News

Congratulations to Lukasz on winning this special trophy fot the second year running, to become the first club member to win this event more than once since its conception in 2015, after eight years of different winners !

The 9th annual Handicap took place (for the first time) at our new venue at The St Mary’s Caritas Centre, where a record number of 32 contested in the spacious conditions. As usual, the start was a little chaotic as the planned pairings from the previous evening had to be amended to accommodate several late entries, a last minute withdrawal and the arrival of a brand new member.

The usual format was adopted whereby the highest rated players had just 5 minutes to complete their games, with an extra minute awarded to players in bands of 100 rating points, and 14 minutes given to the lowest rated players. Then to make it it tougher for the strongest players, handicaps are given ranging from scratch to 2 pts to add to a member’s score achieved over 5 rounds, ensuring nearly everyone has a good chance of winning the competition. In another twist all previous winners had one minute deducted from their standard times and a half point deducted from any standard handicap.

A swiss style pairing system is employed so that all higher rated players should win their 1st round games, but as usual there were a couple of early shocks as the top seed lost his first game to a newcomer Chinenye Basil-Nwachuku, and junior Jamie Roberts beat another strong player to boost his handicap. Most of the other top seeds won their first games as expected.

Round 2 ended with 8 players on 2 pts (excl handicaps), including three previous winners – Harry Gardiner, Rick Renegade and defending champion Lukasz, together with Martin Burns, Karl Lockett, Neville Layhe, new member Andy Raeburn and Chinenye who provided another shock in defeating club champion Carmel Barwick.

Round 3 saw previous winners Harry & Rick paired together with the resulting draw denting their trophy chances. With Karl beating Chinenye and Lukasz defeating Andy, this pair was joined by Martin Burns on 3/3, but the overall leader was Jamie who added a second win to add to his handicap of 1.5 pts.

In Round 4, Lukasz managed a tight win against Martin, and Karl’s chances were scuppered by Harry. Jamie was then paired with Carmel who proved too strong, and Chinenye beat Martin Frisher to move into the joint lead with Lukasz.

The winner between Lukasz and Chinenye would be the outright champion if there was a positive result in their game, while several players were hoping a draw on top board would lead to a play-off as we have had several times before. A sound opening from Chineneye with black appeared to give him the ascendancy on top of his 3 minute starting advantage, gaining a pawn in exchange for some pressure from white’s more open position. After a few tactical moves, Lukasz’s pressure caused a mistake giving a piece advantage and then built up an unstoppable attack to force resignation.

Final positions:

Winner – Lukasz Michalek 5/5

Runners up – Harry and Rick 4.5/5

As usual it was a most enjoyable night for all involved, with special thanks to David Roberts (Jamie’s dad) for assisting controller David Hulme.

Tuesday (5th September) saw the two semi-finals contested in the Summer U1600 Knockout. Both favourites emerged successful As Andrew Crosby with black, and Julian Bulbeck with white overcame resistance to contest the final, due to be played on 19th or 26th September.

There were about half a dozen games played in the Club Championship, with a couple of matches in each of divisions 1,2 and 3, which are now underway. George Bulbeck and Harry Gardiner started their campaigns with a win each in division 1, while Richard Fish and Doug Barnett were winners in division 2, and in division 3 Mark Randell and George Jelliss did the same. It’s early days in the club championships but it is great to see a hand full of new members joining in these competitions which are very much the bread and butter of the club’s success of a growing membership.

We look forward to our very popular Annual Time & Point Handicap to be played on Tuesday (12th), where the winner will be awarded the Les Hall Memorial Trophy at the 2024 AGM prizegiving. Please contact club secretary David Hulme if you wish to play in this event, or would like more details on how the times and handicaps work.

