News

A successful week for our teams has seen four wins.

Monday 4th December – The league champions (A team) travelled to Macclesfield in search of revenge from last season’s shock defeat and were in determined mood. All four players contributed to the scoreboard with two wins on the white boards from skipper Martin Burns (bd 1) and Andy Raeburn. Draws with black by Harry Gardiner (bd 2) and Karl Lockett secured the match 3-1, to take the team joint top of the league on 7pts from 4 games, joining our own B team who have played 6 games.

Tuesday 5th – saw our two 4th division teams in action at The Caritas Centre. League leaders – the G team hosted Cheddleton E and our H team hosted Meir. G team skipper Steve Ballantyne set the ball rolling with a win on bd 4, with young Jamie Roberts promoted to board 2 adding another win to keep up his 100% record with 6/6. Pawel Stanny did the necessary to hold out for a draw and ensure the team stay top and unbeaten with a narrow win 2.5-1.5. With nearest rivals Kidsgrove unexpectedly losing, they now have a 4pts lead although Kidsgrove do have a game in hand ahead of the top of the table clash on 2nd January.

The H team fielded a very different team thanks to our system of squad rotation and were underdogs against the experienced Meir team. Matthew Dean played superbly to win on bd 3, and was soon followed by Gerald Parton on bd 4 to make it 2-0. Reinhard Haack added a 3rd win for the team and Mike Keenan held on for a draw to give a decisive team win 3.5-0.5. Also there were two extra rated games played.

Thursday 7th – the D team made the short trip to Holmes Chapel for a 2nd division match against the host’s B team. With teams fairly evenly rated (approx 100pts differential) Captain David Lambton had a sound win on board 1, before George Bulbeck completed a convincing win on bd 3. A fortunate win on bd 2 by David Hulme ensured victory 3-1. This result keeps the D team level on 9 points with leaders Fenton B with a deficit of half a board point after 6 matches.

Tuesday night (28th Nov) was a quiet night at the club compared to recent weeks. There was just one match at the club – the 4th division return derby between our G&H teams. With no visiting teams at the club, we still had 34 members in attendance.

The derby saw the H team underdogs put up quite a fight against the table topping G team. Tim Weston got the H team off to a good start with a win on board 4. It was great to see Reinhard Haack back at the club for his first visit in over a year, but it was to a baptism of fire against one of our rapidly improving juniors – Jamie Roberts. Reinhard may have been a little rusty but he could do nothing to stop Jamie, who levelled the match for the Gees, and doing so extended his run to a perfect 5/5 for the leaders. There were hard fought battles on boards 1 and 2 where no quarter was given or taken, with draws being the conclusion in both games. Pawel Stanny & Phil Grocott got the vital draws for the Gees, while Kobus Nienaber and Malcolm Green ensured the H team came out honours even. Final score 2-2, leaves the unbeaten G team top of division 4 with 9 pts from 5 matches, with Kidsgrove chasing them down also unbeaten with 7 pts from 4 matches.

There were seven internal tournament games played. In div 1 Karl Lockett and Martin Burns added one more point, while Club champion Carmel Barwick started her defence of the trophy with a draw against Andy Raeburn. In div 2 Chinenye Basil Nwachuku notched up another win. Division 3 saw wins for Mike Keenan keeping up his 100% record with a 4th win, as Gerald Parton and Daniel Parkin were also successful on the night.

Thursday 30th November – the B team made the short trip to face a very strong Holmes Chapel “A” team. Captain David Hulme got the Bees off to a superb start winning with the black pieces in just 25 moves against an opponent rated nearly 200 pts higher on board 4. Holmes Chapel levelled on board 2 where two rooks and five pawns proved too much against Rook, Bishop. Knight and three pawns as the B&N could not work in tandem. Next to finsh was board 1, where Lee Farrington had to familiarise himself with how to move first, as this was the first league game he had white pieces in 13 months ! In a very composed and controlled game he forced a minor piece exchange that left his opponent with an isolated pawn that would eventually fall. After creating a queen side pass-pawn he managed the end game to force the win with two active rooks and five pawns pushing against two defensive rooks and four pawns. Simon Layhe was in the ascendancy on board 3, and took advantage of a spacial advantage to tie down his opponents pieces to defensive chores, before a central pawn push deflected away defences to create a mating attack on the centralised king. Final score 3-1 to the Bees who now sit top of the League’s Div 1 table with 7pts having played 6 matches. With all other teams have several games in hand it won’t be long before the high-flying Bees are overtaken.

Tuesday 21st was another superb night at the club, with the “A” team hosting Alsager “A”; the B team playing Macclesfield, and the E vs F division 3 derby.

