Wow what a brilliant night for Crewe Chess Club on our opening night at the new St Mary’s Caritas Centre (Tuesday 6th). It was the 4th and final night of our 2022/23 Swiss Rapidplay to play Rounds 7 and 8, where we hoped it would be a busy night and we were not disappointed by a new record attendance of 42. There were 9 more players added to the competition to take the entry numbers well over the 50 mark.
The competition was fierce as ever, with three players starting the night on 5/6 being long time leader Martin Burns, defending champion Jarek Czyz and new club champion Carmel Barwick. The Round 7 pairings threw together Martin and Carmel with the latter producing the win, while Jarek defeated David Lambton to stay in the joint lead.
The final round saw Carmel paired on board 1 with Karl Lockett who trailed by one point, and Harry Gardiner 5.5/7 paired with Jarek (6/7) on Board 2. If Karl could hold Carmel then Harry or Jarek could catch her. As Jarek could not find a way to beat Harry, it was Carmel who swept all in front of her to win the key game and gain her 2nd club trophy in successive weeks, after securing the Club Championship last week.
Congratulations to Carmel on an excellent campaign to win the event.