Tuesday (29th August) saw the completion of the Summer Shield competition. The “A” team hosted Meir and captain Steve Ballantyne provided the following report – A good win for the A team last night. Oskar started well and won a central pawn early on, a little later he gained another pawn. He advanced his c and d pawns supported by his rooks. His opponent resigned as he could not stop his pawn becoming a queen. 1-0.  Phil played well again 5/6 for him in the SCS. He laid a trap for his opponent offering his knight for free knowing if it was taken Phil’s Queen was check mating next move. His opponent took the knight 2-0. I definitely had a won game, 2 rooks and 5 pawns against a rook, knight and 2 pawns. I was that engrossed in advancing my pawns on the a and b file that i let his knight fork my king and rook. I still had the advantage as my pawns were nearly home. He kept checking me with his knight and rook. I glanced over to board1 and the game was very tight. I offered my opponent the draw to win the match, he nearly bit my hand off. With the match won board 1 players decided on a draw. 3-1. Many thanks to Dave Lambton for standing in for Jules. Good luck with your operation next week Jules.  Cheers, Steve.

The B team ran out 3-1 winners against Kidsgrove with the highlight seeing three new members making the debuts for the club – Ebube Christian, Joe Moxon and Gerald Parton. The points were earned by wins from Ebube, Joe and Adam Fields.

In addition to the two matches there were several games played in the Summer knockouts with Harry Gardiner clinching the first place in the Open final and George Bulbeck winning his quarter-final tie break to progress to the semis where he faces club champion Carmel. In the U1600 knockout the two remaining quarter-finals were played with Pete Kanalos and Julian Bulbeck progressing to the semis. The Club Championship 2023/24 also got underway as Cyrus Pereira clocked up the first point of the new campaign.

This week should see more action in the knockout as well as a number of games in the three divisions of the Club championship.

Hopefully all members are aware the new league season starts on 3rd October for us with a division 3 derby between our E & F teams.

We have our Annual Time & Point Blitz Handicap taking place on Tuesday 12th September, which promises to be a fun filled night for everyone.

1. 29th August – Two South Cheshire Shield Matches (last of the summer season) and Summer Knockout remaining quarter-finals and first semi-finals
2. 5th September – all remaining Summer KO semi-finals
3. 12th September – The Annual Time & Point (Blitz) Handicap for the Les Hall Memorial Trophy – all members invited to play
4. 19th/26th September – Summer Knockout finals and start of Winter Club Championships – with at least 3 sections

In other news the NSDCA is adding a 4th division to league chess this season, so we will be running EIGHT teams – with two in each division.

For anyone wanting more details please contact:

A) Karl Lockett if you wish to play in the Winter Club Championship, which could start on 5th September for those keen to get back to competitive action.

B) David Hulme if you wish to play in the Blitz Handicap on 12th September, which is normally a great night for everyone.

C) Any captain (Martin B, David H, Karl, David L, Nigel, Dave P,Steve) if you want to know more about team plans for the new season. Fixtures are not yet published but normally start 1st week in October

Thursday night (17th August), saw Steve Ballantyne’s A team make the short trip to Kidsgrove and below is his account of the evening.

A very good win at Kidsgrove.  Phil and I finished at the same time just after 10pm to make it 0-2. Phil won a pawn early on and later captured a knight. His pressure was too much for his opponent and Phil managed to get a pawn home for a queen and his opponent resigned. I was a Bishop up in my game, but all his pieces were on white squares so my black bishop was redundant. He defended very well but on move 46 i managed to break through. Andrew had a good start but was pegged back in the middle game. However after a blunder on move 30 by his opponent Andrew took full advantage and it was 0-3. What can i say about Jules, another sound game on board 1. He tried hard to break through but his opponent responded every time with a good defence, so a draw was agreed.  Phil has had a good SCS with 4/5. A very happy Captain !!

The main playing room looked pretty desserted last night, with about 15 members in the room as a similar number of juniors occupied the coaching room, while we had our south Cheshire B team playing at Fenton.

It was a tough night as we suffered a 4-0 whitewash at the hands of the runaway champions – so congratulations to Fenton on regaining the South Cheshire Shield.

Meanwhile back at The Caritas there were some “big clashes” in the Open Knockout. First to finish was Neville Layhe as the underdog who held Harry Gardiner to a draw, before coming off second best in the Armageddon tie break that sees Harry through to the semi-finals. Next to finish was Karl Lockett who knocked out Lukasz Michalek in what looked an exciting game after Lukasz’s Grob attack opening. This was the last game to complete in Round 2, so now Karl faces Chairman Dave in the quarter-finals. The other clash saw Carmel Barwick knockout Martin Burns in their quarter-final game, as she inflicted Martin’s first defeat in 18 games going back to March. Both players have seen their ratings climb steadily in the last few months, with Martin up approx 70 pts to 1970 since January, while Carmel has moved from approx 1650 to around the 1800 level now over the same period. However according to our secretary’s investigations Carmel’s rating is missing a recent congress where she should add at least 25 points to her rating and should now leapfrog to approx 1840.

