Author: David Hulme

It was a bad start to the New Year when we had to postpone all of our matches scheduled on the first night (6th January) due to the weather. Even so January has seen us play 14 matches, with 8 in the league and 6 in the Cup comepetitions (see pt 1 of the news). Of the 8 league matches, 2 were derbies and we managed 2 wins with 1 draw and suffered 3 losses.

League Div 1 saw very little action with only two matches played in the month, which allowed Holmes Chapel A to go joint top, and Crewe B notching up a 4-0 whitewash over our C team to move towards mid-table safety. As previously reported it is almost impossible for Crewe to retain the 1st division title this season as Alsager “A”, Holmes Chapel “A” and Macclesfield seemed destined to slug it out.

In Div 2, our E team had a superb win against Crewe D to join the pack chasing promotion, while Stafford leap-frogged from 5th to top by beating Cheddleton “A” on the last Friday of the month. Just 3 pts separate the top 5 teams and with all teams to play each of the contenders it is just too tight to call. Alsager B – although languishing in 6th position could finish top if they win all of their remaining games, and bottom placed Newcastle are far stronger now than at the start of the season and will have a big impact on who wins promotion.

Division 3 has the only team with a 100% record as Holmes Chapel B continue to dominate the division. Only second placed Cheddleton B can pose a serious threat. For our part Crewe G have performed admirably so far to pick up 7 pts from 7 matches to maintain mid table safety, while our brothers in Crewe H find it tough going in a relegation battle. Last time out Crewe H won their first match of the season at Kidsgrove to raise hopes of avoiding the drop. This was thanks mainly to two members stepping in as cover with Simon Humphries (bd 4 win) and Sam Ollier (bd2 draw) supporting captain Tim’s vital win.

Division 4 sees both of our teams exceeding expectations. Steve Ballantyne’s I team are just one point behind leaders Cheddleton C but have played one more game. However with four matches to go the I team have it in their own hands to win the division as they have to play the league leaders both home and away. The story of the season for us so far, is our J team (10th team !!) having the incredible record of Played 8 and drawing all 8. I am not aware of any team ever having a record like this in the NSDCA …. perhaps Colin Abell may provide some stats to back this up (or challenge it) in due course.

Division 5 is very much under the control of Meir’s experienced team. Having only dropped one point from their 8 matches they are massive favourites to take the Div 5 trophy, although Cheddeton’s D team and Holmes Chapel’s C team are breathing down their necks. From Crewe’s point of view our two teams were never likely to threaten the leaders, but we have given 18 members the chance to play league chess, with many playing league chess for the first time and our L team comprising 8 juniors with an average age of approx 12.

All in all we have provided 70 members to play in the league so far this season, for which we should all be very proud, and allows league chess to continue to grow in the North Staffs District.

January has seen us involved in 6 Cup matches, covering all four of the NSDCA competitions – Open, Major (U1825), Inter (U1600) and Perry (U1375).

The first match saw our big guns deployed on the 8th Jan when our Open “A” team faced tough opposition from Holmes Chapel. The task was made much more difficult as two of our top five players were unavailable. Captain Carmel took matters in hand and calmly assembled our team, with all six players contributing to a sound victory 4-2 as previously reported on here by Martin Burns – the displaced captain of our Cup Holders. Martin will relish the challenge of leading our Open Cup B team when we face Alsager in the quarter-final. Oddly enough the “A” team are through to the final already as they await the outcome of the top half of the draw involving Alsager, Crewe B, and Macclesfield.

In the Intermediate Cup we were handed a walk-over as Northwich failed to raise a team. Consequently George Bulbeck’s team will play away against either Kidsgrove or Alsager in the final in an attempt to retain the trophy won under Nigel Gardner’s leadership last season.

In the Major Cup we played Alsager last week in the semi-final. Looking to get into our 4th consecutive final we came unstuck against spirited opponents. Despite outgrading our opponents on all five boards we were unable to find success in any game and were knocked out 3.5-1.5.

