News

Today has seen the publication of the latest ECF Monthly Ratings and incredibly we now have 134 Rated Players appearing, although we (only ?) have approx 81 current members. These new ratings are used in NSDCA League matches with immediate affect, while we still use September ratings for all Cup competitions.

As many of you will know I am a sad case for keeping meaningless stats and records about the club and having tracked our Ratings for a long time I can report we have more than doubled our Rating Numbers since we moved to St Mary’s (from 61 to 134).

Looking at some of the individual ratings, we have 3 members at or above 2000 with Richard Lee our highest at 2130, followed by Carmel Barwick @ 2046 and Harry Gardiner 2000.

Since the start of the season in September the biggest risers have been our improving juniors:

James Ratcliffe from 1849 to 1941, subject to amendment with current results from the Hastings Masters which should show a further jump of approx 20 pts by 31st December.

Tommy Cooke from 1526 to 1637, the biggest increase in any of our members. This is pretty amazing since Tommy only started playing in August 2024 !

Oskar Jarzynski’s rise may not be as much but shows a steady consistency having gone from 1779 to 1824. These three are all in the same school year group, togther with Jamie Roberts who is now rated 1787.

Just to show there is life in the old dog yet, yours truly has had the biggest increase in rating (from 1715 to 1770) of the club’s more mature members ! Others climbing the ratings include Simon Humphries +50; Mike Keenan + 42 and Dave Roberts +40.

Full details can be seen from our Members Tab:

a) The Players List

b) ECF Live Rating

Tuesday 30th December was supposed to be our final club night of 2025 but the dreaded lurgy struck with several key members feeling unwell and so Chairman Price jumped onto whatsapp to let everyone know we had to cancel at short notice. This may sound like a trivial matter, but when you have 80-odd members and not all being tech-savvy, plus a few more potential newbies, it becomes a major task to implement.

Part 1 of the news took a glance at the NSDCA league tables and this section concentrates on the Club Championship.

As regular readers will know the club continues to go (and grow) from strength to strength and this is highlighted by the Club’s internal tournaments. Up until Covid (March 2020) we had been running two divisions and as the membership increased on the resumption of OTB chess in late 2021 we extended to 3 divisions. In June 2023 we moved to our new modern home here at St Mary’s Caritas Centre and have benefitted from a surge in members. Having increased to four divisions for the 24/25 season we found it necessary to add a 5th division at the start of this season, and currently have 68 members taking part in battles for promotion and relegation.

Starting with division 5, this section is mainly for newcomers to competitive chess and includes 12 juniors amongst the 15 players. Of the 3 adults in this tourney Barrie Wood has been the standout performer racing into a big lead scoring 10/12 and only has two more games to play. There is a huge gap to 2nd place where juniors Noah Smith and Mayank Patil have 4 pts each having played half the number of games as the leader.

Division 4 (aimed at players rated 1000-1250) has 14 players, with 2 yet to start their campaigns. Two of our newer members are setting the pace here with Simon Humphries and Sam Ollier in the lead with 5 pts each from 7 and 6 games respectively. In 3rd place is Gerald Parton with 4.5/7. Sitting behind the leaders is 12 year old Jack Patullo who has dropped just one point from 4 games so far, and if he can win his games in hand would share the lead. With everyone still having at least 50% of their games to play it would be a fool who predicts the winner of this section (and who gains promotion to division 3.)

Division 3 (aimed at players rated 1250-1400) is another section brewing nicely with 1/3 of the games already played, but only has 12 players due to the withdrawal of two members unable to commit to the full schedule. Good friends Phil Grocott (5.5/6) and Steve Ballantyne (4/6) lead the field at the moment with Phil’s current performance rating 1685 some 350 pts above his ECF rating. Mal Green is likewise performing massively above his current ECF rating of 1198 by nearly 400 pts to sit in 3rd place with 3.5/4. It should be noted that Phil won division 3 back in 22/23, so is looking to boomerang back to division 2.

