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It was another busy night at the club last Wednesday night with 28 in attendance. However it was a bad day at the office for both Crewe’s A and B teams, more of that later.

Before the two matches started the Events Officer had arranged for several internal games. In Division 2 of the Club Championsip there were wins for Julian Bulbeck and Tom Smith. The game between Doug Barnett and George Bulbeck looked complicated with a lot of material on the board and Doug having two rooks for George’s Queen, but with both players running short of time a draw was agreed. There were also four rated rapid play games taking place. Here there were wins for Mike Keenan, Mathew Dean and a first win for Malaki Swift. Whilst Oskar Jarzynski drew with Phil Grocott with the game ending in a King and Pawn Endgame.

The A team hosted Cheddleton’s first team which is traditionally the strongest in the League. Although this season they are not as strong as usual they still managed to put out highly rated players on the top two boards. The first match to finish was the captain Martin Burns who overlooked a bishop fork resulting in the loss of a knight, he therefore had to resign. Harry Gardiner on board 4 went a piece down early on but kept on fighting and conjured up a nice attack but couldn’t quite make it count. On board 3 Karl Lockett managed to win a pawn in the middle game, then another in the endgame whilst tempting his opponent to advance his pawns in front of his King, leaving the King exposed. Karl was then able to get his pieces to attack the exposed King and force a checkmate. 

This meant it was still possible for Crewe A to draw the match depending on the result of the game on board 1 between Bart Fajfer and Jacob Boswell, an opponent rated about 300 rating points higher than Bart. It turned out to be a titanic struggle which was by far the last to finish with everyone who was still left at the club watching a very interesting Rook and three Pawns endgame. The difference was Bart’s pawns were connected on the queenside whilst his opponents were isolated. Bart was playing well and won a pawn though this meant his opponent managed to create a passed Pawn. However Bart was able to bring his King back in time to stop it Queening and eventually win this pawn. He then won the third pawn but this meant his rook was now stuck on the side amidst his two connected passed pawns. This left his King to be subjected to continuous checks to the side by his opponent’s rook, something Bart couldn’t prevent, he therefore reluctantly accepted the draw. Consequently Cheddleton narrowly won the match 2.5 – 1.5 and are now equal at the top of the table with Crewe A.

Meanwhile Crewe’s B team were hosting Alsager’s first team. The report below is from their captain Dave Hulme.

As usual the B team started their match as underdogs against Alsager “A” in part due to the absence of two key players, with Dave Price being added to the team to make his debut in the NSDCA 1st division.

With Simon Layhe on board 1 having black against the league’s joint highest rated player – Jonathan Blackburn, no points were expected here as Simon had a “free shot”. After a backs to the wall effort, Jonathan broke through with a N for 2pawns sac on the Q-side resulting in the “a” pawn being unstoppable, as Simon’s extra minor piece was shunted out of the game on h8. This came just after a draw was agreed on board 2 as David Hulme was low on time (as normal) with less than 4 mins remaining against John Booth’s 15 mins in a position where any attack would leave the aggressor with more weaknesses.

Earlier on Dave P appeared to have the upper hand in a strong position with a pawn won in the opening. Unfortunately Dave allowed Sandra Blackburn to gain an exchange and when short of time in a difficult position, accepted a generous (but not unexpected) draw offer. On board 3, David Lambton was unable to push his loan “a” pawn due to it being covered by a defending King, while at the same time Jon Blackburn had a passed pawn on c5 protected in a pawn chain of c5-d4-e3 to prevent David’s king going on the attack.

The final result being a narrow loss 1.5-2.5, as the Bees lost for the first time this season.

All eyes are on next weeks derby-duals, with B vs A and C vs D teams facing each other.

Two teams division, one from Kidsgrove and one from Fenton visited Crewe last night to take our ‘E’ and ‘F’ teams. It was good to see as many different people at the club who like to experience competitive chess getting their opportunity.

