News

After last weekend’s busy and successful congress with over 30 of our members in action, it was a relatively quiet night at St. Mary’s on Tuesday with 29 members attending plus our visitors from Kidsgrove as the majority had a little break from chess.

Despite the lower numbers, there was much to enjoy. The main event was our “A” team hosting Kidsgrove in the South Cheshire Shield, while the last game was played in the club championship 23/24 competition and the first game was played in the Summer knockout.

The “A” team had a narrow win 2.5-1.5, with Pawel and Phil winning on boards 2 and 4 with the white pieces and George Bulbeck getting the only points with black in the match with a draw on board 1.

Wednesday we had both our teams in action with the “A” team at Meir’s new venue and the “B” team at Newcastle.

The “A” team had a comfortable win 3.5-0.5 with wins from Julian Hawthorne (bd 1), Pawel (bd 2) and Jamie (bd 3), while captain Steve settled for the draw. Having played 3 matches in 8 days, the “A” team have made a 100% start and lead the table by 2pts at this early stage of the summer season.

The “B” team came away from The Bridge Club in Newcastle with the match secured after a 3-1 success. Nigel captained the team (as Dave Price had a rare night off) and led the way with a win on bd 2. George Bowkett and Kobus also did the business in the 3-1 win.

Crewe’s 7th (Long play) Congress took place over the weekend 28-30 June at the superb Mornflake Stadium, home of Crewe Alex FC.

Our club made up over 15% of the 199 players involved, with members in each of the four sections (Open, Major U1950, Inter U1700, Minor U1450). The Congress Committee had set a maximum limit of 200 players which had been met nearly 4 weeks before the start date, but with late withdrawals found ourselves one short.

With over 30 club members in the Congress there was hope of a few prize winners – with 17 up for grabs.

As it turned out we had just one prize winner – the only player in the whole congress to score 100% – 12 year old Oskar Jarzynski, who was ranked 45th out of 70 players in the Intermediate section. Each opponent was rated much higher than Oskar, with the Swiss Manager Program showing a performance rating of 2421 for the event !

Congratulations to Oskar.

There are three sections this year, with 16 members in the Open and Major and over 20 players in the Intermediate competitions. Please check the 2024 Summer section on the LMS. The draws can be seen by following the website links via

1. Fixtures + Tables
2. Internal Comps
3. 2024 Summer

1st round games in the Open and Major to be played by 31st July. For the Intermediate section there are 1st and 2nd round games to be played by 31st July due to the extra numbers involved.

The draws for later rounds have already been done with pairings shown in the Notes/comments for each round

Tuesday 25th June saw England advance in the Euros, so a quiet night at St Mary’s was anticipated. Following our record attendance of 49 last week we were reduced to 29 players to see the climax of the Club Championship.

Division 3 had already been secured by 12 year old Jamie Roberts in his first full season at the club. With a score of 9.5/11, the key to success was a crucial win over 2nd placed Mike Keenan who finished with a very impressive 9/11. Pete Kanalos exceeding expectations (scoring 8/11) was 3rd.

Division 2 saw the long awaited final night with three players in contention with the last two games taking place. Joint leaders Dave Price and James Coney with 6pts each went head to head knowing the winner would be champion. The other game saw Richard Fish playing Julian Bulbeck in the knowledge that a win for Richard would be enough to win on tie-break if the top two drew. Chairman Dave played solidly and blew open James’ defences with a central pawn push that led to a pawn advantage that ultimately proved too much and secured Dave the vital win to become champion – his first trophy at the club after 10 years at the helm. Richard was held to a draw to finish joint second on 6pts.

Congratulations to Dave and Jamie who will collect their trophies at the forthcoming AGM.

