Author: David Hulme

Wed 8th Feb: The club had its best ever attendance of its own members on a night when the 1st division’s top three teams were all in action at The Mals Club. League leaders Crewe “A” were playing 5th placed Holmes Chapel while 2nd placed Crewe “B” hosted 3rd placed Fenton “A” who boast the highest rated team in the NSDCA. These matches kicked off the 2nd half of the season, with only 4 pts separating the top 5 teams with the 4th and 5th placed teams having a game in hand, in what is shaping up to be the most competitive league title race the NSDCA has seen in a decade.

In the Crewe “A” match Harry Gardiner was first on the score board with his rating advantage proving too much on board 3, and Karl Lockett’s likewise advantage making it 2-0 for the hosts. These two are leading performers for the top of the table team, as Holmes Chapel fought back with wins by John Turner on board 2 and Mike Hancock on board 1, to finish the match 2-2. This meant the winners of the Crewe B vs Fenton A match could close the gap or go joint top.

The writer had a bird’s eye view of the Crewe B match from board 2 and was delighted to see first blood go in favour of the underdogs, as Lee Farrington was the beneficiary of the last blunder to fluke a mate in two when a piece down, but it must be said he was in the ascendancy before he made the first blunder on board 3. Next to finish was board 4 as Fenton’s man in form Chris Hankey managed to get his nose infront when both players queens were en-prise, as he emerged a peace ahead thanks to gaining a tempo in the wild exchanges to make it 1-1. The Bees captain (David Hulme) outrated by nearly 250 pts was putting up a challenge thinking he was about to trap Gerald Acey’s queen, but Gerald had calculated better with a crushing attack that forced resignation and put the visitors in sight of success. However the Bees have a battle-siege-mentality and Simon Layhe’s vast improvement over the past 18 months was underlined again as he found a way to deliver a killer blow against his higher rated opponent and salvage another match draw for the B team.

These results keep the “A” team one point ahead of Crewe B at the top of the league table, with Fenton “A” another point behind. These draws will suit the chasing Cheddleton “A” team who are 4 pts behind the leaders with a game in hand in 4th= place on the same points as Holmes Chapel.

With the club attendance of 36 members beating its previous record of 33, there was a large contingent of Club Championship games as well as a stack of friendly and social chess for others.

In Club Championship division 1, the only game saw Lukasz Michalek win after he had offered a draw in what he thought was a worse position, to take his tally to 3pts from 5 games, and climb the table to 3rd position.

There were 8 players involved in Division 2 games, where George Bulbeck’s win propelled him into the lead with a score of 4/5 where he remains unbeaten and half a point ahead of James Marshall who is also unbeaten on 3.5/4 with these top two yet to play. There were wins for Doug Barnett (3/5) and Pawel Stanny (2/3), while Andrew Crosby drew with Kobus Nienaber who moved to joint 3rd with 3/5 alongside Doug.

In division 3, Ben Cliffe-Kirby opened his account with a win while Matthew Dean was pleased to hold Mark Randell to a draw. The Division 3 leader Phil Grocott has a handsome lead with 4.5/5, a clear 2 pts ahead of nearest rival Matthew.

Club chairman Dave Price was on hand to lead the social and friendly aspect of the night with a number of potential new members enjoying their games in the friendly club atmosphere.

Wed 1st Feb: It was another packed playing room at The Mals Club this week as the Fabulous F team hosted the Excellent E team in a repeat 10 board thriller. Teams were arranged with the E team having the upper hand on higher boards and the F team holding the advantage in rating on a couple of the lower boards.

