Author: David Hulme

Last night the H team played their final league match of the season, and were beaten by Kidsgrove, suffering just the 2nd defeat of a 16-match program. The season finished as it started – with rare defeat – and in between had a superb 14 match unbeaten run with 12 wins and 2 draws to secure the NSDCA 4th division title.

The key match was played just last week when we faced 2nd placed Fenton B, who started the season with a 12-match unbeaten run before falling to successive defeats – firstly against our I team and then the H team, to leave our Humble H team in an unassailable lead.

The H team started the season with the main goal of providing league chess to as many as possible and by the end of the campaign had used 15 players. The main members of the team (who played at least half the matches) all performed superbly scoring in excess of 70%. Tim Weston had an outstanding season making a major contribution to the success of the team scoring 12.5/15. Adam Fields and Nathan Fourie scored 6.5 pts each from just 9 & 8 games respectively. Before xmas Kobus Nienaber was the board one player, scoring 4/6 and gave the team a solid base before Adam took over the mantle, together with cameos from several one-off turns. Phil Grocott was a regular player with 6 appearances, and Matthew Dean scored a creditable 4/5. The other 9 players ensured we did not default a single board, and thanks go to Tim for being the main team driver for away matches.

Well done to all the squad, who can expect the team to be promoted to Division 3 next season.

Friday night is not normally a good night for us to play matches, but we exceeded our wildest dreams last night by taking two cup teams and an army of supporters down to Leek.

In the Intermediate Cup (U1600) our team proved too strong for Cheddleton as we ran out comfortable winners 3.5-1.5 to progress to the final. George Bulbeck got us on the score sheet with an unusually early finish on board 5 (by 9.15) to give us a 1-0 lead before Pawel secured a hard fought draw on bd 4. Cheddleton’s rapidly improving junior Charlie Swinson then swung the match in the host’s favour by winning on bd 3. The significance of this result on board 3, meant we had to score more than one point from the two remaining games. Captain Nigel performed dilligently to overpower his opponent on board 2 to put us back in the lead. On board 1, 13 y/o Jamie Roberts gained the ascendancy with a pawn advantage but Nigel was sweating profusely and praying for Jamie to take the draw that would secure victory. However Jamie’s position had improved so much that he did not want to let go of a “near certain” win and duly put the contest to bed with a strong win to conclude the match 3.5-1.5, which would have been a fair expectation of the result given our rating advanatge over the 5 boards. We will face the winners of the Alsager vs Kidsgrove semi, having to play away again in the final for the 3rd time in this competition.

In the other semi for the Perry Cup (U1375) our Perry B team had another big rating advantage especially on boards 3 and 4 of the four board match. Mal Green swept to an early victory on board 4, before Cheddleton’s youth produced another fine victory on board 2 as Rowan Webb won for the hosts. Again this meant we needed at least 1.5 pts from the last 2 games to go through to the final (due to the tie break procedure that would give Cheddleton the win if the score finished 2-2). Everything appeared to be under control with Mike Keenan heading towards victory after two and a half hours at the board (No 3), but in the midst of time pressure failed to block a check; so the game was stopped for a few moments to give his opponent an extra two minutes which put a lot of pressure on Mike with his time down to just under one minute ! Mike managed eventually to force a queen exchange which led to immediate resignation from his opponent. This left another of our 13 y/o players – Tommy Cooke to conclude the match against an experienced opponent. Tommy played a very mature middle game to block an opposition pawn that had got to the 7th rank for the price of a pawn advantage to Tommy. Slowly but assuredly Tommy forced exchanges of all pieces to remove the remaining support for the pawn on the 7th, and mop up a further pawn advantage and go on to deliver the telling blow and give us a 3-1 victory. Our B team will face the winners of the Crewe A vs Meir in the final.

In addition to these two cup matches, 11 year old Jack Patullo played a long play rated game and then a further three rated Rapid play games emerging successfully from all 4 games. We had a further two members (Dave Roberts and Gerald Parton) playing Rated rapid-play games against a couple of newcomers to Cheddleton Chess Club, meaning we had 12 players from each club in competitive action. On top of this we had five more members/parents who travelled and supported our teams which incredibly meant we outnumbered the hosts at their venue !

The power of our club to bring so many of our members together was yet again evident on another superb night for both Crewe and Cheddleton Chess Clubs.

