News

Three matches to report on this week effecting Div 3 and 4 title chases. Wednesday night it was  the turn of our C team to challenge at the top of division 3 in 2nd place, with a home match against 4th placed Meir “A”. Skipper Dave Price set the ball rolling with a comfortable win on bd 4, before Karl Lockett added a crucial win on top board. Julian Bulbeck (fully aware of the match position) then offered a draw which was gladly accepted before the opponent realised it would determine the match result to give the C team a narrow 2.5-1.5 win, to take them level on match points with leaders Crewe B.

The other match on Wednesday was our D team taking on division 4 leaders Newcastle D at The Bridge Club. The D team went into this match with a superb record away from home with two wins and three draws but could not stop the hosts from extending their lead at the top of the table. Both teams were close to the 460 grade limit but Newcastle proved too strong, as they ran out 3-1 winners, with Crewe’s Doug Barnett and Harry Gardiner both claiming draws.

Friday no longer means “it’s time for Cracker-jack” but “chess at Cheddleton” as one of our teams travelled to Leek for the 10th time this season. This time it was the turn of B team (the Bees) to play a crucial top of the table clash, with Cheddleton C in 3rd place taking on the league leaders and defending champions. The Bees are in no mood to relinquish their hold on the title as they swarmed to a win 2.5-1.5. Skipper Rick Renegade on board 1 and Chris Rhodes on bd 3 took advantage of the white pieces to win their games, while Neville Layhe salvaged the only contribution with black for the all important draw. The Bees are at home next Wednesday against Meir “A” and avoiding defeat will ensure the division 3 trophy stays in Crewe.

Thanks to Nigel again for the following report:

The E team’s somewhat wishful title hopes continue to have their flames fanned by Dave the dragon’s fiery performances and Simon the scorcher’s sparky successes.

At one point this match against a very strong Cheddleton G appeared all over; we were in trouble on 3 of the boards, yet this was a match we had to win to have any chance of maintaining any title aspiration.

All games were into the end game when suddenly on board 2, Dave who had fought against some considerable pressure, cast a magic spell on his opponent causing him to hallucinate and think his rook was a queen and could move diagonally!! Guess what, it couldn’t; but as he had touched the piece he had to move it which gave Dave the opportunity to launch a thrusting counter attack giving him victory within 3 moves. Alongside him on board 1 Simon had compiled a couple of very clever sequences to unlock his opponent’s very sound defence and in the second and most telling of these the inclusion of a discovered check proved crucial to powering him to success. Within 15 minutes we had gone from staring into the abyss to being 2-0 up. However that was only half the job. Lukasz had been in trouble on board 4 almost from the first few moves and at one point had been 3 pawns down with his opponent’s queen all over him.

However he showed a great degree of maturity to work through the problems and gradually find a way back. First, getting one pawn, then fending off the queen, then getting another pawn and breaking out with his own attack. It looked at this stage like the force was with the young Jedi master. However from here on in his opponent hardly put a foot wrong and gradually forced a win promoting a passed pawn to bring the match back to 2-1.

This left Julian a pawn down to an opponent who he had fought a very hard draw with a few weeks ago and under a lot of pressure. Eventually all other matches had finished and these two slugged it out until neither had anything left. Neither could break through, neither looked like making a mistake and despite the opposing bishop and knight dancing around the few remaining pawns a draw was destined to be the result.

And so it finished, Julian the Just came home with the half point the team needed for the win that momentarily takes them back to the top of the table. They have though, played 2 more games than Cheddleton H, and still look destined to finish runners up. However a spark neglected can make a mighty fire!

Nil desperandum.

