Wednesday night saw the F team host Meir in division 3 of the NSDCA. Thanks to the visitors we were able to increase the numbers involved from 4 to 5 boards.
Reinhard Haack agreed an early draw on board 4 to get us on the scorecard. Jakub Grabowski was promoted to board 1 and played a superb game to add a full point. Shortly afterwards 1o year-old Oskar completed a mature game on board 2, giving up a pawn to free up a position and duly chalk up another point. Not to be outdone Pawel Stanny ensured team victory with success on baord 3. This left board 5 remaining and the visitor’s Bob Perry squeezed out the solitary win for Meir, to conclude the match with a 3.5-1.5 win for Crewe F.
This takes the F team to joint top of the league table alongside our E team and the two Cheddleton teams (C&D) who all sit on 3pts from 2 matches.
The club championship saw one of our busiest ever nights, despite having one team in action, there were 18 players involved with 8 players in divs 1 and 2, and one more game in div 3.
In div 1, leader Martin Burns (3/5) was held to a draw by Jim Grange (1.5/2), while Karl Lockett (2/3), Harry Gardiner (1.5/2) and Julian Hawthorne (1/1) all won.
In div 2, we have a pile up at the top of the table with 5 players on 1.5pts although Steve Ballantyne has played 5 games already, and all the other leaders have only played two games – Mike Keenan, Kobus Nienaber, George Bulbeck and Oskar. George Jelliss notched up a draw with the other George to gain his first score in the comp.
In division 3, there was only one game played with many of the players involved in the F team match, which saw Pete Kanalos earn a draw against joint leader Phil Grocott. Phil joins Joe Hignett and Vicky Kelsall at the top of the table with 1.5 pts each.
The Events officer has fixed two dates for our 8-Round Swiss Rapidplay, with Rounds 1 and 2 to be played on 30th November, followed by Rounds 3 & 4 on 14th December. With matches every Wednesday during January and February, the remaining two nights will be fixed after that.