Author: David Hulme

Wed 3rd May: With no league matches taking place at The Mals this week, it was time to get some games played in the Club Championships as we near the deadline of 31st May.

In division 1, Martin Burns has layed down the gauntlet after shunting the chairman deeper into the relegation quagmire. Martin was too hot to handle for Dave Price, as he completed the campaign with a win to finish on 7.5 pts from 1o games, and move to the top of the pack, deposing the current club champion Harry Gardiner (6.5pts). This result leaves Dave in the relegation spot with 1pt from 6, although he may escape like Houdini if he can get enough of his remaining games played. David Lambton won a relegation “6-pointer” to ease his position to move onto 3/9. The Events Officer – David Hulme (2.5/7) makes a trio of David’s in the bottom 5, and needs some points from his remaining three games if he is to avoid the drop – with all games against others in the drop zone. The other big game played last night in this section saw Carmel Barwick ruin Julian Hawthorne’s chances of the title, with a win that takes her tally to 6/8, as she becomes the hot favourite to become club champion, with two more games to play against the bottom two players. Two wins will see Carmel crowned as champion, while 1.5pts would lead to a shared title with Martin.

In division 2, there were a couple of big matches. Firstly Pawel Stanny put a dent in James Marshall’s title aspirations, with a well controlled win as James found himself in a familiar position of fighting the clock. Pawel’s win takes his score to 4/6 and retains a slim chance of winning division 2, if he can play and win all 4 remaining games, which is a very tall order. The other big game, saw Mike Keenan battle with George Bulbeck, and after a very promising attack from Mike, found his position overstetched as George countered strongly before emerging succesfully. George (7/9) has now overtaken long time leader Andrew Crosby (6.5/10) and is odds-on favourite to take the title with one remaining game against his dad Julian. If Pawel can apply the necessary pressure, then George may have to beat his dad to secure the div 2 crown !

Again there were many other members attending, with plenty of experienced players on hand to play friendly games against the ever expanding batch of newcomers.

Tomorrow (Friday 5th) sees the D team travel to Stafford, with the aim of putting a spanner in the works if possible, to assist the C team’s outside chance of winning NSDCA division 2.

On Saturday, there is an online international match, as Andrew Crosby has worked tirelessly to arrange a “Crewe and North Staffs Junior team vs Chess in Slums Africa Junior Team” being played on lichess and with commentary on Twitch !!

Wed 26th April – It’s been a quieter week than many, with just two matches taking place for the club, with our two division 3 teams both at home as the E team hosted Cheddleton D and the F team hosted league leaders Alsager B.

The E team had a straight forward task as Cheddleton arrived with two players missing, and after an early win from James Marshall on board 1 the match was secured before 9pm. This allowed Adam Fields to except an offer an early draw on board 4, so the two Cheddleton players could head home early, as the E team bagged the two points to stay in the title chase.

The F team faced the league leaders and were confronted by a team rated at 6600, massively outrating our ” Fabulous Fighting F team”, as they played their strongest team of the season, which would have outrated most teams in division 2, let alone div 3. Undeterred our team were not prepared to lie down despite an early set back, when Alsager won quickly on board 3. Aware of the chance to help our E team, the F team were bolstered on board 1 where Jarek Czyz was available to play just his 3rd game of the season. This was the only board where we closely matched the opposition, as Jarek provided an unexpected win on board 1 to level the scores. Board 4 saw us as underdogs again and Alsager’s player here won an exchange early on before converting to an easily won end game. This left George Bulbeck on board 2 (also outrated by some 150 pts) to try and salvage the result, and boy did he do it in style, typically using every available second on his clock as he played a superb Knight and pawn ending to force victory in a manner suited to division 1 standards. So the final result was a 2-2 draw, as the F team held the title favourites for the second time this season.

All of which means, Alsager lead the table with 19pts and one match remaining, while our E team are in pursuit with 17pts and a game in hand. If Alsager win their last game as expected, our E team can share the title if they win both remaining matches. The F team are 3rd in the table and cannot be overtaken, sitting on 16pts which is a brilliant return for a team whose main purpose is to allow as many as possible to play – and has done this with pride as 17 of our members have now played for them.