Like the early season encounter the match was much closer than might have been expected. The first board decided was between two members making their league debuts, as the club increased the number to 44 of players representing the club in the league this season, and it was all smiles from Ben Cliffe-Kirby as he put the F team on the scoreboard first. In the chaos of last minute changes the wrong colours were used, meaning the F team had 6 blacks and only 4 whites. It did not take long for Matthew Dean to level the scores as his opponent was suffering from Self-Assessment deadline fatigue – just like the writer. After this the E team began to exercise its authority on the match as Kobus Nienaber, James Marshall and skipper Dave Price all produced the goods to show their rating superiority and take the Es into a comfortable looking 4-1 lead. However the F team are made of fighting stock and began a counter offensive as Steve Ballantyne and Pawel Stanny reduced the arrears to 4-3. With George Bulbeck in the ascendancy for the F team on board 1, a key result was obtained on board 8 as Peter Kanalos the underdog in the E team camp held out for a draw against the more experienced George Jellis and with George B converting his game, it was all level at 4.5pts each with Doug Barnett playing Julian Bulbeck on board 3. Doug had gained a couple of pawns but had the potential for slip ups as the game went on late past 10 o’clock but ultimately held his nerve to steer the E team home to success by the narrowest of margins to give the final score of 5.5 to 4.5.

The league division 3 table shows Alsager B still out in front on 11pts from 7 matches, with our F & E teams in joint 2nd along with Cheddleton’s C & D teams all sitting on 8pts, but the E team have a crucial game in hand on the leaders.

With 20 players involved in the match there will still another dozen members playing a mixture of friendly and rated games. In Club Championship Division 1 Julian Hawthorne outplayed the higher rated David Hulme as the game went the full distance before Julian eventually put David out of his misery, with a controlled master-class of good Knight vs Bad bishop endgame to maintain a 100% record in the early stages of his campaign.

Bart Fajfer and Karl Lockett played out a complicated draw, where Karl had a couple of pawns advantage against a more active attacking set of minor pieces before Bart regained the material to leave things level.

All in all, another superb club night with the highlight being the league debuts of Ben Cliffe-Kirby and David Vasinc as 32 members attended and the E team just pipped the F team

The new ratings were out earlier today and the highlights from our growing list of rated players are:

Congratulations to Harry Gardiner on hitting the 1900 mark for the first time.

Our most improved player since the start of the season is new member Carmel Barwick, up 84pts to 1714 just pipping Simon Layhe’s 82 point rise to 1882.

Junior Oskar Jarzynski is amongst the top 40 in the UK at Under Age 11, sitting 32nd in this list, and is the 3rd biggest improver in the club with a 58 point rise to 1474.

Thanks to Nigel Gardner, the D team captain for our headline this week. And what a fantastic night it was on Wednesday 25th January at The Mals Club as we hosted 3 separate league matches which brought teams from Fenton, Newcastle and Stafford to sit alongside a bustling night of internal competition games. By the writer’s calculations there were nearly 50 players and spectators involved.

It is hard to know where to start, as all 3 matches were big events in themselves. I suppose top billing would go to the Division 1 encounter between teams placed 2nd and 3rd at the start of the night with any result seeing new leaders overtake Crewe B. This match between Crewe A and Fenton A saw the visitors bring the 2nd highest rated team of the season with their previous match’s team possessing the highest. Fenton would have been slight favorites with 3 of their team outrating Crewe’s by at least 100 pts, with the advantage reversed on board 4. First blood went to Crewe “A” with a quick win by Harry Gardiner as his opponent made an early mistake. The other 3 boards would go the distance. Board 2 was next to finish as the host’s captain Martin Burns held equality to force a draw as the clocks moved on to 10.15. Shortly afterwards Karl Lockett was happy to take a rare draw with both players having two rooks on the attack in an endgame where perpeptual check was the best outcome for both players. This left the board 1 game to decide the result and it did not disappoint in the “drama stakes”. Bart Fajfer had a Bishop and Knight with Queen,2 Rooks and 6 pawns with an exchange advantage, but facing a hazardous set of Knight traps and various potential pins against his King as the King manoevred to an eventual safe hiding. All this took place with both players deep into increment time, and both having less than 10 seconds remaining on several occasions. Ultimately Bart’s position unfolded to find a killer move as the Queen threatened a back rank attack with a Bishop cutting off any escape for the opposing King as the “flag fell” which was suprisingly called by the opposition captain as a spectator. Final score 3-1 to Crewe A, who move to the top of the league with 9 pts from 6 matches, 1 point ahead of Crewe B and a further point ahead of Fenton, and 3 pts ahead of Cheddleton “A” who have a game in hand !

