Author: David Hulme

We have three matches to report on this week, featuring the “A” team making their 1st division debut against Cheddleton “A”, the “C” team away at Holmes Chapel Bishops in div 3 and the “D” team hosting Meir “A” in division 4.

It was a baptism of fire for the “A” team as Chedd’s heavy artillery came to the Mals with top board grades of 192, 196 and 173 considerably outgrading our top 3 of 174, 153 and 152 respectively. The bottom two boards were much closer grades as Cheddleton were missing several stronger options. Surprisingly first blood went to us as the underdogs with Simon Layhe (board 5) completing a neat win involving a Knight mating move in the centre of board as the opponents King was cut off by a combination of Rook and blocked in by own pieces. More good news arrived as David Hulme overcame a 2 pawn loss to prevent the opposition from developing both Rooks and a Q-side Bishop and then overpowering on the King side to finish with a clever Rook sac and an immediate mate not seen (on bd 4). Meanwhile Chedd’s heavy artillery had won the bd 2 battle and then equalised the score as predicted on bd 3. The remaining game saw Bart Fajfer with a pawn advantage and decent time saving to raise hopes of a possible shock result. However Chedd’s young star Jacob Boswell created a lot of activity despite only having two minutes on the clock and rounded up some pawns before invading Crewe’s defences with a Q&B vs 2 Rooks. Eventually the stronger team proved their superiority and won 3-2.

Strangely enough the division 4 match playing alongside was scoreless when four of the 1st division boards were finished. The two teams were very evenly matched so it was no surprise that it was long time before the first result came in. Captain Les Hall was as usual first to finish, somehow grabbing a win from the jaws of defeat. In Les’s own words he was fortunate to finish first with a Rook mate after the game swung too and fro. Top board Rick Renegade was next to finish with another swash-buckling effort to make it 2-0. Experienced Neville Layhe then did enough to get the team over the line with a hard earned draw on bd 2 before Meir had the consolation of their sole win in the final game on bd 3 and to conclude the match with a 2.5-1.5 win for the D team.  The skipper likes the look of the current league table sitting pretty on top at this premature stage of the season.

Thursday night saw the C team travel to Holmes Chapel to take on the Bishops in a division 3 encounter and it is pleasing to see Holmes Chapel adding this team to the league. Looking at the team sheets before the match the visiting Crewe team would have been red-hot favourites. However the hosts provided the first and unexpected blow of the night as the relatively inexperienced Liam McIlveen delivered an early mate on board 2. Harry Gardiner restored parity with his 40+ pts grade advantage in evidence on board 3 to level the scores for us. David Hulme was held comfortably to a draw by George Scattergood on board 1 and we had a while to wait for the board 4 game result to be decided. As a spectator it was fun to watch as white sacrificed a couple of K-side pawns to unleash an attack on our castled King while moving their own King to safety on the Q-side. A smashing game unfolded and as white increased the pressure on the King side left the door open for a back rank invasion duly applied by our Adam Fields to release the pressure and force the victory by the narrow margin of 2.5-1.5. Captain Dave Price was absent for this match and should be pleased to see his team pick up their first points of the season.

Next week sees our B team at home while our new “G” team play their first ever match at Cheddleton hoping to give new players the chance to play in the league. Also in action are the Wirral team who face the long trip to take on Wallasey’s 3rd team.

This was a most unusual week with no matches for the club at The Mals on Wednesday after the B team travelled to Macclesfield on Monday and the D team went to Kidsgrove on Tuesday.

The B team started their division 2 campaign with a tough match against title contenders Macclesfield (who were the only team to inflict defeat on the “A” team last season). Under the youthful new captaincy of Simon Layhe the team emerged with a good result as the match ended all square 2.5-2.5, with board 1 star Bart Fajfer and board 2 Karl Lockett both victorious and supported by the skipper’s draw on board 3.