Alongside the two matches it was another hectic night, with the Mals packed to the rafters again with another batch of new faces. There was a big match in the Club Championship Div 1 where No 1 seed Martin Burns was held to a draw by possible favourite Carmel Barwick. Martin is now in the joint lead with 6.5 pts with Harry Gardiner, but has one more game to play while Harry has completed his schedule. Carmel now has 5/7 with 3 games to play. Julian Hawthorne is on 5.5/8 and will have a big say in the competition as his two remaining games are against Carmel and Lukasz Michalek (5/8). There is a 5-way dogfight to avoid relegation with Davids Hulme, Lambton and Price in the mire with Richard Fish and Neville Layhe.

In division 3 of the Club Championship Mark Randell continued his fine recent form with another win to move into 2nd place on 3.5pts, but with no realistic chance of catching the runaway leader Phil Grocott who has a majestic 7pts from 8 games.

Wed 19th April – On a night when the A&B teams were going hammer and tongs in the fight for the NSDCA League Title, the Mals again was packed with a hive of activity.

There was another hand full of Club Championship games. In division 1, 3 of the contenders were in action while the leaders were involved in the A vs B derby. Julian Hawthorne nudged himself to within a point of the leader (Harry Gardiner 6.5/10) to move onto 5.5/8. Meanwhile there was an exciting draw between Carmel Barwick and Lukasz Michalek as they both went full throttle for a win that neither could produce. Both players now have 4.5 pts with Carmel having played 6 games and Lukasz 7. With 10 games in total, and all players having dropped at least 1.5 pts, predicting the winner is a fool’s paradise.

In division 2, Doug Barnett’s hopes of claiming the trophy were cut short as Pawel Stanny produced a fine win. Andrew Crosby’s score of 7pts is proving a tough target to beat but should be in the sights of George Bulbeck and James Marshall if they can arrange enough of their remaining games.

For division 3, it appears Phil Grocott cannot be caught as he added another point to take his tally to 7/8, with Vicky Kelsall in a creditable 2nd place on 3.5 pts.

What made it such a fantastic night was the number of newcomers visiting the club for a first or second time, as we counted approx 10 potential new members in the pipeline as chairman Dave Price was inundated with new faces, with many being in the under 21 age category. We reckon it was a record attendance at the club with 38 in total. It is hoped we can arrange a new tournament to allow these players to get some serious practice, as we approach the end of the main season around 31st May.

Mon 17th April – The D team went to play Fenton B in division 2, with faint hopes of pursuing the divisional trophy. A successful evening led to a narrow win to keep the dream alive. For another excellent report from the D team captain – Nigel Gardner – please see Nigel’s Reports section of our website

Wed 19th April – saw the David and Goliath Battle at the top of division 1 between our “A team All stars” and the “B team of Brave Bees”. It is hard to believe that our two teams could be heading the charge for the NSDCA League title but this was the case as the “A” team led the table with 13 pts from 10 games, while the Bees had 13 pts from 11 games heading into the match.

The A team would be overwhleming favorites with a 700 pts rating advantage over 4 boards, but this is nothing new to the B team who have been underdogs all season and heavily outrated in nearly every match. The B team also have “devious Dave” as their captain according to Martin Burns (A team captain) and sprung a change of board order to try and upet the odds by playing himself on board 1, in order to give Simon Layhe the best chance of success.

The Bees seemed to be holding their own, particularly when Rick Renegade seemed to have caused discomfort for the A’s on board 3, and George Bulbeck had a pawn advantage on board 4. However the A’s superiority started to come through as Harry Gardiner turned the tables on board 3, with a passed pawn created from a missed “en-passant” that led to a quick and sudden resignation. Not long afterwards the Bees captain made a blunder in the excitement of an attacking opportunity only to leave himself open to a long distance Queen check that led to the loss of a rook – bringing immediate resignation and 2-0 to the As. There was a shock result on board 4, as George Bulbeck completed a win against an opponent rated 350 pts higher on the scorecard, and brought the battling Bees back into contention. The board 2 game had seen Simon Layhe hold a pawn gained at the expense of a far inferior and cramped position against Martin, who ultimately turned the screws by picking up two pawns and with a fierce attack. Now Martin recalled how he allowed the Bees captain to fluke a win earlier in the season, did not want a repeat and so offered a draw which Simon could not decline due to imminent material and clock pressure. The curtain fell on the match with the As victorious, and much closer to the title.