Fenton brought a team which, although appearing inexperienced, proved too strong for our ‘F’ team. Only Steve Ballantyne was able to trouble the scorers, earning a draw. After defending well in the opening, he later resisted the chance to deliver perpetual check on his opponent playing on for a win instead, however his opponent was subsequently able to gain counterplay and achieve a draw by perpetual check himself. This all meant the ‘F’ team went down half a point to four and a half.

The Kidsgrove match was more evenly matched. Here Doug Barnett won a tough, close game on board 1. Whilst James Marshall was playing well on Board 2 against an experienced opponent. He already had one advaned passed pawn when his opponent allowed James to exchange queens which then left James with two connected passed pawns in the middle of the board. With clever play James was about to convert one of these when his opponent resigned. This game, the last to finish, meant Crewe tied the match 2-2.

As well as the two league matches several internal tournament games took place. In Division 1 there was a win for Lukasz Michalek and in Division 2 there the game between Julian Bulbeck and Mike Keenan was drawn whist George Bulbeck achieved a win in his game. There was also a win for Mathew Dean in Division 3. Also worthy of note is that our new member Tom Smith played his first long play rated game which he also managed to win.

Next week the club’s ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams are both in action and both are at home. Can they remain at the top or near to the top of the league? It should be an interesting evening.

After the B team went top of the table on Monday, it was the As who overtook them on Tuesday ! An away match at Alsager would see the “A” team as expected favourites but a recipe for failure would be close at hand. The comments from captain Martin Burns explained Harry maintained his 100% record, while Bart had gained a pawn against the NSDCAs highest rated player Jonathan Blackburn on board 1. Martin assessed it was no trouble, but was proved wrong as the huge difference in rating was underlined. Karl maintained another 100% record grinding out a win on board 4 from what appeared to be a drawish position. Finally captain Mart brought home the bacon, although in his own words he was very lucky to win, after his opponent turned down the offer of a draw knowing he would need to win to give Alsager a chance to draw the match. The Division 1 table has an early season glow to it, with As on 6pts and Bs on 5 pts after 3 matches, with 3rd place Cheddleton having a game in hand on 4pts – with the next round of matches including Crewe A vs Cheddleton A.

On Wednesday it was Cheddleton’s B team who travelled to face our D team. Captain Nigel rang the changes with board order, as all four squad players are closely rated. This allowed Nigel to play on board 4, and chalk up the first win. Lukasz Michalek moved to the top of the batting order and earned a full point before we lost on board 2. This left George Bulbeck battling against the clock as usual, against the Chedd captain on board 3. Ultimately he held out for a hard fought draw to see the team narrowly over the winning line by 2.5-1.5. Captain Nigel reported on the scorecard ” Well that was a close one !!!!!!!! Each game could have gone either way and was tense right down to the death. Thanks to all for a good evenings chess. “

As usual club night saw a pack of club championship games. In division 1, defending champion Harry Gardiner added a win to his tally as did David Hulme. In division 2 there were wins for Andrew Crosby, Kobus Nienaber and Doug Barnett. Kobus has moved into the lead with 2.5/3. In div 3, Phil Grocott went to the head of the section with a win to take him also to 2.5/3, and Vicky Kelsall moved into 2nd place (2/4) after a draw with Peter Kanalos.

Our two leading juniors had a 30 minute Rapidplay rated game, that was played at 100 miles an hour, with Joe Hignett emerging successfully.

Simon Layhe secured a share of first prize at last weekend’s Scarborough Congress playing in the Intermediate (U1850) section. After a 5 hour trek to the coast on Friday Simon started with a win on Friday night (as did Dave Price). Saturday morning saw a repeat for both, and then in Round 3 Simon was held to a draw by the No.7 seed, with Simon seeded 9th out of 83 entries, as 14 players all shared the lead with 2.5pts. Round 4 saw 6 of these players winning, to all move on to 3.5pts, with Simon among these. Playing board 3 in the final round, Simon’s high seeding gave him the advantage of white pieces and he duly came out on top to guarantee 1st place. With the other top two boards also having positive results he ended in a 3-way tie for 1st place – congratulations to Si !!

