The first week of the year did not quite go to plan; bugs had weakened some of our number, and with snow and ice around Crewe, some matches were cancelled. The club did open though, and a few internal matches were played by the diehards.
We were lucky to dodge Storm Goretti (even so, our bin did not get collected, humph) and on Thursday 8 January our new year really got started. The Open Cup team started the attempt to win the trophy for the third year in a row. Their chances were considerably improved by the appointment of a new, stronger, and generally better, team captain. Thanks to Captain Carmel for the report below.
“A huge thank you to everyone for last night. Particularly to Richard for making the long journey.
It turns out that the Holmes Chapel team at full strength were no match for us.
The black on odds strategy worked perfectly.
David L on board 6 (a crucial board) played a brilliant game, soundly outplaying his lower rated opponent and securing the first point for the team.
My game should have been a draw, but Mike very kindly let me mate him in a dead equal major piece endgame.
Richard, despite his long journey, demonstrated his superb class and experience by holding the frustrated FM to a draw with no difficulties. A true MVP.
I didn’t see much of Kamil’s game, but his opponent was looking very stressed and worried throughout most of it, so I assume Kamil made a comfortable draw on board 4.
Simon secured us the match by forcing a draw with a position that was apparently very promising for him – a true team player!
Last to finish was Harry, who very calmly navigated his way through a time scramble and found a neat tactic that saved his game. It may have been winning at some point for Harry, but he wisely forced a draw soon after.
Perhaps our biggest advantage was having our own spectator and supporter from Crewe. It was great to see Alex Brown there, who came along to support Richard and the rest of us!
Thanks again everyone, it was a real privilege to play alongside such a team.”
The weekend was, of course, time for the fabulous Shropshire Chess Congress. You know all about this one, it is held in a great venue in Telford. The playing area is comfortable and spacious. There is loads of free parking. Whenever I go anywhere with my beloved, we have a saying; “it’s all about the food”; well the cafe in the venue was as good as always. I had the veg curry, which came with chips, rice, and yes, some nan too. You may like to know that fried breakfasts were also being offered by the cheerful staff. Anyway, I will stop drifting off into a food reverie, and I should mention that some chess was played. I was pleased to see a new member joined the Crewe CC Tourist Club; Simon Humphries played his first ever weekend congress. He played well and was our top scorer, getting 3.5 in the minor. Simon is one of our newer members, and looks liked he is getting hooked like the rest of us. Harry drew with the top rated player in the open in round one. I got to the live boards in the major in the last round ( hope they delete the game from t’internet soon). Jamie got annoyed, though it was hard to tell, with his first round loss, and bounced back with a couple of wins. I will not forget, for a bit, Harry jumping about like a cat on a hot tin roof, while trying to watch Carmel losing, then winning, then drawing a blitz finish against an FM. It was a great weekend; you should come next year.
Some of the gang are pictured below.