The “A” team now have 15pts and are 5 pts clear of Fenton “A” who are the only team still in contention. The “A” team play Fenton in the last match of the season and need a draw at most to become league champions, while Fenton still have two other tough games to play which they need to win to keep their chances alive.

Following Bart’s win in this match, he has now reached a rating of 2000 and his score of 5.5/9 on board 1 is a big part of the “A” team’s success this season, as he plays all the strongest players in the NSDCA.

Tue 11th Apr – The E team went to Alsager for the proverbial “6-pointer” at the top of the NSDCA Div 3 table, and were greeted by Alsager’s strongest team of the season. As always in a 4-board match, the balance swings to and fro with fine margins often deciding the outcome. On this occasion it favoured the league leaders – Alsager – as they came out winners by the narrowest score possible 2.5-1.5, as predicted by their rating advantage. It was tough going for our top two boards who came home empty handed despite putting up valliant efforts. Our best result came from Adam Fields playing on board 3 playing just his 3rd match of the season, as he inflicted the first defeat of the season on his opponent who came into this match with 7/8 and a provisional rating of 1742, some 300 pts more than Adam. On board 4 Kobus Nienaber earned a draw, which turned out to be not quite enough to save the team as we could not muster anything from the top two. This result leaves Alsager as clear favourites for the div 3 title with 18 pts from 12 games, while the Es have 15 from 11 in 2nd place.

Fri 14th Apr – our F team made the longer trek to Cheddleton, where their club hosted 3 matches so had their resources fully stretched. The night started precariously as our board 1 Andrew Crosby got delayed by public transport on his way to the match, but was rescued by team-mate Pawel in the depths of Stoke to get him to the church on time ! (Chedd’s venue being a church hall). Our F team is there to provide opportunities for as many as possible and has so far employed 16 members in the team, with line ups often matched with the opposition as best as we can. On this occasion we were rated about 180 pts below Cheddleton’s C team, which at an average of 45 pts per board is very small. On board 3, Steve Ballantyne put us in the lead thanks to converting a pawn advantage into a queen. On board 4 Mark Randell had his maiden voyage to success, with his first win for the club much to the delight of himself and all of his team-mates. With the 2-0 advantage, Andrew wisely used his experience to offer a draw, which was accepted with both players running short on the clock. Pawel seemed to have the upper hand in the last game and refused a draw offer in the knowledge the team result was safe, but succumbed to a loss after running out of time. Captain David Hulme wanted to put his thanks on record with Pav coming to the team’s rescue to get Andrew to the match. The final score of 2.5-1.5 in our favour again shows the fine margins that decide matches, and puts the F team on 15pts alongside our E team, having played 12 matches.

Wednesday’s club night had a number of Internal Championship games taking place. In division 1, the top 3 seeds all won, with Harry Gardiner completing his campaign with 6.5pts from the 10 games, Martin Burns staying in 2nd place with 6/8 and Karl Lockett moving 3rd with 5.5/10. Julian Hawthorne 4.5/7, Carmel Barwick 4/5 and Lukasz Michalek 4/6 are all in contention to win the trophy, while the other five players are all in relegation scrap that mirror images the current Premier League dogfight.

In division 2, George Bulbeck and Doug Barnett added wins to their tally to get them closer to leader Andrew Crosby. Andrew leads the way with 7/12, while George has 6/8 and Doug has 6/9. James Marshall has the leaders in his sights with 4.5/7 but did not have a game, while the other winner this week was George Jelliss.

In division 3 runaway leader Phil Grocott who has 6/7 now, was held to a draw by Mark Randell who retains his 50% score with 2.5 pts.

