Author: David Hulme

After last night’s remaining semi-finals we now have the line ups for all three finals. These must be played on 17th or 24th September. For all games colours will be decided on the night by agreement.

OPEN – Gee Cross vs Bart Fajfer

MAJOR – Finn Charbonneau vs Oskar Jarzynski

INTER – Julian Bulbeck vs Nathan Fourie

In other news, the League Fixtures have been published today with our opening matches provisonally on Tuesday 24th September. The league’s full fixture lists can be seen from the “Fixtures & Tables” tab on the website homepage.

September ratings have been published by the ECF which are used for all league matches until 31st December. Our “Members List” shows the ratings used as well as a link to the ECF rating database.

Also just a reminder to all members that Tuesday 10th September is our Annual Time & Point Handicap Event played for the “Les Hall Memorial Trophy”. The 1st round (of 5) will commence at 7.30pm so please be there by 7.20 if possible.

Tuesday (27th) was the quietest night of 2024 for the club with many on holiday or taking a break and we still had 30 in attendance.

There were several knockout games played. In the Open, Bart Fajfer defeated Martin Burns in the last quarter final and Gintare (Gee) Cross beat David Lambton in the first semi-final. Bart jumps into the final as his next scheduled opponent has left the club due to a career move. This final is due to be played on 24th September.

In the Major knockout, Oskar Jarzynski continued his recent run of form with a win against Ebube Christian in one of the quarters. Meanwhile Neville Layhe and Richard Fish battled to a draw and were too exhausted to play the Armageddon tie breaker, which has been deferred to this week (3rd September). So we have two semi-finalists in the picture (Oskar and Chinenye) and two more to be decided.

In the Inter knockout, it was a positive night for the two youngsters involved in the quarters as Jamie Roberts beat Steve Ballantyne, and Nathan Fourie beat Mike Keenan to complete the semi final line up with Gerald Parton and Julian Bulbeck.

In other news the new season Club Championships got underway with one game played in Division 1. This Tuesday should see a number of games played as we now have four divisions set up. Karl Lockett should be contacting all players to let them know who is in each section and what the colour pairings will be, within the next few days.

Just a reminder that we have our annual Time & Point Handicap for the Les Hall Memorial Trophy on Tuesday 10th September. Please confirm with David Hulme if you can play in this event (or not) which is usually an enjoyable and chaotic evening of Rapid/Blitz chess where any member can be paired up with anyone !

Fixtures for the new league season in the NSDCA should be published in the next few days, where we have 11 teams and matches are likely to start in early October.

Last night (Tuesday 20th) saw our SCS “A” team win the South Cheshire Shield. Last week they were held to a draw by Stafford who are the only team to take any points off Steve Ballantyne’s squad, and went into last night’s game against Newcastle in the knowledge that a draw would secure the trophy.

Any early nerves were settled when top board Julian Hawthorne notched up the first win before skipper Steve added a second win to guarantee the Shield would be coming back to Crewe for the first time since 2017. Safe in the knowledge of the team’s success Pawel offered a draw which was swiftly accepted and Jamie Roberts concluded the A’s campaign with a further win to give a final score of 3.5-0.5. There is just one match left in the Summer Shield and the “A” team have finished the season with a record of PLd 7, won 6, drawn 1 to be worthy champions.

CONGRATULATIONS TO STEVE AND ALL THE TEAM MEMBERS.

In other news, there were a couple of Club Summer Knockout games also played. In the Major KO Chinenye was held to a draw in his quarter final last week with James Coney and their Armageddon tie break being played last night. Chinenye managed to scrape through with the extra minute and be the first player to secure a semi-final spot in the Major.

The Intermediate KO saw two quarter-finals take place last night. Gerald Parton emerged victorious from his clash with Matthew Dean, while Julian Bulbeck and Kobus Nienaber battled to a draw before Julian clinched the Armageddon to take his place in the semi-finals.

Next week is the deadline for all remaining quarter-finals, with one game outstanding in the Open, three in the Major and two in the Inter.

Looking ahead, the 2024/25 club championships should start on 3rd September with a new 4th division being added. The annual Time & Point handicap for the Les Hall Memorial Trophy takes place on 10th September, with all summer KO semi finals and finals to be completed by the end of September.

