Tuesday 3rd Jan – F team hold division 3 league leaders Alsager B to a draw over 5 boards. Alsager took the first point Andrew had a good opening but missed a tactical initiative on move 10 and one speculative move cost him the game. Outstanding result on board 1 for George Bulbeck with a win against a much stronger player, backed up by a draw on board 3 from Oskar Jarzynski and a sound win from Steve Ballantyne on board 5. Leaves the F team joint 2nd in the table on 6pts from 6 games together with 3 other teams – all trailing Alsager B who are head and shoulders above the rest.
Wed 4th Jan – the Dynamic D team dished out a 4-0 whitewash to Fenton B aided by a top board default from the visitors. Meaning Crewe’s ‘D’ team started the match a point ahead. Martin Frisher was the stand out performer here with a win on board 2 against an in-form player normally on board 1. All eyes were on Martin Frischer’s game where he sacrificed a rook in the early middle game to obtain an exciting attack. He later managed to get material back then conjured up a nice mating net with his two knights and queen against the opponents uncastled King and becoming the 41st member of the club to represent Crewe in the NSDCA this season ! Lukasz Michalek and George Bulbeck were too strong for the opposition to handle, as captain Nigel Gardner watched from the sidelines. Overall another superb effort from our D team, who until this match were by far the lowest rated team in division 2. With 4 pts from 4 matches Nigel may now have his sights on fighting for the top spot rather than the dog fight to avoid the wooden spoon.
Crewe’s board 1 was going to be Lee Farrington so without a scheduled game he played a friendly rated game where as white he took advantage of his opponents poor opening play to secure a win. Some internal games took place in the club’s internal winter competition. In division 1 there were wins for Martin Burns and Harry Gardiner, In division 2 James Marshall won, whilst in division 3 there was a win for Phil Grocott.
Friday 6th Jan – The E team postponed a trip to Cheddleton to accommodate the weekends’s Shropshire Congress at Telford.
A contingent of 6 of our members played at Telford with Carmel Barwick being our star performer again. She finished joint 2nd in the U1750 competition with 4/5 after taking a bye in Round 1 and then scoring 3.5pts from her 4 games.
Nigel Gardner narrowly missed out in the U1500 section. Leading with 3.5 pts going into the final round, he fell at the last hurdle to finish joint 6th, with his Round 5 opponent being the joint winner. Both of the joint winners were unrated juniors !!??.
Our other members in action were Martin Burns, Karl Lockett, Julian Hawthorne and Dave Price.