Division 2 has been the least active of the internal tournaments so far with just 17 games played. To be fair most of these players have had a heavy schedule of league fixtures. Despite all this senior member Neville Layhe shows great commitment by having already played 50% of the possible 12 games and leads the way with 3 pts. This division has been strengthened massively as four players were relegated from division 1 last term (three of them voluntarily). Julian Bulbeck has also managed to play 6 of his games, meaning Nev and Julian have played 11 of the 17 games to date ! Favourites to achieve promotion will be the highest rated players – Martin Frisher and Lukasz Michalek if they can get their games completed. Junior Tommy Cooke is improving rapidly and with 2.5/3 is likely to feature in the promotion race.

Finally, turning to division 1 – the winner of which is titled “Club Champion”. The defending champion Harry Gardiner has won the title 3 times in the last 4 years and appears to be as dominant as Man City have been with the Premier League over the last decade. Martin Burns has waxed lyrical previously about Harry’s staggering record and amazing performance ratings over the last two unbeaten seasons (scoring 21/23 !!) and it seems he is on course again already having built up a massive lead with 6.5/7 leaving the field in his wake. Can anyone stop Harry’s domination of the Club Championship ? Maybe Carmel Barwick could provide the challenge as the only other winner of the Club championship since Covid, but this seems unlikely as Carmel has only played one game so far due to league chess and work commitments, or maybe Kamil Zak (seeded 4th at the outset) could be the one to end Harry’s formidable unbeaten run – now extended to 32 games since losing to Julian Hawthorne in March 2023.

Good luck to everyone in the New Year

It’s that one night of the year when chess takes a back seat at the club when Chairman Dave is in his element hosting the Christmas party. Thanks to Dave for organising a buffet to quench the thirst and hunger of all 50 party-goers. The buffet was made all the better as Gee again baked some fantastic chess themed cakes. Suffice to say there was nothing left as the club was eventually emptied well after midnight, with some of our Polish members making the rush for Xmas Eve to celebrate in the tradition of their homeland.

The main event is the Chairman’s hilarious version of “Chase the Ace” as around 40 players were gathered around the long rectangular set of tables. With so many players Dave adapts the rules after the first few rounds to speed up the competition. As each player has 3 lives it could have taken as long as the 24 hour Le Mans Race to finish. Much to everyone’s confusion and laughter many lives were lost when Dave said anyone with a red card would lose a life under the guise of “red is dead”. Young William somehow emerged victorious as his mum generously donated an extra life or two (another pawn). Yound Oskar and Mayank were busily occupied playing a version of Monopoly where Mayfair did not exist, and you could pay £2m in rent for a particular property unlike the traditional maximum of £2000 for Mayfair ! I was too engrossed trying to save my lives to notice who won that one. For those that abstained from Chase the Ace there was a small splattering of chess and general chatting/socialising.

Around 8.45 Chairman Dave decided we could have a Blitz, which sent me in to overdrive setting up 4 teams of roughly 9 players each, with each team captained by one of the four top players involved – Richard, Carmel, Kamil and Gee. Harry was unfortunately unable to attend in person due to Covid, but still joined us in the virtual world of Chase the Ace before getting a prime spectators view via our Club TV/screen/computer for the Team Blitz.

Over 100 games were played with Gee’s team victorious P3 W2 D1, ahead of Richard’s team P3 W1 D2. There were some fantastic individual performances with 3 players scoring a perfect 6/6. As expected some of our younger members really excelled in these shortened games with 14 y/o Tommy Cooke and 7 y/o Arlo Hurst achieving perfect scores (of 6/6). Not to be outdone Steve Duncan (often unable to attend due to 4am shift work) also scored a perfect 6/6. What made the event so enjoyable was to see a number of our visitors joining in the competition from the start, and some stepping in to play when others had to leave before the conclusion. Special thanks go to David and Sophie Ratcliffe, along with Jo Estridge and Hamanu Patil, as well as several parents who waited patiently to allow their children to stay to to the end.

The party went on until the early hours with games of “Hand and Brain” as well as the everpopular “Bughouse”.

Thanks to all members and visitors who made it such an enjoyable evening and wishing everyone a merry xmas etc.

Despite December’s schedule finishing for us on the 16th, we still managed to play 15 matches, with only our D and G teams missing out in the league.