Today I was delighted to receive a glowing report about our club from Colin Abell the LMS Administrator, on behalf of Cheddleton and particularly Bill after the league match between Crewe G and Chedd B on Tuesday, as follows:

Hello David,

I want to thank you for the provision you put in place for Bill on Tuesday.

I spoke to Bill on the phone yesterday and he was effusive in his praise for the way you accommodated his needs and also for Neville’s gentlemanly behaviour during the game.

For various reasons it is likely to be his last Stoke League game and he was very pleased to have finished on such a positive note.

David Shiers has also told me how much he enjoyed seeing two senior gentlemen displaying not only a high level of skill but also such a friendly and sporting approach to the game.

Reporters comment: I was in awe to witness the match on Tuesday, where Neville Layhe and Bill played on board 2. Due to Bill’s fading eyesight he contacted us in advance to request so he could play on a separate Brail board to be used alongside the normal matchplay board. It was great to see two senior citizens with a combined age of just over 170 !, engage in a tough and skilful game of chess and both play in a brilliant spirit that was a credit to both of them, our clubs and the NSDCA.

This just shows how powerful our great game can be in bringing together players and clubs. When there was a discrepancy in the positions on the two boards, chairman Dave Price intervened and using his newly acquired Arbiter knowledge was able to reconcile the two boards with great assistance and co-operation from both players who were so keen to play in the proper spirit.

Thank you to Neville and Bill and it was fitting that after some two and a half hours of competitive play, they sportingly agreed a draw !

The club continues to go from strength to strength as witnessed by the ever growing number of members. This last month has seen an average of 45 club members attending each week with additional visitors from many opposition club teams, with as many as 20 visitors on one occasion.

Today has seen the latest publication of ECF Ratings, with the number of Crewe players moving up to 113, a staggering increase of 8 newly rated players in a single month.

The club championship remains a hive of activity with 4 divisions. Several new members have recently joined the competition but with only 3 months remaining to complete all games any new members will now play anyone free in a rated friendly game if they wish.

The 4 divisions have a total of 48 members involved, with promotion and relegation keeping everyone on their toes.

In division 1 we have 13 players and Harry Gardiner (5/6) is favourite to retain the title of Club champion, but currently trails leader Andy Raeburn by 1/2 point with two games in hand. Top rated Richard Lee (3/5) is also unbeaten like Harry and is now in joint 4th with Martin Burns (3/5), as this pair sit just behind Gintare (aka Gee) Cross on 3.5/5. Everyone has 12 games to play in total so anything can happen yet.

In division 2, we only have 9 players, but getting games played has proved very tricky so far due to the commitments in representing league teams. Only 11 games have been played to date with Oskar Jarzynski in the lead on 3.5/4. Ebube Christian is in 2nd place on 2.5/3, and we should see a sharp increase in activity over the next few weeks as the NSDCA league season runs down.

Division 3 (10 players) has seen 20 games played to date and is approx 45% complete. All 10 players have notched up points on the scoreboard and also dropped points in a wide open tournament. Currently Mario Scarpa (3.5/6) leads the way jointly with Nathan Fourie (3.5/5). Tim Weston sits 3rd with 3/5.

Division 4 has 16 players, with several members lying dormant, with a larger number actively competing. Tommy Cooke has been the busiest and tops the table with 6/7. David Roberts is in second place with 4/6, just ahead of William Hogben (3.5/4) and David Taylor (3.5/5).

All sections have a cut-off of 31st May, so we have 13 weeks to go in all competitions and everything to play for.

Starting with the top flight – Division 1 – our B team wrapped up the title earlier this month after the convincing 4-0 win at Holmes Chapel. The “A” team have completed their campaign and have secured 2nd place for the second season in a row. Meanwhile the C team have three matches to go.

The 2nd division appears to be out of reach for our two teams. The D team sit 2nd in table with 9pts from 9 games and just one game left, while leaders Macclesfield have 10 pts from 6 games. The E team have every chance to finish above the Ds, with 7 pts from 6 games, and may push the leaders if they can somehow steal a victory when they go head to head despite facing a likely deficit of approx 1000 rating pts.

