Author: David Hulme

Now that the month of January has been and gone, we can look back at a busy fixture schedule that saw us play 18 matches despite a heavy number of weather related postponements.

Martin Burns has already reported on the chase for the NSDCA Div 1 trophy which sees our B team as hot favourites. A win from either of their two remaining matches would guarantee becoming League Champions. Due to the bizarre fixture planning, Alsager and Holmes Chapel would still have 50% or more of their matches to play. Even more strange is that 3 teams have only amassed one point between them, while the only other (top) two teams have collected 21 points.

Division 2 is the only division where one of our Crewe teams does not lead the way. Here the strongest team is Macclesfield who were playing in division one last season. This time around they have gained another player on board 1, so are able to outrate all other teams in the division. Our D and E teams have both managed to hold the favourites to a draw in the first half of the season, but are unlikely to stop them from securing the div 2 title. Tomorrow night could be a crucial time as our D team host Macclesfield. Our two teams currently have identical records and trail the leaders by one point, having played one match more already. Potentially Alsager B and Stafford are most likely to push Macclesfield.

Division 3 sees our F team with a healthy four point lead over our G team who have risen from 2nd bottom to 2nd top after picking up 5 pts from 3 matches in January. The F team is energetically captained and selects strengthened squads when opposition possess strong top boards making them favourites for the title and promotion.

Division 4 is led by our H team who have surprised me with a superb run of 10 conscutive wins. Despite this run of results they have been unable to shake Fenton B off their tails who have 3 games in hand. with matches still to play against the nearest challengers only another perfect set of results will guarantee the div 4 trophy. Meanwhile our I team sits in midtable under the enthusiastic leadership of Mario Scarpa who relishes in telling the stories of his team’s adventures on our News items.

The U1300 division only has 4 teams, with two teams from Crewe and The Gables respectively. The U team currently have the upper hand (under more enthusiastic leadership from Mal Green) in this division where it is hoped many of these players will go on to progress in higher divisions as their ratings exceed the 1300 limit.

We have just had one cup match in January where Nigel marshalled the Intermediate Cup team (U1600) to success after a long Friday night trek to Stafford. His reward is a semi final ….. another long Friday night trek to Cheddleton – it seems the cup draw gods wanted to push our club to the limits.

We have also had the short straw in the other Cups with:

1. The Open KO team AWAY to Alsager or Holmes Chapel in the final
2. The Major KO team AWAY to Stafford in the final
3. The Perry B KO team AWAY to Cheddleton in the semi-final

At least the Perry A KO team have home advantage in the delayed quarter-final vs The Gables – to be played on 11th Feb.

Tuesday 21st saw records broken at Crewe Chess Club as over 70 chess enthusiasts packed into the playing hall and social room. With four league matches taking place we had 18 visiting players from teams belonging to clubs – from Cheddleton, The Gables, Newcastle and Meir. This was supplemented by a number of games played in the Club’s Internal Championship Sections, and a full social room where some played friendly games and others entertained nine more potential new members.

As some players arrived they struggled to find parking spaces as the Centre’s car park was overwhlemed by numbers. It was bad luck for the secretary who missed the best ever night since the club’s reincarnation in 2014 with a record number of 53 own members in attendance.

A busy month has seen the club play 19 league matches with just 4 defeats and a couple of draws but the most important news is that G team captain Steve Ballantyne is back home following a recent hospital emergency as he awaits further operations.

The league tables all make positive reading with Crewe B, D, F & H all topping their respective divisions, albeit very early in the season and no doubt making targets for all chasing teams from other clubs and not to mention our other teams in each division.

Division 1 has only seen 6 matches played with both of our A & C teams being frustrated by postponements.

Division 2 has seen a total of 8 matches played with our D & E teams having played 4 each already. Although the D team heads the table, it is expected Macclesfield will be strong favourites as their team is rated far higher than all other teams in the division.

Division 3 has 9 teams involved with our F & G teams having a hectic schedule. The F team have excelled so far and collected 8 pts from 6 matches to lead the table. With several teams having strong players on boards 1 and 2, we will do well to keep in touch with Newcastle and Gables who have games in hand in a closely contested division.

