Author: David Hulme

Last week (18th July) the club held it’s AGM at The St Mary’s Caritas Centre.

The main items to note were

It had been a very successful year for the club with membership growing (from 41 to 59 members) to become the largest club in the NSDCA. We had won the NSDCA’s 1st division for the first time, as well as the Major and Minor Knockout.

After 9 years residence at The Mals Club, the growth of the club forced us to seek out larger premises resulting in our recent move to The Caritas Centre.

1. The committee was extended to recognise the significant growth of the club in the last 12 months, to comprise chair, secretary, treasurer, Events officer, Website officer and Club Steward – with some cabinet shuffleing taking place.
2. Annual subscriptions were increased following our recent move with Adult fees now being £30 p.a and juniors (under 18 years of age) at £20 p.a
3. Provisional plans were made to run 6 teams in the league for the 2023/24 season, with deadline of 31st August to submit details.
4. Trophies were awarded to: Lukasz Michalek for the Les Hall Memorial Trophy/Time & Point Handicap, Division 3 champion Phil Grocott, Div 2 champion Pawel Stanny and Junior player of the year Oskar Jarzynski. Other trophy winners were unable to attend (Simon Layhe and Carmel Barwick)

This is just a reminder to all members that we will be holding our AGM this Tuesday, starting at 7.30pm.

It’s your chance to have a say in how we run the club, and to see the numerous Tropies awarded to the winners (over the last 12 months).

Everyone should have received an Agenda and Reports pack, but if any member has not got them please contact the secretary or any other committee member.

We would like as many as possible to attend, and expect to have a bit of fun with some chess games as soon as the meeting is over.

Last night (13th July) saw the 2nd episode of the WC Trophy – the comically named challenge between Wallasey and Crewe. The first match took place in August 2022 over 8 boards, but last night involved far more players as Crewe hired a mini-bus and driver to take the team to Wallasey. Thanks to the organisers Alan Kelly (Wallasey) and Dave Price (Crewe) the match was played over 14 boards, with teams evenly matched. After Wallasey had raced into an early 3-0 lead it looked they would gain revenge, but from this position Crewe overhauled the hosts with a dominant performance with 7 wins and 3 draws from the top 10 boards, and ultimately were runaway winners by 9.5-4.5.

As a beaming Dave Price was awarded the Cup on Crewe’s behalf, he generously donated a consolation prize to the runners-up from Wallasey ….. half a toilet roll …

And then Alan Kelly threw down the gauntlet for the 2024 challenge to take place in Crewe, aiming to increase the teams to 20 boards per side.

Thanks to Alan and the hosting team at Wallasey who also provided a very pleasant buffet, which kept the travelling army from Crewe well satisfied as they returned home in the early hours.

The full result can be seen from the LMS link, with pictures below

https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node

Crewe win the Trophy and Wallasey Win the Toilet Roll

Use link below to read Wallasey’s report https://www.wallaseychessclub.uk/news/49

Thanks to Steve Ballantyne for the brief report on last night’s South Cheshire Shield match

A very hard fought win for Crewe “A” last night.  After going one nil down things were not looking good on boards 3 and 4, both of the young lads were playing very well. Phil lost a central pawn early on and was under pressure, eventually he won the pawn back and got his Rook onto the 7th row which caused problems for his opponent. Much later his opponent resigned and Phil maintained his 100% record. Next to finish was Pav, after a shaky start his pressure proved too much and we were 1-2 to the good. Jules immediately offered his opponent the draw which was accepted, giving Crewe A the win.

I just thought i would give Nev a mention. Nev is well known in the club for his Stonewall but his defensive play as black and his pawn positioning is superb. The new members and other members of the club could learn a lot from Nev, me included.

Cheers, Steve.

The Open Knockout has 21 entries, so there are 5 games in round 1 to be played by 4th July. The 2nd Round has been drawn with games to be played by 25th July.

In the U1600 knockout, there were 17 entries but 1 player has had to withdraw. Therefore there will be two revised pairings in round 2 to accommodate the amended number of entries to 16, which will be drawn at the club tonight (20th June).

The draws are shown on the LMS (Fixtures + Results Tab) – see 2023 Summer Season of our Internal Comps.

There were three games played last night in the Div 2 club championship. All three games were won by the underdogs as firstly George Jelliss secured his div 2 status with a win, to finish the tournament in mid-table on 4/10. Then Mike Keenan played a superb game, with a brilliant finish that forced a mate with Rook and Knight after a Queen sacrifice. Mike has finished with 3/10, that leaves him joint 10th avoiding relegation to division 3.