The Perry Cup saw all three of our teams in action. First up our defending champions (Perry 1) led by Steve Ballantyne played Alsager on 13th Jan. Again we outrated our opponents on every board and emerged successfully as Mario Scarpa and Keith Dudeney won their games with black on boards 2 and 4 respectively, while captain Steve got the crucial half point to ensure success in the knowledge that a 2-2 draw would have meant Alsager proceeded on tie break. The team face a daunting semi-final against the Gables Perry 3 team who possess a rapidly improving squad of youngsters under the skilful guidance of Chris Hankey.

Our junior Perry 3 team made the trip to Meir to play their quarter-final on Wednesday (21st). Freddie Lee-Cooper took a valuable scalp to win on board 2, but Meir’s vastly experienced team proved too strong in the remaining games to win 3-1 and progress to the semis.

Our Perry 2 team made the long trip to Leek to face Cheddleton on Friday (23rd) and in an evenly rated match, found the top two boards tough going as Cheddleton fielded two juniors who will soon surpass the 1375 rating limit. Dave Roberts’ win on board 3 proved our only success on the evening as we were knocked out 3-1 like our Perry 3 team earlier in the week.

Today has seen the publication of the latest ECF Monthly Ratings and incredibly we now have 134 Rated Players appearing, although we (only ?) have approx 81 current members. These new ratings are used in NSDCA League matches with immediate affect, while we still use September ratings for all Cup competitions.

As many of you will know I am a sad case for keeping meaningless stats and records about the club and having tracked our Ratings for a long time I can report we have more than doubled our Rating Numbers since we moved to St Mary’s (from 61 to 134).

Looking at some of the individual ratings, we have 3 members at or above 2000 with Richard Lee our highest at 2130, followed by Carmel Barwick @ 2046 and Harry Gardiner 2000.

Since the start of the season in September the biggest risers have been our improving juniors:

James Ratcliffe from 1849 to 1941, subject to amendment with current results from the Hastings Masters which should show a further jump of approx 20 pts by 31st December.

Tommy Cooke from 1526 to 1637, the biggest increase in any of our members. This is pretty amazing since Tommy only started playing in August 2024 !

Oskar Jarzynski’s rise may not be as much but shows a steady consistency having gone from 1779 to 1824. These three are all in the same school year group, togther with Jamie Roberts who is now rated 1787.

Just to show there is life in the old dog yet, yours truly has had the biggest increase in rating (from 1715 to 1770) of the club’s more mature members ! Others climbing the ratings include Simon Humphries +50; Mike Keenan + 42 and Dave Roberts +40.

Full details can be seen from our Members Tab:

a) The Players List

b) ECF Live Rating

Tuesday 30th December was supposed to be our final club night of 2025 but the dreaded lurgy struck with several key members feeling unwell and so Chairman Price jumped onto whatsapp to let everyone know we had to cancel at short notice. This may sound like a trivial matter, but when you have 80-odd members and not all being tech-savvy, plus a few more potential newbies, it becomes a major task to implement.

Part 1 of the news took a glance at the NSDCA league tables and this section concentrates on the Club Championship.

As regular readers will know the club continues to go (and grow) from strength to strength and this is highlighted by the Club’s internal tournaments. Up until Covid (March 2020) we had been running two divisions and as the membership increased on the resumption of OTB chess in late 2021 we extended to 3 divisions. In June 2023 we moved to our new modern home here at St Mary’s Caritas Centre and have benefitted from a surge in members. Having increased to four divisions for the 24/25 season we found it necessary to add a 5th division at the start of this season, and currently have 68 members taking part in battles for promotion and relegation.

Starting with division 5, this section is mainly for newcomers to competitive chess and includes 12 juniors amongst the 15 players. Of the 3 adults in this tourney Barrie Wood has been the standout performer racing into a big lead scoring 10/12 and only has two more games to play. There is a huge gap to 2nd place where juniors Noah Smith and Mayank Patil have 4 pts each having played half the number of games as the leader.