Dave P ended with 3 pts to finish in joint 17th out of 74 in the Minor (U1700).

Today has seen the publication of November ratings, and thanks to Karl Lockett’s research, the club has 3 of the top 100 improvers in the country since the October ratings. Unsurprisingly Simon is in this list, together with Karl and our ever improving 10 year-old star – Oskar Jarzynski.

Meanwhile last night the B team had an unexpected win away at Macclesfield. Simon again setting the benchmark with another win on top board against a player rated over 1950. David Hulme defended doggedly to get a draw on board 2, before Dave Lambtom played with aplomb to convert a tricky endgame into a win. Despite being the second lowest rated team in the 1st division, the Bees currently sit at the top of the league tree, albeit very temporary.

Tonight sees the “A” team in action at Alsager in the 1st division, and tomorrow the “D” team host Cheddleton B in division 2.

Wednesday night saw the F team host Meir in division 3 of the NSDCA. Thanks to the visitors we were able to increase the numbers involved from 4 to 5 boards.

Reinhard Haack agreed an early draw on board 4 to get us on the scorecard. Jakub Grabowski was promoted to board 1 and played a superb game to add a full point. Shortly afterwards 1o year-old Oskar completed a mature game on board 2, giving up a pawn to free up a position and duly chalk up another point. Not to be outdone Pawel Stanny ensured team victory with success on baord 3. This left board 5 remaining and the visitor’s Bob Perry squeezed out the solitary win for Meir, to conclude the match with a 3.5-1.5 win for Crewe F.

This takes the F team to joint top of the league table alongside our E team and the two Cheddleton teams (C&D) who all sit on 3pts from 2 matches.

The club championship saw one of our busiest ever nights, despite having one team in action, there were 18 players involved with 8 players in divs 1 and 2, and one more game in div 3.

In div 1, leader Martin Burns (3/5) was held to a draw by Jim Grange (1.5/2), while Karl Lockett (2/3), Harry Gardiner (1.5/2) and Julian Hawthorne (1/1) all won.

In div 2, we have a pile up at the top of the table with 5 players on 1.5pts although Steve Ballantyne has played 5 games already, and all the other leaders have only played two games – Mike Keenan, Kobus Nienaber, George Bulbeck and Oskar. George Jelliss notched up a draw with the other George to gain his first score in the comp.

In division 3, there was only one game played with many of the players involved in the F team match, which saw Pete Kanalos earn a draw against joint leader Phil Grocott. Phil joins Joe Hignett and Vicky Kelsall at the top of the table with 1.5 pts each.

The Events officer has fixed two dates for our 8-Round Swiss Rapidplay, with Rounds 1 and 2 to be played on 30th November, followed by Rounds 3 & 4 on 14th December. With matches every Wednesday during January and February, the remaining two nights will be fixed after that.

Last night saw our E team play away at Fenton, against their C team in division three. Despite a late cry-off due to illness, we were still able to take a team of six thanks to Andrew Crosby filling in and making his debut for the club in the North Staffs League. Unfortunately the team got off to a poor start and were trailing 2-0 early on, even though we had a healthy rating advantage. Things started to recover as James Marshall pulled one back on board 3 and Jarek Czyz levelled the score on board 2, making his first appearance of the season and taking our tally of members playing league chess this season up to 37 already !!

With scores level Matthew Dean kept his composure as his clock ticked down to just 12 seconds remaining, and worked out how to promote his pass pawn succesfully to put us in the lead. This left skipper Dave Price in play on board 1, and having been on the back foot early on, was allowed the freedom of the board to infiltrate a weakened castled King-side and take another full point to ensure a 4-2 victory for the E team. The win takes the Es joint top of division 3, with 3 pts from 2 games, to sit alongside both Cheddleton teams (C&D) on the same score. After just two rounds of matches this division looks wide open as every team has dropped at least one point already.