Then there were two heavyweight matches in Division 2 as our C team entertained a much strengthened Stafford team, and our own bolstered D team hosted Newcastle. The C team match saw Neville Layhe pick up an early draw on board 4, as all of the C team players were outrated by around 100 pts with Carmel Barwick outrated by 200 pts. Board 1 was heading to a further draw between both captains, while hiccups occurred in both other games with illegal moves leading to 2 minute penatlies against Crewe’s board 3 and Stafford’s board 2. The pressure on board 3 was too much for Crewe as Andrew Mowat won for the visitors. This left Carmel in play who continued her excellent run of form to force a win with a pass-pawn that could only be stopped by the loss of a piece in the endgame, allowing the extra piece to secure the victory and save the match. Captain Dave Lambton was pleased with the outcome against the highest rated team fielded in division 2 this season, with Staffords overall rating of 7241 being higher than the 1st division leaders Crewe B !!

Captain of the D team Nigel Gardner arranged a stronger than normal D team to accommodate players having commitments at Cheddleton on Friday in the Cup. Nigel’s comments on the match card were as follows: “On a night when chess was alive and kicking in Crewe; this was a titanic struggle. After 90 minutes there was just 1 pawn of material difference across the entire match. Some excellent games played with a draw being a fair result.
A particular mention for a very imaginative and nerve-jangling win by Lee on board 1; preferring to play to a conclusion rather than allow Alan’s clock to run down when he had forgotten to push it in his last 2 minutes!” There was some superb play in this match, with Lukasz Michalek making a quick break to win on board 4. With losses on board 2 and 3, Lee Farrington played an excellent game to defeat the highest rated player in division 2, and save the match for Crewe D.

The division 2 table shows Newcastle in command with 8 pts from 5 matches, with nearest contenders Crewe C on 7pts from 6, and Crewe D on 5 pts from 5.

In Club Championship games, Andrew Crosby and Steve Ballantyne both added a point to their tally in the 2nd section, while Phil Grocott continued his march with another win in the 3rd division to open up a big gap with 4.5 pts from 5 games, leading by 2.5 pts.

There were four members playing rated Rapid play games, with George and Julian Bulbeck the victors in those.

Friday 27th: Our U1600 cup team travelled to Cheddleton, with more news click on Nigel’s Match Report.

Monday 16th January – Meir were happy to play over 5 board against Crewe E. But our team prove too strong with Phil finishing first agreeing a draw on board 4. Another draw was soon agreed by Matthew on board 5 and good wins followed from Doug and the James. With the match already secured everyone was watching Dave Price on board 1 who had a superb win against Meir’s highest rated player (1822).

Wed 18th January – F team clinched a close match with Cheddleton D. Tom Smith made his league debut, becoming the club’s 42nd member to represent the club the NSDCA season and gaining an important draw on board 1. Youngster Oskar Jarzynski put the Fs in a strong position with a sound display to win on board 2, after George Jellis’s experience got the better of one of the Chedd juniors. With the match secured, Chedd’s other junior Charlie Swinson played an excellent endgame to win on board 4. It was great to see 3 of the 8 players in the match were under age 15, which bodes well for the future.

This week has been the quietest week at the club for several months. It is a rare Wednesday that there is no league match at The Mals, but 11th January was one such occasion. There was however one of our teams still in action as our C team headed off to play Newcastle B at the Bridge Club, in a top of the table division 2 clash. After an early win for Neville Layhe on board 4 it was all downhill for the Cees. In an evenly contested match Newcastle recovered from a 1-0 deficit to take the lead 2-1, with all eyes on the final board 1 game between the C team skipper Dave Lambton and Newcastle’s leading player Alan Paling. Dave knowing we needed a win to save the match was trying desperately to crack open the solid defence, but could not find a path to victory. With both players down to below one minute on the clock and fearing the worst, peace was agreed with a draw to leave Newcastle victorious as the move to the summit of div 2.