Division 4 (aimed at players rated 1000-1250) has 14 players, with 2 yet to start their campaigns. Two of our newer members are setting the pace here with Simon Humphries and Sam Ollier in the lead with 5 pts each from 7 and 6 games respectively. In 3rd place is Gerald Parton with 4.5/7. Sitting behind the leaders is 12 year old Jack Patullo who has dropped just one point from 4 games so far, and if he can win his games in hand would share the lead. With everyone still having at least 50% of their games to play it would be a fool who predicts the winner of this section (and who gains promotion to division 3.)

Division 3 (aimed at players rated 1250-1400) is another section brewing nicely with 1/3 of the games already played, but only has 12 players due to the withdrawal of two members unable to commit to the full schedule. Good friends Phil Grocott (5.5/6) and Steve Ballantyne (4/6) lead the field at the moment with Phil’s current performance rating 1685 some 350 pts above his ECF rating. Mal Green is likewise performing massively above his current ECF rating of 1198 by nearly 400 pts to sit in 3rd place with 3.5/4. It should be noted that Phil won division 3 back in 22/23, so is looking to boomerang back to division 2.

Division 2 has been the least active of the internal tournaments so far with just 17 games played. To be fair most of these players have had a heavy schedule of league fixtures. Despite all this senior member Neville Layhe shows great commitment by having already played 50% of the possible 12 games and leads the way with 3 pts. This division has been strengthened massively as four players were relegated from division 1 last term (three of them voluntarily). Julian Bulbeck has also managed to play 6 of his games, meaning Nev and Julian have played 11 of the 17 games to date ! Favourites to achieve promotion will be the highest rated players – Martin Frisher and Lukasz Michalek if they can get their games completed. Junior Tommy Cooke is improving rapidly and with 2.5/3 is likely to feature in the promotion race.

Finally, turning to division 1 – the winner of which is titled “Club Champion”. The defending champion Harry Gardiner has won the title 3 times in the last 4 years and appears to be as dominant as Man City have been with the Premier League over the last decade. Martin Burns has waxed lyrical previously about Harry’s staggering record and amazing performance ratings over the last two unbeaten seasons (scoring 21/23 !!) and it seems he is on course again already having built up a massive lead with 6.5/7 leaving the field in his wake. Can anyone stop Harry’s domination of the Club Championship ? Maybe Carmel Barwick could provide the challenge as the only other winner of the Club championship since Covid, but this seems unlikely as Carmel has only played one game so far due to league chess and work commitments, or maybe Kamil Zak (seeded 4th at the outset) could be the one to end Harry’s formidable unbeaten run – now extended to 32 games since losing to Julian Hawthorne in March 2023.

Good luck to everyone in the New Year

It’s that one night of the year when chess takes a back seat at the club when Chairman Dave is in his element hosting the Christmas party. Thanks to Dave for organising a buffet to quench the thirst and hunger of all 50 party-goers. The buffet was made all the better as Gee again baked some fantastic chess themed cakes. Suffice to say there was nothing left as the club was eventually emptied well after midnight, with some of our Polish members making the rush for Xmas Eve to celebrate in the tradition of their homeland.

The main event is the Chairman’s hilarious version of “Chase the Ace” as around 40 players were gathered around the long rectangular set of tables. With so many players Dave adapts the rules after the first few rounds to speed up the competition. As each player has 3 lives it could have taken as long as the 24 hour Le Mans Race to finish. Much to everyone’s confusion and laughter many lives were lost when Dave said anyone with a red card would lose a life under the guise of “red is dead”. Young William somehow emerged victorious as his mum generously donated an extra life or two (another pawn). Yound Oskar and Mayank were busily occupied playing a version of Monopoly where Mayfair did not exist, and you could pay £2m in rent for a particular property unlike the traditional maximum of £2000 for Mayfair ! I was too engrossed trying to save my lives to notice who won that one. For those that abstained from Chase the Ace there was a small splattering of chess and general chatting/socialising.