The H team have been the surprise package and have now won 7 consecutive matches to move onto 15 pts after starting with a loss and a draw. It’s hard to believe 9 matches have already been played just two months into an 8 month season. With every other team having games in hand the H team will be watching how they progress. Just one player has featured in all 9 matches and that is Tim Weston who has been in fine form with 8 wins. Our I team has performed extremely well under the enthusiastic captaincy of Mario Scarpa, with 8 pts from 7 matches sits nicely in 3rd position

In the U1300 division our U team, captained by Mal Green will hopefully stay in contention with the opposition from The Gables.

The internal Club Championships now have four sections, and are all on a slow burner mainly due to the packed league fixture schedule over the first two months of the league season. Activity should increase after the xmas break but before then the club has two more match nights and our xmas social night on 17th December.

Congratulations to 17 year old Nathan Fourie, who became our latest trophy winner after beating Julian Bulbeck in the Armageddon play-off following their main game which was drawn last month. He is the first winner of the Summer Intermediate knock-out.

It was another busy Tuesday (22^nd) night at St Mary’s with over 40 of our own members in attendance plus a visiting team from Stafford, while our G team were playing away at The Gables in the NSDCA 3^rd division.

There was a surprise result in the 1st division derby where the B team beat the A team 3-1. Richard Lee won the top board battle for the A team, while Gee Cross, David Lambton and Martin Frisher all won for the Bees despite being lower rated than their opponents.

The E team had a superb result beating Stafford in Div 2, by 3.5-0.5. With teams evenly matched overall, Lukasz Michalek held his higher rated opponent to a draw on bd 1, while Karl Lockett, Oskar Jarzynski and Doug Barnett won their games.

Meanwhile the G team were narrowly beaten at The Gables in div 3. Early losses on bd 1 and 4, left us trailing 2-0 before Jamie Roberts pulled one back, but Pawel was held to a draw despite trying his best to salavage the match.

On Wednesday night the H team travelled to Meir and continued their impressive run with a 4-0 whitewash, to maintain their lead at the top of the Division 4 table. After losing the first match of the season, they have now picked up 7pts from the last 4 matches and face second placed Cheddleton D in the next game. Well done to Kobus, Adam, Tim and Mark on this outstanding result. It is noted that Tim is the top scorer in div 4 so far with a perfect 5/5.

We kicked off the week with the D team travelling to Macclesfield on Monday 14th for a tough Division 2 match. Facing the team with the highest ratings in the division at 7288, we decided to pick a stronger team than planned but were stil outrated by just under 380 pts. Ebube played well to force a draw (bd 4) after being down a couple of pawns, before David Lambton produced an excellent win on bd 1. Jules secured a draw (bd 3) as the skipper got outplayed to leave the final result 2-2, to continue the D team’s promising start to the season with 5 pts from 3 matches to sit top of the table for now.

Tuesday saw another packed house at St Mary’s with our highest attendance since the June rapidplay nights, with 3 matches and a number of Club championship games taking place, while the social room was also packed including 4 or 5 more potential new members.

In the Major Cup (U1825) we faced Alsager in the semi final, and were strong favourites with a 600 pts rating average over the 5 boards. Jules got us on the scorecard with a safe draw on bd 5, before Andy Raeburn got the better of the top board clash and then David H won on bd 3 to make sure we would progress to the final (as even if we lost the two remaing games, we would win on tie break). Martin F converted his advanatge into a full point on bd 2 to leave Karl playing the last game and also winning to give us a comfortable win 4.5 -0.5

In division 3, we had the first F vs G derby with the F team being slightly higher rated but not by any significant amount. First to finish was a surprise result on bd 4 as G team skipper Steve overturned the biggest difference (173 pts or 231 on latest ratings) to gain a win. Then on bd 1, F team captain Nigel held the higher rated Nev to a draw by just after 9 o’clock. We then had a long long wait for the other two games to conclude. On bd 2 Richard Fish (F team) was pushing for a win after an early sacrifice, but Pawel held his nerve to stop Richard and eventually piece was a agreed with a draw. The last game to finish saw George Bulbeck typically low on time, play approx 50 moves in increment time before grinding out a win to save the match for the F team. Honours even 2-2.

