Author: Martin Burns

I have been playing competitive chess for over 35 years, that’s over 1700 long play games, and hundreds of rapid games. What a complete waste of time, you might think, and you might be right. In all that time I have never achieved that holy grail of checkmates; the smothered mate. Well, on Tuesday night, Adi Kostic, who has only started playing rated games in the last few months, managed to pull off this famous checkmate. He was playing Mayank in the Crewe CC Grand Prix.

Pictured below is Adi, about to pounce

Here is Mayank, realising he is in trouble. You can see the mate is coming.

Congratulations are also due to another of our younger members, Tommy Cooke, who recently beat George B to win the Major Knockout. George is no pushover, he is so keen he recently went all the way Roumania to play chess.

13 year Oskar is a chess veteran compared to Adi and Tommy, he has been coming to Crewe CC for years. Oskar had a major influence on the derby match on Tuesday. League champions Crewe B were expected to beat Crewe C, but Oskar, playing for the C’s, won the only decisive game of the match, leaving the old-timers to slug out some hard fought draws. Crewe C 2.5 – Crewe B 1.5

Now I think about it, if Crewe CC fielded a junior team it might come out on top against a good few teams in the NSDCA league. On Monday night Jamie Roberts, another junior, played his first game for the A team. Even though he was full of germs, he was close to winning. One of those fundamental rules in chess is that if you are a pawn or two up in a rook ending, it’s a draw; whereas if you are a pawn or two down in a rook ending, it’s a loss. In the end Jamie had to agree a draw in time trouble.

Great to have Jamie on the “A” team, even though our trip to Macclesfield did not go too well. Things started badly with a battle with the ticket machine in car park, and only got worse. We came away on the wrong end of the 2.5/1.5 scoreline.

The club secretary keeps an eye on the numbers and told me that on Tuesday “only” 53 players turned up. The league is now under way, as are the main internal competitions. Harry G is already on 2/2 in the main championship; there may or may not be a substantial reward for the person who can end his 2 year unbeaten run in this event. Just to show that our older members can play a bit, Neville is on 2/2 in the second division, and Phil G is on 2/2 in the third division.

It’s all happening, come down to St Mary’s for a look.

Tuesday 2 September

It has been a long hot one, and my tomato plants are still gamely popping out the last goodies of the summer, but time stops for no chess club, and the internal individual leagues are slowly starting to bud some results. Nev, in Divison 2, Phl and Tim in Divison 3 and Ian in Divison 4, all bagged points.

No less than 37 games were played in the Grand Prix Rapidplay on Tuesday. Yup; 37. The Grand Prix is a great new internal tournament special to Crewe Chess Club. It was dreamed up as a simple way of getting new and lower rated players as much rated chess as they can eat. If you enter this contest, you can play as many rapidplay games as you like. The winner is the one who has the highest pecentage score of those who have played 10 games or more. This week Harry and Dave H were kept busy by a heaving pack of players, desperate for another game, and another and another. Jack Patullo, and Freddy Lee Cooper are vying for first place in a competition that will end soon.

The club social room is normally packed, as you can see below, with people playing skittles, bug house, moaning about defeats, and so on. This week things were different, the room was made ready for club legend Richard Lee, who had prepared a training session for us; move over Ben Finegold. Richard has long been concerned about how rubbish we all are and has beeen threatening to teach us some stuff for ages.

As Alekhine said (maybe), chess is an ocean where a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe. Chess is endlessly beautiful, so where do you start? Well, Richard lead us to the shore and took us for a paddle into bishop endings. He had clearly done a lot of prep for this, not only collecting some fascinating problems, but also he had put it all on powerpoint, to make it easier for us to get what he was on about. He would set up a position, let us argue about it until ours heads hurt, and then he would explain the solution. Some positions were solved by one or two of us, after much nudging. Some of the problems we found impossible, but, knowing us, that will not surprise you. It was a very enjoyable session and, on behalf of the baffled and delighted bunch of members who took part, I cannot thank Richard enough.

