubled the number of league games he has played this season in 3 days and with a 100% record so far.

See the link to the NSDCA League tables:

http://www.northstaffschess.com/p/league-tables_30.html

 

Valentine’s Day Chess on the Square

Last Tuesday saw Crewe’s giant chess set brought out onto the Town Centre square. Crewe Town Council leader Simon Yates and Cheshire East councillor Chris Andrew played out a match watched by several members for Crewe Chess Club.

Dave Price, chairman of Crewe Chess Club, said: “Cheshire East Council provided us with a grant towards the initial set up costs of the club and the purchase of equipment and it’s great that the club can now also take advantage of this equipment, which is available for community use. It’s a great asset for the town centre and one which we hope to use much more as the weather gets warmer. We hope other groups like ourselves will also utilise it.”

“The membership of our club is currently building and we are always on the lookout to get more people involved, whatever their age or chess ability. Our club meets every Wednesday from 6.30pm at the Amalgamated Anglers Club in Beech Street, Crewe.”
 
To contact the club, call Dave on 07984 572456 or Les Hall on 01270 588885
 

 

B Team win at Fenton A

Tonight our B team stung into action to win it’s 2nd match of the season. Simon Layhe was freed of work shifts to play only his 3rd match of the season and his first ever game for the Bees. The rapidly improving Simon brought home the first pack of bacon, and soon followed by Chris Rhodes to put the visitors 2-0 up. David Hulme secured a draw on top board to ensure the match points were safe as captain Martin Gill could not avoid defeat against the in-form Kas Capatina for the hosts. Despite this win the B team remain second bottom of Division 3.

E Team draw at Cheddleton G

The E team earned a very respectable draw at title chasing Cheddleton G in the NSDCA Div 5 match last night. The hosts would have gone top of the table with a win but were denied in a hard fought match. Dave Price and Nigel Gardner picked up draws with white pieces against equally graded opponents while skipper Les Hall continued his fine recent form with another win on board 4. The E team continue their 50% record with 8 pts from 8 matches and currently sit 6th in the table and should be pleased to have held Cheddleton G who are 2nd in the table with 12 pts from 9 matches.

In addition to the 4 board match, Crewe took two junior members to play their first graded games outside the club. Harry Gardner and Charlie Dodd enjoyed their games and look forward to gaining further match  experience in the near future.

D team success

Last night the D team beat visitors Cheddleton H by a close score of 2.5 vs 1.5. Captain Les Hall continued his recent run of good results with another win on board 3 to level the score after a loss on board 2. Dylan Sayers converted his material advantage on board 4 into a win to leave board 1 Chris Rhodes in progress. Chris secured the result with a draw through a perpetual check having given up material when appearing to hold an advantage. The D team now have 10 pts from 9 matches and sit in mid-table 4th place in division 5.

B Team beaten

Last night saw the B team narrowly beaten (1.5 vs 2.5) by Division 3 leaders Cheddleton C, to put an end to any realistic hope of retaining the title. With just 4 pts from 7 matches the team languish in 7th place with the wooden spoon much closer than the silverware. It was a bit unfortunate as the match could have been drawn if our Board 4 had accepted a draw offer shortly before losing on time, with a position that was unclear holding an exchange advantage for two extra pawns. On top board Karl Lockett won a fine game, with skipper Martin Gill agreeing to a draw.