Thanks to Nigel Gardner for this report on Meir C vs Crewe F:

Crewe’s F team travelled, optimistically, to play Meir C on Monday expecting a hard match against much higher graded opponents. So it eventually transpired with a 2.5-1.5 defeat although at one stage it seemed a shock was on the way. All 4 games appeared to be close but on board 3 Reinhard was gradually building an advantage and with some passed pawns eventually overwhelmed his opponent to get the first point on the board. Seeing this alongside me and having just taken the advantage in my game I quickly offered my opponent a draw, which he accepted immediately, knowing the other 2 games were close. With the benefit of hindsight I made a mistake as if I had examined my position more closely I was in a better position than I had at first thought and should probably have been able to force a win. However I didn’t…………………

Kobus had asked for a challenging game and he was getting it on top board! It was very close but his opponent always seemed to have the upper hand and despite fighting right to the end he eventually capitulated tying the overall match. This left Mike on board 4 who had played a very sound game throughout which had become complicated in the mid-game and he had used a significant amount of time. Probably on analysis he could have won the match but a draw seemed a very real probability until time started to become a problem for him. Unfortunately under the pressure he forgot to press the clock 3 times which ate further into his time and also meant his opponent wasn’t under the same pressure. Eventually that told in a very complicated ending, when Mike eventually lost a rook and had to resign.

However despite the defeat 4 enjoyable games and apologies to my team for a rushed decision that I almost immediately regretted

We have four matches to report on this week. Monday – Div 5 F team away at Meir C, Wednesday U130 Cup match vs Stafford and friendly vs Madeley, Friday – Div 5 E team away at Cheddleton G.

The division 5 matches are covered by captain Nigel Gardner – see separate report.

The Intermediate Cup is for players with a max grade of 130, and Stafford produced a very competitive match for this semi-final not reflected in the final score. We had a big grade advantage on bottom board (No 5) and Martin Fisher playing only his second game of the season gave the team a solid start with notching up a good win with black. The lead was extended when Doug Barnett added victory on bd 1, before captain Dave Price secured the match with a further win on bd 4, then Simon Layhe added another to make it 4-0 before the visitors gained a consolation to finish the match with a 4-1 win to Crewe, who will face Cheddleton in the final after their semi-final was clinched on board count.

With just one match taking place, the club took the opportunity to host recently formed Madeley in another 5-board encounter. On this occasion it was the visitors who ran out 4-1 winners as they proved to be much stronger than expected. Our sole success came from George Jelliss playing his first match for our club since his recent arrival.

Thanks to captain Nigel Gardner for this report.

……….. the E team’s title hopes faintly flickering on Friday are now seeing the first flames tentatively creeping from the depths of what was an all but dead dream.

Nil desperandum.

Monday night at Meir proved a successful hunting ground for Crewe’s E team with all four boards falling to Crewe. First to finish was Julian on top board closely followed by Kobus on 3 both as white, converting early superiority gradually and carefully into unassailable positions.  I followed suit on 2 after a slightly more dogged match where a one pawn advantage from early on was held throughout to become a passed pawn and ultimately indefensible. Lukasz wrapped up a successful night with a very solid win and 4 – 0 certainly helps the “goal difference” although that will still probably not be enough; however there may still be the odd twist and turn before the end of the season.

 

This week has seen four matches for our club; Monday – E team away at Meir B; Wednesday – B team at home to Newcastle C and F team vs Cheddleton F; Friday night C team away to Cheddleton D.

Starting with the E team they had a superb 4-0 win (see Nigel Gardner’s report separate to this news item) to stay in possible contention for the division 5 title, although will need some help from other clubs to take points from league leaders Chedd H.

The B team, currently on top of division 3 were held to a draw by a strong Newcastle team. Losses on top two boards were recovered by Simon Layhe and Chris Rhodes as the Bees strength in depth saved the day to go 2 points clear at the top of the table, while our C team had a game in hand.

The F team was intended to be the club’s first “all junior” team but a last minute illness meant Kobus Nienaber was added to the team list as what captain Nigel called “the junior team and it’s mascot”. The match was about 30 minutes old when a crash was heared as the board 4 pieces were scattered far and wide by a leg falling in on the table. Fortunately the Chedd captain was very calm as Lukasz Michalek went on a piece search to reset the position, which gathered the attention of spectators around the club not to mention the players in the B team match. When the game resumed it was not long before the F team began to accumulate the points as Lukasz invaded his opponent’s King side to set up a mating attack. Kobus Nienaber and Ben Harrison converted solid positions into winning ones while Harry Gardiner earned a good draw against the very experienced Sandra Blackburn on top board to give the F team a pleasing result of 3.5-0.5 to cement their division 5 mid table position.