Below is one of the positions we looked at, a composition from way back in 1928, by the Sarychev brothers; a thing of beauty is a joy forever.

(white to play and draw)

I know that you are all desperate for next few days to skip by, as this weekend does, of course, bring us that Crewe Chess Congress.

But before then, our club members got a brief distraction from staring at the clock, or fretting over how to get the better of that Alapin line you hate, or watching lectures on Youtube that show you how to beat anyone easily just by using 3 simple rules, or praying that your nemesis gets germs and can’t play (nothing too serious): Tuesday night saw the last round of this year’s Crewe CC Swiss Rapidplay.

In round 5 of the Open, favourite Carmel was doing fine against Lukasz, until she blundered in time trouble. Ebube, who was having a fine tournament, lost his game against Gee. This meant that in the last round only 2 people could win it: Lukasz, who seemed surprised to be in such a lofty postion, was on 4 points; and Gee, who surprised nobody by being in such a lofty postion, was on 4.5 points. Lukasz had the adavantage for much of the game, but as they say, it ain’t easy to win a winning position. Gee defended well, and at one point even looked like she might have got the advantage, but she had her eyes on the prize and knew a half point was enough. In the end Lukasz had to agree to the draw and Gee was the new Crewe CC Rapidplay Champion.

In the U1600 section, top board in round 5 was a clash between the father and son Bulbeck. George tells me he was doing well, but as happens so often in these events, time pressure caused a blunder and Julian managed to win. Was there any pressure on George to lose, or face a walk home? We will never know. Anyway, this win gave Julian 5 points out of 5 and a guarantee of winning the section. Julian’s last round loss against the section’s only unbeaten player, Tommy Cooke, may not have hurt too much.

In the U1300, I was delighted to see the ever amiable Phil Grocott win the section with 5 points out of 6. He just about won the title on tiebreak from Ian Wright. Well played Ian.

Thanks to Secretary Hulme for running the tournament so smoothly, and I hope that the members who played, there were over 50 of them, enjoyed the event as much as I did.

Pictured below, in the social room; Lukasz and Gee having a look at their game. Richard looks amused by the standard of their play.

Harry Gardiner is once again the king of Crewe Chess Club. He has now won the Club Championship for the third time in four years. I reported last year that his performance of 10/11, with a rating of 2119 would be hard to beat. This year he has done even better, scoring 11/12 with a tournament rating of 2157. Division 4 was won by Tommy, Division 3 by Nathan, and Division 2 by Oskar, which means that at the grand old age of 21 Harry is, by some distance, the oldest winner of any section of the championship this year. Congratulations to them all.

After a brief abeyance the Rhyl Chess Congress is back, and 5 Crewe CC members readily signed up for a weekend of chess beside the seaside.

I took a bye on Friday and kept an eye on results from afar. Now I know Harry Gardiner has been in pretty hot form, but I was a bit surprised to see his result in the first round. Was it right that he had beaten Keith Arkell; as in his Grandmasterliness and former English Champion Keith Arkell? Anyway, when I got to Rhyl this result was confirmed. Harry showed me the game at dinnertime; he had played nicely, avoiding a few pitfalls, and had reached a decent endgame when Keith blundered a piece. Respect due to Harry for playing so well, and to Keith, who apparently was very gracious in defeat. I checked with Harry, who confirmed that he now has a 100% record against grandmasters.

It so happened that in the second round I had to play….his Grandmasterliness and former English Champion Keith Arkell. Dave Price told me not to worry, as he had been plying Keith with beer all night, and the guy would not be at his best. I still went down in flames, pretty fast.

This gave me the chance to watch and another Harry in action; former British Chess Champion Harry Grieve. Harry (Grieve) was in great form too, and I was a bit impressed when he sacrificed two exchanges to rip open Jeff Smith’s king; a game that deserved 1.5 points for the win. Grieve went on to win the Open.

Harry (Gardiner) had some good games, and finished on a totally decent 3 points out of 5, this in spite of sharing a caravan with Pricey all weekend.

