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5 matches to report on again this week.

Monday 15th – The H team played their final match of the season at The Gables, taking on their B team which consists of very young players. We had a comfortable 3-1 win. David Roberts making his league debut became the 18th member to play for the H team this season and had a straight forward game. Mark Randell and Tim Weston were also successful.

On Tuesday we had another packed night at St Mary’s. The D team were at home against Cheddleton B, while the F team faced Alsager C. Our C team was also in action playing at Alsager against their B team.

The D team were held to a 2-2 draw as skipper Dave Lambton rested himself to play an internal game. David Hulme and Cyrus Pereira gained the wins to ensure the match was drawn, leaving the D team at the top of division 2 with a 4pts cushion.

The F team had a disappointing result to conclude their season to stay in 2nd place in the table. James Coney was our only winner, and Oskar Jarzynski earned a draw.

The C team brought home the bacon as all four players contributed. There were draws from Andy Raeburn, Karl Lockett and Neville Layhe with the key result being a win on board 3 by Jules Hawthorne.

On Thursday the G team played their final match of the season at Kidsgrove. With the league title secured some time ago, the last unbeaten team in the whole league came unstuck and fell at the final hurdle. The were beaten 3-1 with Pawel Stanny collecting our point with a win on the top board.

Thanks to captain Martin Burns for the following report.

Tuesday 9th April.  St Mary’s.

They had to tear the paper off the wall, to make room for all the people in the hall.

St Mary’s was packed with players and noisy chatter when I arrrived; we had 2 league fixtures and several internal competition games. Even so, Harry had managed to bag some of the posh chairs for the evening’s highlight; the NSDCA Cup Final.

Alsager strutted in looking like the league champions they are, but we had managed to put together a pretty good team and we were ready.  

At 7.40 or so, the hubbub in the room abated, as it usuallly does at that time, and all you could hear was thought, mingled with the occasional rustling of chocolate wrappers and the slurping of tea. 

First game to finish was board 6, where I managed to confuse Mr Blackburn senior, and he resigned when he realised he was losing a piece.  Next to finish was Lee; he faced a tricky opponent in John Booth. John spent much of the game trying to hold on a pawn down, and to head the game to the dreaded opposite-coloured bishops ending. Lee managed to convert it all very nicely though, and we were 2-0 up.  Kamil drew comfortably with Simon Hood.  Then the match was decided by Harry.  Play against Harry and you know he will throw his H pawn at you and go on the attack. Harry managed to get control of the seventh rank, and won a nice game. We had won the cup, but there were 2 more games to finish.  Carmel, on board 4, won in her favourite style. She bagged a pawn, never let her advantage slip, and won endgame with ease; very impressive.  The best game award goes to Richard on board 1.  Richard was facing Jonathan Blackburn. It was a tense battle. At one point Richard ignored an attack on his queen, and countered by throwing a knight into the cogs of Jonathan’s attack. Richard followed up by castling into the queenside where he had no pawn cover.  The crowd gasped. It looked risky but our top player is not one to back down. Jonathan kept trying to stir up trouble, but in the end could only get to an opposite-coloured bishop ending; he was 2 pawns up but there was no way to win and a draw was agreed after a lot of shuffling. We had won the match 5-1.

Just realised, in this year’s Open Cup competition, none of the 9 Crewe players involved lost a single game. Not bad, eh?

Well done to the team; another trophy for Crewe Chess Club. 

5 matches to report on

Starting with Monday the 8th, the F team travelled to the Gables to take on the Div 3 favourites previosuly unbeaten. We were not fazed by the opposition and inflicted a most unexpected whitewash on them. James Marshall and James Coney got the ball rolling before skipper Dave Price’s superb win ended the 100% record of his opponent. The icing on the cake was provided when Gee Cross outplayed their top player to complete the whitewash.

Tuesday the 9th saw four matches, with three at St Marys and one at Fenton.

In division 2 our C team came unstuck at home against Cheddleton B, losing 1.5-2.5. Gee Cross added another win to keep up her 100% league record (5/5), and Andy Raeburn drew on board 2.