Starting the review with the top flight Crewe “A” are top of the pops with 7 pts from 7 matches. This is of course rather misleading as Alsager “A” are shown in 2nd place having got 7 pts from just 4 matches. Oddly enough I can guarantee that Crewe “A” will remain top of the league for at least 6 more weeks as January only sees two fixtures. By which time it is very likely that Holmes Chapel “A” will become the 4th team on 7pts to join Macclesfield’s strong revival and join the fight to be NSDCA champions. Defending champions Crewe “B” have not hit the dizzy heights this time around (3 pts from 6 matches) and are currently one place above the wooden spoon. Newcomers Northwich face a tough schedule at the start of 2026 playing the three contenders (Alsager, Holmes Chapel and Macclesfield). Crewe “C” have 4 pts from 6 games and hope to avoid relegation.

Division 2’s table shows a firecely competitive scrap to be top dog with six of the seven teams in with a serious chance of taking the trophy. Crewe “F” have exceeded expectations to lead the way with 8 pts from 6 games, in a section where every team has dropped at least two points. The inclusion in their squad of two first division captains has boosted their chances but would create problems if gaining promotion. Crewe D ( 7pts from 5) had made a promising start to the season but were soundly beaten by 6th place Alsager B last time out showing how tough the division is. 3rd place Cheddleton “A” (6 pts from 4) are probable favourites as they can field a team rated well over 7000 when at full strength, but have a tough run in with three trips to Crewe in their last 4 games of the season. Crewe “E” have 6 pts from 6 (W2, D2, L2) and should remain mid table. Stafford down in 5th place (5pts from 4) will have a big say in final placings, tend to enjoy home advantage with a squad amply capable of beating any other team in the division. Alsager B (4 pts from 5) showed their ability by beating then league leaders Crewe D but have not been consistent, but on their day are a hand full. Newcastle are yet to notch up their first points but have recently been reinforced by a returning player who is the 3rd highest rated in the whole league !

Division 3 shows Holmes Chapel “B” (10pts) in a commanding position, as the only team with a 100% record throughout the league. Next up they face their nearest rivals – Cheddleton B (9 pts from 6)- which will probably be their toughest match. With all other teams (than the top two) having dropped at least 4 pts it’s hard to see any other winners than Holmes Chapel. Bare in mind they have struggled in division two in recent seasons it’s good to see their top two teams unbeaten so far and challenging for honours. Alsager C (8 pts from 6) are performing well, above Crewe G and Gables “A”. Kidsgrove “A” have elected to put themselves in a higher division this season and have 5 pts in the bag already, giving them a safety cushion over Crewe H and Alsager D who have the same 1 pt from 6 matches.

Division 4 looks to be closely contested too, with 3 pts separating the top 5 places. Cheddleton C have dropped the least number of points so far to lead the table with 9 pts from 6, ahead of Gables B and Crewe I who both have 8 from 7. Mid table sees Crewe J with the unlikely record of no wins or losses after 7 matches. A further draw may see this team with an NSDCA record of most drawn matches in a season, as I am struggling to find evidence from the archives with any team drawing more than 7 in one season. Kidsgrove B appear relativly safe on 6 pts, with Fenton and Alsager E on 3 pts.

Division 5 sees Meir setting the pace with 13 pts from 7 matches. Chedd’s D team though are still within striking distance with two games in hand sitting on 9 pts. Holmes Chapel C are a welcome addition this season, as Gables juniors continue to improve and Crewe now have an all junior team in the shape of Crewe L.

In the Cup competitions two matches were played during December with Crewe progressing to the semi-finals in the Major and Meir making it through to the quarters in the Perry Cup. Most pleasing is the fact that 209 players have participated in the NSDCA so far this season, a significant increase from recent seasons.

Part 2 – Crewe’s Club Championship & Internal News Report will follow after the final club night of the year on 30th December.

Finally to wish all our readers (and passers by) a merry christmas and a prosperous new year

Richard Lee inflicted another training session on us on 25 November. I was going to publish one of the positions we were discussing, but I have been sworn to secrecy. I will say that Richard’s main theme was to demostrate 3 questions which any chess players should be asking when deciding what to do next. I will reveal one of the questions; you should always ask yourself “what is the weakest piece?” There, sorry, I was outvoted; not saying anything else about it. Well OK, I will say that it was an enjoyable and instructive evening and we look forward to the next one. Thanks again Richard.