Tomorrow night the F team have the chance to join the party at the top of the table as they face Meir in another 6 board encounter, thanks to our visitors agreeing to field extra boards. It’s great to see league chess returning to something near normal again although the league only has 21 teams now, compared to 36 teams before the Covid pandemic.

This weekend (14-16 October) has seen our club make up 22 of the 116 contingent at our 5th weekend congress. The new venue at the Mornflake Stadium has proved to be a resounding success, in the words of FIDE Arbiter Peter Purland, one of the best venues he has come accross in a very extensive Arbiting career !

The outstanding performers from our club were Karl Lockett and Julian Hawthorne. Karl finshed joint first in the Major section scoring 4/5, sharing 1st place with another local player Andrew Raeburn. With Martin Burns finishing on 3.5pts he collects a share of 3rd place in a four way tie.

Julian scored an even more impressive 4.5 pts to earn another joint first position, this time in the Intermediate section. Also on the podium in this section was congress administrator Neville Layhe, finishing in 3rd place on his own with 4 pts.

Jarek Czyz had a superb tournament scoring 2.5 pts in the Open section to win the grading prize, when he would have been eligible to play in the Inter section. His opponents included Seeds No 2, 5 and 6.

In addition to Jarek in the open section, our other 3 players all performed well with Bart scoring 2.5pts, with Simon and Dave Lambton scoring 1.5 pts.

In the Minor section we had 9 players, with best scores coming from Andrew and Julian Bulbeck (3.5pts each), young Oskar 3pts, and Nigel 2.5 pts.

Record League Match?

It was another fabulous night at the club last night. The Crewe E team hosted the Crewe F team in a North Staffs League match. Teams in this league normally comprise 4 players but both Crewe teams fielded an amazing TEN players each. Some of the in experienced members might think that can be the norm but it isn’t, in fact the very experienced members at the club had not seen anything like that for a league match and think it could be a record number, particularly in the North Staffs league. So its thanks to everyone who turned out and took part and a special thanks to the club’s Events Officer for arranging it all.

In relation to the match Board 1 saw the experienced Julian Hawthorn as white take on Lee Farrington playing his first game for Crewe following his move from the London area. After a promising opening for Julian, Lee managed to win a couple of pawns and take the game into a rook and pawn engame which he was able to convert for the full point. This game happened to be the last to finish whilst the first to finish was the board 7 clash where Reinhard Haack beat young Joe Hignett. The games on Board 4 and then Board 2 were next to finish with wins for Steve Ballantyne and Doug Barnett respectively.

On Board 3 the ever improving young Oskar had to play excellently to beat his tough opponent, though to be fair to James he wasn’t feeling 100% after recently being ill. Oskar trapped a knight, then later a bishop before delivering a nice checkmate, so that was another point for the F team. There were also victories for Marek (Osca’rs dad) making a rare appearance for the F team, and for Chris Marais winning for the E team on Boards 9 and 8 respectively.

Pawell Stanny managed another win for the E team in a rook endgame after winning Adam’s doubled isolated pawns. On Board 10 Vicky Kelsall playing black against Peter Kanalos, in her own words mucked up the opening, this then allowed Peter the advantage for the rest of the game which he too managed to convert. The penultimate game to finish was the one on board 6 between Mike Keenan playing white and George Jellis. In a close encounter Mike managed to launch an attack against George’s Queenside castled King culminating in a nice checkmate. This meant the final score of the match was 5-5, ten games had been played and not one draw!

In addition to the incredible League match the club was able to facilitate three internal games in Division 1. Here Martin Burns as white beat Dave Hulme and Karl Lockett as black beat Neville Layhe. The third game saw Jim Grange, playing his first standard playgame game for the club since before the Covid Lockdown, beat Dave Lambton who had black.

Attention now turns to the local congress this weekend where 22 Crewe Chess Club members will be competing in four sections as well as 2 more who will helping. This is a very impresive turnout at a congress from a single club. Good luck to all and hopefully everyone enjoys it.

