News

It’s been over two months since we reported on the club championship. At that time Harry Gardiner was on the brink and duly completed the formalities shortly afterwards, to finish the tournament with another astonishing unbeaten record scoring 10.5/12, to hit an event rating of 2183, eclipsing his previous championship rating of 2157 from last season when unbeaten again with 11/12. It is now over three years since Harry lost a Club Championship game (against Jules Hawthorne on 15th March 2023). Congratulations again to Harry !!
Meanwhile there is a scrap to avoid relegation at the other end of division 1, where pre-season top seed Lee Farrington has only scraped 1/2 point so far. All is not lost though as Karl Lockett is equally in the mire with just one point. With Carmel withdrawing from the event her game scores will be removed from the final placings. With just a few weeks to go before deadline day of 31st May, Oskar Jarzynski (3pts) and David Hulme (3.5 pts) will be praying they are safe from the “dreaded drop”.

Division 2 appears to be heading for a dramatic climax at both ends of the table. Interestingly Kumar Saravanan still leads the way with 5.5 pts despite having left the club after his last game on 17th February. Tommy Cooke is currently in 2nd place with 5/7, and has more than justified his promotion from division 4 last season. Tommy’s rapid rise is very impressive when you consider he only played his first serious game approx 18 months ago. Julian Bulbeck is also on 5 pts but has played 11 games. Next up for Tommy is a game with closest rival Martin Frisher 4/7, who was probably the pre-season favourite based on ratings. With so many strong players in division 2 this year it is a tough call to predict who will win promotion to the top division. At the bottom end of the table we have three players with just 1/2 point each as newcomer John Astley struggles to regain his previous levels after a 5 year break. Chairman Dave meanwhile juggles with looking after the popular social room, and a last minute entrant (Tom Lee) has been thrown into the mix but he will be exempt from relegation as only just joined the club as another new member.

Division 3 looks to be a two way battle for promotion with long time leader Phil Grocott keeping his nose in front with 8/11. In second place is Mario Scarpa on 7.5 pts with a game in hand. Steve Ballantyne has completed his campaign with a pleasing tally of 7.5 pts. The picture is muddled due to the arrival of another new player – 16 year old Jude Canvin-Ross who has scored 6/8 so far. Due to his current rating of 1639P, being approx 200 pts ahead of the intended maximum for this division, the Events Officer has had to own up to this mistake and advise Jude that he will not be allowed to win the Div 3 trophy, but will be promoted to Division 2 automatically at the end of this season. This division is very closely contested and the relegation scrap is crammed with potential candidates for the drop with 8 members currently unsafe. Peter Kanalos’s scores will be removed from the final reckoning as only played two games, which leaves Steve Knott (1.5), Steve Duncan & Lewis Scott (2), Alan Lowe-Jones (2.5), Wallace Hung & Mike Keenan (3); Keith Dudeney (3.5) all in the danger zone.

Moving on to Division 4, Simon Humphries currently leads the pack with 9/12 with a 1.5 pt gap to Sam Ollier who has 3 games in hand and is probable favourite to win the section. Gerald Parton and youngster Jack Patullo occupy joint 3rd with 7/11 each and will both be considered for voluntary promotion at the end of the season. Following the withdrawals of Lee Bebbington and Dylan Lettley, this leaves four players currently in the drop zone. Matthew Dean looks to be in greatest danger with 1/9, while Ian Wright has 1.5 pts and son Mark has 2 pts but have only played four games each. Evan Hughes is probably just about safe with 2.5 pts.