Also in division 2 our D team managed to overcome a strong Stafford team thanks to wins from captain David Lambton (who has an unbeaten 8/10) and Chinenye, while Cyrus drew on top board. This win cemented the D team’s top of the table position with 16pts from 10 matches, opening up a 3 pts lead from Fenton B who have played 11 matches.

The main event at St Mary’s was the Open Cup Final against the holders, Alsager, in a repeat of last season’s final where we were narrowly beaten. This time we won convincingly 5-1. See separate report.

At Fenton our E team faced their C team in a divison 3 match. Unfortunately we came off second best losing 1-3, with our only win coming from Julian Hawthorne on top board.

In addition to the three matches at St Mary’s there was another stack of internal tournament games taking place. In division 3 of the club championship there were wins for George Jelliss, Matthew and Mike. With leader Jamie having played all his games (9.5/11), Mike is the only player who could possibly catch him and currently has 5/6.

There were 3 further rated games played, including another potential new member George Bowkett who wass attending for the first time while on Easter holiday from university.

It was another busy night on Tuesday (2nd) at St Mary’s with approx 30 members in attendance excluding the D team players who were at Alsager.

In division 1 there was just one game played with Pawel Stanny picking up his first win of the campaign to take him up the table to 9th place. He must have been over the moon with his best ever result.

In division 2 there were a couple of surprise results with two of the leading contenders beaten by Ebube Christian and Joe Moxon. There was a draw between the youngest player (Oskar Jarzynski) and the least youngest player (Doug Barnett) in the tournament which concluded their campaigns. Currently Oskar sits top of the charts with 6pts having played all his games. With the trio of Doug, Richard Fish and James Coney all on 5.5pts the latter two still have games to play. Chairman Dave is sitting just behind on 5pts but has three games to play making him slight favourite. The final contender is 6th placed Chineye Basil-Nwachuku who could get to 6.5pts if he wins his last two rounds. So it’s all to play for with many possible outcomes including a potential decider between James and Dave.

Division 3 was the busiest with 4 games played. Runaway leader Jamie Roberts added another point to his tally to move to 9.5/11 and there were also wins for Pete Kanalos (6/8), Tim Weston (4.5/8) and Matthew Dean (3/7). The only member that could catch Jamie is Mike Keenan who currently has 4/5 but is running out of time to play his games. No doubt the cut-off can be extended to make sure Mike has a fair chance of playing the same number of games as the leader.

In addition to this there was a further 4 rated games outside the Championship including some top rated players at one end of the scale, and a new unrated player having his first comeptitive game !

On Tuesday night the D team played away against Alsager B. The squad was considerably strengthened by the addition of Cyrus Pereira for the first time which allowed us to out rate our opponents by approx 600 pts. The match was never in doubt as an early draw on board 3 by David Hulme was soon followed by comfortable wins from Cyrus (bd 1) and then Martin Frisher (bd 4). Captain David Lambton took his time to win on bd 2 and thereby keep up his unbeaten run for the team with 7 pts from 9 games, and conclude the match 3.5-0.5. This result takes the D team to the top of the table with 14pts from 9 matches ahead of a crunch match next Tuesday at home against Stafford (who have 9pts and two games in hand).

It’s been hard to stomach for our two league division one teams, as we watched helplessly on Tuesday (2nd) when Alsager beat Macclesfield to clinch the league title with 18pts on a tie break with 8 wins compared to our “A” team’s 18pts with 7 wins. Spare a thought for our over-achieving Bees who finished 3rd with 17pts which was enough for the champions last year, and with better board scores than either of the top two !

Martin Burns has already reported on the “A” team’s exploits last week and now it is the turn of Bees captain, David Hulme. It’s never good to gain points when matches are defaulted so it was a deflating finish to the season when Fenton “A” conceded their final 3 matches on 21st March. This does not detract from a superb season for the Bees, where Carmel Barwick and Simon Layhe were ever present and often punching above their weight on top boards. Lee Farrington finished the season with a flourish despite limited chances to play and Martin Frisher played with distinction this season in more matches than several previous seasons combined. There were excellent cameos from Cyrus Pereira, David Lambton and Gintare (Gee) Cross. All in all a most enjoyable season, with the captain reflecting back on the first match where he lost in a strong position against our “A” team leading to a drawn result. If only either one of our teams had won that match instead of drawing they would now be champions. Ifs, buts and may be-s which no doubt apply to all teams. Finally thanks to all of the team members who make it such a pleasure to compete together.