The 3rd division sees our F team in pole position under the competitive captaincy of Nigel Gardner. The squad all being closely rated allows for rotation of players and despite many teams have highly rated players on top board, we are able to gain points at all levels. The major obstacle in front of the F team is they have to play contenders 3 times in the last 4 matches including two matches against Chris Hankey’s Gables “A” team, and 2nd placed Newcastle “A”. For me one of the surprises of the season has been our G team. Having gained promotion from div4 last season, it was anticipated it might be too difficult to secure 3rd division status. With a settled engine room of Jamie Roberts, Pawel Stanny and Neville Layhe they sit 3rd in the table and should finish comfortably mid-table.

The best news is that G team captain Steve Ballantyne is expecting to return to the club next week following his recent operations after a heart attack in November.

The 4th division sees the biggest surprise (in my mind) with our H team on the verge of clinching the title after a run of 13 unbeaten games since their 1st match. With two matches to play, they face the two nearest rivals – Fenton B on 11th March and Kidsgrove on the 20th . Only Fenton B can catch the H team but they also play a higher rated Kidsgrove. The I team gave the H team a huge helping hand by pulling off an unexpected win against Fenton B last week, despite the absence of captain and board 1 Mario, and being outrated by the previously unbeaten Fenton team.

Our U team heads the new U1300 division and is close to securing that trophy with one game to play.

February has seen the club play 21 league and cup matches in our busiest ever month.

A commanding 4-0 win away at Holmes Chapel saw the B team claim the 1st division title last night. After two seasons of missing out by the narrowest of margins it appears all it needed was a change of captain. David Lambton took over from David Hulme at the start of the season and the Bees have been flying high ever since. Despite never being at full strength until last night the Bees had stung harmoniously with every team member scoring at least 50%. It is unfair to name anyone for special mention, but Martin Frisher had excelled scoring a perfect 5/5 before tripping up in game 6, and then was promptly axed from the team by the cut throat captain. A quick look at the stats behind the table shows all regular team players have performance ratings in excess of 2000 – a superb achievement. The team has been boosted by the return of the 2022/23 club player of the year, Carmel Barwick who together with Gee Cross has formed a formidable female duo in the team’s engine room to compliment David L and Martin F. Lee Farrington despite only playing occasionally contributed significantly with 1.5 pts from 3 games taking on the league’s elite on board 1. Cameo performances by Lukasz Michalek and Neville Layhe should not be overlooked as the Bees bask in their glory, and play their final game against defending champions Alsager “A” next month.

Well done to David and all of the team !

This last weekend has seen the annual Blackpool Chess Conference (or congress) take place. Normally we have an army of members who make the small trek but this year we could only send a batallion of six.

Although none of our members featured in the prize lists (as far as I know) all six punched above their rating levels.

In the Open section Simon Layhe notched up two wins against players rated more than 200 pts higher, and despite losing three (including a 2298 rated opponent) saw his rating move from 1897 to 1912.

Andy Raeburn also chanced his arm in a higher section (Major U2050) than he could have played. Like Simon he scored a very good 2/5 to see his rating edge north by 3 pts to 1812 (it must sound like an overture to Andy).

Chairman Dave pushed himself up a section (Inter U1850) as well and despite only winning one and drawing one of the five games, saw his rating remain static at 1614 – a sign of how well he played with all opponents rated 100-200 pts higher.

Young Jamie Roberts played in the Minor U1700 section and notched up 3pts, with a best win vs an 1851; to see his rating climb 31 pts to 1662.

However Jamie’s dad, Dave refused to be outdone by his son and scored a superb 3/5 in the Standard U1550 section to see his rating climb by 33pts to 1224. This is even more impressive when you consider Jamie’s rating moves double the amount of Dave’s for every win.

And Mal Green had a strong congress too scoring 50% from his 5 games, to see his rating climb 26 pts to 1273.

Well done to all, and what is clear … is that Dave P must have led the drinking as his rating did not move as much as the others.

As previously mentiond on these pages the club had its busiest ever night recently – Tuesday 21st January with approx 70-80 attendees in the club, with approx 50 playing in the Match Hall and another 20 in the Social room.

Tomorrow night could be a contender to match these numbers as we expect 20 visiting players with 4 league matches to take place.

The club goes from strength to strength as we continue to gather new members and in some cases welcome the return of past members. The Members page shows the latest list of all current members, and the secretary is looking forward to locking in many more as January has seen many use up their “free visit(s) cards”.