With a quiet night at the club there was just one internal match played, where James Marshall won the internal division 2 game to take himself into the lead of this section with 3.5 pts from 4 games. He leads by just half a point from George Bulbeck, with these two yet to play each other in the 13-player all-play-all competition.

Next week sees our E & F teams in division 3 league action.

Today has seen the new ratings published that will be used in the North Staffs League and Cup competitions for the remainder of the season. These replace the September 2022 ratings previously used. Some previous estimates have been updated with actual ratings, and some estimates will remain until further notice.

There are a couple of notable increases with Simon Layhe rising 82 points and 10 year old Oskar Jarzynski rising 77 points.

The new ratings should have little impact as there are no team limits in the league, although it may affect board order with the 100 point difference rule in one or two cases.

The other slight impact is that some members may no longer be eligible in Cup teams where rating limits apply at Under 1375 for the Perry Trophy, U1600 for the Intermediate Cup and U1825 for the Major Cup.

Last night saw the 2nd of 4 nights of our Swiss Rapidplay, at another packed club night. Events officer David Hulme announced it was a record turnout for the Swiss Rapidplay, as 30 of the 40 entrants braced the arctic weather to attend the 3rd and 4th rounds, surpassing our previous highest of 25 members for this competition on a single evening.

As usual it was pretty chaotic at the start of the night, as 3 members arrived to play unexpectedly, causing a revision to the swiss pairings, but everyone was keen and patient as play got underway a few minutes later than planned. Leading into Round 3 we had just 5 players on 100%, and 2 of these were absent due to work and afforded half point byes for Rounds 3 & 4. On board 1 Martin Burns emerged from the single battle of the 100% ers with a win against the talented Rick Renegade, and newcomer Richard Fish (the only other 100%) was held to a draw by the experienced Neville Layhe on board 2, leaving Martin with the only 3 out of 3 record. Youngster George Bulbeck beat Andrew Crosby on board 3, to move into second place on 2.5 pts. Boards 4 to 12 all contained the 50% ers, where most results went in favour of the higher seeds, with a couple of draws and no upsets. The remaining boards 13 to 15 all went the way of the higher seeds.

Round 4 saw the top board competed by No.2 seed Martin and George Bulbeck (seeded 24), with Martin gaining superiority early on before converting for the full point. On the next board Richard Fish (2.5 pts) was paired with Rick the highest seed on 2pts, and found Rick’s aggressive opening too hot to handle as he lost his unbeaten record in the Rapidplay. With 8 more players on 2 out of 3, there were wins for Doug Barnett, Karl Lockett and Carmel Barwick to move onto 3 points alongside Rick, Bart Fajfer and defending champion Jarek Czyz. With all players registering on the scoreboard, it was great to see the youngest player on the night – Malakai Swift earning his first points with a draw.

Rounds 5 & 6 are now scheduled for Wednesday 1st March, which is our first Wednesday in 2023 without a league match taking place at The Mals. The final night will depend on when we can find another free Wednesday which looks like being in May.

Next week (Wed 21st Dec) is our social night, where club chairman Dave Price will be leading the fun and games against the Mals Bar Team in a mix of pub games with a buffet provided for all.

Full details of the Swiss Rapidplay (and all our Internal competitions) can be found from the link on the website home page headed “Internal Comps”

Having moved the division 1 derby forward from 14th December to 23rd November, we have brought an early conclusion to the 2022 part of the league season and in the process dodged the potential hassle of a 14th December clash with England’s world cup hopes (Swiss Rapidplay may be affected).

This week has seen 3 fixtures with our C team playing at Fenton B on Monday, while our E team hosted Alsager B, and the F team hosted Cheddleton C on Wednesday.

