News

Congratulations to 17 year old Nathan Fourie, who became our latest trophy winner after beating Julian Bulbeck in the Armageddon play-off following their main game which was drawn last month. He is the first winner of the Summer Intermediate knock-out.

It was another busy Tuesday (22^nd) night at St Mary’s with over 40 of our own members in attendance plus a visiting team from Stafford, while our G team were playing away at The Gables in the NSDCA 3^rd division.

There was a surprise result in the 1st division derby where the B team beat the A team 3-1. Richard Lee won the top board battle for the A team, while Gee Cross, David Lambton and Martin Frisher all won for the Bees despite being lower rated than their opponents.

The E team had a superb result beating Stafford in Div 2, by 3.5-0.5. With teams evenly matched overall, Lukasz Michalek held his higher rated opponent to a draw on bd 1, while Karl Lockett, Oskar Jarzynski and Doug Barnett won their games.

Meanwhile the G team were narrowly beaten at The Gables in div 3. Early losses on bd 1 and 4, left us trailing 2-0 before Jamie Roberts pulled one back, but Pawel was held to a draw despite trying his best to salavage the match.

On Wednesday night the H team travelled to Meir and continued their impressive run with a 4-0 whitewash, to maintain their lead at the top of the Division 4 table. After losing the first match of the season, they have now picked up 7pts from the last 4 matches and face second placed Cheddleton D in the next game. Well done to Kobus, Adam, Tim and Mark on this outstanding result. It is noted that Tim is the top scorer in div 4 so far with a perfect 5/5.

We kicked off the week with the D team travelling to Macclesfield on Monday 14th for a tough Division 2 match. Facing the team with the highest ratings in the division at 7288, we decided to pick a stronger team than planned but were stil outrated by just under 380 pts. Ebube played well to force a draw (bd 4) after being down a couple of pawns, before David Lambton produced an excellent win on bd 1. Jules secured a draw (bd 3) as the skipper got outplayed to leave the final result 2-2, to continue the D team’s promising start to the season with 5 pts from 3 matches to sit top of the table for now.

Tuesday saw another packed house at St Mary’s with our highest attendance since the June rapidplay nights, with 3 matches and a number of Club championship games taking place, while the social room was also packed including 4 or 5 more potential new members.

In the Major Cup (U1825) we faced Alsager in the semi final, and were strong favourites with a 600 pts rating average over the 5 boards. Jules got us on the scorecard with a safe draw on bd 5, before Andy Raeburn got the better of the top board clash and then David H won on bd 3 to make sure we would progress to the final (as even if we lost the two remaing games, we would win on tie break). Martin F converted his advanatge into a full point on bd 2 to leave Karl playing the last game and also winning to give us a comfortable win 4.5 -0.5

In division 3, we had the first F vs G derby with the F team being slightly higher rated but not by any significant amount. First to finish was a surprise result on bd 4 as G team skipper Steve overturned the biggest difference (173 pts or 231 on latest ratings) to gain a win. Then on bd 1, F team captain Nigel held the higher rated Nev to a draw by just after 9 o’clock. We then had a long long wait for the other two games to conclude. On bd 2 Richard Fish (F team) was pushing for a win after an early sacrifice, but Pawel held his nerve to stop Richard and eventually piece was a agreed with a draw. The last game to finish saw George Bulbeck typically low on time, play approx 50 moves in increment time before grinding out a win to save the match for the F team. Honours even 2-2.

The H team hosted Kidsgrove in div 4. The match was secured by wins on the top 3 boards from Kobus, Adam and Tim as we ran out 3-1 winners. Having played four matches already the Hs sit top of the table for now with 5 pts, while all other teams have games in hand. Tim has started the season superby with 4/4 and will look to extend that run when the H team play at Meir next week.

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.