News

After a brief abeyance the Rhyl Chess Congress is back, and 5 Crewe CC members readily signed up for a weekend of chess beside the seaside.

I took a bye on Friday and kept an eye on results from afar. Now I know Harry Gardiner has been in pretty hot form, but I was a bit surprised to see his result in the first round. Was it right that he had beaten Keith Arkell; as in his Grandmasterliness and former English Champion Keith Arkell? Anyway, when I got to Rhyl this result was confirmed. Harry showed me the game at dinnertime; he had played nicely, avoiding a few pitfalls, and had reached a decent endgame when Keith blundered a piece. Respect due to Harry for playing so well, and to Keith, who apparently was very gracious in defeat. I checked with Harry, who confirmed that he now has a 100% record against grandmasters.

It so happened that in the second round I had to play….his Grandmasterliness and former English Champion Keith Arkell. Dave Price told me not to worry, as he had been plying Keith with beer all night, and the guy would not be at his best. I still went down in flames, pretty fast.

This gave me the chance to watch and another Harry in action; former British Chess Champion Harry Grieve. Harry (Grieve) was in great form too, and I was a bit impressed when he sacrificed two exchanges to rip open Jeff Smith’s king; a game that deserved 1.5 points for the win. Grieve went on to win the Open.

Harry (Gardiner) had some good games, and finished on a totally decent 3 points out of 5, this in spite of sharing a caravan with Pricey all weekend.

In the Major, Andy Raeburn was going well after 3 rounds, sharing the lead on 2.5 out of 3. Crewe hopes were raised, but sadly Andy went down in a tough tussle with the eventual tournament winner. Dave Price struggled a bit in the heat, but at least got one win under his belt.

Mal Green in the minor also got a nice win to take home.

Entry was a bit down on previous years, but I recommend you go to the next Rhyl Chess congress. The town hall is a very nice venue, the congress was run very smoothly, there are loads of places to eat and drink nearby, and if you lose your morning round quickly you can go for a paddle in the sea.

Dave and Harry playing a bit of footy in the sunshine.

Harry Gardiner has recorded a win against GM Keith Arkell in Round 1 of the Rhyl Congress earlier this evening. Hopefully more details to follow shortly….

See the full transcript posted under the Games Database on our “Useful Links” tab.

See Martin Burns’s report on the Rhyl Congress above.

Rumour has it that GM Keith Arkell may be playing in our Annual “Les Hall Memorial Handicap” in September thanks to the exploits of Harry and chairman Price over the weekend at Rhyl.

The 2024/25 Club Championship is nearing completion with the cut-off date approaching. This was set for 31st May, but as some key games still need to be played this has been extended two weeks to Tuesday 10th June.

Division 1 has seen Harry Gardiner lead the pack from the outset, and he is on the verge of winning his 3rd club title in 4 years since the Covid pandemic. With a phenomenal unbeaten record of 9/10 he needs one point from his two remaining games to clinch the trophy. Harry won last year too without losing a single game and it is now over two years since anyone beat Harry in the club championship. Richard Lee is also unbeaten this year but has drawn 5 of his 11 games, so trails by half a point with just one game left to play. Andy Raeburn has put in a stellar performance to complete the campaign with 8.5/12 for a tourney rating of 2000. At the foot of the table Pawel Stanny has just scored one draw so far but with numerous games to play will be hoping to avoid the dreaded drop to Div 2.

Division 2 is headed by our younger members. 13 year old Jamie Roberts sits top of the table with 6.5 pts having played all 9 games, and is just ahead of 12 year old Oskar Jarzynski who is on 6/7 with two games to play. In 3rd place is George Bulbeck with 5.5/7 and has the same two opponents to play as Oskar, so it’s all to play for. The winner will be promoted to division 1. There is a real dog fight to avoid relegation with Doug Barnett and Kumar Saravanan just above the drop zone for now with 2 pts each, while we have 3 members on just one point each and all of these have games to play, while Doug has played all his games.

Division 3 is too close to call at top and bottom ! Mal Green is currently in the lead on 6pts but has completed all his games, with Mario Scarpa also completed on 5.5pts. The battle is between 17 year old Nathan Fourie and newcomer Keith Dudeney to potentially win the division and secure promotion with both players on 5/7 who have to play each other and Mike Keenan to complete the section. Mike is involved in a 3-way scrap at the foot of the table sitting on 2.5 pts with the two title chasers to play, while George Jelliss and Peter Kanalos both share the same score of 2.5 pts and have to play each other in their final game. So with just 4 games remaining everything is still up for grabs in div 3.