The H team hosted Kidsgrove in div 4. The match was secured by wins on the top 3 boards from Kobus, Adam and Tim as we ran out 3-1 winners. Having played four matches already the Hs sit top of the table for now with 5 pts, while all other teams have games in hand. Tim has started the season superby with 4/4 and will look to extend that run when the H team play at Meir next week.

It was another superb night at St Mary’s on Tuesday (8th) with 4 league matches taking place.

In division 1’s first match of the season the B team ran out comfortable winners 3-1 as the C team had two of their top three missing, while the B team missed their top player. Wins for David Lambton (bd 2), Martin Frisher (3) and Neville Layhe (4) secured the result as Kamil Zak got a consolation win for the C team.

In Division 2 the D team edged home against Holmes Chapel B 2.5-1.5, after an early win by Ebube Christian (4), with a loss on bd 2 levelling the score. George Bulbeck (3) agreed a draw in familiar time trouble to leave David Hulme to settle the match in our favour after a neat endgame having refused a draw offer when low on time.

The star performers were our E team who had two young players filling in as cover for two who were loaned to the C team for the night. Things started badly as we were outplayed on bd 1 and 4 to trail 2-0. This was no surprise when we surveyed the score card to see Macclesfield (div 2 favourites) had over a 1000 point rating advantage. Our two reserves – 12 y/o Jamie Roberts (bd 3) and 17 y/o Finn Charbonneau (bd 2) turned in remarkable performances to beat experienced players rated 1786 and 1788 respectively (more than 250 points higher each). A brilliant effort by both to salvage a draw for the team.

In division 4 our H team hosted Alsager E, who surprised us with their 1st team captain playing on board 1. However Kobus took this in his stride as he held out for an early draw, despite being outrated by over 200 pts. Tim Weston put us in the lead with a commanding win on bd 4 against a relative newcomer, before Phil Grocott earned a draw to ensure we would at least share the spoils. On board 2 Adam Fields had a fun game before emerging victorious to give us a 3-1 win.

There was a hush in the playing hall as the first of the Summer Knockout finals was played on Tuesday (17th) between Nathan Fourie and Julian Bulbeck for the Intermediate trophy. The tension was palpable as colours were chosen – but not by the expected use of a coin – but by the good old fashioned “pick a hand from behind the back” as Nathan drew the black pawn. Young Nathan seemed to be heading to victory with a minor piece advantage, but struggled to deliver the telling blow as time evaporated. When down to a few minutes left for Nathan, Julian managed to cause enough confusion for Nathan to give the piece back and while Nathan still had an endgame advantage a draw was agreed as the enemy of time expiring got ever closer ! By now it was too late to play the Armageddon as both players felt pretty exhausted and therefore agreed to postpone the play-off to a future date (TBA).

The other two summer knockout finals are due to be played this Tuesday (24th) as covered in our News item on 4th September.

The new NSDCA season commenced earlier than normal, with Crewe D playing Crewe E in division 2 with teams closely rated within 78 points of each other near the 6600 range for the four boards. First blood went to the D team, but I am not sure how George Bowkett (on board 2) escaped from a massive attack to emerge a piece and a pawn up before converting comfortably into a 1-0 lead. Next to finish was board 4 where Ebube Christian made it 2-0 to the D team when appearing to be in a difficult bind as his opponent threw all his Kingside pawns onto the offensive in what looked would be an overwhelming suffocation. Clearly something went awry. Next up Lukasz Michalek gained a fortunate win for the Es on bd 1, as David Hulme misplayed a straight forward winning combination to drop a piece instead of gaining a piece. This narrowed the score to 2-1 in favour of the D team, where so easily the score could be reversed. Last to finish was George Bulbeck agreeing a draw with E team captain Dave Price when in a superior endgame position, taking the draw to ensure team victory 2.5-1.5

This Tuesday sees our two 4th division teams open their campaigns with home games. The “H” team play Gables B and the “I” team play Kidsgrove with Mario Scarpa as one of our new captains.

Just a reminder the club is closed on Tuesday 1st October, although we do have two teams playing away that night both at Fenton, with our “F” team playing Fenton “A” in div 3, and the “H” team against Fenton “B” in div 4.

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.