The new league season should start in early October, with the club running 11 teams in the NSDCA. Please note our club premises are not available on Tuesday 1st October.

Three of our members had a sunny break in Lancaster over the weekend (9th-11th) competing in this northern congress, where approx 120 players played in four sections.

Julian Hawthorne and Dave Price played in the intermediate section (U1750) and Simon Layhe in the Major section (U1900).

The inter section had the most players with over 40, with Jules and Dave sharing joint 9th place with 3 pts each out of 5.

Simon managed to fare even better being unbeaten over the weekend to end in a 6-way joint share of 1st place with 3.5 pts.

Congratulations to Simon .

Our SCS “A” team played away at The Gables on Monday (5th) and were hot favourites for the win with huge rating advantages on three boards against the Gables youngsters, while their top board would outgrade us. Captain Steve Ballantyne sent his brief report:

My game was first to finish. I sacrificed my Knight for his pawn on f2 to open up  his defence. He defended well but the attack was too strong  0-1. Pav was next to finish, after going a knight up and taking that advantage in to the end game it was 0-2.  Jamie was attacking well and after capturing his opponents Queen for 2 minor pieces it was soon 0-3.  Nev played well against an experienced opponent and eventually a draw was decided. A good win to keep Crewe A at the top of the league.

With two matches stil to play, the “A” team lead by 3 pts from our own B team and need 2 more pts to guarantee the (Summer) Shield Trophy.

In other news we held our AGM on Tuesday, where the main event was the presentation of trophies.

Followed by an enjoyable Team Blitz competition where 25 players participated in four teams. Richard Lee’s team won the competition (shown as Crewe 1 on the LMS Team Blitz event) as his players all scored more than 50% on their respective boards. The only player to score 100% (with 6 out of 6) was Ebube Christian, while 7 players notched up a healthy 5/6 including 3 of Richard’s team. This was our first Blitz event to be submitted for ECF rating separate to the main ratings.

Next week should be a busy club night with both South Cheshire teams playing at St Mary’s, and there should be a resumption of all three Internal Summer Knockouts which are at the quarter final stage.

Just a note to remind all members that the AGM will start at 7.30pm on Tuesday.

This should be followed by a team Blitz Event where teams will be arranged on the night based on whoever wishes to join in – and should be a lot of fun.

The last two weeks of July has seen both of our SCS teams in action. League leaders (our “A” team) had a nervy win over Alsager on 23rd July with draws on the top three boards Jules H (board 1), Pawel (2) and Jamie (3). The key result came on board 4 as Phil Grocott brought home the bacon at the death.

The B team had a significant rating advantage over Meir on the 23rd and duly won 3-1 thanks to victories by Finn, Richard and Nigel. On the 30th the B team made the short trip to Alsager and emerged again with a 3-1 win to strengthen our hold on the top two league positions. George Bowkett and Joe won on top two boards and backed up by draws from Ebube and Gerald.

The “A” team are now strong favourites to win the SCS with a perfect 8 pts from 4 matches, with 3 matches remaining. The Bees have helped by taking points off other clubs and currently sit second in the table on 7 pts from 5 games.

Tuesday 16th saw the 3rd annual challenge for the WC Trophy, as Wallasey pulled out all the stops to bring 22 players, as the 23rd fell foul with a car breakdown en-route. The St Mary’s Centre provided a superb setting with 27 boards set up in the main playing hall, and another dozen in the coaching & analysis room. The scene was set as the packed venue contained around 70 players and supporters with the match commencing at approx 7.45.

It was a joy to see so many players in action, with teams arranged within a total difference of just 38 points over the 22 boards to try and give both clubs a fair chance of success. Crewe’s chairman Dave Price even managed to set up a live score card from the LMS linked up to a large TV screen so everyone could see the latest score as the match progressed.

It was over an hour before the first results started to roll in, and it was soon apparent how close the match would be as there was never more than a point or two between the team scores – nothing like the landslide election result.

After last year’s comfortable win for Crewe was instigated by scoring 8.5pts from the top 10 boards, this year was the reverse as Wallasey outgunned the hosts by notching up 6.5 pts from the top 10. The middle and lower boards were shared more evenly but the trophy was secured for Wallasey only when the 21st game was completed to edge their score to 11.5 pts at just before 10.30 with the final game finishing at 10.35.