The Match of the Day cameras were focused on title chasing Pawel Stanny. In a complicated position and short on time, he declined a draw offer with a Queen and Bishop and some pawns facing a Rook, Bishop, Knight and some pawns where the opposition pieces seemed to be holding. In the knowledge that a draw would only allow him to possibly share the title, his Queen ran rampant picking up a minor piece and a couple of pawns before shepherding one of his own pawns to an unstoppable position on the 7th rank to gain an unlikely win.

So the Div 2 title boils down to the last game between Pawel and Kobus Nienaber, with George Bulbeck sitting on the top of the table with 7pts. If Pawel can draw, the title will be shared, and a win gives Pawel the trophy outright. Will Kobus be able to stop him next Tuesday in the decider ?

Here is captain Steve Ballantyne’s summary of last night’s match vs Alsager in the South Cheshire Shield – our first ever match at our new venue.

A good team performance last night from Crewe A.   First to finish was Phil, he gained a Knight early on and won quite easily in the end. Next to finish was Jules who played a solid game and was 2 pawns up in an end game which proved too strong for his opponent. Oskar took us over the line with a draw. In an end game with 4 pawns and a Rook against 4 Pawns a Rook and a Bishop he played his Pawns so strong forcing his opponent to offer a draw. Well done Oskar. With the match already won Andrew and Neville agreed a draw. To be honest if we had needed the win i think Andrew would have won, he had a Bishop and a Knight against a Rook. Well done Crewe A for a strong performance all round. 

A big thank you to Nigel for once again being the perfect host. He even supplied the Teams with water.

All Crewe’s results in the SCS can be seen from our “fixtures + tables” tab on our website.

The following events are lined up for the summer period (June to September)

1. South Cheshire Shield – two teams in the summer league captained by Steve Ballantyne and Dave Price
2. Conclusion of the 2022/23 Club Championships – deadline extended from 31st May to 20th June.
3. Summer knock-outs: two sections of individual long play – one rated U1600 and the other Open rated. 1st round draws to take place on 13th June, with games to be played by: Round 1 by 4th July, Round 2 by 1st August, Round 3 by 29th August, semi-finals and final during September.
4. Summer Rapid-plays: two sections of individual all-play-all with both colours, rated like the knockouts. Time control 15m/5s to allow more games to be played on any evening, and meeting ECF grading criteria. All games to be played by last Tuesday in September.
5. Friendly and social chess, as well as coaching sessions, each week depending on demand and availability.

PLEASE CONTACT DAVID HULME TO CONFIRM ENTRY FOR THE KNOCKOUTS. YOU CAN JOIN THE RAPIDPLAY COMPETITIONS SIMPLY BY CHALLENGING ANY OTHER MEMBER IN YOUR SECTION THAT WISHES TO PLAY.

Wow what a brilliant night for Crewe Chess Club on our opening night at the new St Mary’s Caritas Centre (Tuesday 6th). It was the 4th and final night of our 2022/23 Swiss Rapidplay to play Rounds 7 and 8, where we hoped it would be a busy night and we were not disappointed by a new record attendance of 42. There were 9 more players added to the competition to take the entry numbers well over the 50 mark.

The competition was fierce as ever, with three players starting the night on 5/6 being long time leader Martin Burns, defending champion Jarek Czyz and new club champion Carmel Barwick. The Round 7 pairings threw together Martin and Carmel with the latter producing the win, while Jarek defeated David Lambton to stay in the joint lead.

The final round saw Carmel paired on board 1 with Karl Lockett who trailed by one point, and Harry Gardiner 5.5/7 paired with Jarek (6/7) on Board 2. If Karl could hold Carmel then Harry or Jarek could catch her. As Jarek could not find a way to beat Harry, it was Carmel who swept all in front of her to win the key game and gain her 2nd club trophy in successive weeks, after securing the Club Championship last week.

Congratulations to Carmel on an excellent campaign to win the event.

Thanks to new captain Steve Ballantyne for the following report on the first match.

A well earned draw last night (Wed 31st May) for Crewe A.   First game to finish was Andrew, he made a huge blunder very early on and lost his Rook for free, so before 8.30 we were 1-0 down. Next to finish was Phil, he played well and gained a Rook late on, his opponent eventually resigned 1-1. Pav played his usual solid game and was a pawn up which in the end proved too strong and his opponent also resigned 1-2.  All eyes were on board 1. In a fascinating game with both players short on time Dylan had 3 pawns and a Knight and Julian had 6 Pawns. We thought at first that Jules had the advantage but Dylan played exceptional in an end game. Both players got a round of applause at the end. 2-2 a fair result I think.