Friday night saw our C team (2nd in division 3) take on Cheddleton D. The hosts proved too strong and claimed a 3-1 win, with Amy Lovatt and Dave Price chalking up draws. This puts a huge hole in Crewe’s chances of a 1,2 at the top of the table as Cheddleton’s other division 3 team (their C team) have games in hand including two matches against our Bees to overtake both Crewe sides.

Tuesday night saw our table-topping Wirral team play a home match (at Chester in this league) against second bottom of the table Hoylake 2. Captain David Hulme was confident the opposition would be weaker than normal as Hoylake’s 1st team was also in action (in division 1) who normally contribute at least two players to the second team. Unfortunately David’s hopes were squashed at the sight of the oppostion who had their normal top two. The outshot of all this was that boards 2-5 were almost identical in grades with only bd 1 being of any siginifcant advantage to us.

The match started badly with an early loss on bd 4, as the opposition’s experience capitalised on an early mistake. David H levelled the scores with a win on bd 2 to take his tally for the season to a very impressive 6/6 and a grading performance of 186 to date in the league, before our top player Bart Fajfer did the same, extending his record to 8/8 including Wirral Cup matches and even better rating performance of 198 in the WCL, to make it 2-1. Simon Layhe on bd 3 seemed to be holding position well until the loss of a pawn made it a little uncomfortable. However Simon’s good bishop with Rook and 4 pawns was enough to hold out for a draw which ensured we would not lose. This left Dave Price in play on bd 5, who seemed to be in total control with a two pawn advantage before allowing his opponent to get very active in and end game with Rook, Knight and pawns each. Dave managed to keep his concentration while many would have struggled. It was a crucial win for the team who remain top of the table with a 100% record from 6 matches. We have two matches left both in April, the first against Wallasey 4 and the latter the “potential title decider” with Wallasey 2 who also have a 100% record but have only played 4 matches to date.

Wednesday night saw the “A” team at home to Newcastle B in division 2 and the “D” team at home to Newcastle “E” in division 4.

The division 2 match was another big match at the top of the table, with both teams weighing in almost on the 725 grade limit. The home team were forced to change their line up following the release of the January grades, with Karl Lockett and David Hulme being rotated out in favour of Ola Titiloye and Simon Layhe, while the Newcastle team only had their captain’s name appearing on the scoresheet from both matches as they showed their considerable options for this division. The match started well for the top of the table Crewe team as Simon Layhe wrapped up a quick win on bd 5, before Ola and Amy Lovatt secured safe draws to make it 2-1 for the hosts. Newcastle’s bd 1, Reinhold Heinlein (grade 187) proved too much to handle and made it 2-2. The bd 4 game looked on a knife-edge with black’s king stuck on the edge of the board and cut off, and Crewe’s white king seemingly in the firing line too. It appears that Crewe’s Chris Rhodes read the position better as he was able to drop a piece to the back rank delivering a long distance check and follow-up mate, to make the final score 3-2 to Crewe, who remain top of NSDCA div 2 having Pld 7, W4, D3 but can easily be caught by any of the chasing pack Cheddleton B, Macclesfield and Newcastle B.

The other match at the Mals saw both div 4 teams equally matched as well. Les Hall won the battle of the captains for the hosts on board 4, before Newcastle’s junior Hambel Willow made it 1-1 with a top board victory. Doug Barnett was happy to earn a draw, so we could all watch the remaining game on bd 3 between Crewe’s junior Harry Gardiner and the experienced Nic Wright. Both players were disappointed to end up with a hard earned draw which saw the match finish with points shared, to leave our D team respectfully in mid table, and the visitors in 2nd place.