The Club championship is thriving with frantic activity in the top and bottom divisions. In Div 1, Andy Raeburn has been excelling and leads with 5/7 but fell victim to the defending champion Harry Gardiner last week, who has the most impressive %age score (80%) with 4/5. With “A” team skipper Martin Burns and team colleague Richard Lee keeping track – these three “A” team players are all undefeated and have two draws each. Top rated Richard may be slight favourite but Harry is determined to retain his title and searching for his 3rd title in 4 years.

Division 2 continues to be a slow burner as only 8 games have been completed in the competition so far. With only 7 active players to date, Ebube Christian and 12 year old Oskar Jarzynski share the lead with 2.5/3 each, and may well emerge victorious and gain promotion.

Division 3 is wide open as no one is dominating this section. Mario and Nathan Fourie currently share the lead with 3.5 pts each as Nathan has a game in hand. Tim Weston has the best %age (75%) score to date and sits just behind the leaders on 3pts

Division 4 has now expanded to 16 players. Two of our youngest members are making great progress with 12 y/o Tommy Cooke setting the stage alight with 5/6 and 9 y/o William Hogben chasing on 3.5/4.

The junior Rapidplay event sees another youngster leading the way with Noah Smith on 2.5 pts just ahead of a 4-way pile up on 2pts (Tommy, William, Jack Patullo and Rishita Rajput).

Now that the month of January has been and gone, we can look back at a busy fixture schedule that saw us play 18 matches despite a heavy number of weather related postponements.

Martin Burns has already reported on the chase for the NSDCA Div 1 trophy which sees our B team as hot favourites. A win from either of their two remaining matches would guarantee becoming League Champions. Due to the bizarre fixture planning, Alsager and Holmes Chapel would still have 50% or more of their matches to play. Even more strange is that 3 teams have only amassed one point between them, while the only other (top) two teams have collected 21 points.

Division 2 is the only division where one of our Crewe teams does not lead the way. Here the strongest team is Macclesfield who were playing in division one last season. This time around they have gained another player on board 1, so are able to outrate all other teams in the division. Our D and E teams have both managed to hold the favourites to a draw in the first half of the season, but are unlikely to stop them from securing the div 2 title. Tomorrow night could be a crucial time as our D team host Macclesfield. Our two teams currently have identical records and trail the leaders by one point, having played one match more already. Potentially Alsager B and Stafford are most likely to push Macclesfield.

Division 3 sees our F team with a healthy four point lead over our G team who have risen from 2nd bottom to 2nd top after picking up 5 pts from 3 matches in January. The F team is energetically captained and selects strengthened squads when opposition possess strong top boards making them favourites for the title and promotion.

Division 4 is led by our H team who have surprised me with a superb run of 10 conscutive wins. Despite this run of results they have been unable to shake Fenton B off their tails who have 3 games in hand. with matches still to play against the nearest challengers only another perfect set of results will guarantee the div 4 trophy. Meanwhile our I team sits in midtable under the enthusiastic leadership of Mario Scarpa who relishes in telling the stories of his team’s adventures on our News items.

The U1300 division only has 4 teams, with two teams from Crewe and The Gables respectively. The U team currently have the upper hand (under more enthusiastic leadership from Mal Green) in this division where it is hoped many of these players will go on to progress in higher divisions as their ratings exceed the 1300 limit.

We have just had one cup match in January where Nigel marshalled the Intermediate Cup team (U1600) to success after a long Friday night trek to Stafford. His reward is a semi final ….. another long Friday night trek to Cheddleton – it seems the cup draw gods wanted to push our club to the limits.

We have also had the short straw in the other Cups with:

1. The Open KO team AWAY to Alsager or Holmes Chapel in the final
2. The Major KO team AWAY to Stafford in the final
3. The Perry B KO team AWAY to Cheddleton in the semi-final

At least the Perry A KO team have home advantage in the delayed quarter-final vs The Gables – to be played on 11th Feb.

Tuesday 21st saw records broken at Crewe Chess Club as over 70 chess enthusiasts packed into the playing hall and social room. With four league matches taking place we had 18 visiting players from teams belonging to clubs – from Cheddleton, The Gables, Newcastle and Meir. This was supplemented by a number of games played in the Club’s Internal Championship Sections, and a full social room where some played friendly games and others entertained nine more potential new members.

As some players arrived they struggled to find parking spaces as the Centre’s car park was overwhlemed by numbers. It was bad luck for the secretary who missed the best ever night since the club’s reincarnation in 2014 with a record number of 53 own members in attendance.