Last but not least, we look at our newest addition to the Club Championship where the growth of our membership caused us to set up a new division – No. 5 which has the biggest number of players with 16, compared to 14 in each other. This section is full of newcomers to competitive chess and includes 12 juniors. For many months it was one of the quartet of adults that appeared set to win this trophy as Barrie Wood notched up an impressive 11 pts playing all 15 games like a sprinter off the blocks. Slowly but surely the rapidly improving juniors have started to put together some strong runs and now occupy 3 of the top 4 places. Most notable of all has been 10 year old Mayank Patil who lost 2 of his first 3 games, but since 1st November has gone on an incredible run of 11 straight wins to jump into the lead with 12 pts. With one game remaining another win would guarantee 1st place. Barrie is now in second place, and followed by Andrew Caccamo-Turner with 8/11, who returned to the club after a 12 month break and has made solid progress. Adi Kostic is fourth on 7/10. If Mayank slips up in his last game it is possible for both Andrew and Adi to draw level. Another member still in the frame is Jo Estridge, after a late start in the competition has played soundly to score 5.5/8 to date.
Most pleasing of all, is the commitment of all players in division 5 to make this section by far the busiest as 83 games have already been played, which is almost twice as many games as division 2.

In a nutshell, the Club Championship provides members the opportunity to play competitive chess and is the cornerstone of the growth and success of our club. Thanks to all 73 members who have joined in this season and that excludes numerous others who were too late to join in or simply prefer to play social chess for fun.

A reminder to everyone, that all divisions have the same deadline of 31st May to complete the games. We will be running our annual 6-round Swiss Rapidplay (3 or 4 sections TBA) on June 2nd, 9th and 16th. After that I will be taking a summer break, and Harry Gardiner will be running the annual Summer knockouts.

Apologies for the late March report, but I didn’t want to overshadow our expert reporter Martin Burns, who manages to make everything far more interesting than the secretary’s news items.

During the month we played another 21 matches suffering only 4 losses, and on the last night of the month we had 3 home matches and had an unbelievable set of results scoring 10.5 pts from 12 boards without losing a single board. This was incredible when you check out the teams as we were outrated in 10 of the 12 games with a deficit in rating of around 1100 pts. The biggest (and best) surprise of the night was to see Alan Lowe-Jones (member of Dad’s Army I team) defeat Fenton’s board 1 despite being lower rated by 477 pts. This must rank as one of the greatest ever wins by a Crewe Under dog !! Most of you will not be aware that Captain Steve Ballantyne (aka Captain Mannering) was expecting his team to be thrashed in the last vital two league matches, but should not have panicked with his trusty soldiers bringing home the first trophy of the season to clinch NSDCA division 4 in style, finishing off with a resounding 3.5-0.5 win over Fenton.

The other brilliant team results that night included a 4-0 whitewash by our G team over title contenders Cheddleton B in div 3. Super Mario’s charges have had a superb run of results since the new year to climb up the league table to second place and become the only team to defeat runaway leaders Holmes Chapel B. The rapid rise in youngster Tommy Cooke’s rating justifies his elevation to board 1 in the team.

Not to be outdone our K team put a major obstacle in the race for the division 5 winners, as they beat favourites Holmes Chapel C 3-1. To be fair the team was boosted by a cameo appearance on board 1 by Cardiff University bound George Bowkett to enable the team to move to mid table safety completing the campaign with a most respectable tally of 12 pts from 12 matches. The top of div 5 is hotly contested and will be decided tomorrow when Crewe’s junior L team play Cheddleton D in Leek. A win for Chedd gives them the trophy and any other result means Meir win as Holmes Chapel C slid out of contention following their 2-2 draw with Meir last night.

Taking a brief look at the NSDCA tables, Alsager “A” just need one point from 3 remaining matches to become League Champions. Division 2 is a three-way fight with Crewe F as favorites on 13 pts from 9 matches, just behind Crewe D 15 pts from 11; and 3rd place Stafford on 11 pts from 9. As Stafford play both teams above them next month, they control the destiny of where the title ends up.

In div 3 Holmes Chapel B (20pts) are almost certain to take the title as only Chedd’s B team can mathematically catch them as they have 5 matches to play inlcuding two head to heads with the leaders. Crewe G seem likely to finish as runners up but could end up 3rd if Chedd can beat the leaders twice.