In the Major, Andy Raeburn was going well after 3 rounds, sharing the lead on 2.5 out of 3. Crewe hopes were raised, but sadly Andy went down in a tough tussle with the eventual tournament winner. Dave Price struggled a bit in the heat, but at least got one win under his belt.

Mal Green in the minor also got a nice win to take home.

Entry was a bit down on previous years, but I recommend you go to the next Rhyl Chess congress. The town hall is a very nice venue, the congress was run very smoothly, there are loads of places to eat and drink nearby, and if you lose your morning round quickly you can go for a paddle in the sea.

Dave and Harry playing a bit of footy in the sunshine.

I reckon I have spent about 25 of the last 30 Easter breaks in Bolton, playing chess. The casual observer may well ask why. I love it; it is a great tournament, run by a very experienced crew. Of course, it is nowhere near as good as the Crewe Congress, which will be held again in June this year. The late great Harry Lamb used to run Bolton Congress as a five rounder, with a blitz tournament thrown in on the Saturday afternoon. I never played the blitz; as it was called the “Busy Persons Tournament” I did not feel it appropriate for me to enter. Nowadays the congress is back to being run as a brutal six rounder. Join me next year as I waste another Easter.

Anyway, I was pleased to observe that there seemed to be a growing number of young adults competing. I had the misfortune to be drawn against a few of them, and they can play a bit. One of the stars of the show was Crewe CC member Carmel Barwick. Carmel is on great form, and went on to share first place in a tough Major, scoring 5/6. She did not lose a game. This impressive result means that she has now hit the magic 2000 ECF rating marker. Her rating is now exactly 2000.

But there is more. The very next day, back at the ranch, Harry Gardiner continued the defence of his club championship title by beating Nev. Harry is now pretty much certain to be club champ again, but guess what? Harry’s latest win also gave him a rating of….. exactly 2000.

There is yet more. Chairman Price, and others in the club, have put in a lot of effort into nurturing the juniors in the club, and we have a great bunch of young ‘uns. So one final thing to note is that Tommy Cooke, who has only been playing rated chess for a year or so, has seen his rating grow from 1282 to 1541 and is currently on an incredible winning streak of 17 rated games! I mean, 17 games; wow! Nuff said.

See you at the club soon.

For the third year in a row, the springtime streets of Crewe had been buzzing with excitement, an excitement which built to a peak on 8 April 2025, the day of the NSDCA Open Cup final. Yes, for the third year running, the final was to feature Crewe CC, and their New Firm rivals, Alsager CC. Alsager won the coveted cup in 2023 at the Mal’s. Crewe won it in 2024 at St Mary’s. This year the final was held at Alsager Cricket Club.

As you know, I do like going to Alasager’s venue. I have never understood cricket but I do like a cricket club. There is a cosy bar. If you go when the nights are getting lighter you can have a pre-match look at the beautiful cricket pitch (is it pitch is it, field, park?). The bar was already filling up with fans when I got there. Some of the fans may have had one eye on the big screen, which was about to show the Champions League match between Arsenal and Real Madrid, which clashed with the main event. Alsager Chess Club are a very friendly bunch, and I would recommend that you check them out if you can; obviously, having said that, Crewe Chess Club is miles better.

The Crewe captain was delighted in being able to field 6 of the highest rated players in our club. Well, OK, 5 of the highest and the captain. Pre-match nerves were amplified when our star player, Richard, sent a message to say that he was going to be late. Jonathan Blackburn, his opponent, sportingly agreed to delay the start of their game, but y’know, it had me worried for a bit.

Alasger’s non-playing captain, Jon Blackburn, won the toss and declared that his son Jonathan would play white.

Boards 2 to 6 started off an the scheduled time. Silence, as usual, fell on the match room.