Next week (19th) sees the potential league decider between Crewe A and B, as the club looks to win its first ever NSDCA 1st division title, but with two other teams from Fenton and Holmes Chapel in contention nothing can be certain.

Wed 5th April – Crewe hosted two matches involving title chasers for the NSDCA Division 1 and 2 trophies.

Starting with the Division 1 competition, Crewe B played Cheddleton A with both teams in pursuit of the league title as outsiders behind Crewe A, while Fenton A and Holmes Chapel have games in hand. Only a win for either team would keep title ambitions intact, as our B team were strengthened by the availabilty of Lee Farrington playing on top board but hampered by the last minute withdrawal of Rick Renegade due to illness, meaning George Bulbeck was making his 1st division debut on board 4. For the visitors Cheddleton they were seriously effected by their top two players both under age 21 being unable to play due to exam commitments, therefore giving Crewe B the unusual position of being higher rated than their opponents by approx 200 pts, unlike the first clash between these teams where Cheddleton were 600 pts higher than us.

There was an early grandmaster draw on board 1, where Lee held the higher rated Simon Edwards to a quick draw as both players were content to conclude matters. This gave our Bees the start they wanted as the remaining boards would have expected to give us the edge. On board 4 George Bulbeck won an early pawn in a strong position and went on to sacrifice an exchange to open up his opponents defences further. Despite being low on time George played accurately to notch up an important win for us. On board 3 David Hulme had survived an early positional mess, to gain a pawn and create a massive central pawn mass. After an exchange of major pieces he was able to leave an endgame with opposite colour bishops but pawn advanatges on both sides of the board that would ultimately divert the bishop away from one of the queening options, as his opponent ran out of time. On the remaining board Simon Layhe had faced a tough game before emerging successfully as the victor, to conclude a big win for the Bees by 3.5-0.5.

The Bees now have 13 pts (from 11 games) and are joint top of the league with our “A” team who have a game in hand, although we now have the mouth watering possibility of either team winning the league, as these two go head to head in their next match. Cheddleton now cannot catch the leaders, so it is a four-horse race to the line, with Fenton and Holmes Chapel both on 10 pts from 9 games who have to play each other yet, as well as Fenton having to play Crewe “A”.

In the division 2 match, our C team were too strong for Fenton B who fielded a very young team, including one junior making his league debut on board 4, where Richard Fish got the score board rolling with our first win. Neville Layhe on board 3 got the better of another rapidly improving junior to give us a 2-0 lead before Chris Hankey won the battle of the captains on board 1 for the visitors. It was left to the “in-form” Carmel Barwick to bring home the bacon, but she was pushed to the limit by the 3rd of Fenton’s young trio, as the game hit the 3-hour mark before defences were breached, and victory was sucured by the score of 3-1.

This win moved our C team joint top of Division 2 on 11 pts, but like our B team have played one more game than their immediate challenger (Newcastle), and have the prospect of playing each other in the C team’s final match. However the title favourites must be Stafford who have 8 pts from 7 matches, who have two matches to play against Cheddleton B, and one against our D team who are mathematically still in contention with 8 pts, and would need to win both reamining matches and to see the two leaders draw with each other, and then Newcastle lose their other match also against Cheddleton B.

There were just 3 Club championship games played on Wednesday with Julian Bulbeck picking up a win to take him clear (with 4/8) of the relegation squabble in division 2, while Steve Ballantyne concluded his campaign with a draw against James Marshall. James is now in 4th position on 4.5/7, with George Bulbeck (5/7), Doug Barnett (5/8) and Andrew Crosby (7/12) all in sight at the summit. Steve’s tally of 3.5 pts should seem him avoid any relegation issue.

In div 3 of the Club championship Vicky Kelsall moved into 2nd position on 3.5 pts, but trails the runaway leader Phil Grocott by 2 pts having played two more games.

Mon 3rd April – Our Perry Cup (U1375) team went to play Meir in the final of the KO competition in pursuit of the trophy donated by Bob Perry to the NSDCA some years ago, who was in the Meir team trying to ensure the trophy stayed on home soil. Our team was dealt the unwelcome hand of a cry-off during the day, but thanks to Matthew Dean for stepping in at the last minute we were able to field a full team without defaulting a board !