It’s been a very odd week on the League scene. Firstly our B team were handed an unwanted default win as Fenton “A” were unable to raise a team for our last match of the season. On Tuesday our Intermediate Cup team (U1600) made the short trip to Alsager. We got knocked out in this semi-final by the score of 2-3 as we failed to register with the black pieces, and scored 2/3 with white. Our sole success came from captain Nigel Gardner on board 3, with draws on Bds 1 & 3 from Joe Moxon and James Marshall.

On Wednesday the C team played at Newcastle. After notching up 3 wins and a draw we were later penalised for (accidentally) breaching the 100 pts rule and suffering a 2 pts deduction to leave the match shared at 1.5 pts each. There were wins by Gee Cross (bd 1), Karl Lockett (Bd 3) and Julian Hawthorne (bd 4); while Andy Raeburn was held to a draw.

Moving back to Tuesday there was another superb club night with 14 internal games taking place. In Div 1 of the club championship Harry Gardiner took a giant step towards becoming champion with another win to take his score to 8.5/9. There were further wins by Carmel Barwick, David Hulme and David Lambton who all appear to be safe from relegation. It will be a dog fight against relegation for approx half of the competitors as everything is very tight near the bottom of the table.

In Div 2 there were three games which all ended in draws. The top of the table shows Richard Fish, James Coney and Oskar Jarzynski all on 5.5 pts. Doug Barnett and Dave Price sit on their tails with 5pts each with advantage to the chairman (Dave) who has 4 games to play including a potential decider against James C who has 3 games to play, while the other contenders only have one game left each.

In division 3, leader Jamie Roberts had a topsy-turvy tussle before emerging with another win to stay in the clear lead with 8.5pts. Pete Kanalos moved up to second place with a beautiful double check (mate) to take his score to 5pts. Mike Keenan is 3rd with 4pts but has played 5 games less than Jamie, so could catch up if he can play (and win) all his remaining games.

On top of all this there were 8 players engaged in separate rated games as they were unable to play in the Club championship due to a mix of joining the club late in the season or having no available game in the Club Championship. At this rate it is likely we will need to start a new 4th division in these events next season to accommodate the ever increasing number of club members.

The air hangs heavy like a dulling wine; get your Smiths’ tapes out. 

Read on; it will make thy two eyes, like stars start from their spheres.

2 matches to report on lately.

Macclesfield came to St Mary’s recently, and this time we had one of our stronger line-ups waiting to pounce.

Bart has not played many games this year, his affection for his homeland, and his dedication to his job, means he has missed a few matches. But when Bart plays he is a joy to watch; he seemed to be controlling the game in his slippers, as the footy pundits say, and won a nice game. Harry got a solid draw on bottom board. I huffed and puffed, and struggled to get any edge; but then my opponent crumbled in time pressure in the end game. To the untrained eye (both of mine), Richard seemed to be in trouble on top board; his opponent seemed to have a strong attack against an exposed king. After the game Richard, cool as you like, assured me that all was under control, and given that he handed us another point I could not argue. Match won 3.5/0.5.

This meant that, if we won our last 2 matches, then Crewe “A” would be champs again.

Our next hurdle was Holmes Chapel.  My opponent, Mr Bennett, had caught me by surprise on move 2, with a move I had never seen before.  I mean I know I am rubbish at openings, but come on.  Anyway I defended for the rest of the game and got to a drawn rook ending with relief.  I thought Harry was losing at one point, but was pleasantly surprised when he got a draw. Andrew was suffering from germs, and fell to his first “A” team loss of the season. Kamil, of course, won on board 1; reports were that he was in great form.

So, a draw pulled us level with Alsager. Alsager had one game left, against Macclesfield. We had one game left, against Fenton. We were half a point ahead in game points scored, and so I assumed we were still in with a chance. I mean, all we had to do was match Alsager’s score in our last match and we would win the league. All good.

Earlier today I had heard that my car has sailed through it’s MOT at the first attempt; without hesitation. The sun was shining. Then I got a phone call from the club secretary which darkened my mood. He informed me, and I could hear the pain in his voice, that the league’s first tie break was not, as I had imagined, game points, but was, in fact, matches won. Even if we won our last match 4-0, it would be no use if Alsager won.

