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Wednesday 31st May saw another packed house, as we played at The Mals for the final time. There was just four club Championship games taking place, with two each in divisions 1 and 2.

In division 2, there was a win for James Marshall, but the shock of the night saw Julian Bulbeck defeat his own son George as he allowed his clock to run out of time. This result could possibly prevent the planned coronation for George, as Pawel Stanny has two games to play and trails by 1.5 pts.

In division 1, David Hulme secured his division 1 status with a fortunate win against Richard Fish, that leaves Richard in the relegation spot.

However the most important game of the night saw the club chairman playing Carmel Barwick, with the championship at stake for Carmel and relegation looming for Dave Price. From what I could see of the game, Carmel’s position looked very cramped but this was probably just part of a master-plan to lure an over commitment from white’s pieces to allow a deadly counter offensive. By the time all other games were over, every one remaining was concentrated and watching to see if Dave could stop Carmel from becoming club champion. With Carmel’s time deep into increments, she found her heavy artillery all aiming at Dave’s king. With a neat deflection on the queenside, she created a big pin before pushing a pawn that left a piece helpless. Faced with this Dave went on a wild counter attack only to leave his defences wide open as Carmel produced the killer blows to win the game, followed by generous applause from the gathered spectators.

All in all, a fitting climax to end the club’s 9 year residence at The Mals.

Congratulations to the new Club Champion – Carmel Barwick.

Hopefully some photo to be added …

On Tuesday 30th May, we went to play in the final of the NSDCA U1825 Knockout (Major Cup). Both teams were missing a couple of their highest rated players, which led to Crewe having a massive advantage in ratings of approx 1200 points over the five boards.

As has been the case many times during the season this meant nothing, when firstly Neville Layhe’s stonewall was grinded to a halt on board 5 with an agreed draw. Then there was another draw on board 2 as Rick Renegade’s grenades were comfortably shot down by opposition skipper Steve Emmerton. Next to finish was board 1, only this time there was an upset as Fenton’s Glyn Valentine was allowed to have two queen-side pawns running free and duly converted the win to leave Fenton – the massive underdogs – on the cusp of the biggest Cup upset since 1978 when Man Utd lost to the 2nd division Saints !… and this was before it was dark.

Meanwhile on board 3, our captain David Hulme (with the biggest rating advantage) was staring defeat in the eye after his opponent had counter attacked wonderfully to win a pawn followed by picking up two knights for a rook and then another pawn. On board 4, Julian Hawthorne had gained a pawn but was struggling to make decisive inroads. The games went on and on …. with David wriggling around as his opponent dropped a knight by mistake but still had many winning options with an extra 3 pawns. In the chaos of playing in increment time David had fluked his way to an endgame with King and Rook vs King and knight. At around 10.35pm Julian’s opponent gifted a piece giving Julian the win and making the score 2-2. Everyone watching the board 3 game unfold was sure it would be a draw giving Fenton the cup on tie break, but unfortunately for the hosts one last blunder lost the knight and immediate resignation followed just after 10.40pm and 97 moves, handing the Major Cup to (the very lucky team from) Crewe. Commiserations to Fenton.

Details to follow in next couple of days

Tuesday 23 May – The U1600 team (ratings that is – not age) made the short trip to Alsager for the Intermediate Cup Final, with an advantage in ratings that made us start as favourites. However the new 4 digit system is not always the best indicator and on this occasion Alsager came up trumps with the last hand. After wins by Andrew Crosby (bd 4) and Adam Fields (bd 5) we appeared to be in control, but the hosts pulled two crackers out of the hat to level the match with wins on boards 1 and 2, to leave captain Nigel with the destiny of the Cup in his hands. With the advantage of a pawn gained, it all looked so promising, but Alsager had a star in the making as junior Isaac Stanley withstood everything Nigel could throw at him. Defending superbly to earn a crucial draw, led to the result being decided by the tie-break rule of “Board Count” which worked in Alsager’s favour thanks to the wins on top two boards couting better than our two wins. Congratulations to Alsager who happen to be the first team to beat us in the NSDCA Inter Cup competition since 2015/16 season (although Covid did interupt us all) !