The first game to finish was on board 1 in the unusual situation of a “3-fold-repitition” leading to an early draw. Our player Steve Ballantyne was unsure of this rule, so asked for rule guidance from our captain Dave Price who assured both players this was a draw, with Steve having an advantage his opponent was forced to repeat moves that pushed Steve into a forced reply. So even-stevens for now.

On board 2, Mike Keenan produced the key victory, to underline his consistent improvement over the last 15 months which has seen his rating move from 1208 to 1336, with victory against one of Meir’s very experienced quartet. The match was decided shortly after when Phil Grocott was offered a draw on board 3, to put us 2-1 in the lead. We knew that even if we lost on board 4, the trophy would be taken from Meir by virtue of board count, where the win on board 2 gets more value than a win on board 4. Matthew Dean played a long game with Bob Perry and even when short of time sportingly reminded Bob on more than one occasion to press his clock, as Bob used all his vast experience to level the scores at 2-2.

It was an exciting journey home for our players, buoyed by the success of winning the Perry trophy from the hands of its proud donor.

Monday 27 March – The F team played away at Fenton in the 3rd division, with both teams within 64 total rating points of each other – so an absolute negligible difference. Pawel Stanny with black on board 2, got us off to a good start, as a sharp queen-side attack opened up the castled position and forced a mating attack giving us a 1-0 lead. On board 4, George Jelliss was a piece up but running very short of time. With several ways of skinning the cat available, George decided to go the long way round the houses before an overwhelming attack with two rooks chased the King into submission and 2-0 to us. Steve Ballantyne seemed to be in the ascendancy with an early exchange gain. Slowly but surely his opponent wriggled and turned the tables picking up a minor piece, and had two strong bishops in an open position with a rook, against Steve’s two rooks. Unfortunately Steve’s rooks got cramped for space as one exchange fell, before the last rook was pinned against his King by the other bishop. Faced with all this, resignation was the only choice as Steve kicked himself around the bar, with the match now 2-1. On board 1, Andrew Crosby was enjoying an attacking game but allowed his opponent to set up a strong two pawn centre. Andrew went on a queen rampage picking up a couple of pawns, while his opponent calmly advanced the central pawns to create an unstoppable monster, as the King walked down the board to join the pawns and queen. Andrew could not stop the advancing monsters as a 2nd queen arrived and forced the win. A final score of 2-2, was a fair reflection in a match of high quality.

Wed 29 Mar – our E team hosted Cheddleton C in the 3rd division with ambitions of closing the gap on top of the table Alsager B. Doug Barnett had a comfortable win on board 3, before Phil Grocott agreed a draw on board 4. As usual James Marshall was down to below 5 minutes on the clock and was grateful to agree a draw on board 2, which guaranteed the team could not lose. Dave Price on board 1, was a pawn up when offered the draw, but decided to play on looking for a full point. His decision was ultimately vindicated, as he slowly pushed his connected pass pawns to success and give a final score of 3-1. This result takes the Es to 15 pts from 10 matches, just one point behind the league leaders with a game in hand. Next up is the potential decider when the E team travel to Alsager on 11th April.

Fri 31 Mar – Nigel Gardner’s much changed D team went to play Cheddleton B in division 2, with the Ds looking to close the gap from 3rd place to the leaders. A look at the team sheets showed the match would be nip and tuck, with team ratings within 70 pts of each other and both teams deploying regular Division 1 players on their top boards. The results did not go in our favour as Chedd chalked up their first win of the season by the narrow score of 2.5-1.5. Losses on the top two boards were too much despite the best efforts of captain Nigel who drew on board 3, and George Bulbeck winning on board 4 to take his unbeaten run to 11 league and cup games. With just two matches remaining for the D team it is unlikely they can now catch the leaders Newcastle who are 3 pts ahead.

Club Championships were eagerly contested on Wednesday (29th) with 9 games taking place plus a further rated game with two members in separate divisions.

