Bank Holiday Monday

Please note that there will be no club night this coming Monday 4th June.
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Close But No Cigar In The Rapidplay

Fenton acquitted themselves well in Tuesday night's Newcastle Rapidplay. In the Open Section we finished 3rd out of 7, behind Stafford and Cheddleton, with Alex winning both of his games. Unfortunately we failed to retain the U130 title that we won last year, with Fenton 'B' finishing 2nd out of 6 behind Cheddleton. The Fenton Phantoms, so called because team captain Pete Tideswell is a figment of his own imagination, finished 5th out of 6. You can click here to see more details of the individual scores.
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Chess In The Pub

IM Robert Bellin is holding two more of his very popular Chess In The Pub lectures in June and July. Please see the North Staffs website for more details. I'm sure that several of us from Fenton will be going again so if anybody is interested in coming with us then please let me know. I can promise you a very interesting and entertaining evening.
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Chess As A Spectator Sport

If any of you thought that myself, Stuart, Geoff and Pete were mad going to just sit and watch the British Championships last year this article vindicates you !!
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National Minor Club Championship Update

I have been informed that the venue for our National Minor Club Championship Final against Forest Of Dean will be Syston in Leicestershire.
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Fenton Finish Season With A Failure

A power failure that is - not a failure to win the match - although we didn't do that either !! The 'A' team Division 2 match against against Cheddleton 'B' was abandoned as a draw, with the score level at 0.5 - 0.5, following a power failure at the club. The only game to finish was a draw by Neal on board 4. This concludes our Division 2 fixtures for the season and sees us rooted at the bottom of the table.
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Fenton Unable To Save The Terriers

3 Fenton players turned out for the Staffs Terriers yesterday in the U120 County Championship Quarter Final against Essex. Unfortunately, their performances weren't enough to get the Terriers through to the Semi-Final. Stuart and Carl got good draws on boards 7 and 8 respectively, against slightly higher graded opponents. Pete was unlucky to come up against a player graded 25 points higher than him on board 11 and was unable to get anything out of his game. The match ended in a 7.5 - 4.5 win for Essex and a full report can be found on the NSDCA website.
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Fenton To Meet Forest Of Dean In National Final

We now know who our opponents will be in the National Minor Club Championship Final.
We will be playing Forest Of Dean from the North Gloucestershire League on Sunday 8th July. I haven't been advised of the venue yet.
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Rob Taylor's Jackson Cup Report

Family commitments meant that I was unable to play in last night's Jackson Cup Final so Rob has submitted the following report - no doubt hoping to win a Booker Prize !!

This is the story of how the Cup was won!

After a 'lets do it for Steve' Churchillian type speech the team settled down to do the business.

First to finish was Stuart on board 5 who surprisingly was NOT in time trouble ! This was followed by Neal drawing on board 4 (this was achieved as he had only had 1 pint of beer - apparently 2 pints and he loses every match !!

Geoffs game on board 3 was a puzzling game. Geoff had a strong attack against his opponent then somehow became a piece for several pawns down. In the end Geoff had 6 pawns v Bishop and a couple of pawns and at this point a draw was agreed.

The penultimate game was Derrick's on board 2 who had a queen and rook ending against his opponent. Crucially Derrick also had a couple of extra pawns and his opponent was in time trouble which resulted in the inevitable win for Derrick. This meant that Fenton needed a draw on board 1 to lift the cup. To make sure that Rob was aware of this Derrick pushed the scorecard right under his nose !!

With the biggest attendance of the season watching, Rob went into the endgame a pawn up, but his opponent had a strong pin on a pawn. However like Derricks opponent, Robs opponent was also in time trouble. Rob, resembling the ice-cold calmness of Bjorn Borg, methodically reduced the game to a king, rook and pawn ending. The final twist was that Rob 'blundered' when his opponent had 8 seconds left and lost his rook. With his opponent making moves in lightning fast time Rob kept his calm knowing that he would win on time. However his opponent made a move that resulted in stalemate which meant the cup was Fentons!!

However the drama did not end there as Neal who was observing Robs match thought he had been mated and in true "Steve pessimistic style" told Stuart he had lost!! Stuart filled the scorecard in with the final match result a draw which would have meant Lichfield would have won on board count. No wonder Rob, who was smiling from ear to ear, was puzzled when people came up to him with words of comiseration!! It was only after the team knew that Rob had drawn and the scoresheet amended did celebrations start.

It was noted that on leaving the venue Neal was seen skulking off very quietly !!
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Fenton Win County Cup Final

Fenton won their second lot of silverware in as many days as they beat Lichfield by 3-2 in the Jackson (U141) Cup Final @ Stafford last night. This was a tremendous performance by the team as we were outgraded by 61 points overall. Rob, Geoff, Neal and Stuart, playing on Boards 1,3,4 and 5 respectively, all drew with higher graded opponents. Derrick carried the day for Fenton with a win on Board 2. This is proving to be a fine finish to season following our disappointments in the Withnall Cup and Perry Trophy. We now have the opportunity to make it a treble with the National Minor Club Championship.
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Fenton Take Division 3 Championship

Fenton 'B' gave the club their first silverware of the season last night, winning 2.5 - 1.5 at Alsager 'C' to take the Division 3 Championship by a single point from Cheddleton 'D'. Well done to Team Captain Stuart and everybody who has turned out for the 'B' team this season. We have been very close to winning this Division in the last couple of seasons and it's very gratifying to have finally done it, with the loss of only one match out of the sixteen played.
The hero of the night was Geoff on Board 4, winning his 19th game of the season and, in the process, winning us the match. He was the first to finish, winning a very cleverly played endgame. Having seen us go a point up Rob, Derrick and Steve gratefully accepted draws on Boards 1,2 and 3 to ensure we won the match.
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Re-Arranged Fixture

The 'A' team home match against Cheddleton 'B', originally scheduled for Monday 7th May, has now been provisionally re-arranged for Monday 21st May.
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