In division 4, 13 year old Tommy Cooke has blazed away to score 10/11 and is 3 points clear of the field and so cannot be caught. Tommy will be promoted and may even jump to division 2 if his rating justifies this choice at the start of next season. Gerald Parton and David Taylor have both performed well and are currently joint 2nd on 7pts each but only have a game or two left so cannot catch Tommy.

Overall the club championship divisions have proved a resounding success this season and while some members are no longer able to participate, there was a total of 50 members involved.

Looking ahead the annual Swiss Rapidplay is to start on 27th May with Rounds 1 and 2, followed by two more rounds each on June 17th and 24th. Please let David Hulme know if you wish to play in this event which has increased to 3 sections from 2 last year due to the increased membership.

The Summer knockouts will start in July.

Last night saw our E team travel to Stafford to play our final league match of the 2024/25 season. This is in division 2 which happens to be the only division where the club failed to win the league ! Facing a much higher rated Stafford squad, the team put up a gallant fight to lose narrowly 1.5-2.5 as Dave Price gained a valuable draw on board 1, and newcomer Kumar Saravanan was our sole winner. The E team have finished 4th in the table, just behind our D team, with Macclesfield and Stafford taking the top two places with the strongest teams.

Tuesday (29th) saw the last of the NSDCA Cup Finals as the Perry Cup (U1375) decider between our own two teams was played out. This was too close to call with ratings evenly matched, with the B team fractionally higher on current ratings and the “A” team similarly slightly higher on the earlier season eligibility ratings. First blood went to the Bees on board 2 as Tim Weston continued his fine season picking up an early major piece on his way to the win. Steve Knott levelled the scores with success on board 4 for the A team. Board 1 saw the much anticipated clash between two of our vastly improving juniors whose current ratings have flown well above the 1375 barrier and in a skilful encounter saw Nathan Fourie emerge with the win for the “A” team. Steve Ballantyne as the “A” team captain held all the aces in the board 3 clash gaining a piece out of the opening. With the match undecided at 2-1 Steve used his experience and offered Mike Keenan a draw in the knowledge this would secure his team the trophy and faced with practically no chance of winning Mike sensibly agreed giving Steve’s team the match.

Well done to Steve and the Perry “A” team who have notched up the club’s 7th trophy out of a possible 9 this season.

In contrast our Major Cup team (U1825) fell in the final against a very strong Stafford outfit on Friday 25th April. The match started badly with an early loss on board 3, but the optimist in me still thought we had a fair chance of victory. In an end game of opposite colour bishops I was forced to take the draw on board 4, and then a sudden mate was delivered against us on board 2 and with that the cup was lost. Meanwhile Julian Hawthorne notched up our only win on board 5, as Andy Raeburn played to the end and succumbed to a draw when he was left with a piece advantage but no pawn to assist. Final score 3-2 to Stafford who deserved to win. And a special mention to Ken McNulty and the hosting team from Stafford for providing such friendly and hospitable playing conditions. Congratulations to them on their Major Cup success, which prevented Crewe from a clean sweep of NSDCA Cups.

To conclude the season with 4 league titles and 3 Cups is quite an achievement for the club and underlines the strength in depth we have with 59 members having played their part and without defaulting a single board !

I reckon I have spent about 25 of the last 30 Easter breaks in Bolton, playing chess. The casual observer may well ask why. I love it; it is a great tournament, run by a very experienced crew. Of course, it is nowhere near as good as the Crewe Congress, which will be held again in June this year. The late great Harry Lamb used to run Bolton Congress as a five rounder, with a blitz tournament thrown in on the Saturday afternoon. I never played the blitz; as it was called the “Busy Persons Tournament” I did not feel it appropriate for me to enter. Nowadays the congress is back to being run as a brutal six rounder. Join me next year as I waste another Easter.

Anyway, I was pleased to observe that there seemed to be a growing number of young adults competing. I had the misfortune to be drawn against a few of them, and they can play a bit. One of the stars of the show was Crewe CC member Carmel Barwick. Carmel is on great form, and went on to share first place in a tough Major, scoring 5/6. She did not lose a game. This impressive result means that she has now hit the magic 2000 ECF rating marker. Her rating is now exactly 2000.

But there is more. The very next day, back at the ranch, Harry Gardiner continued the defence of his club championship title by beating Nev. Harry is now pretty much certain to be club champ again, but guess what? Harry’s latest win also gave him a rating of….. exactly 2000.

There is yet more. Chairman Price, and others in the club, have put in a lot of effort into nurturing the juniors in the club, and we have a great bunch of young ‘uns. So one final thing to note is that Tommy Cooke, who has only been playing rated chess for a year or so, has seen his rating grow from 1282 to 1541 and is currently on an incredible winning streak of 17 rated games! I mean, 17 games; wow! Nuff said.