On the same night our champions-elect “A” team went to Fenton. Without Bart Fajfer due to work, Simon Layhe stepped into the breach on board 1, and held the higher rated Alex Richardson to a draw. Captain Martin Burns on board 2 had a pleasing win, as Harry Gardiner and Karl Lockett finished the campaign off with victories to round off a fantastic campaign for the “A” team, who ran out clear winners of the NSDCA’s 1st Division, four points clear of 2nd place – our own Crewe B team. Harry finished the season as top scorer in division 1 with 10.5 pts from 12 games.

Friday 26th May – The E team concluded their excellent season with a 3-1 win against Cheddleton D where all of the team got on the score card. There were draws for Doug Barnett (bd 2), Phil Grocott (bd 3), while Matthew Dean added a full point on bd 4. The icing on the cake came from James Marshall who was elevated to board 1, and came home with a full point. The team narrowly lost the NSDCA division 3 title to Alsager B, who were much higher rated than us, as we finished just one point behind them. The most pleasing aspect for captain Dave Price was that the team managed to give league experience to 17 members with at least half-a-dozen playing NSDCA league chess for the first time.

Wednesday 24th May, saw the penultiate night in our Club Championship competitions. In division 3, Mark Randell added another point to his tally to move on to 5 pts and secure 2nd place behind Phil Grocott. In div 2, Pawel Stanny was held to a draw by Oskar Jarzynski, and so with 5.5pts can no longer catch leader George Bulbeck who has 7 pts. Although Pawel has two games to play, the deadline of 31st May makes it impossible to catch George, who has one game remaining. Hopefully George will play his final game on 31st to remove any doubt of the rightful div 2 champion.

The Club Championship (division 1) will go down to the wire, and with 52 of the 55 possible games played, the title will be decided when Carmel Barwick takes on Dave Price. Carmel (7/9) needs a win to be outright champion by overtaking Martin Burns (7.5/10), with this result also having a big effect on the relegation battle. If Dave can add to his tally of 2pts, then Richard Fish ( 2pts) and David Hulme (2.5pts) could be relegated as they play each other in the “last chance saloon”. The only other remaining game is between Lukasz Michalek (6/9) and Jules Hawthorne (5.5/9) who have both performed well above their ratings. It promises to be a tense night at The Mals as we finish our 9 year tenure, before moving to the new Caritas Centre on Tuesday 6th June.

The South Cheshire Shield (SCS) gets underway on Wednesday 31st as our SCS A team plays at Newcastle. On Tuesday the 30th we play our 4th KO final of the season in the Major Cup (U1825) when we go to Fenton.

Wed 17th May – another busy and exciting night at The Mals, with two big matches and a packed playing room, with the best part of 50 people in attendance covering visiting players, club members and parents.

The Main Event of the Evening was the Open Knockout Final played over 6 boards between ourselves and Alsager. It was evident before the start that Alsager were determined to go “all-in” (in poker terms) as their team was significantly strengthened by the presence of old boy Simon Hood making his first appearance since 2015 (last rating 183 = 2070) slotting in on board 2 to move all their regular players down the batting order. The early skirmishes went in our favour as captain Martin Burns got us off to a winning start on board 4, before Karl Lockett won comfortably on board 6 and Simon Layhe was happy with a draw on board 2 to get us near the winning line. Next to finish was board 5, where Alsager’s underdog (Tim Twentyman) produced the first shock of the night to chalk one unexpectedly back with a good finish under time pressure. Then there was a further twist on board 3, as Alsager’s John Booth stunned our player with an immediate mate in a game that seemed to be there for the taking, but was much more evenly balanced than we had calculated. This all left the match in the hands of Jonathan Blackburn, Alsager and the league’s leading player, as he played a common theme of giving up a pawn for plenty of attacking opportunity and slowly turning the screw. Even in the knowledge that a draw would win the cup for Alsager, Jonathan calmly pushed home his activity advantage to finish with a flourish as the visitors turned out to be worthy winners of the Open knockout with congratulations to Alsager !

Meanwhile the C team were hoping to keep slim hopes of the division 2 title alive, only to be outplayed by title chasing (and now hot favourites) Newcastle. It was a rare occurrence for Carmel Barwick to come off second best as Dylan Cooper proved too strong on board 2, after the visitors had already chalked up two wins on the lower boards in this 4 board match. With a 3-0 deficit captain David Lambton declined a draw offer on board 1, and was duly rewarded with the scalp of a player rated approx 1900, to finish the C team’s campaign with a guarantee of 3rd place in the table behind Newcastle and Stafford.