Tuesday also saw our two teams face each other in their first matches of the South Cheshire Summer Shield (for teams of 4 with maximum total rating 6000). The “A” team had a slight advantage in rating terms based on the January grades used in the Summer Shield. Steve Ballantyne (SCS “A” team captain) predicted a close match and this was certainly the way it turned out. First to finish was a draw between our two 12 year old stars – Jamie and Oskar on board 2. On board 1 Neville’s experience and better knowledge of the opening gained the initiative which George Bowkett could not prevent, to give Nev the full point for the “As”. Nathan Fourie (B team) held the higher rated Phil Grocott to a draw to leave the match in the balance. Another youngster playing for the B team Finn Charbonneau, pushed Doug Barnett into another long fought draw to conclude the match 2.5-1.5 in favour the As.

Last night was yet another superb night for the club as the final rounds (No 5 & 6) took place in both of our Annual Swiss Rapidplay competitions.

There was a record attendance of club members with 49 in total, comprising 46 players, 1 controller and 2 members playing social chess.

Firstly looking at the Open rated section, we had 6 players who started the night in the joint lead on 3 out of 4 pts as reported in last week’s News Item. Only two of the six managed to win in Round 5 with Martin Burns and Cyrus Pereira being successful, while defending champion Carmel Barwick could only draw with Martin Frisher to leave them both on 3.5pts together with Andy Raeburn. So the scene was set with Martin B playing Cyrus in a winner takes all clash on board 1, while Martin F, Carmel and Andy hoped the top board would produce a draw to allow them to all potentially finish on 4.5 pts. However Martin Burns held his nerve to beat Cyrus and emerge as the sole winner with the only unbeaten record in the competition of four wins and two draws. Carmel finished as runner-up after her win in the final round, to end on 4.5 pts.

Turning attention to the U1600 event, 12 year old Jamie Roberts started the night as the leader with 3.5pts, with five players just behind on 3pts. Jamie won his game in Round 5 to maintain his lead as James Marshall won to stay on his tail just half a point behind, and Finn Charbonneau also won to move into 3rd place on 3.5pts. As Jamie had played James in an earlier round this meant Jamie would play Finn in the final round, with these three now the only possible winners. James played Julian Bulbeck on board 2 and came unstuck to finish on 4pts meaning Jamie needed just a draw to win the competition, while Finn needed a win to catch Jamie and then see how the tie break would work. In a cracking game Finn built up a ferocious King side attack that put Jamie deep in time trouble. Under pressure Jamie sacked a piece, but Finn kept his head to set up a mating attack after his own piece sacrifice and win the game. With Jamie and Finn both finishing on 4.5 pts, the tie break of Direct Encounter worked in favour of Finn to leave him as the winner.

Congratulations to Martin and Finn who will be awarded their trophies at the forthcoming AGM, with their names now added to the Club website’s Honours List.

Last night was another fantastic club night as we held Rounds 3 and 4 of our Annual Rapidplay competition. This year due to the growth of the club we decided to hold two separate sections – one as Open Rated and one for players rated Under 1600. There are 21 members in the Open section and 29 in the U1600.

The competition is being held later in the season than previous years due to the NSDCA League/Cup fixtures, with dates fixed as 21st May for the two opening rounds and the final rounds (5 & 6) taking place next Tuesday (18th June).

Several players have been allowed to take byes during the opening two nights, receiving a half-point bye for any round missed which allows youngsters to play the first round of the night, so as not to interfere with school programs and exams. However there are no byes available for Rounds 5 & 6.

Firstly looking at the Open section we have a pile up of 6 players on 3pts after 4 rounds, with two more just a half point behind. There have been plenty of surprise results as the No1 seed has dropped two points already. The leading pile up comprises Kamil, Cyrus, Carmel, Martin B, Karl and surprise contender Martin Frisher. Just behind these are Andy R and Ebube who has excelled having already played two of the joint leaders. Our promising youngster (not), Doug Barnett was delighted to take the scalp of tournament controller David Hulme, with his first ever win against David after nearly 10 years at the club !