The knockouts are nearing conclusions now with Macclesfield hosting Crewe in the Open Final; Alsager hosting Stafford in the Major final; Alsager at home to Crewe in the Inter final. Meanwhile the Perry Trophy has Cheddleton at home in the final against the winners of Crewe Perry 1 and Gables Perry 3 in the remaining semi.

Looking back at The Staffs Congress Report by Martin we had another winner with James Ratcliffe receiving the trophy as Staffs County U21 champion.

Also in the prize money was Keith Dudeney who excelled in the U1550 section. Starting as 34th seed out of 47, rated 1312 he performed superbly having scored an unbeaten 3 pts in the first 4 rounds before coming unstuck in the final round to finish on 3pts. The Chess Results Server showed Keith’s performance rating as 1594, as he proudly claimed his first congress prize in over 50 years. Well done Keith !
https://s2.chess-results.com/tnr1377426.aspx?lan=1&art=9&fed=ENG&flag=30&snr=34&SNode=S0

Hopefully, soon we will be taking a look at the Club Championship as we approach deadline day of 31st May. And to give advance notice to all members that the 2025/26 Swiss Rapidplay (6 rounds) will be played over 3 nights on June 2nd, 9th and 16th before I take a summer break.

Might as well get the bad bit out of the way. Last Tuesday Alsager came to St Mary’s for the return league match against Crewe A. That’s not the bad bit, always a pleasure to see them and so on; no, the bad bit was they beat us 3-1. Alsager are now pretty much sure of winning the league this year, barring some weird change of the rules or something. Congratulations to them in anticipation.

Now for the good and the tasty. The Staffordshire Congress came around again last weekend. Last year the event was held in the beautiful King’s Hall in Stoke, where you may recall, if you looked up from the horrible position on your board you could lose yourself in the ornate ceiling. You may also remember that Jonathan Blackburn won the County Championship with a reasonable score of 5/5. This year the event moved on to Kidsgrove, at the charming Victoria Hall, built in 1898 and still looking pretty good. I don’t think I have ever been to Kidsgrove before, and as I wandered around in search of food at Saturday dinnertime I found something I had never seen before; an oatcake shop. It was ace; they offer all sorts of fried/non-fried stuff in an oatcake. Prices were a pleasant surprise too. Bacon and cheese seems to be the big seller and the traditional combo. I went for a fried egg and hash brown, lovely. Locals and chess players were queueing out the door for the stuff.

The addicts at Crewe Chess Club were really up for this tournament; Mr Secretary tells me, that of the total of 93 players, 18 were from our club. This number does not include Dave Price , who was doing an excellent job on the arbiter team. Three sections, decent prizes and a comfortable venue had lured us in, if we needed any luring.

In the Standard Section we had the highest rated player, Nigel Gardner. He scored a decent 4/5 to take a share of second, and seemed fairly happy with that. In the “Higher” Section we were all over it. Again the highest rated player was from Crewe CC, the fast improving Jamie Roberts. Jamie started of with a frustrating draw and then had to chase down the leaders, and what leaders! In the third round the top board featured our own Dave Hulme and Karl Lockett. Dave played well and won a pretty convincing game. In spite of having endured an exhausting Saturday night looking after noisy grandchildren, Dave clung on to the lead and finished with 4/5. Jamie managed to catch him to join the three-way tie. I should mention, so I will, that Jamie has now won the last three weekend tournaments he has played in, and you can watch him next week at the Welsh Championship in Cardiff.

We also had four players in the open. James Ratcliffe looked like he was going to get the better of Mr Blackburn again, having beaten him in our recent cup match, but in a topsy-turvy game in the first round, he was unlucky to lose. There were a few Crewe V Crewe clashes in this section, and Harry Gardiner came out as our top scorer with 2.5/5. The winner and Staffordshire Champion, with a score of 5/5, was Jonathan Blackburn; does that sound familiar? Well done to him, and lets hope he does well in Cardiff alongside Jamie.