There was only one internal Club Championship game this week that saw a Division 1 relegation battle between bottom placed chairman Dave Price, and 3rd bottom Events Officer David Hulme. Chairman Dave played a far superior opening as black to produce pressure. In an attempt to escape the building pressure, David H miscalculated badly and dropped a piece for a pawn. From there the chairman spared no mercy and put David to the sword with a well controlled execution. This leaves David H on 2.5/9, while Dave P and Richard F have 2/8 in the battle to avoid relegation.

Friday 12th May was the date Crewe became champions of the NSDCA for the first time since the club was resurrected by Dave Price and 4 colleagues in June 2014 !!

Martin Burns has captained the “A” team with distinction this season and has been able to field the most consistent team in the league, with himself as ever-present alongside Harry Gardiner and Karl Lockett, while top board Bart Fajfer has played 9 of the 11 matches to date. With one match remaining the league title was secured as Cheddleton A beat Fenton A on Friday to make it impossible for Fenton to catch our own “A” team.

With an outstanding set of performances, Harry has led the player charts scoring 9.5 from 11 so far, with Karl just behind on 7.5 pts. Special praise must go to Bart who has faced the strongest players in the league and still managed to achieve a success rate of over 60% on board 1. Skipper Mart may have only scored 4/11 to date, but has taken on the board 1 mantle whenever necessary and allowed Harry & Karl to bat lower down the order to achieve the big scores.

Congratulations to Martin and the team – photo to be added

Friday 5th May – The D team went to Stafford last Friday, and came accross a very strong Stafford team chasing the division 2 title, with Newcastle and our own C team. Nigel has provided the usual entertaining report as the Dees came 2nd in the match – see Nigel’s Reports

Wed 10th May – The E team hosted Meir in a division 3 match, aiming to haul in leaders Alsager B, and put out a very strong team including new recruit Richard Lee (rated over 2100 !!) on board 1. With a huge rating advantage – the biggest seen in the NSDCA this season – 1167 points over 5 boards – the E team were overwhelming favourites. As is often the case, the ratings were irrelevant when it came down to battle. Phil Grocott on board 5, was held to a draw and when Adam Fields added the expected win on board 4 all was going to plan. Unfortunately we failed to get any points from our engine room on boards 2 & 3, as the Meir underdogs performed incredibly well, and even on board 1 we were made to work hard for our other success to draw the match. This ended the E team’s chance of catching Alsager who are 3 pts clear and therefore division 3 champions. Congratulations to them.

Fri 12th May – The F team travelled to Cheddleton to face an improving pair of youngsters in the hosts D team. Our team was constructed mainly from regular E team players due to mass unavailability of 15 players previously used by the F team this season. So thanks to Dave Price, Matthew Dean and Mike Keenan we were able to fulfill the fixture without defaulting a board. Dave Price was faced with a tough game on board 1 and duly came unstuck, while Cheddleton’s two teenagers showed their improvements with good performances to win on boards 2 and 3, and give Chedd an unassailable lead. With the match fate already decided Matthew drew on his vast thirst for a challenge, and won after a long end game to make sure we avoided a whitewash. It was a fitting way to end the F team’s campaign showing our fighting spirit as the team finished the season with a guarantee of 3rd position in the table and having used a total of 19 players – more than most clubs in the NSDCA can boast in total.

ITS LESS THAN 8 WEEKS TO OUR ANNUAL CONGRESS AT THE ALEX

Wed 3rd May: With no league matches taking place at The Mals this week, it was time to get some games played in the Club Championships as we near the deadline of 31st May.

In division 1, Martin Burns has layed down the gauntlet after shunting the chairman deeper into the relegation quagmire. Martin was too hot to handle for Dave Price, as he completed the campaign with a win to finish on 7.5 pts from 1o games, and move to the top of the pack, deposing the current club champion Harry Gardiner (6.5pts). This result leaves Dave in the relegation spot with 1pt from 6, although he may escape like Houdini if he can get enough of his remaining games played. David Lambton won a relegation “6-pointer” to ease his position to move onto 3/9. The Events Officer – David Hulme (2.5/7) makes a trio of David’s in the bottom 5, and needs some points from his remaining three games if he is to avoid the drop – with all games against others in the drop zone. The other big game played last night in this section saw Carmel Barwick ruin Julian Hawthorne’s chances of the title, with a win that takes her tally to 6/8, as she becomes the hot favourite to become club champion, with two more games to play against the bottom two players. Two wins will see Carmel crowned as champion, while 1.5pts would lead to a shared title with Martin.