See you at the club soon.

Another week, another trophy or two to make space for in the yet to be purchased Trophy Cabinet !

While both of these teams have had their feet up on the sofa this week, other results have gone their way to leave them with uncatchable leads at the top of their respective divisions.

On Monday (14th) our V team went to the Gables in the U1300 division to take on Gables U who were 4 pts behind the leaders – Crewe U – with two matches to play. The V team did the business and came home with a 3-1 win thanks to Matthew Dean (bd 1), junior Jack Patullo (bd3) and Lee Bebbington (bd 4). This result secures a 1-2 finish for our teams in the U1300 division. In addition to the four board match, there were three other friendly rated games played as we continue to provide match opportunities for as many as possible.

On Tuesday our two 2nd division teams were in action where the title has already been won by Macclesfield. The D team finished their campaign with a good result beating a strong Alsager B team narrowly (2.5-1.5) as George Bulbeck provided the decisive blow with a win on bd 4, while the other three games ended in hard fought draws. Meanwhile our E team played at home against Holmes Chapel B and came off second best with a surprising defeat 1.5-2.5. Our only winner on the night was new member Kumar Saravanan (bd4), with Doug Barnett (bd 3) getting a draw.

On Wednesday a shock result came in from Newcastle where visitors Alsager D pulled off an unexpected win against Newcastle A to leave our F team as NSDCA 3rd division champions with a game to spare.

The club continues to be in rude health after another packed night at St Mary’s on Tuesday where there were 15 internal competition games played on top of the two league matches. Meanwhile chairman Dave Price was overwhelmed in the social room where many potential new members were learning the basics.

Congratulations to captains Nigel Gardner (F team) and Malcolm Green (U team) along with both team squads on winning the NSDCA league divisions.

For the third year in a row, the springtime streets of Crewe had been buzzing with excitement, an excitement which built to a peak on 8 April 2025, the day of the NSDCA Open Cup final. Yes, for the third year running, the final was to feature Crewe CC, and their New Firm rivals, Alsager CC. Alsager won the coveted cup in 2023 at the Mal’s. Crewe won it in 2024 at St Mary’s. This year the final was held at Alsager Cricket Club.

As you know, I do like going to Alasager’s venue. I have never understood cricket but I do like a cricket club. There is a cosy bar. If you go when the nights are getting lighter you can have a pre-match look at the beautiful cricket pitch (is it pitch is it, field, park?). The bar was already filling up with fans when I got there. Some of the fans may have had one eye on the big screen, which was about to show the Champions League match between Arsenal and Real Madrid, which clashed with the main event. Alsager Chess Club are a very friendly bunch, and I would recommend that you check them out if you can; obviously, having said that, Crewe Chess Club is miles better.

The Crewe captain was delighted in being able to field 6 of the highest rated players in our club. Well, OK, 5 of the highest and the captain. Pre-match nerves were amplified when our star player, Richard, sent a message to say that he was going to be late. Jonathan Blackburn, his opponent, sportingly agreed to delay the start of their game, but y’know, it had me worried for a bit.

Alasger’s non-playing captain, Jon Blackburn, won the toss and declared that his son Jonathan would play white.

Boards 2 to 6 started off an the scheduled time. Silence, as usual, fell on the match room.

Alsager got the first point on the board. Lee, our board 2, was up against Simon Hood. Later in the bar Lee admitted that he wa improvising in response to Simon’s Taimanov. As I may have mentioned before, Simon is a strong player, and when given the chance he really stuck the boot in. Jonathan B has done an interesting Youtube video on the game, and I would recommed you have a look. North Staffs Chess league Open Cup Final

On board 5 we had a repeat of the league clash between Harry Gardiner and Alsager’s Tal disciple, Greg Cannon. Last time I sat next to these two during a game I kept having to duck as Greg threw material at Harry. Same thing happened again. At one point Harry seemed a bit baffled and he was using quite a lot of time, but he kept cool, hung on to the material, and when the dust settled Greg had to resign. Harry will, we hope, soon break the 2000 ECF grade barrier, as he continues to improve.

I had to play Alan Thomason; again. Yet again he showed that he knows his openings, and he had me under pressure with a Philidor. I was lucky, when the tacitcs turned in my favour he lost his queen for a rook and knight. Crewe took the lead. The fans in the bar were going nuts; though that could have been because of Declan Rice’s skills.