With four league matches last week plus a few internal games it was a busy week for many. The overriding feeling from those I spoke to was that it was good to get back to League chess, seeing old faces and venues, playing as a team and against opponents we may not have even played before. As well as a Crewe teams first ever win against Holmes Chapel there were also notable good results for Simon and Nigel.

Thanks to Dave Hulme, Dave Lambton, Nigel Gardner and Martin Burns, the captains of the teams in question, for providing the below reports of their team’s exploits. (The D teams ‘Nigel’s Match Reports‘)

The B team kicked-off the league season on behalf of the club on Monday, with a division 1 match at Fenton. Our team had a small rating advantage of about 130 points over the four boards as the hosts were missing a couple of their first choice squad. Fenton probably got more than expected with two wins on boards 2 and 3, but were held to a draw thanks to Dave Lambton’s victory on board 4, and a superb performance from Simon Layhe on board 1 to topple their 2050 rated player to save the match. Simon had gained a pawn in the middle game and had to use all of his time to convert the win as his opponent created two connected king-side pass pawns just too late as Simon queened first on the queenside.

On Wednesday our C team travelled to Stafford for their first game. Missing two of the original line up Dave Price and Doug stood in as reserves. Board 4 was Doug and the first to secure a win for the C team. Our board 2 fell to Stafford making it 1 -1 the captain was watching board 3 and after a while a draw was agreed. No surprise the last game playing was Dave P against Ken McNulty and all eyes watching. Ken was in difficult time trouble having spent a lot of time looking at a knight sac. Ken kept his cool throughout the game with 4 marching pawns blocked by an isolated pawn and the king. Ken had a rook and 5 pawn Dave have a Rook, Bishop and 3 pawns. The last few moves were hectic as Dave Price marched the central Pawn forcing the opponents king to follow and block. Following a combination of checks and a Rook sac. This allowed the pawn to promote and secured the 1.5 – 2.5 victory to Crewe.

I don’t know about you, but to me it felt like we had been waiting for ages for the league season to start; and what a start we had! 

The intrepid “A” team took the short trip to Holmes Chapel, a team that doyens of Crewe chess club tell me we had never beaten in a league match. The match started well. on board 1 Bart played John Turner. Bart got the better of a Queen’s gambit, and after fewer than 20 moves he had distilled the game into a rook and bishop v rook and knight ending, where he had all the initiative. he went on to win a pawn and then trap John’s knight. it seemed an almost effortless performance from Crewe’s highest rated player, and Bart has to be the match ball winner. On board 3 Harry “H” came out of a tactical scrap a bishop up for 2 pawns. Perfectionist Harry seemed in despair but always looked like winning, and sure enough he got the full point eventually. in a tense position on board 2, where both players were low on time, Martin offered Pat Bennett a draw; the offer was accepted; Crewe had won the match. On board 4 Karl had not finished though. Karl won a pawn, then another, and though Mr Hicks tried to set a couple of traps, but incredible Karl craftily coerced the concession.

We had won the match 3.5 to 0.5. Well done team, and thanks to Holmes Chapel for being gracious hosts.

This all meant that the club night was quiet with only 12 members present. Even so there were internal tournament games in each division. In division 1, Martin Burns drew with Harry Gardiner in a rook and pawns endgame. In Division 2, ten-year-old Oskar played the longest game of his life against Steve Ballantyne. Steve was a piece and passed pawn up in an endgame but with only 3 minutes on his clock he sportingly offered Oskar a draw which was quickly accepted. In Division 3 Phil Grocott beat Vicky Kelsall in a game which had looked a draw. There were also a couple of graded rapidplay friendlies. Martin Frischer beat Karl Lockett and of the new youngsters Ben beat Malaki in what was their first rated game.

As the Chairman wrote in an email ‘What a great week for our club’.

Next Wednesday the E and F teams play each other and Dave Hulme is trying to arrange it so as many as possible members, other than the normal 4 team players, get a graded game.