Even worse news was to follow; Fenton have announced that, due to some unfortunate issues, they will default all their remaining games this season.

So it’s over. That’s it. Suddenly. Sniff.

I would like to thank Karl, Harry, Richard, Bart, Kamil and Andy for playing, and I hope they enjoyed the season as much as I did. Bring on next year.

Now for a bit more Smiths.

There were just two matches played this week, as the 3rd one scheduled was postponed with Stafford’s team stuck on their way to play our “D” team.

The “A” team were the headliners this week as they continued their pursuit of the NSDCA League Div 1 as defending champions, where they faced strugglers Macclesfield. Bolstered by the return of our top two players – Richard Lee and Bart Fajfer we were overwhelming favourites. The team did not disappoint as the top two won together with skipper Martin Burns on board 3. Harry Gardiner drew on board 4 to give a comfortable win 3.5-0.5. This result took the “A” team within one point of leaders Alsager A, with a game in hand for us to keep the favourites tag with just two matches remaining.

In div 4, the champions-elect (our G team) won again with a 3.5-0.5 score vs Meir. Although the score looks comfortable the Meir team always put up a good fight. Captain Steve Ballantyne’s summary was:

Malcolm was first to finish on board 4 with a good solid win. My game finished next and I was so disappointed with the perpeptual check as I had a won game. Jamie finished next on board 2 with another polished performance. Pav won with 16 seconds left on his clock, it was a fantastic game to watch with both players threatening check mate.

The G team currently have the best record in the league with Pld 13, Won 10, drawn 3.

Two matches to report on this week.

Monday 4th March our H team went to play Meir in div 4 and took a further 3 members to play extra rated games. The league match over 4 boards ended in a 2-2 draw with our points coming from Kobus Nienaber with a very nice attack sacrificing a pawn to open up the position and earn a superb win against a previously unbeaten board 1. Mark Randell gained another full point on board 4 to make sure we shared the points. The extra boards saw us win 2 of the 3 games. Josh Cross became our 50th member to play in the NSDCA this season as he was first to win with a wind-mill attack involving multiple knight forks. Finn Charbonneau was our other victor. Meir were very pleased that we were able to bring 7 players, plus two more in support.

On Tuesday our B team were up against Homles Chapel “A” in league division 1. With both teams missing their strongest players teams were almost equally rated (7288 to 7274). Captain David Hulme took advantage of a strong pawn centre to attack the king-side castled position to put us 1-0 up around the two hour mark. Next to finish after unleashing a well coordinated long range attack was our latest debutante – Gintare (Gee) Cross to make it 2-0 with a win on board 3. The icing on the cake came on boards 1 and 2 where both our players were outrated. Firstly Simon Layhe created a superior endgame by promoting a pawn all the way to g8 to force the opposition King away from the centre of the board, allowing his own King to mop up and leave pass-pawns on both sides forcing resignation and getting us over the winning line. Last to finish was Carmel Barwick on board 1, who was doing a good Houdini impression to escape from what looked a doomed position to emerge with a strong exchange gain and complete a 4-0 whitewash. This is the first time our Bees have ever stung a 4-0 win in the league’s top flight ! The result takes us to 13 pts from 10 matches and 2nd in the table to keep our very feint hopes of possibly winning the league – with our “A” team as favourites on the same match points but with a game in hand. The Bees continue to out perform any reasonable expectation as they manage to keep flying high and buzzing around.

Tuesday night also saw another packed schedule of internal games in the Club Championship. Harry Gardiner marches towards the title of Club Champion as he beat the nearest contender David Lambton to move into a big lead with 7.5/8 and in doing so ended David’s impressive run of 19 games without defeat including 8 back to back wins since 1st December !

Div 2 of the club championship is brewing up nicely with just one point separating the top 5 players. Richard Fish leads with 5.5/8, ahead of Doug Barnett (5/9), Oskar Jarzynski (5/8), Dave Price (4.5./5) and James Coney (4.5/6).

In division 3 Jamie Roberts (7.5/9) has a 3.5 lead over Mike Keenan, but Mike has 5 games in hand, so it will be a question of whether Mike can catch up.