Category: News

Matthew Dean has been taking part in this prestigious event which started on 15th Feb and concludes today. Seeded at No. 121, he clearly likes a challenge as the field hosted 9 GMs and 6 IMs in the nine round Swiss. As the lowest rated player in the event he has done extremely well to pick up two wins.

Matthew is so quiet at the club, we did not know he was there until Martin Burns was looking through this weekend’s congress action and spotted Matthew’s name among the stunning field of the chess stars.

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Matthew Dean

Game 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Monday 13th Feb: The F team travelled to Meir for a division 3 match, played over 5 boards. Thanks to Steve Ballantyne for providing an insight into this match where he reported that Pawel Stanny was first to finish on board 4, after winning a minor piece early, he held on to convert us in to a 1-0 lead. Steve with the white pieces on board 3 employed his favourite London System and had a strong attack that was too much for his opponent to add to our lead. Meir’s wily fox Bob Perry pulled one back on board 5, to leave the Bulbecks in play on the top two boards. George playing board 1 was under familiar time pressure and down to seconds on his clock in a complicated gamed where he had a Queen vs 2 Rooks, but was able to utilise his Q more effectively to win the game and secure the match points. Meanwhile dad Julian had surrendered two bishops to gain an unstoppable attack and finish the match with a flourish for the Fs, with a final score of 4-1.

Wed 15th Feb: The E team hosted Fenton C in another division 3 match with teams’ total ratings within a negligible 67 pts difference. James Marshall led the team from top board and continued his fine form with a well controlled win against a rapidly improving youngster from Fenton. Kobus Nienaber fresh from a tough congress at Blackpool was pushed up the batting order to board 2 and had another fine win. The E team had the luxury of Doug Barnett’s experience on board 3 and there was no shock as Doug made it 3 wins from the top 3 boards. Fenton’s board 4 Philip Smith had recently won the Stockport Rapidplay, so is clearly quite a handful for anyone on bottom board, as he picked up the visitor’s solitary point.

These results leave the E & F teams still 3 pts adrift and in pursuit of league leaders and red hot favourite’s Alsager B for the league division 3 title.

Also on Wednesday our D team had the stiffest of challenges as Stafford came to The Mals with a team rated over 6900 points, giving them an advantage of 650 points over the four boards in this division 2 match. However the D team just love being the underdogs and with captain Nigel Gardner using his knowledge to split his team within the 100 points limits, gave three of his team fighting chances at the expense of our board 2 who bore 50% of the team rating differential. Martin Frisher enjoying one of his occasional match appearances held on for a solid draw on board 1 with the black pieces. Likewise the rapidly improving George Bulbeck gained a further draw (with black on board 3) against a player rated nearly 200 points higher. Thus it was all down to captain Nigel to go “all guns blazing” for a win and salvage an unexpected draw for the Defiant & Dogged Dees, and he didn’t disappoint. This result leaves the D team on 6pts from 6 matches, sitting in 3rd position in the league table, behind leaders Newcastle on 10pts and our own C team on 7pts.

This weekend has seen an evacuation from Crewe, with many of our members making the 80 mile trek to the Seaside, to play in the annual Blackpool Conference. There were well over 300 players involved in the five sections.

We had two entries in the Open section, with Bart Fajfer seeded 32 and Dave Lambton at No 36 out of 44. After a brilliant start from Bart with two wins, he failed to add to his tally, but still ended up with a performance rating (PR) of just under 2100, a long way above his current rating, having played two of the top four players in the Congress. Dave didn’t do so well but was brave to enter the Open section.

In the Major section (U2050) our only entry was Simon Layhe seeded 38th out of 60. After a 1st round win, he added one more to end up in 32nd place with a performance rating matching his current level.

In the Intermediate Section (U1850) we had another single player with Lukasz Michalek testing himself in a higher section than his rating permitted, and was therefore seeded 64th out of 70. After sucess in the 1st round, he added two draws to his score to finish in a very creditable 44th position and a PR over 1700 which is in excess of his current 1630.

We had 3 members in the Minor Section (U1700), with Julian Hawthorne seeded 9th, Dave Price at No 14, and Kobus Nienaber playing in this section at No. 88 testing himself against stronger players. Julian was our best scorer here with 3pts to finish 19th, while Dave’s 2.5pts saw him in 35th with 20 players having scored 3. Kobus did very well to pick up two draws from just 3 games to get a PR of 1486, approx 80 above his entry point.

In the Standard section (U1550) we had 3 more playing, with Andrew Crosby seeded 22nd, Chris Marais 57th and George Jellis 58th out of a field of 89 – the largest section. Chris and George stuck together to finish 72nd and 73rd respectively with a score of 1.5 pts. However our highest scoring player of the weekend was Andrew with a super effort to finish on 4pts, and narrowly miss out on prize money in a shared 5th position, with the outright winner scoring the perfect 5 and three others with 4.5 pts.

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.

Tuesday 3rd Jan – F team hold division 3 league leaders Alsager B to a draw over 5 boards. Alsager took the first point Andrew had a good opening but missed a tactical initiative on move 10 and one speculative move cost him the game. Outstanding result on board 1 for George Bulbeck with a win against a much stronger player, backed up by a draw on board 3 from Oskar Jarzynski and a sound win from Steve Ballantyne on board 5. Leaves the F team joint 2nd in the table on 6pts from 6 games together with 3 other teams – all trailing Alsager B who are head and shoulders above the rest.

Wed 4th Jan – the Dynamic D team dished out a 4-0 whitewash to Fenton B aided by a top board default from the visitors. Meaning Crewe’s ‘D’ team started the match a point ahead. Martin Frisher was the stand out performer here with a win on board 2 against an in-form player normally on board 1. All eyes were on Martin Frischer’s game where he sacrificed a rook in the early middle game to obtain an exciting attack. He later managed to get material back then conjured up a nice mating net with his two knights and queen against the opponents uncastled King and becoming the 41st member of the club to represent Crewe in the NSDCA this season ! Lukasz Michalek and George Bulbeck were too strong for the opposition to handle, as captain Nigel Gardner watched from the sidelines. Overall another superb effort from our D team, who until this match were by far the lowest rated team in division 2. With 4 pts from 4 matches Nigel may now have his sights on fighting for the top spot rather than the dog fight to avoid the wooden spoon.

Crewe’s board 1 was going to be Lee Farrington so without a scheduled game he played a friendly rated game where as white he took advantage of his opponents poor opening play to secure a win. Some internal games took place in the club’s internal winter competition. In division 1 there were wins for Martin Burns and Harry Gardiner, In division 2 James Marshall won, whilst in division 3 there was a win for Phil Grocott.

Friday 6th Jan – The E team postponed a trip to Cheddleton to accommodate the weekends’s Shropshire Congress at Telford.

A contingent of 6 of our members played at Telford with Carmel Barwick being our star performer again. She finished joint 2nd in the U1750 competition with 4/5 after taking a bye in Round 1 and then scoring 3.5pts from her 4 games.

Nigel Gardner narrowly missed out in the U1500 section. Leading with 3.5 pts going into the final round, he fell at the last hurdle to finish joint 6th, with his Round 5 opponent being the joint winner. Both of the joint winners were unrated juniors !!??.

Our other members in action were Martin Burns, Karl Lockett, Julian Hawthorne and Dave Price.