Super Mario drove Dad’s Army to St Andrews Methodist Church in Cheddleton last night. Expert planning by Captain Ballantyne ensured the team arrived early and ready for battle. Unusually so, that the match started shortly after 7.30pm as four teams converged in the warmth of the playing room, with our I team playing a “winner takes all” match vs Cheddleton C in div 4, and the hosts D team played Meir in a top of the table Div 5 fixture.

The journey to Chedd was quite lively as the fearsome four carried the club secretary along to witness events and as you know he is never quiet ! There were one or two raised eyebrows when the team lists were exchanged and their expected board 1 was not named. The assumed deficit of around 200 rating points did not arise and we were pleasantly surprised to find out we were about 170 pts higher, which is really nothing with the 4 digit system and when taken over 4 boards.

Early skirmishes showed everything to play for as Steve Ballantyne took the upper hand on board 1, Mario prepared for a lively encounter on bd 2, Phil set up a basic stonewall on board 3, and Keith had the unsettling task of playing one of the vastly improving juniors. After 15 mins or so, the secretary disappeared down the hall to have a chat with Robert Milner the NSDCA Honorary President to learn about the history of the league from 1947 !

On returning to the match room things were moving at a fast pace. Steve B had the full initiative after two knights ganged up on his opponent to emerge an exchange and a pawn up after only 15 moves. Mario on board 2, was a pawn down with two Rooks, a Knight & 5 pawns vs 2Rs, a bishop and 6 pawns, but had great compensation with the more active centralized rooks while the opponent had isolated doubled pawns on the c file and on the f file too, which would become sitting ducks. Phil on board 3 had fallen into a nasty position and soon lost his Queen for a minor piece. While Keith was a piece up for two pawns but under some pressure from various pins.

Suddenly results flooded in as Keith converted his piece advantage with some accurate attacking, cutting off the King’s escape in the centre of the board, and with precision guided his Rook and Queen down the e-file with calm co-ordination to deliver mate with the King marooned on d2. Next Mario’s activity found a brilliant mating attack, forcing the opponents King to shuttle from f1 to g3, trapped by the doubled f-pawns. The powerful back rank rook swooped over to g1, and with the N beautifully placed covering the f4 square, and a pawn on g5 covering h4, the king had nowhere to run with his own pawn on h3. So it was 2-0 to the Incredibles and before Mario’s ink had dried courtesy of his “lucky pen” (see News item 24.10.25), skipper Steve had offered his opponent a draw. Such was Steve’s dominant position the player could not believe his luck and gratefully snatched the draw offer, as Steve immediately punched the air in delight, with the knowledge his team had won the match and a most unexpected league title.

Typical of Steve’s self sacrificing personal gain for the benefit of the team, he secured the title within about 5 seconds of Mario’s result.

It was a swift journey home as early celebrations took place at The Woodside Pub in Wistaston.

Congratulations to Steve and the Super Incredible Dad’s Army team.

Crewe CC continues to grow, and readers of this stuff will know that this year we have entered two teams into the NSCDA Open Cup. On Thursday the Cup B team had an away trip to face the mighty Alsager . You remember the last time I went to Alsager; we went to the wrong venue? Anyway this time we got to the Thirteen Club in good time. We headed for the usual room, and then I had a moment of panic; there were no chess sets to be seen, the lighting was down low, and a stage was being kitted out with musical instruments. Surely not; had I done it again? My panic was over when a genial chap came over and asked “chess or jazz?” When I declared the purpose of our visit he pointed us to a back room. Phew!

Quick observers quickly observed that Alsager were missing a few of their players, but they still looked pretty decent over the 6 boards. I settled down against Alan, my usual foe whenever we play Alsager, and I slipped into my usual opening difficulties. Then the band started up. Maybe twenty five years ago I was coerced into going to a jazz club in London, and I recall that every time a musician completed a complicated solo routine there was a ripple of applause from the audience; I also recall that the drink prices were very ambitious. The jazz experts at Thirteen Club behaved in the same manner as on that evening from long ago, but the bar prices were more reasonable than in London. I was enjoying myself, in spite of my troubles against Alan.

