Category: News

Junior Harry Gardiner is on the cusp of clinching the Rapid-play Division 1 Trophy after a punishing schedule of playing 3 games in 24 hours. Last night Harry was pushed in two games by 2016/17 Player of the Year, Martin Gill but managed to grab a vital win and a draw in two hard fought games. Tonight has seen closest contender (the No. 1 Seed) Karl Lockett win one and lose one against our Division 2 champion Kobus Nienaber, while Harry had another slug-fest with Adam Fields before emerging victorious.

All the leading players have now played 18 of their 20 games, and play their final games on Wednesday (30th September). Harry is now the clear favourite (on 12.5 pts) with a one point lead over joint 2nd placed Lukasz Michalek and David Hulme, with Karl a further half point behind. In the final round Harry faces Kobus (on 7.5pts), who has taken some points off nearly every opponent and has two additional games to play against Rick Renegade. Karl has potentially the easiest final pairing playing Andrew Crosby, while Lukasz and David have to do battle in the final round, ensuring at least one of this pair will drop points in the title chase.

To watch the final round games, switch on your Lichess TV at 7.30pm on Wednesday.

The Division One Rapid-Play Tournament is building upto a fantastic finale with all games scheduled to finish on Wednesday (30th Sept). David Hulme has joined Lukasz Michalek in the lead with 11.5/18, as bottom seed Andrew Crosby (the above mentioned Popeye) took a crucial point off the secretary. In all honesty Andrew could have taken both points as he outplayed David in the openings, only to allow him off the hook in the second game. The main beneficiary from Popeye’s success was junior Harry Gardiner who played just one game this week adding another full point to his tally to take his score to 10/15. Harry will be assured of the Trophy if he scores a further 4pts from his remaining 5 games, but could then be caught by top seed Karl Lockett who has scored 10/16 following his addition of 2 pts this week . With the joint leaders (Lukasz & David) playing each other in the final round, this favours Harry and Karl, but interestingly the two chasers have to play Kobus Nienaber in their remaining games. It promises to be an exciting finish as these four slog it out.

In other news this week, Andrew and Lee Tilton played the first  game in the Club OTB Ladder Tournament, playing at home with Mals Club chess activities temporarily postponed.

In the 4NCL Online League, our two teams were in action again on Tuesday (22nd). The AOL team played Preston South End in division 3, and gained a respectable draw as Karl Lockett and David Hulme picked up half-points before Neville Layhe got the vital win to finish the match 2-2. The AOL team have been presented with a gift as their first opponents (Harrow 3) have withdrawn from the league, and a 4-0 loss has been reversed to give the team the flattering score of 4pts from 3 matches.

In Division 6 the BOL team faced Celtic Tigers Cubs. Excellent performances from Nigel Gardner, Kobus and  Lukasz all landing knockout blows before Adam Fields secured a draw to give the team a resounding victory (3.5-0.5) which puts the team also on 4pts from 3 matches, sharing 3rd place in the table with 18 other teams ! Next 4NCL matches to be played 6th October.

 

A busy week has seen 22 games played in the Rapidplay Division 1 competition. Junior Lukasz Michalek has jumped to the top of the table following a haul of 3.5pts from 4 this week. On Wednesday he faced title chasing  Karl Lockett and gained an impressive win and a draw, before playing Popeye (aka Andrew Crosby) tonight and claiming two more points to take his tally to 11.5 pts from 18 games. Lukasz has just one pairing left where he plays 2nd placed David Hulme in Round 11 on the last night of the competition (30th September), while David trails by one point with two games in hand.

Favourite, 17 y/o Harry Gardiner has dropped to 4th place in the table with a score of 9/14, but holds “all the aces” with four games in hand on the leader and trails by only 2.5 pts. With the current top two to play each other, Harry will be confident he can regain the leader’s spot and claim the trophy.

Top seed Karl Lockett is the other main contender although currently sits in 6th position with a score of 8/14. His remaining games feature three of the four bottom players so every chance of claiming the trophy if any of the leaders drop more points. Rick Renegade with 10/18 and Neville Layhe 8.5/16 could yet emerge as the winner if results go in their favour.

Full results, pairings and table can be found via the LMS link “Internal Competitions” on the right side of the club website under the Teams heading.

Tuesday 8th September was Round 2 of the 4NCL online season. The AOL team were facing Warwickshire Bears A in division 3, and the BOL were playing Enfield 1 in division 6.

The return of Rick (the Grenade) Renegade to the A team brought the usual explosive action as he delivered in style on board 4 to put us in the lead. However losses on top two boards left us trailing, with captain David Hulme in trouble on board 3 down by two pawns. Fortunately David managed to trap an opponent’s Knight which had run into a cul-de-sac and overturned the position to win the game and save the match, ending in a 2-2 draw.

The B team had the strange of experience of playing the match over two nights. The match was shaping nicely as Neville Layhe, Lukasz Michalek and Kobus Nienaber all headed to draws, although I am sure we might have edged the top board, and Lukasz was hanging on in a dramatic time struggle. The board 4 game had started well for us but apparently the wrong colours had been applied and the game was eventually stopped and cancelled with an unusual agreement to replay the game the following evening. That did not work in our favour as our initial attack fizzled out, before loss of material and inevitable defeat resulted. So the Brave Bees went down to a narrow defeat 1.5-2.5.

Full results and games can be seen on the 4NCL website.

