Our new junior player Harry Cooke – known as Tommy – played his first external junior congress on Sunday (29th Sept) at Warrington in the Knights section, while friend and club colleague Oskar Jarzynski played in the Monarchs section.
Oskar always performs well in these tournaments and finished in line with his ranking of 8th scoring 3/6.
However Tommy stole the limelight to win 1st prize in his section with a stunning perfect score of 6/6.
Congratulations to Tommy
It was another superb night at St Mary’s on Tuesday (8th) with 4 league matches taking place.
In division 1’s first match of the season the B team ran out comfortable winners 3-1 as the C team had two of their top three missing, while the B team missed their top player. Wins for David Lambton (bd 2), Martin Frisher (3) and Neville Layhe (4) secured the result as Kamil Zak got a consolation win for the C team.
In Division 2 the D team edged home against Holmes Chapel B 2.5-1.5, after an early win by Ebube Christian (4), with a loss on bd 2 levelling the score. George Bulbeck (3) agreed a draw in familiar time trouble to leave David Hulme to settle the match in our favour after a neat endgame having refused a draw offer when low on time.
The star performers were our E team who had two young players filling in as cover for two who were loaned to the C team for the night. Things started badly as we were outplayed on bd 1 and 4 to trail 2-0. This was no surprise when we surveyed the score card to see Macclesfield (div 2 favourites) had over a 1000 point rating advantage. Our two reserves – 12 y/o Jamie Roberts (bd 3) and 17 y/o Finn Charbonneau (bd 2) turned in remarkable performances to beat experienced players rated 1786 and 1788 respectively (more than 250 points higher each). A brilliant effort by both to salvage a draw for the team.
In division 4 our H team hosted Alsager E, who surprised us with their 1st team captain playing on board 1. However Kobus took this in his stride as he held out for an early draw, despite being outrated by over 200 pts. Tim Weston put us in the lead with a commanding win on bd 4 against a relative newcomer, before Phil Grocott earned a draw to ensure we would at least share the spoils. On board 2 Adam Fields had a fun game before emerging victorious to give us a 3-1 win.
For the first foray of the fresh league campaign Crewe’s F team found Fenton A formidable foes.
Finlay C, Richard F, George B and myself formed an eager and competitive team but, to an extent, it was a voyage into the unknown, as Fenton’s player roster has undergone some significant changes over recent months.
Fenton Pool Hall is their current venue and the refurbished playing area was conducive to some friendly but competitive chess as the first photo from the evening below illustrates.
To cut to the chase the match ended a 2-2 draw but that involved many twists and turns along the way with all four games having any possible outcome at various times. In the end Finn on board 3 and myself on 2 won the key games. Finn’s was a very confident and assured performance with an inspired attack just throwing pieces at his opponent until he succumbed.
However I must confess to a certain amount of relief and surprise for correctly navigating an endgame where each colour had just 5 pawns left on the board. Its the sort of position when the chicken in me would normally take the draw but at 2-1 down I didn’t have much option.
Next up is Crewe’s G team who are much stronger, more experienced, higher rated and generally better human beings than us so we haven’t got a chance…
…or have we?????
Watch this space…
…to be continued
Hoping to start a series of these; a lot of our members like to gad about the place; if you can get a chess theme into your travels then please send me a photo. See below for a shot of Nigel G. He recently went on a European tour with his beloved. “Just by chance” they stopped in Budapest when a certain chess event was happening. Mrs G was thrilled to see more chess, apparently.
Two of the three Summer KO Cups were decided last night at St Mary’s. Bart Fajfer beat Gee Cross in the Open KO. Gee tried to confuse him with some annoying c3 sicilian stuff, but Bart’s Karpov-like sense of danger got him through the opening safely. He then got the better of the middlegame, winning a pawn and then even trapping Gee’s knight. Gee kept him sweating, as Bart had hardly any time left, but eventually she had to resign.
The Major KO final was more chaotic. Oskar Jarzynski beat Finlay Charbonneau. When I first checked this one out Oskar was an exchange up but Finaly had a strong pawn centre. Finlay then won a rook , but reports from the front say that Oskar’s 2 outside passed pawns became unstoppable. Well done to Oskar, he just keeps on getting better.
Below is a shot of the Bart, going over his game. Oskar legged it too fast to get him on camera.