Report by Nigel Gardner:

“If it’s Friday night its Cheddleton” is a phrase that is so often used it may well make it into the catchily entitled best seller “The 10 most used phrases in the English language list of phrases”

Division 5 recommenced with a visit for the E team to Cheddleton who had strengthened their normal team possibly with the aim of putting a further dent in the E team’s dwindling title ambitions. The E’s had a couple of regulars missing (Simon & Julian) and this meant the two sides were virtually identical in the grading totals; it was going to be a difficult night.

Mike Keenan was left waiting on board 4 at the start as his opponent was 10 minutes late and that time on the clock probably helped Mike as the game quickly became a very complicated tangle of pawn structures. When some of the major pieces then got swapped off the game had draw written all over it and so it transpired although it took a long time to reach the agreement. A hard earned half a point for Mike, critically as black!

Meanwhile alongside him I had been playing one of Cheddleton’s juniors, in an altogether more open game. Combination attacks were flying in all over the place from me and whilst all were not necessarily the best moves the combined weight of pressure caused the seemingly inevitable mistake and then the flood gates opened. Victory followed soon forced with an Alekhine’s cannon that I quite enjoyed! 1.5-0.5.

Boards 1 & 2 were set for the duration but Adam was slowly getting entrenched into an ever more passive position against a much higher graded opponent who is normally their top board. Materially there was very little in it but the pressure was building which also ate into Adam’s time and in the end he had to capitulate and the match was tied with just Dave Price on board 1 to finish.

Dave’s had been an interesting game for me to watch as his captain!!!! He sacrificed a minor piece early on for nothing more certain than a vaguely attacking-looking position……..however don’t doubt Dave the Death. Fresh from his success at Frodsham congress and a good win in midweek in “trying conditions” Dave wasn’t in the mood for taking prisoners. His attack did materialise and he kept building on it. Cheddleton’s player kept going to the last pawn hoping that Dave would take mercy or maybe be struck by lightning, but neither was going to happen. Dave the Death administered the coup de grace and the team had its very well deserved win; a proper team effort from all involved.   

This leaves the E team’s title hopes still faintly flickering as they travel to Meir on Monday to try and further breathe softly on the embers.

Nil deperandum. 

Congratulations to Dave Price on winning the U120 Section of the Frodsham Congress this weekend with a score of 4.5/5.

Doug Barnett came joint 8th in the U160 section with a superb score of 3/5 and only lost in Round 4 to the outright winner. Neville Layhe scored 1.5 in the same section, while congresser-in-chief Les Hall scored 2/5 to avoid Dave in the U120 section.

Crewe also won the team prize a DGT 2010 Clock

For full results Chess-Results.com

With three matches to report on this week, Monday saw our D team travel to Fenton C for a 4th division match. A superb performance without normal top board players, saw Doug Barnett elevated to bd 1 and overcome his grade 152 opponent. Junior Lukasz Michalek’s rapidly improving play saw him promoted above skipper Les Hall to bd 3 and with full justification as he added another full point together with captain Les to make it a 3-1 success. This result leaves the team mid-table with 7 pts from 8 games.

Wednesday night it was the turn of the C & E teams to play at home against Alsager “A” and Stafford B respectively.

The C team had a shocker and fell to bottom of the table Alsager leaving skipper Dave Price red faced, as they lost the chance to overtake our B team at the top of the table. Our points in the 1.5-2.5 reverse came from a draw by Karl Lockett on bd 1 and a win for Amy Lovatt on bd 2.

Meanwhile the “E” team had a comfortable night as ran out 3.5 – 0.5 winners against 3-man Stafford. A draw on bd 2 by Julian Bulbeck secured the result after the default win was added to Adam Fields’ success on bd 4 and Simon Layhe duly converted bd 1 as well. This win takes the Es to 16 pts from 10 matches in 2nd place of division 5, with a mountain to climb as they chase leaders Cheddleton H at the summit who have amassed 21 pts from 11 matches.