In division 1, Carmel Barwick extended her 100% record to make it 4/4 as she demolished the Tournament Officer (David Hulme) to leave him in a relegation battle on 2/6. David Lambton’s win against trophy chasing Julian Hawthorne (4.5/6), put him also on 2/6. Lukasz Michalek’s win took him to 4/6, to leave Karl Lockett on 4.5/9. Richard Fish’s hard earned draw against leader Harry Gardiner (5.5/9) means he is the 3rd player on 2/6. The chase for the trophy looks wide open with Martin Burns slight favourite now on 5/7, with his game against Carmel probably being pivotal. With just 9 weeks to go to the 31st May deadline, the key will be whether all games can be completed alongside league and cup fixtures.

In division 2, Andrew Crosby won the top of the table clash with George Bulbeck to conclude his campaign with 7pts from 12 games, while Goerge is on 5pts with 5 games still to play if he can fit them in. There were wins for Kobus Nienaber (4/7), Oskar Jarzynski (3.5/7) and Julian Bulbeck (3/7) to ease relegation fears.

In division 3 Vicky Kelsall added a half point to her tally to move into joint second place on 2.5/7, while Mark Randell moved to 2/4. Leader Phil Grocott has quite a cushion with 5.5/6.

Wed 15th March: Another busy night at The Mals Club witnessed two matches, Club Championship Drama, and even more potential new members.

Starting with the NSDCA Cup competition, our U1825 team hosted local team Alsager over 5 boards, and were firm favourites when the team sheets revealed an advantage of over rating 600 pts which sounds much grander than it really is. First past the winning post was Neville Layhe on board 5 as he carved open his opponent’s defences using his vast experience against a relative newcomer.

The match swung decisively in our favour when David Lambton found the way to win a tricky endgame, by picking up an isolated “a” pawn with an active King and having enough time to stop a passed “E” pawn. David’s own “A” pawn set up a diversion for white’s King. This allowed David to break the support for the E pawn to stay one pawn ahead and ultimately chaperone home one of the remaining pawns. At 2-0, skipper David Hulme became aware that a draw on board 2 would be more than enough to secure the match on board count, so was happy to agree a draw by 3-fold repitition after being on the back foot for much of the game. Next to finish was Crewe’s form player Carmel Barwick who was held to a draw by opposing captain Andrew Barker on board 3, with this ending Carmel’s 100% winning streak after 9 wins in a row in league and club tournament games. The last game to finish saw Martin Frisher playing just his 4th game of the season. Earlier viewing witnessed Martin with an exchange advantage, but by the time other games had finished the table had been turned so that he was the exchange down in an endgame with a Bishop and 3 pawns against a Rook and two. Martin then snared another pawn with his active King and was pushing for victory until Lukas Hancock recovered one pawn with his own King and then had to sacrifice his Rook to stop the sole pawn on the 7th from queening. All in all, a very satisfying result to progress to the Major Cup Final as the club made sure we have a team in all four NSDCA Cup Finals.

Alongside the cup match, our F team had a division 3 encounter with Kidsgrove with teams within one point of each other in 3rd and 4th position respectively. The visitors delivered an early blow with Mo Farah winning on board 3 after accepting an early pawn gambit, and then adding another and playing solidly to convert to a comfortable win. Tom Smith on board 2 levelled matters for us, and George Jelliss agreed a draw on board 4 to leave the match in the balance. On board 1 for us, George Bulbeck seems to thrive when his clock is near to the virtual flag and enjoying the sense of drama found his way to overcome what appeared to be a difficult defensive position and edge his way to victory for both himself and the team, securing a narrow 2.5-1.5 win. George boasts a 5/5 record for the F team and is now unbeaten in 15 games since his last reverse on 5th October. This result takes the F team to the dizzy heights of 2nd in the table – far ahead of our wildest dreams for a team that’s main function is to provide opportunities and so far has used 16 different members !

Turning now to the Club Championship, there was a shock in Div 1 as Julian Hawthorne beat the defending club champion and number 2 seed, to take his score to a perfect 4/4 in pursuit of the trophy. Jules is now just one point behind the joint leaders with 3 or 4 games in hand, and has the destiny of the event in his own hands. Meanwhile Karl Lockett consolidated his 3rd position with a win to move onto 4.5/8.