I did not see much of Kamil’s game, but he came back to form for the final, beating Julian Kirk-O’Grady. Bart had a advantage against John Booth, but as he could not see a clear win, and did not have much time left, he offered the draw. This made made sure of the team win. Crewe CC had won the cup.

The last game to finish was the last game to start, between the league’s top two players. Jonathan won a pawn and ground Richard down again.

Alsager CC 2.5 – Crewe CC 3.5.

Thanks to Alsager CC for hosting the event.

Stop Press: There is now a bit of a crisis developing at the Crewe CC. Last week Nigel’s team won the U1600 Cup at Kidsgrove to add to the collection, and I am really not sure where we are going to store the increasing pile of trophies we have won this season. Full list to follow.

On Thursday 3rd April Nigel Gardner led the infamous Gang of Five on a trip to Kidsgrove to stage a heist.

The final of the NSDCA (U1600) Intermediate Cup was hosted by Kidsgrove in the luxurious dining room at The Red Bull, where the cast of two teams was surrounded by supporters from both clubs.

At the start of the match the visitors from Crewe would have been slight favourites, and this was vindicated as we took an early lead when George Bulbeck won on board 5 around 9pm. However there was a long wait, as the suspense mounted and the tension became palpable as Kidsgrove took a strangle hold on the match. Within a few minutes of the News at Ten gongs sounding, James Wolstenholme produced the first shock of the night with a superb win on board one against Crewe’s rapidly improving 13 year old junior currently rated 1697. As the second gong struck, so did Dave Johnson on board 2 for the hosts to put them in the driving seat 2-1. On board 3, Kidsgrove just needed a draw and looked well in control after an unsound piece sacrifice from Finn Charbonneau left him on the backfoot. At one stage the draw was offered by Kidsgrove, but was turned down maturely, in the knowledge that would give the Cup to the hosts. Meanwhile on board 4, Pawel Stanny was edging towards success for Crewe, in a game that swung too and fro but was being pushed by the host’s captain.

As the clock approached 10.25, the tension in the room rose to another level as supporters and spectators gathered round the two remaining games. And then it all suddenly concluded within seconds as both games finished and the reporter now hands over to the Crewe captain Nigel …..

“As the evening reached a tense climax with Crewe 2 – 1 down, our final pair of Pawel & Finlay were on the boards. What they were attempting had a high degree of difficulty but with perfect synchronisation they pulled off simultaneous victories on either side of the onlooking crowds. 

Many thanks to Kidsgrove for being great hosts at a very enjoyable and chess-friendly location. They were 5 very hard fought games. Also thanks and congratulations to my team who have overcome 3 difficult draws and opponents to seize the prize.”

In the words of a Kidsgrove board 1 namesake 

“The crowd are on the pitch……………………they think its all over………………..

IT IS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!”   

Below is a picture of the gang of five taken before the match, when all was calm

This was the last game of the season for Crewe I. We secured a 3-0 victory which puts us in the 4^th position of the league table, although we might soon become 5^th

This is because at the moment Newcastle B is only am inch behind us and still have 3 games to play. With the prospect of a likely victory on at least two of those matches, they will likely climb ahead, leaving us just an inch behind them. Time will tell.

The end of the season also marks the completion of my very first experience as team captain, which has been very rewarding. Several of our matches have been against players who were each rating 150 and even 200 higher than us. With that in mind, getting where we are now is quite an achievement.

Well done everyone!

Last night the H team played their final league match of the season, and were beaten by Kidsgrove, suffering just the 2nd defeat of a 16-match program. The season finished as it started – with rare defeat – and in between had a superb 14 match unbeaten run with 12 wins and 2 draws to secure the NSDCA 4th division title.

The key match was played just last week when we faced 2nd placed Fenton B, who started the season with a 12-match unbeaten run before falling to successive defeats – firstly against our I team and then the H team, to leave our Humble H team in an unassailable lead.

The H team started the season with the main goal of providing league chess to as many as possible and by the end of the campaign had used 15 players. The main members of the team (who played at least half the matches) all performed superbly scoring in excess of 70%. Tim Weston had an outstanding season making a major contribution to the success of the team scoring 12.5/15. Adam Fields and Nathan Fourie scored 6.5 pts each from just 9 & 8 games respectively. Before xmas Kobus Nienaber was the board one player, scoring 4/6 and gave the team a solid base before Adam took over the mantle, together with cameos from several one-off turns. Phil Grocott was a regular player with 6 appearances, and Matthew Dean scored a creditable 4/5. The other 9 players ensured we did not default a single board, and thanks go to Tim for being the main team driver for away matches.

Well done to all the squad, who can expect the team to be promoted to Division 3 next season.