We also had a newcomer (Joe Moxon) playing a long-play rated game, while juniors Kryspin Kaputsa and Noah Smith shared the spoils in a brace of Rated rapidplay games.

Three of our members headed off to play in the Lancaster Congress this weekend, with Simon Layhe pitting himself against the strongest players in the Open Section seeded 23rd out of 28, Carmel Barwick played in the U1900 seeded 20th out of 24, while Dave Price played in the Inter U1750 seeded 17th out of 26.

Simon and Dave finished much in line with their seeded positions, but Carmel excelled to end in a 5-way pile up for 2nd place on 3.5pts . She was the only player in this pack to have played the outright winner who scored a perfect 5/5, and so could have finished higher had the pairings been similar to the others in this pack. This rounds off a superb week for Carmel and should see her rating fly over the 1800 level, making her the greatest improver from our club over the last 12 months !

Fenton were the visitors last night in the crunch top of the table match in the South Cheshire Shield, against our unbeaten “A” team, where the winners were likely to become champions.

Unfortunately for us, it was not to be, and captain Steve Ballantyne’s brief report sums up the match – Crewe A lost last night to Fenton 1-3. We were 0-2 down and Pav was even on pieces but low on time and could not find a way to break through so a draw was agreed. With the match lost Jules agreed to a draw so everyone could travel home earlier.

In our Summer knockouts, Carmel Barwick beat the top seed Bart Fajfer to head into the quarter-finals where she faces the No 2 seed – Martin Burns.

In the U1600 knockout, Pete Kanalos won his first round game to progress to the last eight.

Tuesday night (25th July) saw Crewe’s mayor visit our club in it’s new premises at The St Mary’s Caritas Centre. This was to see how the club was developing after we had secured a grant from the Town Council. The grant has already been used to purchase over 20 Digital clocks, and we have orders in place for more new boards and sets as well as a new storage cupboard.

As he arrived at around 7pm, the club was buzzing with activity as approx 25 existing members were boosted by an influx of more than a dozen potential new members comprising mainly of juniors from the local community.

Shortly afterwards the Mayor awarded the Club’s Player of the Year trophy to Carmel Barwick after a stunning season as she claimed the Club championship and the Swiss Rapidplay competitions.

The visit was expected to last no more than 30 minutes, but he was so impressed with way the club embraced the local community he stayed for about one and a half hours and even expressed a hope to pop in on another club night.

Carmel being presented player of the year trophy

Crewe Chairman Dave Price thanking the Mayor for his support towards the grant application.

He was invited to play our 11 year-old star, Oskar Jarzynski and was delighted to accept the challenge as he recalled playing the game at a similar age, but could not hide his disappointment at coming off 2nd best.

Last week (18th July) the club held it’s AGM at The St Mary’s Caritas Centre.

The main items to note were

It had been a very successful year for the club with membership growing (from 41 to 59 members) to become the largest club in the NSDCA. We had won the NSDCA’s 1st division for the first time, as well as the Major and Minor Knockout.

After 9 years residence at The Mals Club, the growth of the club forced us to seek out larger premises resulting in our recent move to The Caritas Centre.

1. The committee was extended to recognise the significant growth of the club in the last 12 months, to comprise chair, secretary, treasurer, Events officer, Website officer and Club Steward – with some cabinet shuffleing taking place.
2. Annual subscriptions were increased following our recent move with Adult fees now being £30 p.a and juniors (under 18 years of age) at £20 p.a
3. Provisional plans were made to run 6 teams in the league for the 2023/24 season, with deadline of 31st August to submit details.
4. Trophies were awarded to: Lukasz Michalek for the Les Hall Memorial Trophy/Time & Point Handicap, Division 3 champion Phil Grocott, Div 2 champion Pawel Stanny and Junior player of the year Oskar Jarzynski. Other trophy winners were unable to attend (Simon Layhe and Carmel Barwick)