Club Individual Championship & Club Rapidplay Championship

I recently sent a txt message to everybody asking for a volunteer (or volunteers) to run this years Individual Club Championship. To date, I have had no responses to this request. Unless somebody comes forward  there will be no option except to not run it this year. Summer is now upon us and, if it is going to be run, it needs to start NOW. The Rapidplay Championship is not so urgent as we don't normally run this until a few weeks before the Club AGM in September. One option for the Rapidplay Championship would be to make it an all day event and run it on a Sunday - assuming the Tollgate can accommodate us.

UK v EU

Petru, Kasian and Max all played for the EU team in Sunday's match against the UK. Petru lost, from what should have been a drawn position, and Kasian and Max both won. However, their wins weren't enough as the UK won the match by 5-4.

Newcastle End Of Season Quickplay

Myself, Petru and Kasian played in the Newcastle End Of Season Quickplay last night. Petru was joint first on 4/5, I was joint 3rd on 3.5/5 and Kasian was joint 5th on 3/5.

'B' Team Snatch Division 3 Runners-Up Spot

The 'B' team have taken the runners-up spot in Division 3 without moving a pawn. Newcastle 'C' needed only a point from their final match last night to pip us on Game Points but were beaten by Cheddleton 'E', leaving us a point in front of them.

Performance Of The Year Award

Congratulations to Petru on winning this season's Performance Of The Year Award with a score of 77% from 24 matches.

Crewe Rapidplay Congress

Myself, Petru, Max and Glyn all played in this weekend's Crewe Rapidplay Congress with varying degrees of success, although none of us were required at the prizegiving !!

Petru was playing in the Open Section, where 6 players with FIDE ratings of over 2000 were in the field of 13. He did reasonably well in the morning, with 2 wins from his 3 games, but fell away in the afternoon with only one win from his 3 games. His score of 3/6 earned him 6th place.

Max ended the morning session with 1.5/3 but fell away badly in the afternoon with only one draw from his 3 games, leaving him on 2/6 and in joint 16th place.

Glyn won his opening 2 games in the Intermediate Section in the morning, but lost the 3rd against Karl Lockett, the eventual winner of the Section, so went into the afternoon session on 2/3. 2 wins from 3 games in the afternoon took him up to 4/6, just half a point away from the prize money, and into joint 6th place.

I started my morning session in the Intermediate Section disastrously, giving my Queen away in the first 2 games and a Knight in the 3rd, leaving me on 0/3 going into the afternoon session. The lunchtime beer appeared to revive me and I won all 3 of my games in the afternoon to finish on 3/6 and in joint 9th place.

Click here to view the full results.

4th South Potteries Rapidplay Championship

The 4th South Potteries Rapidplay Championship is being held at Fenton Chess Club on Sunday 10th June. Please click here for full details.

'A' Team Finish The Season With A Draw

The 'A' team completed their fixtures with a 2.5 - 2.5 draw against Cheddleton 'D' last night. Wins from Petru and myself on boards 1 and 3, plus a draw for Glyn on board 2, put us into a 2.5 - 0.5 lead. Unfortunately Grenville and Derek were unable to add to the tally. Click here for the match score card.

'B' Team Sign Off With A Win

The 'B' team completed their fixtures last night with a 2.5 - 1.5 win against Newcastle 'C', a result that saw us leapfrog them into 2nd place in the Division 3 table. This situation is unlikely to last long though as we are only a point in front of them and they still have 2 matches left to play. We can count ourselves fortunate to win as Glyn's opponent blundered a piece in an endgame that looked drawn. Derek drew his game on board 4, although he looked to have the better of things for most of the game. Grenville then reverted to his miserable early season form on board 3, leaving the match tied at 1.5 - 1.5. All eyes were then on Kasian, who had played his usual Gung Ho game, and he didn't disappoint. He played a tremendous endgame in a position that had looked completely drawn. With Rook, Bishop and 4 pawns against Rook, Knight and 4 pawns his Bishop proved to be a much more powerful piece. He managed to force the exchange of Rooks and, with his opponent's Knight having hardly any squares to move to, he marched his King through to pick up 2 pawns and the game. The result put a major dent in Newcastle's title hopes, who must now rely on Crewe losing their last game to have any chance of catching them. Click here for last night's match score card.

Some Dates For Your Diary

It has been a bit of a rush over the past few seasons to get the Club Rapidplay Championship squeezed into one evening. I have, therefore, decided to spread it over 2 evenings this season, with Rounds 1/2/3 being played on Monday 13th August and Rounds 4/5/6, plus any Armageddon game, on Monday 20th August. The rate of play will be 20 minutes each on the clock, plus 10 seconds per move.

The South Potteries Chess Challenge Cup match against Meir will be on Monday 17th September. It is our turn to host it this year. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to provide a buffet as in previous seasons as the hotel does not allow us to bring our own food in.

The 2018 AGM will be held on Monday 24th September.

The Club Individual Championship will be held over June/July.