The “A” team were at full strength for the first time this season with Richard Lee and Bart Fajfer on the top two boards, ably supported by captain Martin Burns on 3, and Harry Gardiner on 4. What looked on paper to be a one-sided match with the visitors missing their top two players, proved to be anything but plain sailing. The deciding factor was Harry’s early win, followed by draws in the other three games, to give a marginal win for the “A” team – 2.5 vs 1.5, to take us to 5 pts from 3 matches just behind leaders Fenton “A”.

The B team were also at full strength with Lee Farrington on 1, Carmel Barwick on 2, Simon Layhe on 3 and Cyrus Pereira playing his first game for the Bees. Cyrus blew away his opponent in under an hour to put us in the lead. Carmel’s attack was too much to withstand on 2, and Simon slowly strangled any life out of the opposition on 3, to secure the match with a 3-0 lead. Final score 3-1.

The E vs F clash was always going to be a close call,with less than 200 rating points separting the teams. Kobus Nienaber won for Es on bd 4, while nothing separated the games on 2 & 3 to give the Es a 2-1 lead. F team skipper Dave Price salvaged the match for the F team with a win. Final score 2-2

In addition to the 3 matches, there were a further 4 games played in the Club Championship. Neville Layhe won in div 1; Julian Bulbeck and Ebube Christian drew in div 2. Jamie Roberts extended his lead in div 3 with another full point in a cracking game with Malcolm, and Andrew Caccamo held Mark Randell to a draw.

On Friday (24th) our H team made the journey to Cheddleton to play their E team in div 4. Chedd’s youngsters got the upper hand with wins on 3 & 4, before Tim Weston chalked up a win for us on board 2. This left new member Malcolm Green in play on top board, who fought valliantly to get the win but was denied at the last gasp and could only draw. Final score 1.5 – 2.5. With thanks to Dave Price for taking 3 of our players to the match, who enjoyed a (drawn) rated game with one of the members from Cheddleton.

Another brilliant night at the club on Tuesday (14th) saw 3 league matches, 6 Club Championship games, and another new member amongst approx 50 chess players including the visiting teams.

The return league division 1 derby went in favour of the league champions (our “A” team) with a 3-1 success over the battling Bees (B team). Karl Lockett set the champions on the way as he nullified David Hulme’s over extended attack before delivering the knockout blow. The B team drew level as Simon Layhe won on board 2, but the champions showed their superior class with wins from captain Martin Burns on bd 1 and Andrew Raeburn on board 3.

In league division 3, our F team played league leaders Gables “A”. The Gables team comprises an experienced captain on board 1 supported by three rapidly improving youngsters, while our F team has two similar juniors. First blood went to one of our juniors James Coney on board 4, before the visitors equalised on board 3. There was a superb result on board 1 as debutant Cyrus Pereira outplayed their captain, but the visitors had the final say with a win by Dylan Whitney on board 2. Final score 2-2, leaving the Gables at the top of the table with 7pts, while our F team have 4pts (in 4th position) with a game in hand.

In divsion 4 our G team were too strong for the visiting Alsager “D” team which mainly comprises newcomers to league chess. There were comfortable wins for captain Steve Ballantyne (bd 4), Jamie Roberts (bd3) and Pawel Stanny (bd 1) while Phil Grocott settled for a draw on bd 2. Final score 3.5-0.5 to maintain the G team’s 100% record, leading the table by 1pt from Kidsgrove who we have yet to play.

In the Internal Club Championship it was great to see 12 of our members all in action including our latest new member Malcolm Green joining the div 3 section. In div 1 David Lambton notched his 1st win, while Richard Fish and Joe Moxon shared the points in div 2. Meanwhile in div 3 there were wins for newcomer Malcolm, Gerald Parton, Timothy Weston and Mark Randell.

Friday 17th Nov – our D team headed off to Cheddleton to face their B team in a league div 2 match with the D’s being strong favourites at the top of the table against the bottom of the table side. In a match where teams were almost identically rated, we fell to our first defeat of the season by the narrow margin of 2.5-1.5. Our sole success came from Joe Moxon on bd 4, while captain David Lambton kept up his impressive results with a draw to remain unbeaten this season. Despite the loss the D team stay top of div 2 for now, as nearest challengers (Fenton B) also lost at Stafford.

It’s been a busy two weeks since my last posting, so we have six results to report on, more additions to our membership and further progress with our 3 sections in the Club Championship.