The C team fixture featured the stars from our B team’s great result on Friday with Neville Layhe added to the trio of David Lambton, Julian Hawthorne and Carmel (headline act at Bolton) Barwick. Julian provided some entertaining comments about the trials and tribulations of playing league chess in an open plan pub. Unfortunately Julian misjudged a piece sacrifice and swiftly fell to defeat on board 2. Neville performed a minor Houdini stunt on board 3 to turn a losing position into a full point as his opponent inexplicably allowed Nev to check and win a rook for free when down two pawns in a R+3P vs R+1P endgame. Carmel’s fine run continued with a defeat of one of the league’s rising juniors, gaining a piece as she piled on the pressure to put us 2-1 in the lead. Finally skipper David endured a loss as his time advantage elapsed while the opposing B,N&K positions eclipsed our B&N set up. The final score of 2-2 sees the C team lead the table as we head to the xmas break, with 6 pts from 4 games. The next fixture against Newcastle (on 5pts from 3 games) looks like a key title pointer.

Wednesday at The Mals saw another bumper night, alongside the 9 boards from the 2 league matches, we had a further 6 internal competition games, with several members also playing friendly games while watching all the action unfold.

The E team had the tough task of facing div 3 league leaders Alsager B. With teams reasonably matched, Alsager had a small rating advantage playing over 5 boards. For this match Crewe unveiled another new player as Richard Fish made his OTB debut and became our 40th member to play in the league this season, with the added pressure of playing on board 1. Despite a solid opening Richard found it tough to make any break through and when over stretching left his defences weak and succumbed to defeat. At the other end of match, Matthew Dean matched his opponent step for step to pick up a valuable draw on board 5, which was then supplemented by another solid draw from Phil Grocott on board 4 against a very experienced player. Kobus Nienaber held onto a difficult position when being an exchange down in an endgame, with his bishop and pawn keeping a Rook and Pawn at bay, to give us a 3rd draw. Unfortunately Doug’s promising position evaporated as the night went on and the temperatures dropped as he conceded defeat late into the evening, leaving Alsager as worthy winners and league leaders at xmas.

The F team faced Chedd’s C team, with 3 of the boards very evenly matched, and Chedd having a distinct rating plus on board 2. First to finish was our 10 year old Oskar Jarzynski blitzing out a game, and snatching a lucky win from the jaws of defeat as he managed a back rank mate when down by a Q&N. A superb game on bd 2 saw the visitors Dave Hallen engineer an exchange gain, while Steve Ballantyne thought he could turn the tables with attacks on two pieces only to find his opponent could escape with a retreat that forced a Q-saving move from Steve, and then the 2nd piece to retreat to safety. Further infiltration gained a couple of pawns forcing our resignation. On board 4, Pawel Stanny had won a piece for a pawn in the opening. Maintaining this advantage throughout, Pawel eventually created all the space needed to allow his King to dominate the endgame. As a pawn got promoted this was enough for success. The remaining game saw George Bulbeck co-ordinate a beautiful R,B & N attack against an open King and two rooks, to force a mating net that could only be avoided by the loss of a piece to give George an excellent win when short of time. The final result being an unexpected 3-1 win to leapfrog the F team from 6th to 3rd in the table, with a solid 5 pts from 5 matches.

It was all hands on deck in the club championship. In division 1 there were two hard fought draws with Lukasz Michalek denting Harry Gardiner’s title chase, and Martin Burns having a long winded endgame with Karl Lockett. Division 2 saw wins for James Marshall and George Jelliss. In division 3, Mark Randell got his campaign underway with a well earned full point.

Next week (14th Dec) is scheduled for Rounds 3 & 4 of the Swiss Rapidplay, but this will be psotponed if England make it to the World Cup semi-finals.

Carmel Barwick has just won first prize at today’s Bolton Rapidplay in the Knights section for players rated U1650. Starting as second seed, Carmel more than lived up to the standards of her seeding and scored a perfect 6/6, in the process beating seed No 5 in Round 4, then the top seed in Round 5 before beating the only other player on 5/5 in the 6th and final round to win the competition.

Nigel Gardner scored an impressive 4/6 to finish joint 6th in the same section, well above his starting rank of 25 out of 58 competitors.

Doug Barnett (U1650) and Martin Burns (U1950) also played in the congress with full results shown on the Chess-Results.com server.

Congratulations to Carmel !