Tuesday (9th) saw a big increase in numbers at the St Mary’s with over 40 members in attendance after two weeks of lesser. The main action was in the 1st round of the Open Knockout as 12 of the 16 players slugged it out. There were wins for No 1 seed Richard Lee, No 4 Bart Fajfer, No. 5 Cyrus Pereira and No.9 Gee Cross. Meanwhile there were two shocks as last years finalists and club champions (Harry and Carmel) got dumped out by underdogs David Hulme and Martin Frisher. In the Major KO, Oskar won the Armageddon with George Bowkett. The Intermediate KO saw wins in (the preliminary) Round 1 for Nathan Fourie and Tim Weston as last years U1600 winner Julian Bulbeck edged through after an Armaggedon battle. Mike Keenan drew with George Jelliss in the first of the 2nd round games, with the Armageddon set for next week.
Tonight (Thursday 11th) has seen our South Cheshire B team held to a 2-2 draw with Kidsgrove. Joe Moxon and Kobus won on the top two boards, while Kidsgrove succeeded on boards 3 & 4.
Next week is expected to be an exciting club night as we host the annual WC Challenge. This year Wallasey have pulled out the stops and so far arranged for 23 players to make the 45 mile trip from Wallasey to compete for the trophy. This will be the 3rd match in the series, with Crewe holding the upper hand with two previous victories. The current plan shows a difference of just 6 points between the two teams ratings, based on 1st July issued by the ECF.
Next Wednesday (17th), is the North Staffs AGM held at Meir’s new venue. If anyone is keen (or mad) enough to wish to attend please let chairman Dave Price know.
For future reference, our own AGM is to be held on Tuesday 6th August and the secretary will issue the Agenda and Reports in due course. These will be sent to all 78 members shown on the website players list. The meeting should last less than an hour, before we have a Blitz event for all those interested.