Anyway, after a bit I went for a shufty at the other boards; we were all seated individually around the edge of the room, with a snooker table in the middle. The games were all looking pretty even, but when I got to Jamie’s board I nearly had to do a double take; Jamie, playing the experienced Tim, seemed to be all in for a mating attack after about 10 moves. The game finished shortly after and we were 1-0 up.

I had dropped a pawn but was in a decent position, and Alan offered me a draw. I thought about it for a bit but then decided, safety first, and I accepted. Next game to finish was Oskar, who I thought was doing well, so it was a surprise when he told me he had lost; 1.5-1.5.

Other boards were looking decent enough, but something was brewing on board one. Young James, who is improving fast, was having a lively game against Jonathan, who is by far the best player in the league. James was an exchange down but his bishop pair was looking more than enough compensation, and he had a big time advantage. Jonathan was trying to make things awkward, but the crowds started nudging each other, as an upset looked more and more likely. I have to say that James tidied up very nicely and was two bishops for a rook up when his opponent resigned. A fantastic result for James, I think his best ever, and pretty handy for the Crewe team.

When Andy agreed a draw with Isaac it meant we were guaranteed a surprise match win. Gee was a pawn down in an ending, and John gradually ground out the win, to make the match score 3-3, but we had won on board count.

It was great to see that Alsager CC seems to be thriving and has found a pleasant second home; there were even people playing chess in the bar area. Thanks also to the excellent jazz band, I have played in all sorts of venues, with all sorts of background noise, but this was pretty good.

There is a strange twist to this tale. I got home and the jungle drums had been beating already. I had a few messages congratulating us; our Cup A team were especially chuffed, as they were a bit wary of having to play Alsager. Then a message came in; we had been penalised one point for fielding a team in an “incorrect” board order. Unusually for me I had actually read the rules and we played our team in playing strength acording to the published rules on the NSDCA website. There has been some hot debate since, and the situation is yet to be resolved. We have the ridiculous situation where the records show Alsager won the match 3-2, but Crewe are through to the next round! I will leave it there, but if you see me in a corner going on with myself, feel free to tell me to shut up.

Stay tuned.

This was a closely fought match against Alsager C. Douglas drew first blood with a win on board 3. Nev followed shortly afterwards with a draw on board 1.

I held a clear advantage on board 4 until a blunder turned the game around and led to my defeat. That left the score at 1½– 1½, with everything depending on Pawel’s game on board 2.

Pawel had built a very solid position with plenty of trumps up his sleeve, but he was desperately short of time. When his clock dropped below 30 seconds, he found some excellent moves to improve his position still further. His opponent, feeling completely stuck, offered a draw, which Pawel accepted (with just 1 second remaining on his clock!).

This hard-earned draw saved us from defeat and secured a 2 – 2 team result. Overall, a tense but satisfying draw against strong opposition.

It’s time for my monthly report again as February finished just yesterday. As usual I will report on the League first and then the Internal Competitions. Despite it being the shortest month of the year we managed to play 23 matches in the NSDCA, winning a superb 15 out of 21 external matches with 2 draws and just 4 defeats. Two derbies also took place, with the G team beating the H team in div 3 and F beating D to go into pole position in div 2.
We’ve recently had two heavenly reports from captains of our A & G teams, but there is so much more to sing about as our D team now lead div 2 (temporarily), and the Incredibles (I team) lead div 4.

It seems there is no stopping Alsager “A” running away with the division 1 title. All of the potential challengers have beaten up each other to leave Alsager almost home and dry. So far Alsager have only dropped one point against our “A” team, while all others have dropped at least 7 pts. With 4 of Alsager’s last 5 matches against Crewe teams, we will have to see if we can possibly derail their title aspirations. Hopefully all of our three teams can avoid relegation, with the C team in greatest danger but should be good enough to stay ahead of the league’s new arrivals – Northwich.