There was a hush in the playing hall as the first of the Summer Knockout finals was played on Tuesday (17th) between Nathan Fourie and Julian Bulbeck for the Intermediate trophy. The tension was palpable as colours were chosen – but not by the expected use of a coin – but by the good old fashioned “pick a hand from behind the back” as Nathan drew the black pawn. Young Nathan seemed to be heading to victory with a minor piece advantage, but struggled to deliver the telling blow as time evaporated. When down to a few minutes left for Nathan, Julian managed to cause enough confusion for Nathan to give the piece back and while Nathan still had an endgame advantage a draw was agreed as the enemy of time expiring got ever closer ! By now it was too late to play the Armageddon as both players felt pretty exhausted and therefore agreed to postpone the play-off to a future date (TBA).
The other two summer knockout finals are due to be played this Tuesday (24th) as covered in our News item on 4th September.
The new NSDCA season commenced earlier than normal, with Crewe D playing Crewe E in division 2 with teams closely rated within 78 points of each other near the 6600 range for the four boards. First blood went to the D team, but I am not sure how George Bowkett (on board 2) escaped from a massive attack to emerge a piece and a pawn up before converting comfortably into a 1-0 lead. Next to finish was board 4 where Ebube Christian made it 2-0 to the D team when appearing to be in a difficult bind as his opponent threw all his Kingside pawns onto the offensive in what looked would be an overwhelming suffocation. Clearly something went awry. Next up Lukasz Michalek gained a fortunate win for the Es on bd 1, as David Hulme misplayed a straight forward winning combination to drop a piece instead of gaining a piece. This narrowed the score to 2-1 in favour of the D team, where so easily the score could be reversed. Last to finish was George Bulbeck agreeing a draw with E team captain Dave Price when in a superior endgame position, taking the draw to ensure team victory 2.5-1.5
This Tuesday sees our two 4th division teams open their campaigns with home games. The “H” team play Gables B and the “I” team play Kidsgrove with Mario Scarpa as one of our new captains.
Just a reminder the club is closed on Tuesday 1st October, although we do have two teams playing away that night both at Fenton, with our “F” team playing Fenton “A” in div 3, and the “H” team against Fenton “B” in div 4.
As Martin Fisher asked me; where else can you spend £30 and get a guarantee of 12 months joy and misery? Join Crewe Chess Club now!
At this time of year the nation eagerly awaits the start of the new NSDCA chess season. It is now an established tradition that this joyous time is marked in our club by the Time and Point Handicap Competition, an event in which, just like in life in general, time is the great leveller. In this “swiss” contest the higher rated players get less time, and some of the lower rated players are given extra points. If you have a couple of hours to spare, and need a full explanation, then Secretary Hulme will gladly go on with himself about the intricacies of the handicap system; enough to say that he has designed things so that everyone has a chance of winning the tournament. Thanks again to Dave for his hard work
Last night saw the 10th annual event take place with a record number of 36 players competing for the coveted Les Hall Memorial Trophy.
Those of you who follow the news will know that Lukasz has won this competition for the last two years, and many feared that he might win it again, and run off with the Les Hall Memorial Trophy forever. Nod to Les here, one of the club’s founders, who hopefully will have been been looking down on us fondly, from the great chess board in the sky.
This year as 36 players battled it out, and as is not unusual, a playoff had to be arranged to settle matters. Dave Lambton overcame Pawel Stanny, and so wins his first club competition. We are all chuffed for him, especially me, who he absolutely battered in our game, The photo shows the playoff final about to start.
David becomes the 9th different winner as the handicap format allows every member to have a good chance of winning. This is underlined by the fact we had 9 players in with a chance of winning as we entered the final Round (No. 5) with their ratings ranging from 2139 to 1022. At the end of round 4 we had three players on 4.5 pts ! (with their handicaps), three more on 4/4 and two on 3/4 plus a 1 point handicap and one more with 2/4 plus a 2 point handicap. Spare a thought for Martin Burns as the only player to score 5/5, wasn’t enough to win the trophy as David battered him (Martin’s own words) in the play-offs before David faced Pawel in another Armageddon show-down.
In the foreground of the second photo Richard Lee tries to pinch Chairman Price’s wine. Play is about to start. Another great evening was had by all at St Mary’s.