Tuesday night saw the D team start the new division 4 season in same vane as last season with a crushing 4-0 win. We had a big advantage with grades so it was no surprise, although captain Les Hall explained ” It was a very friendly game at Kidsgrove, ended in a 4 – 0 whitewash, but the games were a lot closer than the score suggests.” He went on to report as follows:

Our C team started their division 3 campaign on Wednesday with a home match vs Cheddleton C. The board 3 game was first to finish in a “grandmaster draw” as Harry Gardiner could see no way to progress against Chedd’s captain Colin Abell. Doug Barnett on board 1 felt he had to go for the win and came unstuck against Karol Grzybowski and left us in arrears. Rick Renegade’s attacking prowess with white was held at bay on board 2 by John Yee as a draw left the visitors 2-1 up. The last game in play saw Dave Price with white looking for a win to save the team from defeat. However Dave Rose skilfully soaked up the pressure before gaining a crucial centre pawn to gain the initiative. Despite attacking chances on the King side Dave could not break through and peace was agreed with a half for each player to leave Chedd as the successful C team on this occasion by the narrow margin of 2.5-1.5

This weekend has seen another sucessful congress orgainsed by the team of Neville Layhe, Les Hall, Dave Price and Simon Layhe together with the Arbiter, Matthew Carr (IA).

There were 142 competitors spread pretty evenly over the four sections (Open, U 165, U135, U105) including a star studded cast for the FIDE-rated Open which had 4 FMs and one IM.

The only prize winner from the club was George Jellis who gained the grading prize in the Minor section (U105) with a superb score of 3.5 pts. George had the lowest grade in the whole tournament, excluding two ungraded players, so this is an excellent achievement.

More details will follow, including mention of Bart Fajfer’s great effort to score 3 pts in the tough Open Section and Rick Renegade’s fall at the last hurdle from leading the Intermediate section.

Full results are shown on “Congress Results” tab separately.

No sooner had the Summer Shield finished on the Friday, then the new season got under way on Wednesday. The Mals Club hosted our first “derby” of the North Staffs season bringing forward a match originally scheduled for November as our E team faced the F team in division 5. The “F” team had small grading advantages on each board and completed a 4-0 win thanks to Adam Fields, Julian Bulbeck, Phil Wright and George Jelliss. A special mention should be made for our latest league debutant as Russell Smithers played on board 4 for the “E” team.

The Wirral team started their division 2 campaign with the long haul to Buckley/Mold. Unfortunately the Drovers Arms had a very noisy atmosphere which was not conducive to playing league chess. Somehow we managed to win 4-1 as the three white odd boards were all successful as David Hulme, Harry Gardiner and Lukasz Michalek beat the opposition while the two black board games were held to draws by Simon Layhe and Dave Price. There was some excellent attacking play by our two youngest players as Harry chased the opposition King from a castled king-side to be mated in the centre of the board, and Lukasz pierced through another castled king-side before his opponent failed to reach the first time control at 35 moves under immense pressure.

So it’s time to look forward to this weekend’s Crewe Congress at The Ibis Hotel where we currently have approx 135 players expected.

The South Cheshire Shield came to its conclusion this week as Alsager earned the necessary draw against our “A” team to win the South Cheshire Summer Shield with an unbeaten record. For the 2nd year running the “A” team have been pipped at the post. Lukasz Michalek had given our “A” team a great chance by winning on board 4 as our top two boards Simon Layhe and Harry Gardiner could only draw and the board 3 game went in favour of the visitors to secure their title.

The final games of the SCS season were played on Friday night as Newcastle hosted our B team. Skipper Les Hall got the ball rolling with an early win on board 4 before Newcastle levelled matters on board 3. The star performance came from our board 2 with Adam Fields beating the opposition skipper who was graded some 24 points higher. On board 1 David Hulme hung on for a draw against Newcastle youngster Joe Hirst to make sure the B team finished on the same match points as the “A” team and just 1 behind the winners – Alsager. Congratulations to them on winning the competition.