Turning attention to the U1600 section, we have (a real youngster) 12 year old Jamie Roberts leading the way with 3.5 pts, ahead of a chasing pack on 3pts which includes several of the expected trophy chasers – Nigel, Adam, James M and newcomer George Bowkett, and surprise package Mario. With another five players on 2.5 pts it promises to be a tense and tight fight next week, although George is out of the contest due to being back at Cardiff Uni.

In the likelihood of tie-breaks being required to determine the two section winners the controller has decided these will be as follows. If the TB does not produce a winner then trophies will be awarded to all joint winners

1. Direct Encounter – if just two players involved then their result dictates. And if more than two players involved, it is necessary that all have played each other and the highest scorer from these games is the winner. Otherwise this TB cannot be used.
2. Number of wins – this means 4 wins is better than 3 wins and 2 draws etc
3. Sum of the opponents scores if all played same number of games
4. Average of all opponents scores if played different number of games.

Thanks to Steve who kindly acted as the Results marker.

Below is a photo from the night showing 44 players in action.

Congratulations to our opponents on a well deserved victory to take the Major Cup off long term holders Crewe, as we suffered our first defeat since February 2018 in this competition.

The early signs were ominous as Macclesfield fielded their standard division one team with J P Taylor adding to their strength on board 2. Both teams were fairly close to the permitted top of the range ratings in this U1825 competition, averaging 1761 for Crewe and 1775 for Macc on the prescribed January ratings, and even higher on the most current ratings !

Things started well for us as the Cup holders with captain David Lambton taking the first match point on top board as his opponent sacrificed a piece unsoundly. This was followed up with a solid draw on board 3 by Martin Frisher before our first victim was impaled on board 2 to level the scores. Next to finish was board 5 where their captain Phil Cattermole had the one decisive rating advantage and duly applied the pressure to win a piece forcing resignation and putting Macc in the lead. At this point Macc only needed a draw on board 4 and Crewe needed a win to secure the match on tie break. David Hulme had given up a pawn early to create a cramped position with doubled pawns for his opponent – the experienced Geoff Laurence, and with a useful time gap on the clock. However Geoff was able to attack the castled King quicker than David could launch his own queenside attack and forced a multiple piece exchange to maintain a (better) pawn advantage with a dominant bishop against a weaker Knight. Geoff’s endgame was too strong as he created a queening pawn while David’s pawn was stopped on the 7th rank. Slowly but surely David was put to the sword and Macclesfield emerged as worthy winners by the score of 3.5-1.5

Last night at St Mary’s was a very successful club night in many ways.

Starting with the D team clinching the NSDCA League division 2 trophy with a sound 3-1 win over Holmes Chapel B. The regular stars all contributed as Chinenye got us off to a flyer and calm the nerves with a swift win on board 4. Then skipper Dave Lambton continued his brilliant run with a smooth win on board 2 to put us on the verge on the title. George Bulbeck was a piece for a pawn up and decided to put the team ahead of his own success and smartly offered a draw which was quickly gobbled up to secure the title. This left Cyrus with a free hit on bd 1 who appeared to be winning but was thwarted by some superb endgame play to be held to a draw. Congratulations to the D team !

Alongside the D team, their C team brothers were in action against Stafford (who recently beat our D team champions) and again all players contributed to the same scoreline of 3-1. This time it was Julian Hawthorne who continued his rich vein of form with another win (on bd 4) as did captain Karl on bd 2. With draws from Andy Raeburn and Gee in the remaining games. This concludes the C team’s campaign who have come into form in the 2nd half of the season, taking vital points away from title contenders to leave the D team sitting pretty.

Division 1 of the Club championship saw Harry add another win to his impressive tally to confirm the title (for the 2nd time) and take his score to a briliant 9.5/10 and a tournament rating of 2150, with one game left to play. Congratulations to Harry !

The club added yet another new member to our growing list as George Bowkett joined us while on a brief break from university with a promise to be back in June to join the Swiss Rapidplay.