In division 2, there were a couple of big matches. Firstly Pawel Stanny put a dent in James Marshall’s title aspirations, with a well controlled win as James found himself in a familiar position of fighting the clock. Pawel’s win takes his score to 4/6 and retains a slim chance of winning division 2, if he can play and win all 4 remaining games, which is a very tall order. The other big game, saw Mike Keenan battle with George Bulbeck, and after a very promising attack from Mike, found his position overstetched as George countered strongly before emerging succesfully. George (7/9) has now overtaken long time leader Andrew Crosby (6.5/10) and is odds-on favourite to take the title with one remaining game against his dad Julian. If Pawel can apply the necessary pressure, then George may have to beat his dad to secure the div 2 crown !

Again there were many other members attending, with plenty of experienced players on hand to play friendly games against the ever expanding batch of newcomers.

Tomorrow (Friday 5th) sees the D team travel to Stafford, with the aim of putting a spanner in the works if possible, to assist the C team’s outside chance of winning NSDCA division 2.

On Saturday, there is an online international match, as Andrew Crosby has worked tirelessly to arrange a “Crewe and North Staffs Junior team vs Chess in Slums Africa Junior Team” being played on lichess and with commentary on Twitch !!

Wed 26th April – It’s been a quieter week than many, with just two matches taking place for the club, with our two division 3 teams both at home as the E team hosted Cheddleton D and the F team hosted league leaders Alsager B.

The E team had a straight forward task as Cheddleton arrived with two players missing, and after an early win from James Marshall on board 1 the match was secured before 9pm. This allowed Adam Fields to except an offer an early draw on board 4, so the two Cheddleton players could head home early, as the E team bagged the two points to stay in the title chase.

The F team faced the league leaders and were confronted by a team rated at 6600, massively outrating our ” Fabulous Fighting F team”, as they played their strongest team of the season, which would have outrated most teams in division 2, let alone div 3. Undeterred our team were not prepared to lie down despite an early set back, when Alsager won quickly on board 3. Aware of the chance to help our E team, the F team were bolstered on board 1 where Jarek Czyz was available to play just his 3rd game of the season. This was the only board where we closely matched the opposition, as Jarek provided an unexpected win on board 1 to level the scores. Board 4 saw us as underdogs again and Alsager’s player here won an exchange early on before converting to an easily won end game. This left George Bulbeck on board 2 (also outrated by some 150 pts) to try and salvage the result, and boy did he do it in style, typically using every available second on his clock as he played a superb Knight and pawn ending to force victory in a manner suited to division 1 standards. So the final result was a 2-2 draw, as the F team held the title favourites for the second time this season.

All of which means, Alsager lead the table with 19pts and one match remaining, while our E team are in pursuit with 17pts and a game in hand. If Alsager win their last game as expected, our E team can share the title if they win both remaining matches. The F team are 3rd in the table and cannot be overtaken, sitting on 16pts which is a brilliant return for a team whose main purpose is to allow as many as possible to play – and has done this with pride as 17 of our members have now played for them.

Alongside the two matches it was another hectic night, with the Mals packed to the rafters again with another batch of new faces. There was a big match in the Club Championship Div 1 where No 1 seed Martin Burns was held to a draw by possible favourite Carmel Barwick. Martin is now in the joint lead with 6.5 pts with Harry Gardiner, but has one more game to play while Harry has completed his schedule. Carmel now has 5/7 with 3 games to play. Julian Hawthorne is on 5.5/8 and will have a big say in the competition as his two remaining games are against Carmel and Lukasz Michalek (5/8). There is a 5-way dogfight to avoid relegation with Davids Hulme, Lambton and Price in the mire with Richard Fish and Neville Layhe.

In division 3 of the Club Championship Mark Randell continued his fine recent form with another win to move into 2nd place on 3.5pts, but with no realistic chance of catching the runaway leader Phil Grocott who has a majestic 7pts from 8 games.