Around 8.45 Chairman Dave decided we could have a Blitz, which sent me in to overdrive setting up 4 teams of roughly 9 players each, with each team captained by one of the four top players involved – Richard, Carmel, Kamil and Gee. Harry was unfortunately unable to attend in person due to Covid, but still joined us in the virtual world of Chase the Ace before getting a prime spectators view via our Club TV/screen/computer for the Team Blitz.

Over 100 games were played with Gee’s team victorious P3 W2 D1, ahead of Richard’s team P3 W1 D2. There were some fantastic individual performances with 3 players scoring a perfect 6/6. As expected some of our younger members really excelled in these shortened games with 14 y/o Tommy Cooke and 7 y/o Arlo Hurst achieving perfect scores (of 6/6). Not to be outdone Steve Duncan (often unable to attend due to 4am shift work) also scored a perfect 6/6. What made the event so enjoyable was to see a number of our visitors joining in the competition from the start, and some stepping in to play when others had to leave before the conclusion. Special thanks go to David and Sophie Ratcliffe, along with Jo Estridge and Hamanu Patil, as well as several parents who waited patiently to allow their children to stay to to the end.

The party went on until the early hours with games of “Hand and Brain” as well as the everpopular “Bughouse”.

Thanks to all members and visitors who made it such an enjoyable evening and wishing everyone a merry xmas etc.

Despite December’s schedule finishing for us on the 16th, we still managed to play 15 matches, with only our D and G teams missing out in the league.

Starting the review with the top flight Crewe “A” are top of the pops with 7 pts from 7 matches. This is of course rather misleading as Alsager “A” are shown in 2nd place having got 7 pts from just 4 matches. Oddly enough I can guarantee that Crewe “A” will remain top of the league for at least 6 more weeks as January only sees two fixtures. By which time it is very likely that Holmes Chapel “A” will become the 4th team on 7pts to join Macclesfield’s strong revival and join the fight to be NSDCA champions. Defending champions Crewe “B” have not hit the dizzy heights this time around (3 pts from 6 matches) and are currently one place above the wooden spoon. Newcomers Northwich face a tough schedule at the start of 2026 playing the three contenders (Alsager, Holmes Chapel and Macclesfield). Crewe “C” have 4 pts from 6 games and hope to avoid relegation.

Division 2’s table shows a firecely competitive scrap to be top dog with six of the seven teams in with a serious chance of taking the trophy. Crewe “F” have exceeded expectations to lead the way with 8 pts from 6 games, in a section where every team has dropped at least two points. The inclusion in their squad of two first division captains has boosted their chances but would create problems if gaining promotion. Crewe D ( 7pts from 5) had made a promising start to the season but were soundly beaten by 6th place Alsager B last time out showing how tough the division is. 3rd place Cheddleton “A” (6 pts from 4) are probable favourites as they can field a team rated well over 7000 when at full strength, but have a tough run in with three trips to Crewe in their last 4 games of the season. Crewe “E” have 6 pts from 6 (W2, D2, L2) and should remain mid table. Stafford down in 5th place (5pts from 4) will have a big say in final placings, tend to enjoy home advantage with a squad amply capable of beating any other team in the division. Alsager B (4 pts from 5) showed their ability by beating then league leaders Crewe D but have not been consistent, but on their day are a hand full. Newcastle are yet to notch up their first points but have recently been reinforced by a returning player who is the 3rd highest rated in the whole league !

Division 3 shows Holmes Chapel “B” (10pts) in a commanding position, as the only team with a 100% record throughout the league. Next up they face their nearest rivals – Cheddleton B (9 pts from 6)- which will probably be their toughest match. With all other teams (than the top two) having dropped at least 4 pts it’s hard to see any other winners than Holmes Chapel. Bare in mind they have struggled in division two in recent seasons it’s good to see their top two teams unbeaten so far and challenging for honours. Alsager C (8 pts from 6) are performing well, above Crewe G and Gables “A”. Kidsgrove “A” have elected to put themselves in a higher division this season and have 5 pts in the bag already, giving them a safety cushion over Crewe H and Alsager D who have the same 1 pt from 6 matches.