The club goes from strength to strength as membership grows to over 70 members as we approach the climax to the club championship. The last two club nights have seen 24 internal games played including rated games outside the club championship.

In the three separate (championship) sections, there has now been 53 games completed in division 1, with 52 each in divs 2 and 3, and everything still to play for with just a few games remaining in each section.

In division 1, Harry Gardiner remains on the brink of recapturing the title he won in 21/22, with an excellent unbeaten score of 8.5/9 and needs just a draw from either of his two games left. At the other end of the table the scramble to avoid relegation effects about half of the competitors. Six players have scored 3.5 pts or less so far, with the safety bar currently unknown due to the possibility of a multi-way tie in div 2 where four players may tie for promotion and the expected introduction of several very strong players to the competition next season.

Division 2 is fiercely competitive with 3 players on 6 pts, three more on 5.5 pts and two others on 4.5 pts. Oskar is joint top currently on 6 pts, but will be overhauled by at least one of the other joint leaders – chairman Dave and James Coney (both 6/9) who play each other in the final round knowing that if either can win they will be champion, but if they draw we could end with them sharing the winners podium with Richard and Chineneye who both have 5.5/9.

Division 3 is complicated by the issue of some players picking up points against members that appear to have withdrawn from the event. Youngster Jamie Roberts currently leads with 9.5/11, while Pete Kanalos sits on 8/11 and Mike Keenan 7/9. It is not possible for the other contenders to catch the leader.

Events officer Karl Lockett has the unenviable task of sorting out the various promotion, relegation and restructuring issues as we look certain to need a new 4th division next season to accommodate the constant growth of our membership.

In other news we will be holding our Annual Swiss Rapidplay event over 3 nights (2 rounds per night) starting May 21st. This year due to the increase in membership there will be two sections playing 6 rounds, with an “open rated” section and an “under 1600” section. Players below 1600 may choose to play in the open section if they wish. Please let David Hulme know asap if you want to play in either of these sections. The other nights will be June 11th and 18th, so we can have trophies sorted in time for the upcoming AGM night (to be decided). Byes will be given if you notify David you cannot attend on May 21st or June 11th, but no byes on the final night.

Mon 22nd April – The E team finished off their division 3 campaign with a tough match against eventual champions – Gables A. The top two boards were on a hiding to nothing facing the top two players in the division, so the match was always going to be dictated by boards 3 and 4. Captain Nigel cleverly deployed himself on 3 Adam Fields on 4 as they both came up trumps to take a share of the points and leave the Gables team needing to win their final match to become champions.

Tuesday 23rd saw another superb night at St Mary’s with a stack of internal games (see separate report) and the Major Cup semi-final (U1825) vs Alsager. We were able to field a strong team and started as favourites with significant rating advantages on all boards. Julian Hawthorne got the ball rolling with a comprehensive win on bd 5 and was soon followed by David Hulme on bd 4. Martin Frisher was held to a draw on board 3, to put us in command before Alsager fought back with a surprise win on bd 1. We were left needing at least a draw on bd 2 where Karl Lockett used all his experience to convert his advantage into a full point making us 3.5-1.5 victors. We will face Macclesfield in the final on 4th June where teams will be evenly matched.

Friday 26th – we had both of our Div 2 teams travelling to matches, with leaders Crewe D at Stafford and mid table Crewe C at Cheddleton (B). The D team had a blip on the night as rivals Stafford proved too good with a 3-1 win. Captain David Lambton was our sole point gainer extending his league unbeaten run this season moving to 9/11. Noting that Stafford lost their next match, the D team need a win from either of their remaining two matches to become champions.

The C team faired better at Cheddleton. Captain Karl Lockett led from the front with a win on bd 2, together with Jules Hawthorne who is in impressive form (8/10 in all NSDCA matches this season) to give a 2-2 draw.