After last night’s remaining semi-finals we now have the line ups for all three finals. These must be played on 17th or 24th September. For all games colours will be decided on the night by agreement.
OPEN – Gee Cross vs Bart Fajfer
MAJOR – Finn Charbonneau vs Oskar Jarzynski
INTER – Julian Bulbeck vs Nathan Fourie
In other news, the League Fixtures have been published today with our opening matches provisonally on Tuesday 24th September. The league’s full fixture lists can be seen from the “Fixtures & Tables” tab on the website homepage.
September ratings have been published by the ECF which are used for all league matches until 31st December. Our “Members List” shows the ratings used as well as a link to the ECF rating database.
Also just a reminder to all members that Tuesday 10th September is our Annual Time & Point Handicap Event played for the “Les Hall Memorial Trophy”. The 1st round (of 5) will commence at 7.30pm so please be there by 7.20 if possible.
Tuesday (27th) was the quietest night of 2024 for the club with many on holiday or taking a break and we still had 30 in attendance.
There were several knockout games played. In the Open, Bart Fajfer defeated Martin Burns in the last quarter final and Gintare (Gee) Cross beat David Lambton in the first semi-final. Bart jumps into the final as his next scheduled opponent has left the club due to a career move. This final is due to be played on 24th September.
In the Major knockout, Oskar Jarzynski continued his recent run of form with a win against Ebube Christian in one of the quarters. Meanwhile Neville Layhe and Richard Fish battled to a draw and were too exhausted to play the Armageddon tie breaker, which has been deferred to this week (3rd September). So we have two semi-finalists in the picture (Oskar and Chinenye) and two more to be decided.
In the Inter knockout, it was a positive night for the two youngsters involved in the quarters as Jamie Roberts beat Steve Ballantyne, and Nathan Fourie beat Mike Keenan to complete the semi final line up with Gerald Parton and Julian Bulbeck.
In other news the new season Club Championships got underway with one game played in Division 1. This Tuesday should see a number of games played as we now have four divisions set up. Karl Lockett should be contacting all players to let them know who is in each section and what the colour pairings will be, within the next few days.
Just a reminder that we have our annual Time & Point Handicap for the Les Hall Memorial Trophy on Tuesday 10th September. Please confirm with David Hulme if you can play in this event (or not) which is usually an enjoyable and chaotic evening of Rapid/Blitz chess where any member can be paired up with anyone !
Fixtures for the new league season in the NSDCA should be published in the next few days, where we have 11 teams and matches are likely to start in early October.
Last night (Tuesday 20th) saw our SCS “A” team win the South Cheshire Shield. Last week they were held to a draw by Stafford who are the only team to take any points off Steve Ballantyne’s squad, and went into last night’s game against Newcastle in the knowledge that a draw would secure the trophy.
Any early nerves were settled when top board Julian Hawthorne notched up the first win before skipper Steve added a second win to guarantee the Shield would be coming back to Crewe for the first time since 2017. Safe in the knowledge of the team’s success Pawel offered a draw which was swiftly accepted and Jamie Roberts concluded the A’s campaign with a further win to give a final score of 3.5-0.5. There is just one match left in the Summer Shield and the “A” team have finished the season with a record of PLd 7, won 6, drawn 1 to be worthy champions.
CONGRATULATIONS TO STEVE AND ALL THE TEAM MEMBERS.
In other news, there were a couple of Club Summer Knockout games also played. In the Major KO Chinenye was held to a draw in his quarter final last week with James Coney and their Armageddon tie break being played last night. Chinenye managed to scrape through with the extra minute and be the first player to secure a semi-final spot in the Major.
The Intermediate KO saw two quarter-finals take place last night. Gerald Parton emerged victorious from his clash with Matthew Dean, while Julian Bulbeck and Kobus Nienaber battled to a draw before Julian clinched the Armageddon to take his place in the semi-finals.
Next week is the deadline for all remaining quarter-finals, with one game outstanding in the Open, three in the Major and two in the Inter.
Looking ahead, the 2024/25 club championships should start on 3rd September with a new 4th division being added. The annual Time & Point handicap for the Les Hall Memorial Trophy takes place on 10th September, with all summer KO semi finals and finals to be completed by the end of September.
The new league season should start in early October, with the club running 11 teams in the NSDCA. Please note our club premises are not available on Tuesday 1st October.