News

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.

Last week 445 players went to the Scarborough Chess Congress; the Crewe CC contingent are pictured below. The picture was taken at the impressive Spa Complex, overlooking the Sun Court, with the North Sea in the backgound. The Sun Court’s chequered flooring could not have been better designed to make chess players feel at home. One feature I like about this weekender is that, depending on your luck, you might see the sea from your seat in the playing area. Best result was Jamie, who got 3.5 in the major.

Elsewhere, James Ratcliffe decided to take on a new tournament, the Coventry International Masters. He scored 4/9 in a field brimming with titled players. Not bad when you consider that he was outrated by 200+ points in most of his games!

A couple of weeks ago, some of our members ventured over the hills to Yorkshire, for the Leeds Congress. Guess what? Carmel only went and won the open section! Her recent victory in the Les Hall Memorial meant that she has won every open competition in our club, but this is her first win in a weekend congress open. I think, and unusally Mr Secretary agrees with me, that this is the first time any Crewe CC player has won an open. Well done Carmel; may it be the first of many.

When Bobby Fischer won the 1964 US Chess Cchampionsip with a score of 11/11 people were pretty impressed. A few years ago, a prize fund of $64000 was set up, to be awarded to the first player to repeat the feat of winning the championship with a 100% score. I thought it would be a good idea to offer £6.40 to anyone who wins the Crewe CC Open Championship with a 100% score. Harry was on 4/4, and looking good, but on Tuesday night he had to face Andy Raeburn. Andy is in great form and held Harry to a draw. Keep the day job Harry. £6.40 will be carried over to next year.

Phl Grocott continues his fast start in Division 3 of the Club Championship, and is now on 4/4. This year we have a 5^th (yup 5^th) division of the individual championship, which is currently being lead by one of our newer members, Barry Wood, on 4/5.

Chess players, like many athletes, can be a bit superstitious. Some players like to boost their chances of success by bringing a lucky pen to the board. Mario has taken this to the next level; he sticks to the same beautiful pen, but after losing on Tuesday he tells me he is going to change the ink, see picture below.

As is normal at this time of year we had a few league matches going in the main room. One match that caught my eye was Crewe E v Crewe F. There was an age gap of more than 70 years between Crewe E’s youngest and oldest player. The board 1 pairing was the battle of the 13 year olds, Oskar and Jamie, Jamie was on top for most of the game but blundered a rook in the blitz finish. We all know that feeling. Crewe F won the match.

Crewe D beat Newcastle, 4-0. It was not as easy as the result suggests though; Simon, top board for the D’s, had to defend patiently for hours until he got his breakthrough. A very young Crewe L lost 0-4 to Holmes Chapel C, but our juniors will only get better.

Late news; last night Crewe A scraped a draw against Alsager. It could have been worse, their clever team captain took them to the wrong venue. Message to captains; always read your emails.

A band of Crewe CC players are heading off to play in the fabulous Scarborough Chess Congress this weekend; we wish them well.

Stay tuned.

Bart has just returned from a holiday in Georgia. He happened to be in Batumi during the European Team Championships. He is pictured below; demonstrating the principle of over protection.

The sun keeps shining (metaphorically speaking) as the Club continues to grow. September has been an incredible month with attendances averaging 57 members per week, plus visiting teams ensuring the Caritas Centre has been packed out throughout the month.

Tuesday night (30th Sept) was another superb night as the Internal Summer competitions all reached their conclusion. Firstly looking at the Open Knockout final Richard Lee played Carmel Barwick and came through victorious, although reports from the analysis room afterwards told how Carmel could easily have won. The Major knockout final had already been played the previous week as 13 year old underdog Tommy Cooke defeated George Bulbeck. The Intermediate final saw Dave Roberts playing a recent arrival Simon Humphries, with Dave emerging as the winner.

It was also the final night of the Grand Prix Rapidplay which started in early July for members rated under 1300. The tournament has been a roaring success with 22 players taking part and 131 games played in total. The competition winner is the player with the highest percentage score, subject to playing a minimum of 10 games. 17 of the 22 met this requirement, with Jack Patullo achieving the highest score of 84.4% ahead of Lee Bebbington on 77.3%.

Congratulations to all the Summer Tournament winners – Richard, Tommy, Dave Roberts and Jack who will receive their trophies at next year’s AGM. All names have been added to the “Honours List” shown on the website under Members Page, which dates back to our first tournament held in May 2015 when Greg Willet won the inaugural Time and Point handicap.

Details of all the Summer Club tournaments have now been archived and can be seen in the “past seasons” tab on the Crewe Chess Club’s LMS pages.