Division 4 looks to be closely contested too, with 3 pts separating the top 5 places. Cheddleton C have dropped the least number of points so far to lead the table with 9 pts from 6, ahead of Gables B and Crewe I who both have 8 from 7. Mid table sees Crewe J with the unlikely record of no wins or losses after 7 matches. A further draw may see this team with an NSDCA record of most drawn matches in a season, as I am struggling to find evidence from the archives with any team drawing more than 7 in one season. Kidsgrove B appear relativly safe on 6 pts, with Fenton and Alsager E on 3 pts.

Division 5 sees Meir setting the pace with 13 pts from 7 matches. Chedd’s D team though are still within striking distance with two games in hand sitting on 9 pts. Holmes Chapel C are a welcome addition this season, as Gables juniors continue to improve and Crewe now have an all junior team in the shape of Crewe L.

In the Cup competitions two matches were played during December with Crewe progressing to the semi-finals in the Major and Meir making it through to the quarters in the Perry Cup. Most pleasing is the fact that 209 players have participated in the NSDCA so far this season, a significant increase from recent seasons.

Part 2 – Crewe’s Club Championship & Internal News Report will follow after the final club night of the year on 30th December.

Finally to wish all our readers (and passers by) a merry christmas and a prosperous new year

As noted in part 1 of this month’s news the club continues to grow, and now has 25 junior members amongst the current list shown on the Website. Last week’s Staffordshire junior congress highlighted the great achievements of some of our juniors as reported by chairman Dave.

On Tuesday 25th Richard Lee hosted the 2nd of his popular coaching sessions aimed at our leading players. From all accounts this was a resounding success, but obviously outside the bounds of your writer, who slips down the club’s batting order. It is incredible to note that I was once playing top board for the club and now appear at No. 19 in league rating order.

The Club Championship provides opportunity for all members to compete against each other with 5 divisions and 67 members involved. Harry Gardiner is chasing a hat-trick of being Club Champion and has made another brilliant start to the campaign with 6.5/7. Only a fool would bet against him retaining the trophy.

Division 2 has only seen a small number of games played so far but the strength of the competion has gone up siginifcantly from last season with 5 players rated 1600-1700 and one over 1800. Included in this section is 14 year old Tommy Cooke who is unbeaten in 13 games since 1st July.

Division 3 has seen a lot of activity with Phil Grocott beating all in his path so far with a commanding 5/5, for an event rating of 1752 to date, which is over 400 pts more than his league rating !

Gerald Parton currently leads the Div 4 competition with 3.5/4, but it would be premature to try and predict the eventual winner.

Division 5 has 14 members involved with recent newcomer Barrie Wood running away with 7/8. This section has 12 juniors including our two youngest members -Jasper Ludlow aged just 6 and Arlo Hurst age 7 who played each other last week.

In conclusion November has been another amazing month seeing the membership reach new record numbers. The club played a record number of league matches including one night with 5 home matches and an average attendance of 49 members per night excluding visiting teams and non-playing parents and guardians etc.

We have just played our final match of November to conclude our busiest ever month – playing 22 NSDCA matches and recording a 50% success rate, with 8 wins, 4 draws, 8 losses and 2 derbies.

After collecting 7 of the 9 NSDCA trophies last season, it is looking like we could be empty handed this season based on the current league tables.

While the club continues to grow, now with over 80 members, it is great to see increased competition from the other clubs who will all be trying to stop the biggest club walking off with all the trophies again. It is looking likely that many clubs will feature in the 2025/26 NSDCA Honours Board.

In division 1, Alsager “A” and Holmes Chapel “A” appear to be the strongest teams, while Macclesfield are having a super season after being promoted. The three Crewe teams are having a tough time, with defending champions Crewe B surprisingly involved in the wooden spoon contest. Newcomers Northwich pitched themselves into the top flight mainly to avoid excessive travel, bring some fresh blood into the league.