Alsager got the first point on the board. Lee, our board 2, was up against Simon Hood. Later in the bar Lee admitted that he wa improvising in response to Simon’s Taimanov. As I may have mentioned before, Simon is a strong player, and when given the chance he really stuck the boot in. Jonathan B has done an interesting Youtube video on the game, and I would recommed you have a look. North Staffs Chess league Open Cup Final

On board 5 we had a repeat of the league clash between Harry Gardiner and Alsager’s Tal disciple, Greg Cannon. Last time I sat next to these two during a game I kept having to duck as Greg threw material at Harry. Same thing happened again. At one point Harry seemed a bit baffled and he was using quite a lot of time, but he kept cool, hung on to the material, and when the dust settled Greg had to resign. Harry will, we hope, soon break the 2000 ECF grade barrier, as he continues to improve.

I had to play Alan Thomason; again. Yet again he showed that he knows his openings, and he had me under pressure with a Philidor. I was lucky, when the tacitcs turned in my favour he lost his queen for a rook and knight. Crewe took the lead. The fans in the bar were going nuts; though that could have been because of Declan Rice’s skills.

I did not see much of Kamil’s game, but he came back to form for the final, beating Julian Kirk-O’Grady. Bart had a advantage against John Booth, but as he could not see a clear win, and did not have much time left, he offered the draw. This made made sure of the team win. Crewe CC had won the cup.

The last game to finish was the last game to start, between the league’s top two players. Jonathan won a pawn and ground Richard down again.

Alsager CC 2.5 – Crewe CC 3.5.

Thanks to Alsager CC for hosting the event.

Stop Press: There is now a bit of a crisis developing at the Crewe CC. Last week Nigel’s team won the U1600 Cup at Kidsgrove to add to the collection, and I am really not sure where we are going to store the increasing pile of trophies we have won this season. Full list to follow.

The club secretary has already recorded, in suitably glowing terms, that Crewe B will be the new NSDCA league champions. With one game left to play Crewe B remain invincible, and no one can catch them. A very impressive performance; well done to Captain Lambton and his crew.

And now on to more important issues. Crewe A ended the season, on Tuesday, with a trip to Alsager Cricket Club to play last season’s league champions. Things started badly. Richard made another long trip to play for us, but this time lost to Jonathan Blackburn, Our team captain continued his drawing rut, getting absolutely nowhere against Julian Kirk-Ogrady. Bart had a promising postion, it was awkward, but he was an exchange up against Simon Hood. Simon’s central pawns became bigger and bigger as they marched down the board and it was starting to look dodgy for us. Then in an instant things turned. Bart allowed his opponent to queen a pawn, but then sacrificed a rook for a checkmate; maybe that counts as a queen and a rook sac? Anyway; clean bowled by Bart! (Sorry could not resist that one). I have asked Bart to send in the game score to our webmaster, as it is worth seeing the flashy finish. Harry, who has had a great season, was playing nicely and at one point got to a winning rook and pawn ending against John Booth. Chess is such an absorbing game; so often of an evening you suddenly realise that your drink has gone, a couple of hours of your life have vanished, and now you are in another bewildering blitz finish. As Harry’s time reduced so did his winning chances. John won a pawn but there was no realistic way for him to win the game. Harry stopped the clocks at one point, claiming repetition, but as the game score was no longer kept the claim was denied. The game continued for another minute or so but a draw was then agreed. Match drawn. Alsager A -2 Crewe A – 2.

Bit of a weird season this one, we have finished, but as Mr Blackburn pointed out, Alsager still have half their matches left to play! For 2 years in a row we have narrowly missed out on winning the league. Still I have really enjoyed it, as always, and hope the rest of the team did too. So thanks to Richard, Bart, Harry, Dave H and Christian for taking part.

January was the busiest month yet in this season’s quest for the NSCDA league title.

Readers of this stuff will already know that Crewe A narrowly beat Crewe C on the 7 January.