Alongside the B team match, Newcastle also hosted the annual pre-season challenge against us. With so many players unavailable from both clubs it was a credit to both that a 7 board match took place although Crewe contributed 8 of the 14 and left Dave Price on the bench to coach some of the younger Newcastle members who are not quite “match-ready”. Newcastle fielded a much stronger squad than we did and ran out comfortable winners with the assistance of our own Phil Wright. There was a notable win for  Simon Layhe on board 2, while Mike Keenan won against a Newcastle newcomer on board 6 and our only other score came from Doug Barnett with a top board draw, when he might have gone on to win with a bit more time on the clock. As always an enjoyable encounter which leaves the annual challenge score at 2-2. We look forward to the 2020 challenge which will be Crewe’s turn to host.

This week sees the conclusion of the Summer Shield competition with Wednesday (18th Sept) being the big night of the “decider” as Crewe “A” host the unbeaten leaders Alsager at The Mals Club. Alsager only need a draw to secure the trophy against 2nd placed Crewe “A” whereas the “A” team have to win to secure the title. Meanwhile reigning champions Newcastle host Crewe B on Friday (20th) at The Bridge Club alongside the annual pre-season challenge between the two clubs which is the 4th such challenge with Crewe currently leading 2-1.

Last Wednesday saw the SCS “A” team defeat the B team 3-1 with wins by Harry Gardiner (Bd 2), Dave Price (bd 3) and Lukasz Michalek (bd 4) while Rick Renegade picked up the B’s sole win to avoid a whitewash.

If any member wishes to play in the pre-season challenge on Friday at Newcastle please let David Hulme or Dave Price know as soon as possible.

Also please note our Congress takes place in a fortnight at The Ibis Hotel, where we currently have just over 70 entrants so far. The entry form is on the site and if you have any issues with completing it please let Les Hall or Dave Price know.

We have played three matches so far this month, with the first derby ending all square on 7th August, before the “A” team came unstuck vs Newcastle last week and the B team holding leaders Alsager to a 2-2 draw last night.

In the derby, Simon Layhe and Chris Rhodes earned wins for the “A” team while Kobus Nienaber and Phil Wright did the trick for the B team. Only Nigel Gardner’s win against Newcastle avoided the whitewash for the “A” team. Rick Renegade and Kobus managed the two wins last night for the B team.

There is a 3 week break before the 2nd derby on 11th September and the competition concludes the following week with the league deciders as leader’s Alsager visit the The Mals to play the “A” team and the B team go to Newcastle on Friday 20th as we play the 4th pre-season challenge at The Bridge Club.

The Shield is a 3-way race for the trophy with Alsager in command on 7pts from 5 games knowing a win in their final match secures the Shield. If they slip up against our “A” team, it may be possible for one of our teams to catch them, with the B team on 5pts and the “A” team on 4pts and both have the (derby) game in hand with poorer board scores.

The biggest item on the AGM (held Wednesday 31st July) Agenda was the presentation of Trophies which started with the Wirral League Player of the Year for Division 2 awarded to Bart Fajfer. This was followed by team trophies for the Intermediate Cup (U130), Major Cup (U150), Division 5, 3 and 2. Summer Rapid-play trophies were won by Bart for division 1  and Lukasz Michalek won division 2. The Long-play trophies went to Nigel Gardner and Lukasz for division 2 being tied and Bart (again) for division 1. Bart then collected the Time & Point Handicap trophy before receiving his 5th award for Club Player of the Year. The final award went to an excited Harry Gardiner who just pipped Lukasz for the “Junior Player of the Year”.

NSDCA U150, U130, Division 2, 3 and 5

Apologies for the late update on the Summer Shield competition. Our two teams have been progressing quietly with the same record each of 3 pts from 2 games having both beaten defending champions Newcastle and drawn with Alsager. As things stand at almost half-way Alsager lead the table with 4 pts from 3 games (W1 D2) and our teams are joint 2nd with a game in hand and 1 point behind while Newcastle have failed to register any match points from 3 games.

Next week (Wed 7th August) is our first “head to head” as the “A” team host the “B” team and whatever happens we will be in contention leading to the second half of the fixture list.

Full results can be seen from our tab on the RH side of the site labelled “South Cheshire Shield 2019”.

There are no matches this week with the club’s AGM being held on Wednesday 31st July. Please note this is everyone’s chance to have a say in how your club is run and managed and to suggest ideas for improvement in the club’s activities.