See the match card on the LMS for the full scorecard. Crewe 10.5 vs Wallasey 11.5 This was Wallasey’s first win in the Annual Challenge, after Crewe won the first two matches.

To celebrate this annual challenge, the hosts provided a superb buffet and free drinks to ensure everyone was well fuelled in the travelling contingent having made the 45 mile trek in 9 different cars setting off from Wallasey at around 6 o’clock.

After the match concluded Wallasey captain Alan Kelly was presented with the (infamous) WC Trophy before photographs were taken of the whole successful Wallasey team – see picture above.

As is now customary the losing skipper was then presented with the remains of a toilet roll by the victorious captain.

All in all it was a fantastic night and a brilliant effort by Wallasey to bring 22 players (raised from 14 last year and 8 the year before). The atmosphere was amazing as everyone played the games in a really sporting and friendly manner befitting two large and successful clubs, with much banter before, during and after the match.

After the presentation Crewe laid down the challenge for next year with the intention of trying to take 30 players to Wallasey. Thanks were given to both captains for arranging such an enjoyable evening, and especially for the travelling Wallasey squad.

Tuesday (9th) saw a big increase in numbers at the St Mary’s with over 40 members in attendance after two weeks of lesser. The main action was in the 1st round of the Open Knockout as 12 of the 16 players slugged it out. There were wins for No 1 seed Richard Lee, No 4 Bart Fajfer, No. 5 Cyrus Pereira and No.9 Gee Cross. Meanwhile there were two shocks as last years finalists and club champions (Harry and Carmel) got dumped out by underdogs David Hulme and Martin Frisher. In the Major KO, Oskar won the Armageddon with George Bowkett. The Intermediate KO saw wins in (the preliminary) Round 1 for Nathan Fourie and Tim Weston as last years U1600 winner Julian Bulbeck edged through after an Armaggedon battle. Mike Keenan drew with George Jelliss in the first of the 2nd round games, with the Armageddon set for next week.

Tonight (Thursday 11th) has seen our South Cheshire B team held to a 2-2 draw with Kidsgrove. Joe Moxon and Kobus won on the top two boards, while Kidsgrove succeeded on boards 3 & 4.

Next week is expected to be an exciting club night as we host the annual WC Challenge. This year Wallasey have pulled out the stops and so far arranged for 23 players to make the 45 mile trip from Wallasey to compete for the trophy. This will be the 3rd match in the series, with Crewe holding the upper hand with two previous victories. The current plan shows a difference of just 6 points between the two teams ratings, based on 1st July issued by the ECF.

Next Wednesday (17th), is the North Staffs AGM held at Meir’s new venue. If anyone is keen (or mad) enough to wish to attend please let chairman Dave Price know.

For future reference, our own AGM is to be held on Tuesday 6th August and the secretary will issue the Agenda and Reports in due course. These will be sent to all 78 members shown on the website players list. The meeting should last less than an hour, before we have a Blitz event for all those interested.

After last weekend’s busy and successful congress with over 30 of our members in action, it was a relatively quiet night at St. Mary’s on Tuesday with 29 members attending plus our visitors from Kidsgrove as the majority had a little break from chess.

Despite the lower numbers, there was much to enjoy. The main event was our “A” team hosting Kidsgrove in the South Cheshire Shield, while the last game was played in the club championship 23/24 competition and the first game was played in the Summer knockout.

The “A” team had a narrow win 2.5-1.5, with Pawel and Phil winning on boards 2 and 4 with the white pieces and George Bulbeck getting the only points with black in the match with a draw on board 1.

Wednesday we had both our teams in action with the “A” team at Meir’s new venue and the “B” team at Newcastle.

The “A” team had a comfortable win 3.5-0.5 with wins from Julian Hawthorne (bd 1), Pawel (bd 2) and Jamie (bd 3), while captain Steve settled for the draw. Having played 3 matches in 8 days, the “A” team have made a 100% start and lead the table by 2pts at this early stage of the summer season.

The “B” team came away from The Bridge Club in Newcastle with the match secured after a 3-1 success. Nigel captained the team (as Dave Price had a rare night off) and led the way with a win on bd 2. George Bowkett and Kobus also did the business in the 3-1 win.