On the 16 January we joined Crewe D to do a flash mob in Holmes Chapel. Things started badly. The Victoria Club is accessed by a narrow street, which was so rammed with cars that we struggled to get anywhere to park. Not sure why the club was so busy, I mean Manchester United were on the big screen in the bar, so you would have thought that would have put people off. Anyhow, the A team captain was a bit late and a bit stressed before the chess had even started. Even worse for the A’s, Bart went down on board 2 early on, the captain was in trouble despite being over 200 points higher rated then his an opponent, and Harry was under the cosh too. As usual Richard won on board one. I then heard a little shout on board 3, as Harry opponent dropped a queen in a winning position. The bottom board had turned into a draw, and so we won the match 2.5-1.5, Phew!

While this was going on the D team showed how it should be done, they wiped out Holmes Chapel B 4-0; impressive.

12 days later the A’s played host to Holmes Chapel at St Mary’s. This time things went a lot smoother. Richard won again. Ebube, playing his first ever game for the A team, picked up another point. Martin and Harry both drew from decent positions. Match won 3-1.

Yards away, the B team squeaked past the C team. Last game to finish was board 2, where Captain Lambton blundered a piece to Simon Layhe. Simon could only draw the tense finish, mainly because he was playing on increment, so the match ended Crewe B 2.5 -Crewe C 1.5. The C team have had a couple of really close matches this season, but remain on zero points. The B’s stay out in front with only 2 matches to go.

I should, in fact I am going to, take time to appreciate what a great asset Richard Lee has been to the club. He is currently our strongest player by a distance, and has won 6 out of 7 games on board one for the A’s. He is just as happy in the social room doing coaching as he is battering people in the match room. Most amazing of all though, is that he recently moved down south, and he now has to travel about 130 miles to play for us. He is pictured below getting a power nap before the latest match against Holmes Chapel.

It was great to have a new A team player in reserve. In contrast to Richard, Ebube’s journey to the club takes about 130 seconds. Here he is looking fresh and alert for the Holmes Chapel match.

Watch this space for more exciting updates, as the season continues….

“Experts” say that January is a depressing month; the Christmas licence to stuff your face and drink more than usual has expired; some have to go back to work or school; some foolishly try fitness fads, or even worse, stop doing stuff that they like doing; it’s dead cold; and so on.

Do not despair, I am glad to be able to cast some light into the darkness. In January there is an excellent chess congress in the pleasant town of Telford. The venue is plush and warm. They have a nice cafe. If you win a couple of games, no matter what section you are in, you might get the chance to play on a “live” board, which means that when you blunder there could be someone, maybe in Turin or Truro, who is watching and laughing. This year several of our members ignored the government weather warnings and headed down. Harry, Simon, Martin, Andy, Dave P, Jamie, Dave R, Doug, Mal and Peter were all there. Our best scorer was Jamie Roberts, who got 3.5 /5 in his section. I hope Harry will send in one of his games, as he found a very nice mating trap which deserves a look. Check out the Telford Congress website, and go do it next year!

Even better news, on 7 January Crewe CC opened up again after the Christmas break. Sadly, more snow and fog meant that not all visiting teams could make it, but Crewe A managed to scrape a win, against Crewe C, with Richard and Harry winning on the top 2 boards.

Nod of gratitude to Nige, who has restocked the club cafe.

Mario has put in another excellent report on our website for the I team.

On the 14 January there was no league action at St Mary’s, but the G team did get a win away at the Gables. Special mention to Ebube, who won his game, though he did cause his captain a bit of pre-match panic as he thought we were playing at home! On the night before the V team won 4-0, also at the Gables.

So the 14^th it was a quieter night than normal, but there was still some action in the match room, as the internal competitions continue. In 1603 James of Scotland came down to take over the English throne, and at the club there could be an event of similar significance. Andy Raeburn won again in the Crewe CC Championship, and is still the clear leader after reaching the halfway stage. Others could catch up, but could we have a scottish club champion for the first time? Division 2 is currently lead by Ebube and Divison 3 by Nathan, Division 4 looks very interesting, as 2 of our junior members Tommy Cooke and William Hogben, are in first and second respectively. They are both pretty good players already and I suspect their ratings will continue to climb.

If the above is not good news enough then just think, spring is on its way.

All the best.