Player looking for a new way to win internal games.

After several attempts to to win games in division 1

One of our new players decided to use drastic measures and have a face enhancement to make him look like Popeye.

The final games in Rapid-play Division 2 were played tonight as Ben Harrison won both games to finish in 3rd place with 10/14. As previously noted Kobus Nienaber has secured the trophy with 11.5/14, just pipping Lee Tilton by half a point.

Rapid-play Division 1 is turning into a fantastic competition with 60% of all games now completed. The next scheduled Round (for the week ahead) is No. 8 of 11, although there are a few games outstanding from earlier Rounds 4,6,and 7, while Rounds 1-3 and 5 have been completed. Harry Gardiner leads the way with 8/12, with Karl Lockett and David Hulme on his heels just half a point behind and then we have three players on 6.5/12 – Lukasz Michalek, Kobus Nienaber and Neville Layhe. Full results are Pairings are on the LMS.

Last Tuesday (1st September) we held our Monthly Lichess Challenge. This was a 6-round, 10 minute swiss competition which attracted a dozen of our members. Lukasz Michalek emerged victorious with an unbeaten score of 5.5 pts, with Bart Fajfer in 2nd scoring 5pts and Martin Gill in 3rd with 4pts.

This week (9th September) will see the start of our new OTB Ladder Challenge with a maximum of 12 players in attendance at the Mals. Please contact Dave Price and David Hulme if you wish to play in this event which will run to the week before Xmas.

Also on Tuesday (8th) we have Round 2 of the 4NCL online League. The AOL team are facing Warwickshire Bears A in division 3, while the BOL team are playing Enfield 1 in Division 6. These games can be watched live on Lichess starting at 7.30pm.

Members are reminded that subs are now due and ECF fees should be paid directly to the ECF for anyone playing in the 4NCL online League or the Ladder Challenge.

The club held it’s 2020 AGM on Wednesday 26th August following government guidance in a Covid secure environment. 11 members attended in person all socially distanced and wearing face coverings, together with some members in attendance via a conference call set up by the chairman.

The main items to note are:

1. Subscriptions remain at £20 p.a (despite a committee proposal for a 50% reduction that had to be withdrawm) as the members fully supported the club’s ambition to remain active through Lockdown via online chess using the Lichess platform.
2. The club has re-opened with limited numbers playing in a secure environment.
3. A new season of OTB internal tournaments should start on Wednesday 2nd September.
4. Online chess continues with the Internal Rapid Play competition, as well as 4NCL Online League and the Monthly Challenge Night.
5. The committee has been extended to include Les Hall as Congress Organiser and Karl Lockett as General Committee Member.
6. Trophies were awarded to Nigel Gardner for winning the Annual Time and Point Handicap on Lichess; Harry Gardiner for Junior Player of the Year and Kobus Nienaber as overall Club Player of the Year during the OTB season.

Tuesday night saw us take on another Lichess Challenge, as we faced Atticus in a return match after our 7-1 success last month. This time it was a different picture though as the Liverpool club sought to gain revenge. It was a much closer battle and again we were outgraded especially on lower boards. There was some fine play to watch with superb performances from Harry Gardiner and Rick Renegade most notable with their decisive attacks. The scouser’s however were not taking things lightly and delivered some crushing attacks on boards 1 and 4. The match turned in their favour as they added further victories on boards 7 & 8 where grade differences were the greatest. Two draws on the remaining boards by Lukasz Michalek and Dave Price were not enough to save us, with a final score of 3-5.

Opposition captain, Jim Wiseman, a chess friend from my days at Wallasey in the early 1990s put together the report below.

2020-08-18 MatchReport (1)

Item 2. Our AGM is being held at The Mals Club on Wednesday 26th August, starting at 7.30pm. Numbers are strictly limited to adhere to Social Distancing Rules due to Covid-19.

If you want any info on the AGM please contact club secretary David Hulme or any other Committee Member.

This afternoon Kobus secured the division 2 online Rapid-play Trophy, after sharing the points with Les Hall. The games were scheduled for the final Round No. 7 next week, but with excellent planning Kobus arranged to  complete his event today in advance as did Les.

Congratulations to Kobus, who secures the trophy with a score of 11.5/14. After today’s point Les is in second place with 9.5pts having played all possible 14. Lee Tilton is curently third with 9/12 and has one pairing left with Russell Smithers. The only other remaining pairing to complete the whole competition awaits the “Brothers Battle” between Ben and Nic Harrison, with Ben chasing a podium finish with a current score of 8/12.

With the two divisions progressing swiftly Kobus is making a charge for both trophies. In division 2, there are just three sets of pairings remaining with Kobus Nienaber in the lead from Lee Tilton and Les Hall. Kobus plays Les in their final games needing a single point to clinch the trophy, but if Les can take both points he will take the lead as Lee has to play his final games.

In division 1, all players have dropped some points. Junior Harry Gardiner leads the pack with 7/10, with Kobus in close pursuit on 6/10 and Rick Renegade on 6/12. Karl Lockett is handily placed in 4th position with 5.5/8, so it is wide open.

Full details of the RP results can be seen on the LMS.

In other news, we have another Lichess challenge with Atticus on Tuesday 18th, before Round 6 of the Rapid-plays on Wednesday and the new (2nd) season of 4NCL online starting Tuesday 25th the day before the club’s AGM on Wednesday 26th.