After just 10 days of the new year the club has already played six matches in the NSDCA.
In division 2, the “A” team retained their position at the top of the table after a 3-2 win at Fenton B on Monday. Bart Fajfer demolished his 184 grade opponent on board 1, before Doug Barnett smashed his way to another win on board 5. Draws by Karl Lockett (bd 3) and Chris Rhodes (bd 4) were enough to spare captain David Hulme’s blushes after he lost on bd 2.
Division 3 has seen both B & C teams play two matches. The C team first played Cheddleton C on 2nd January, and won the match with 2.5-1.5 scoreline thanks to Karl Lockett and Martin Frisher (making his season debut) with wins and Julian Bulbeck gained the necessary draw.
Friday night (4th January), saw the B team visit Cheddleton D without skipper Rick Renegade and regular Chris Rhodes. Thanks to Doug Barnett (with a win) and Harry Gardiner (a draw) for deputising for the team to allow Simon Layhe to play board 3 and gain another win which gave the team an unexpected win 2.5-1.5 and take the Bees to the top of the table.
Last night saw a fiercely contested derby between the top of the table Bees and 2nd-placed C team. The result was not in much doubt as Karl Lockett and Dave Price won convincingly with white pieces for the C team before David Hulme fluked a further win for the Cees and Julian Bulbeck followed captains orders to not lose in the other game. An unexpected win for the C team by 3.5-0.5 meant they leap-frog the Bees to go top of division 3 for now.
The “D” team playing in division 4 had to travel to Stafford on the 2nd day of the new year and came away with a useful draw as both teams tipped the scales at 459 pts, just 1 below the maximum permitted. Doug Barnett and Harry Gardiner were the successful players in this match.
The last match to report on was the division 5 clash played on Monday 7th, as our “E” team went to face Meir C. A solid team effort saw a win by 2.5-1.5, as captain Nigel Gardner clawed out a draw before Dave Price was fortunate to win on board 2, and Adam Fields played a superb endgame when down to just one minute remaining to pick up a further win. After the match it was noted that Meir had exceeded the permitted grade totals and the final score was adjusted to 3-0 for our “E team, who went back to the top of the table, leading Cheddleton H by just one point, who have one match in hand on Nigel’s team