In division 2 of the Club Championship, Andrew Crosby put a dent in Doug Barnett’s title aspirations with a win that takes Andrew into the joint lead on 5pts. However Andrew has now played 10 games, compared to Doug’s 8, while favourite George Bulbeck has played 6 of the maximum 12 possible.

On top of all this drama, there was plenty of social and friendly chess taking place as another couple of newbies arrived and seemed to enjoy the club atmosphere, as a hand full of members moved down to the bar to discuss games so not to disturb the matches in progress.

Next week sees a full schedule with five (A to E) of our league teams all playing and in possible contention for league trophies, although all must be underdogs with other teams in the driving seat in all three divisions. As Alex Ferguson was fond of saying, it’s getting close to “squeaky bum time” !

Wed 8th March: The NSDCA’s top two teams (from Crewe) hosted the division one’s bottom two teams, as leaders Crewe A played Alsager and Crewe B faced Macclesfield. The playing room was packed yet again with over 40 players involved in a mix of league matches, club championship and friendly games, not to mention several parents and a visiting (non-playing) captain.

Crewe “A” went into the match as slight favourites, but Alsager were not fazed by the challenge ahead. With Jonathan Blackburn rated nearly 2300 and having the white pieces, it was expected he would ensure Alsager a full point on top board and he did not disappoint. This effectively meant our “A” team needed to collect 2.5pts from the remaining 3 boards to extend their lead at the top of the league table. Our A team’s record is built on strength in depth as there is little difference between all four players in terms of ratings. As usual our big-hitters Harry Gardiner and Karl Lockett provided the wins, but we did not get anything from the board 2 game as John Booth won for the visitors to leave the match drawn at 2-2.

Meanwhile Crewe B have been performing above expectations as the lowest rated team in division one by some way. Starting the match in second place just one point behind our brothers, the Bees were dealt a cruel blow as top board Simon Layhe succummed to a cold/flu leading to a last minute change of line up. On board 4 Jarek Czyz was playing only his 2nd match of the season and after gaining an early pawn held onto the advantage ultimately queening a pawn and putting us in the lead. Visitors Macclesfield have recovered after a shaky start and are currently the form team in the division, and took the lead following wins on board 3 by Phil Cattermole, and on board 1 for John Ewens who got the better of a Ruy-Lopez to strangle the life out of David Hulme’s position. On board 2, Rick Renegade produced the necessary magic to pressurise his opponent into a mistake late on, with a match-saving knight fork of King & Queen as the score levelled out to 2-2 with all games being won by the white pieces.

These results still leave Crewe “A” at the top of the table with 11 pts from 9 matches, and Crewe “B” in second place with 10 pts. However the chasing pack will all believe they can win the title now, as Cheddleton “A” have 9 pts from 8 matches, Fenton “A” have 8 from 7 and Holmes Chapel have 8 from 8. With all contenders likely to drop points from here, any one of these five teams could easily win the league trophy.

In club news, we continue to grow as our membership increased to 52, with many of our recent additions being much younger than the average player. Alongside the two league matches, there was one game played in the Division 1 Club Championship, with Carmel Barwick continuing her excellent run with her 13th win from 14 games since October, and maintaining her 100% record in the Club championship as she joined Julian Hawthorne on 3/3 in pursuit of joint leaders Harry Gardiner and Martin Burns (each on 5/7).

In division 2 of the Club championship, there were wins for Tom Smith and Doug Barnett, with draws between Andrew Crosby and Jakub Grabowski as well as James Marshall and George Jelliss. Doug’s win takes him into the joint lead with 5/7, while George Bulbeck has 5/6. James is the nearest contender with 4/6 while Andrew has the same score having played 3 more games than James.

The matches scheduled for D & E teams at Cheddleton tomorrow (Friday 10th) have been postponed due to the weather.

Next week we have two more matches at home, with our U1825 cup team in action against Alsager and our F team playing Kidsgrove.