Division 2 is likely to be very keenly contested with Cheddleton A probably the favourites, along with Stafford currently unbeaten. Crewe’s three teams continue to knock spots off each other while Alsager “B” look very comfortable. Newcastle voluntarily took promotion from div 3 last season and have found it hard going so far after five games, but with the arrival of a new top board – rated over 2000 – are likely to climb the table soon.

Division 3 looks like being a one horsed race with Holmes Chapel B head and shoulders above the rest. Their team is rated as highly as all teams in Div 2 and appear to be heading back there after being relegated last season. Crewe H and Alsager D have been cut off at the bottom of the table and their early December clash has been postponed due to 6 Crewe H players being unavailable, which seems to defy logic for a club boasting 80 members.

Division 4 is the hardest section to call as the top five teams are sepated by just one point. Gables B, Kidsgrove B and Crewe I currently have identical records of 6 pts from 5 matches, while Crewe J have the incredible score of 6 pts from 6 games having drawn all 6 !. The team currently 5th – Cheddleton C – could jump to the top of the table if they win on Monday against joint leaders Gables B, while any other result puts the Gables on top of the pile. Great credit must go to Chris Hankey for his development of the Gables Junior Club, who could well be heading to great success in the not too distant future.

Division 5 appears to be a two horsed race, with Meir holding the aces with a perfect start to the season with 5 wins and Cheddleton D tucked in just behind on 9pts from 5 matches and unbeaten too. It is wonderful to see all 5 divisions with at least 7 teams providing a much better balance of fxtures than recent seasons.

There has only been one match played in the knockout competitions so far with Crewe Perry 1 sneaking through against Gables Perry 1, while Cheddleton have progressed from the 1st round following Fenton having to concede.

Trust it to happen on the Club’s busiest ever match night as five visiting teams fought the elements and battled through police cordons to get to the club.

Many thanks to all the teams that attended tonight and managed to field full line ups despite the horrible weather and disruption which prevented many Crewe members from arriving.

Despite all the obstacles thrown at us, it was a night to be proud of Crewe Chess Club and the NSDCA. A brief summary of match results showed

Div 1 – Crewe C beat Northwich 2.5-1.5

Div 3 – Crewe G beat Alsager D and Alsager C beat Crewe H by the same score as above

Div 4 – Crewe J drew with Cheddleton C to make it 5/5 draws !

Perry Cup – Crewe Perry 1 scraped through against a very young Gables 1 Perry team – same 2.5-1.5 score line.

Thanks to all of our visitors for contributing towards a superb night at Crewe Chess Club.

Full details of all results can be seen from our “fixtures tab” and the NSDCA LMS (North Staffs & District Chess Association League Management System).

The sun keeps shining (metaphorically speaking) as the Club continues to grow. September has been an incredible month with attendances averaging 57 members per week, plus visiting teams ensuring the Caritas Centre has been packed out throughout the month.

Tuesday night (30th Sept) was another superb night as the Internal Summer competitions all reached their conclusion. Firstly looking at the Open Knockout final Richard Lee played Carmel Barwick and came through victorious, although reports from the analysis room afterwards told how Carmel could easily have won. The Major knockout final had already been played the previous week as 13 year old underdog Tommy Cooke defeated George Bulbeck. The Intermediate final saw Dave Roberts playing a recent arrival Simon Humphries, with Dave emerging as the winner.

It was also the final night of the Grand Prix Rapidplay which started in early July for members rated under 1300. The tournament has been a roaring success with 22 players taking part and 131 games played in total. The competition winner is the player with the highest percentage score, subject to playing a minimum of 10 games. 17 of the 22 met this requirement, with Jack Patullo achieving the highest score of 84.4% ahead of Lee Bebbington on 77.3%.

Congratulations to all the Summer Tournament winners – Richard, Tommy, Dave Roberts and Jack who will receive their trophies at next year’s AGM. All names have been added to the “Honours List” shown on the website under Members Page, which dates back to our first tournament held in May 2015 when Greg Willet won the inaugural Time and Point handicap.

Details of all the Summer Club tournaments have now been archived and can be seen in the “past seasons” tab on the Crewe Chess Club’s LMS pages.