Division 2 currently shows Crewe D at the top, but our F team are probably favourites following their recent crucial “derby success” against the D team. On a run of 5 successive wins the F team have two games in hand on the league leaders and trail by just one point. This division is so competitive that even 6th placed Cheddleton “A” (7 pts adrift, 3 games in hand) could win promotion if other results went in their favour and they won all remaining games. Stafford also have two games in hand on the leaders trailing by two points and with matches to play against the top two have it in their own hands as well. Crewe “E” sit comfortably in midtable and potentially have the easiest run in with four games to play against the bottom three.

Division 3, shows the G team gloriously in pole position for now under the enthusiastic leadership of Super Mario. Recently they extinguished the only 100% record accross all five divisions when beating then league leaders Holmes Chapel “B” with an excellent performance. However as Mario reported it is only a temporary state of affairs as the lead is only one point and Holmes Chapel have three games in hand. That surprise result has opened the door to a challenge from Cheddleton B, with these two to play each other twice yet. Our other team in div 3, Crewe H face a relegation battle which is unsurprising following last season’s promotion from div 4. A run of two wins from three games since the turn of the year has given the team hope of survival. Now with 5 pts from 9 matches, they face a tough run in, but have two matches to play against Alsager D who also have 5 from 9. Kidsgrove “A” will be watching nervously with 6 pts from 10 as these three battle it out to avoid relegation.

Looking at division 4, The Incredibles (I team) have performed heroics to give themselves an outstanding chance to win an unlikely promotion. Led from the front by skipper Steve Ballantyne the team continues to punch above its weight. With two matches remaining it is now a two horse race between Crewe I and Cheddleton C, with our Incredibles one point ahead. Both teams have played 10 matches and have it in their own hands to secure the Div 4 trophy with the potential title decider on Friday 20th March at Cheddleton. This week Chedd C play Gables B and will leapfrog the I team with any win, but a draw leaves Crewe I ahead on matches won !! Meanwhile the draw specialists (J team) netted a further 3 pts from 3 matches in Feb, suffering their first defeat of the season at Kidsgrove (B), before winning at the 10th attempt. Normal service was resumed in match 11 with their 9th draw of the season and they conclude the season at home on 10th March facing a rejuvenated Fenton team strengthened by the return of Steve Hill (rated 1798 !!).

Our two teams in Div 5 (K&L) have performed extremely well when you consider these are Crewe’s 11th and 12th teams, playing against other clubs much higher teams such as Meir’s 1st team, Chedd’s 4th, Holmes Chapel’s 3rd, and Gables 3rd and 4th. Our two teams are near the foot of the league, but the priority is simply to give league chess opportunity to as many members as possible. The L team comprises entirely juniors with an average age under 12 as previously reported.
We pride ourselves on the fact that we have had 72 members playing in the NSDCA so far this season which can only help promote the wonderful game in the North Staffordshire region.

They say that nothing lasts forever… but, boy, let’s celebrate it while it lasts!
Crewe G is in pole position!

I know, I know. It will change as soon as the other teams complete their game, but still, our position doesn’t look bad at all.

Last week we’ve beaten Holmes Chapel B. Yes, you read correctly: the same Holmes Chapel B that won every single game of the season… until last week. Their combined rating was 600 points higher than ours and yet we delivered a surprisingly solid victory. And the most surprised of all was me, managing (God knows how) to beat an opponent rating 1600 with my 1350!
I was runnig out of time and ideas, then I remembered reading somewhere that Bobby Fischer sacrificed a rook and another major piece to gain positional advantage that led him to victory… so I thought “if it worked for him there was no reason why it shouldn’t work for me”. How very humble of me… but it did work beautifully indeed: I gave away my rook but I could use my bishops to pin all other pieces like a voodoo doll. You can see the game here.

Tonight we played against Gables A and delivered another victory. Thanks to Nev, who took all their fire power on himself in board 1, leaving the rest of us with manageable opponents. In our previous game against them, we lost 2^1/2 – 1^1/2 and today the match had the very same score, but this time we were the winning team. Do they call it Karma?