You know how there are loads of books and videos out there devoted to endgame “studies”; as in made up positions designed to entertain and instruct? And you know that there is a subset of the genre, featuring cool stalemates? These studies are fun to look at, but you might think that they are just for fun, and they never really happen in real games. Well. I was facing Dave “Dastardly” Lambton last night. I had survived the opening and felt that I was getting somewhere. Then Dave blundered. He had a choice of losing the exchange for nothing, or losing a full piece but with a few crumbs of counterplay. He went for the latter. Anyway, the game moved on and I was cleaning up. Dave had seen way ahead though, and was planning a cunning stalemate. He knew that if his king could not move, if he got rid of any pawn that could move, he would have a trap. As I strolled right into it spectators began to scuttle off into the foyer to release their supressed guffaws. I saw, too late, the picture below: Dave and the world laughing at me. Imagine waking up in the darkness to the image below.

To make things worse Crewe B beat Crewe A in the match. Harry and Carmel drew in 13 moves (eh?). In contrast Lukasz and Martin F, 2 of the most adventurous players in the club, played an expectedly wild game, with Lukasz winning. Gee beat Jamie on board 2.

Crewe G beat visitors Kidsgrove. Mario’s draw meant that his lucky ink is still working well. Neville’s win decided the match in favour of Crewe.

Hero of the Day Award goes to Dave Hulme. Phil Grocott had car trouble, which meant that Crewe I were going to struggle to get to Fenton. Dave Hulme stepped in a the last minute, and volunteered to drive them all there. Crewe won that match with Dave watching on. Thanks Dave.

Steve Ballantyne had a rough time towards the end of last year and the start of this, recovering from serious illness. We are all delighted to see him back as a regular at the club, and as a team captain. He wanted me to mention that he had gone 3 months without losing a game; August to October. Unfortunately, by the time I post this that run is over, but well done Steve, and even more well done for keeping away from the smokes.

Christmas is coming, and Dave the Chair is planning the usual Christmas do. Stay tuned for details.

As noted in part 1 of this month’s news the club continues to grow, and now has 25 junior members amongst the current list shown on the Website. Last week’s Staffordshire junior congress highlighted the great achievements of some of our juniors as reported by chairman Dave.

On Tuesday 25th Richard Lee hosted the 2nd of his popular coaching sessions aimed at our leading players. From all accounts this was a resounding success, but obviously outside the bounds of your writer, who slips down the club’s batting order. It is incredible to note that I was once playing top board for the club and now appear at No. 19 in league rating order.

The Club Championship provides opportunity for all members to compete against each other with 5 divisions and 67 members involved. Harry Gardiner is chasing a hat-trick of being Club Champion and has made another brilliant start to the campaign with 6.5/7. Only a fool would bet against him retaining the trophy.

Division 2 has only seen a small number of games played so far but the strength of the competion has gone up siginifcantly from last season with 5 players rated 1600-1700 and one over 1800. Included in this section is 14 year old Tommy Cooke who is unbeaten in 13 games since 1st July.

Division 3 has seen a lot of activity with Phil Grocott beating all in his path so far with a commanding 5/5, for an event rating of 1752 to date, which is over 400 pts more than his league rating !

Gerald Parton currently leads the Div 4 competition with 3.5/4, but it would be premature to try and predict the eventual winner.

Division 5 has 14 members involved with recent newcomer Barrie Wood running away with 7/8. This section has 12 juniors including our two youngest members -Jasper Ludlow aged just 6 and Arlo Hurst age 7 who played each other last week.

In conclusion November has been another amazing month seeing the membership reach new record numbers. The club played a record number of league matches including one night with 5 home matches and an average attendance of 49 members per night excluding visiting teams and non-playing parents and guardians etc.

We have just played our final match of November to conclude our busiest ever month – playing 22 NSDCA matches and recording a 50% success rate, with 8 wins, 4 draws, 8 losses and 2 derbies.

After collecting 7 of the 9 NSDCA trophies last season, it is looking like we could be empty handed this season based on the current league tables.

While the club continues to grow, now with over 80 members, it is great to see increased competition from the other clubs who will all be trying to stop the biggest club walking off with all the trophies again. It is looking likely that many clubs will feature in the 2025/26 NSDCA Honours Board.