31st October: the second league div 2 derby between our C and D teams ended up with a repeat win for the D’s by 2.5-1.5. Wins for Martin Frisher and George Bulbeck supported by a draw from Dave Lambton were enough to overcome Ebube Christian’s lone success for the C team as Andrew Raeburn’s draw was not enough. The D team have made an excellent start to the season with 7 pts from 4 matches and next up travel to Cheddleton.

The E team played Cheddleton D in div 3 on the same night and won more comfortably as every player contributed with wins for Joe Moxon, Richard Fish and Adam Fields , while captain Nigel Gardner was happy to take a draw.

7th November: three matches as our B team played away to Alsager in div 1, the C team at home against Alsager B in div 2, and there was another derby between our H & G teams in div 4.

The B team were strengthened as Lee Farrington played his first match of the season but this was not enough to salvage any match points as our only win came from Martin Frisher and Carmel Barwick was held to a draw.

The C team also had reinforcements as Harry Gardiner was drafted into the team putting the team’s rating above 7200. There were wins for Harry Gardiner, Karl Lockett and Rick Renegade in a 3-1 success that notched up the first mathc points of the season at the 4th attempt.

The G team were favourites to beat the H team in the derby and did not disappoint. Captain Steve Ballantyne and Jamie Roberts got the key wins with a draw from Phil Grocott proving enough to tip the result, as Kobus Nienaber won for the H team and Mike Keenan drew.

Friday 10th November: The E team were in action again as they played at Cheddleton – this time against their C team. With teams evenly matched there was little to separate them, but we narrowly failed to collect any ponts from the match as we could only achieve three draws from Joe , Nigel and Kobus.

The club continues to attract new members with new faces appearing most weeks. Where possible everyone is encouraged to join in the internal club championship, and assigned to one of our 8 league teams.

This week (14th November) promises to be another busy night at the club with four of our teams in action in the main match room, while newcomers are welcomed to the social room under the guidance of chairman Dave Price.

After last week’s mixed results, this week has seen three matches with Crewe victorious in all three.

The Match Room was in full bloom, with our B team facing Cheddleton A in div 1, our G team playing Fenton D and the H team playing Alsager D in div 4.

The B team started as favourites as Cheddleton have suffered the loss of key players moving from the area and fielded a much lower rated team than expected. Carmel Barwick continued her dominating form with a win on board 2, and Simon Layhe held their one higher rated player to a draw on board 1. Board 3 was too complicated to decipher before Martin Frisher emerged with a win to secure the match points. Jarek Czyz making a rare appearance for the club secured a tough end game draw after seeming to be in the ascendancy earlier on. Final score 3-1 to the B team.

The G team’s planned squad were all available against Fenton. Skipper Steve Ballantyne set the ball rolling with a comfortable win on board 4, before Fenton levelled on board 2. Youngster Jamie Roberts provided a big win on board 3 (in the words of captain Steve) by playing a great endgame to force his opponent to resign as he could not stop a pawn from queening. Pawel immediately offered a draw on board 1 to clinch the match. Final score 2.5-1.5 to the G team.

The H team gave league debuts to Tim Weston on board 2 and Andrew Caccamo on board 4. With Alsager fielding brand new young players throughout the team line ups were agreed well in advance to ensure everyone would have a reasonable equal game. In addition opposition captain Neil Hankey acted as a reserve and so played an extra graded game with our Mike Keenan, with a further extra game given to Dan Parkin making his debut for Crewe against another new junior from Alsager. Andrew won on board 4 first, before Pete Kanalos added another win on bd 3. Kobus Nienaber used all his experience to get the win on board 1, while Tim was held to a draw. Final score 3.5- 0.5 to the H team.

Alongside these matches, there were a few games in the club championship as Harry Gardiner and Neville Layhe notched up wins in div 1. In div 2 Richard Fish added another full point to his tally while Julian Bulbeck and Oskar Jarzynski shared a draw.

All in all, a most enjoyable night with 18 competitive games taking place with another dozen members playing social chess in the coaching room.

We have played four more league matches over the last few days:

Friday 13th Oct – The F team travelled to play Cheddleton D in division 3 and came away with a share of the spoils thanks to wins by Neville on board 1 and Dave Price on board 2.

Tuesday 17th October – 3 matches:

C team vs Fenton B in div 2 – we came off second best against highly rated opponents with a 3-1 reverse, with our solitary success coming from Andrew Raeburn on board 1.

D team vs Alsager B in div 2. With teams evenly matched Alsager brought three of the team that represented Alsager C last week. The D team were victorious thanks to wins from George Bulbeck (bd 2) and Chinenye on bd 3, backed up with a draw on bd 1 from captain Dave Lambton.

