Category: News

Tonight saw the C team relinquish their fading hopes of winning the Division 4 title. After two recent defeats nothing less than a 4-0 win would end their outside chance. Visitors Alsager B provided stiff opposition as the match ended up in a 2-2 draw.  Simon Layhe returned to winning ways on bd 4, with Doug Barnett and Dave Price getting draws on boards 1 & 2 respectively. The C team have just one match left but trail leaders Cheddleton E by 3 pts.

The A team went to the top of the NSDCA Division 2 for the first time in the club’s short history following a win at Newcastle B tonight. First over the winning line was Chris Rhodes on board 5, with a draw soon following for David Hulme on bd 1. Success was assured as Neville Layhe forced home his advantage on board 4 just as Ola Titiloye did likewise on bd 3 to wrap up a good team performance.

The A team face Cheddleton B next month in what is likely to be the title decider with Chedd B currently two points behind us. They have a game in hand against Newcastle C which will be pivotal in determining which team will be leading the table before the decider.

The B team came home with tails between their legs on Monday night, where a whitewash was just avoided against Meir’s A team. A draw on bd 1 by Karl Lockett was all we had to show for our efforts. Even Simon Layhe’s 100% record came to an end as he suffered his first loss of the season. This leaves the B team in 6th place with a 50% record of 12 pts from 12 matches in Division 3 of the NSDCA.

Last night saw our D team play Cheddleton G, alongside the E team against Chedd H. The D team emerged with a 3.5-0.5 win as Chris Rhodes, Les Hall and Dylan Sayers all got a full point to add to Martin Gill’s draw. The win takes the D team up to 4th in the Division 5 table and the outside possibility of a late title challenge.

In the other match the E team put up a great fight against Chedd H but lost 1.5-2.5. There was a first win for newcomer Amy Lovatt on board 3, and a great individual effort from Richard Hind to get a draw against an opponent 79 grading points higher, which I can only assume is Richard’s best ever result !

In other news the club had one of its most successful nights with over 20 members attending including several juniors in coaching sessions and others playing in the club’s winter tournament where Karl Lockett beat David Hulme and Steve Ballantyne had a win.

Tuesday night saw our team travel up to Chester to take on the host’s C team for a 1st division relegation encounter. Chester C were one of three teams just 1/2 point ahead of us at the foot of the table. Early signs were positive as Olawale Titiloye smashed through an opponents weak castled King-side to give us an early lead and at this stage all Crewe players were in the ascendancy. The tide slowly turned as Chester’s higher grades started to shine through and one by one put our team to the sword to runaway with a 4-1 win. We have one match remaining against Hoylake 1 who confirmed their league winning status on Wednesday night after a draw with previous champions Penyffordd. We need a win to have any possibility of avoiding the drop and even that may not be enough as Wallasey 1 and Chester D still have games to play.

The C team suffered their worst defeat of the season last night playing against Fenton B. Going into the match the NSDCA Division 4 title was within their control, but following the big loss of 0.5 -3.5 now need a miracle to share top spot as leaders Cheddleton E have completed their season with 18 match pts and 33 game points, meaning the C team need to win both of their remaining matches by score of 4-0 as we trail Chedd E by 4 match pts and 8 game pts. To make it that much harder The C team face 3rd place Chedd F in their final match who will overtake our team if they get any pts from their game in hand. The only saving grace from last night was the whitewash was avoided when Dave Price salvaged a draw on board 2. Their next match is against Alsager B on 5th April.

The club had 4 players at this weekend’s Newcastle Mini Congress with Karl Lockett scoring 4 pts to win the U 160 section. Congratulations to Karl.

In the U130 section we had Dave Price and Doug Barnett, where Dave finished 3rd with 2.5 pts and details of Doug’s exploits are not yet known.

In the U100 section Les Hall finished 2nd with 3 pts.

Full details of the Congress will be published on Newcastle’s website in due course as well as the League’s NSDCA website.

Last night the C team hosted Cheddleton F in a NSDCA Division 4 match with both teams in pursuit of the title. Before the match the C team were 2 points behind leaders Cheddleton E with 3 games in hand and Cheddleton F trailed our C team by 2 points. Captain Dave Price on board 2 escaped with a draw when under pressure from Sandra Blackburn and top board Doug Barnett could not escape from an excellent mate set up by Roger Edwards after a piece sacrifice. Mike Williams lost on time when a pawn down against Caroline Mountford on board 3 and James Marshall fought on to win in a late finish on board 4.

Final Result Crewe C 1.5-2.5 Cheddleton F.

This result leaves both teams on 14 pts from 11 matches, behind Cheddleton E on 16pts from 13 matches. The champions should emerge from these 3 teams as we have to play Cheddleton F again in our last match of the season.

The B team made it 4 wins in a row last night by beating Cheddleton D 2.5-1.5. Wins on top board by Karl Lockett and bottom board Simon Layhe, keeping up his 100% record for the NSDCA season added to skipper Martin Gill’s draw to keep up the B team’s impressive run in 2017. If only ….. is the story of their season. This win takes them to 12 pts from 11 matches and still only occupy 6th place in the Division 3 table which is quite unusual for any team scoring more match points than games played.

The C team hosted Division 4 league leaders, Cheddleton E last night and were up against a team within 1 grading point of the maximum allowed. We got off to a cracking start when Simon Layhe won on board 4 to keep up his 100% record in the NSDCA this season. Soon after draws were agreed on boards 1 and 2 by Doug Barnett and Dave Price. Special mention should be made as Doug was playing a 165 grade opponent and was good value after a typical early piece sacrifice was later rewarded with extra material. James Marshall kept up his 50% record for the C team with a sound draw to ensure the team were victorious. This result leaves the C team on level match points with Ched E and with two matches in hand. We face Ched’s F team next for the first of two crucial matches against them, while they have a game in hand and trail our C team by 4 points.

The A team traveled to Newcastle last night to take on the hosts C team in a Division 2 match. First over the line was Neville Layhe on board 4 keeping up his top scoring efforts for the team. Olawale Titiloye continued his impressive run of results with another win as Karl Lockett and Chris Rhodes stumbled to defeats to leave David Hulme playing on top board against his 187 grade opponent. Having offered a draw on 3 occasions he was forced to play on and was fortunate to win an endgame despite having trailed by 3 pawns at one stage. The “A” team won 3-2 to go second in the table and only trail leaders Cheddleton B on game points who they play next week at the AMAL club.