In division 1, Alsager “A” and Holmes Chapel “A” appear to be the strongest teams, while Macclesfield are having a super season after being promoted. The three Crewe teams are having a tough time, with defending champions Crewe B surprisingly involved in the wooden spoon contest. Newcomers Northwich pitched themselves into the top flight mainly to avoid excessive travel, bring some fresh blood into the league.

Division 2 is likely to be very keenly contested with Cheddleton A probably the favourites, along with Stafford currently unbeaten. Crewe’s three teams continue to knock spots off each other while Alsager “B” look very comfortable. Newcastle voluntarily took promotion from div 3 last season and have found it hard going so far after five games, but with the arrival of a new top board – rated over 2000 – are likely to climb the table soon.

Division 3 looks like being a one horsed race with Holmes Chapel B head and shoulders above the rest. Their team is rated as highly as all teams in Div 2 and appear to be heading back there after being relegated last season. Crewe H and Alsager D have been cut off at the bottom of the table and their early December clash has been postponed due to 6 Crewe H players being unavailable, which seems to defy logic for a club boasting 80 members.

Division 4 is the hardest section to call as the top five teams are sepated by just one point. Gables B, Kidsgrove B and Crewe I currently have identical records of 6 pts from 5 matches, while Crewe J have the incredible score of 6 pts from 6 games having drawn all 6 !. The team currently 5th – Cheddleton C – could jump to the top of the table if they win on Monday against joint leaders Gables B, while any other result puts the Gables on top of the pile. Great credit must go to Chris Hankey for his development of the Gables Junior Club, who could well be heading to great success in the not too distant future.

Division 5 appears to be a two horsed race, with Meir holding the aces with a perfect start to the season with 5 wins and Cheddleton D tucked in just behind on 9pts from 5 matches and unbeaten too. It is wonderful to see all 5 divisions with at least 7 teams providing a much better balance of fxtures than recent seasons.

There has only been one match played in the knockout competitions so far with Crewe Perry 1 sneaking through against Gables Perry 1, while Cheddleton have progressed from the 1st round following Fenton having to concede.

8 Crewe Juniors took part and proudly represent Crewe Chess Club today

They were very successful

 James Ratcliffe finished 2nd with 5/6 in the U16+U18 section

Jamie and Oskar shared first place with 5.5/6 in the Under 14 section

Jack Patullo joint first with 5.5/6 in the Under 12 section

Arlo Hurst joint first place with 5.5/6 in the under 8+9 Section

Other Crewe players JJ under 14 section, Adam and Dexter under 11 section

Full results for all sections

U16+U18, U14, U12, U11, U10, U8+U9

Hopefully more photos to follow

Trust it to happen on the Club’s busiest ever match night as five visiting teams fought the elements and battled through police cordons to get to the club.

Many thanks to all the teams that attended tonight and managed to field full line ups despite the horrible weather and disruption which prevented many Crewe members from arriving.

Despite all the obstacles thrown at us, it was a night to be proud of Crewe Chess Club and the NSDCA. A brief summary of match results showed

Div 1 – Crewe C beat Northwich 2.5-1.5

Div 3 – Crewe G beat Alsager D and Alsager C beat Crewe H by the same score as above

Div 4 – Crewe J drew with Cheddleton C to make it 5/5 draws !

Perry Cup – Crewe Perry 1 scraped through against a very young Gables 1 Perry team – same 2.5-1.5 score line.

Thanks to all of our visitors for contributing towards a superb night at Crewe Chess Club.

Full details of all results can be seen from our “fixtures tab” and the NSDCA LMS (North Staffs & District Chess Association League Management System).

Playing against Alsager should never be taken lightly, as it is not wise to lower your guard when confronting a strong opponent.
Last Tuesday we lived up to this principle and secured three draws and one win, which resulted in a team victory. At first sight, this might sound just average, but once you realise that the opponent team’s rating was 400 points higher than ours, a draw counts as a victory and, in this case, it did so literally.
As for myself, I seem to be regaining some wisdom in managing time… or, to say it in a different way, this season, when time is running out, it happens when I am in a stronger negotiating position than my opponent, which is an encouraging improvement from last season… this is the ultimate proof that Martin was right to suggest a purple ink on my lucky pen.