The H team travelled to Fenton to take on their D team in division 4. Teams were very closely matched as we fell to a narrow defeat as Kobus drew on board 1 and Mike had our only win on bd 2.

The internal Club Championship saw games in all 3 sections, as Harry won in div 1, Oskar, Julian B, James C all won in div 2 and newcomer Tim Weston started with a win in div 3.

The new NSDCA season only started last week for us and already we have seen 7 of our 8 teams in action, with 30 of our members being involved.

Tuesday 3rd October saw two derbies at the Caritas, with C playing D in division 2 and F playing E in division 3. They were both close matches with the D team pipping the C team by 2.5-1.5 and the F team emerging with a 3-1 success. In theory the C & E teams are stronger than their derby rivals, but such is the competitive nature that nothing can be taken for granted.

Monday 9th October saw the G team travel to The Gables to face a new team comprising juniors. Our experienced players came away with a 4-0 win, while two additional boards were played to give graded games for more members of both clubs.

Tuesday 10th – the defending league champions (our “A” team) had a hard fought draw with our B team, where all games were won with the black pieces !

Also at the Cariras , the E team faced a strong Alsager “C” team in division 3, and produced a superb 3-1 win.

Meanwhile our D team played away at Fenton in division 2, where Fenton’s B team was as highly rated as our B team (who were division 1 runners-up last season), and came away with an excellent 2-2 draw.

There has been good progress with our Club championship sections, with all 3 sections being very active alongside the league matches. In addition there continues to be a thriving session in the coaching room, with an average of 35-40 members overall attending the club each week.

Full details of all results – both league and club championships can be seen from our “Fixtures & Tables” link above.

The only team not yet in action has been the “H” team which kick-off next Tuesday at Fenton in division 4.

Tuesday 26th saw the completion of both Summer Knockout competitions.

In the Open final, Harry won the toss for choice of white against Carmel but quickly lost a piece and faced imminent defeat and so resigned, leaving Carmel with yet another trophy to add to her collection, making it four trophies since rejoining the club in November. It bodes very well for the future of the club with these two rapidly improving while at the tender ages of 22 and 20 respectively.

The U1600 knockout final was contested by Julian Bulbeck and Andrew Crosby, where Julian had the upper hand with the white pieces and went on to put his name on the club’s “Honours List” as the winner of the first U1600 knockout. In doing so he joined his son (George) to become the first father and son to win club competitions in our short history !

There were half a dozen other games played in the club championships, with wins for Cyrus Pereira in div 1, Richard Fish and Chinenye Basil-Nwachuku in div 2, Mike Keenan and Jamie Roberts in div 3, while Neville Layhe and David Lambton shared a draw in div 1.

Next Tuesday, sees the start of the NSDCA League season with two derbies taking place where the C team play the D team in league div 2, and the E vs F teams in div 3.

As summer changes to autumn, so does Crewe CC change: this Tuesday St Mary’s saw the last semi-final of the Summer KO, and more early round games in all 3 divisions of the Crewe Club Championship. Horse trading continues for team members on the 8 (!) planned teams which Crewe will be entering in the league. Crewe are, of course, league champions.

In Division 3 of the championship, Gerald got his first point on the board, beating another newcomer Noah.

Divison 2 saw Chairman Price get the better of Julian B. Phil Grocott joined the early leaders by beating Steve Ballantyne. It was great to see another newcomer match-up, as Ebube beat Joe.Moxon.

We had some rated friendlies as well, notably with young Oscar playing well and showing he can grind out a long ending if needed; 11 year old veteran Oscar beat a new member, Jamie Roberts.

In Division 1 of the championship, Martin set a mating trap which Dave Lambton fell into, so Dave had to resign quickly. Karl and Neville slugged it out in a level endgame,until just the bare kings were left, though even at that point Karl looked like he wanted to play on!

The top of the bill game was the big semi-final clash between Carmel Barwick and George Bulbeck, with Harry Gardiner lurking to see who he would meet in the final. Carmel is the club’s official Jobava evangelist, and so George with white played… the Jobava! He seemed to hold the advantage against the club champ, but Carmel defended solidly. For a change George was not even in time trouble. Try as he might, he could not break down Carmel’s defence and in the end George went for a perpetual check. This meant that an Armageddon blitz play-off was needed, Carmel had 6 minutes against George’s 5, but a draw would mean George would go to the final. Of course, with Carmel now playing white she played … the Jobava! This time she won comfortably, as George started to drop material in the blitz finish.

Cup collector Carmel has been seen out and about shopping for a bigger trophy cabinet, but will hungry Harry manage to spoil her plans? Watch this space for the result of the final.

(The photo below show the young guns about to play the Armageddon)