Re-Arranged Fixture

Please note that the 'A' team fixture against Holmes Chapel Knights, originally scheduled for Monday 7th October, has been put back until Monday 28th October. Both the Fixture List and Club Calendar have been updated.

Derek Whitehurst Wins Rapidplay Championship

Many congratulations to Derek Whitehurst on winning this season's Rapidplay Championship. A couple of late withdrawals meant that 12 people contested the event - still an excellent turnout. An exciting competition saw Mike Smith winning his first 3 games and taking a 1 point lead into round 4 where he was drawn against Derek. Unfortunately, Derek upset Mike's applecart by beating him to go level on 3 points going into round 5. Jason also caused a bit of an upset by beating yours truly in round 3 and also putting himself on 3 points. This led to an exciting final round with 3 players level on 3 out of 4. Derek was drawn to play Jason and beat him to move up to 4 points and Mike did the same to Stuart, putting him on 4 points as well. This meant a 2-way tie had to be decided by an Armageddon game. Mike had the White pieces and 6 minutes on his clock and Derek had the Black pieces and 5 minutes on his clock. 7 minutes later it was all over and Derek had beaten Mike for the 2nd time in the evening to become the new Champion. He was also the only player to be unbeaten on the night, with 3 wins and 2 draws from his 5 games prior to the Play-Off. You can click here to view all of the results from the tournament.

Fenton Rapidplay Championship

The draw for the 1st round of the Rapidplay Championship has now been made - click here to view.

Fenton Rapidplay Championship

Next Monday 23rd September sees the playing of the Fenton Rapidplay Championship. We have 13 confirmed entries, plus 2 provisional entries which will be confirmed either way on Wednesday. Alex Richardson will be Tournament Controller and will be making the draw for the 1st round later this week to save time on the night. Can you please try to arrive by 7:30 so that we can get started by 7:45.

South Potteries Chess Challenge Cup

Fenton beat Meir by 5.5 - 3.5 in last night's South Potteries Chess Challenge Cup, the 5th year in succession in which we have won it. A late request from Meir to add an extra player meant that the match was played over 9 boards instead of the usual 8, necessitating the Finance Director having to step in to play on board 9 for Fenton. Ray Hyde and Brian Birchall made their debuts for Fenton on boards 1 and 4 respectively, both games ending as draws. Tony Holdford, the Prodigal Son, also made a rare appearance on board 3, coming away with a relatively easy win. The match was a lot closer than the score suggests, with draws being agreed in a couple of games where a result either way was a more likely outcome. Last night's match was the 10th anniversary of the playing of this annual fixture and the score for the series now stands at 5 - 5. Click here to view the full match score card.

Club Championship 1st Round Draw

The draw for the 1st round of the Club Championship has now been made. Click here to view it. All matches to be completed by 31st October. You do not have to play on a Monday, or at the Longton WMC, if you don't want to. You can play on any date/venue convenient to both players. Member contact details can be found on the Membership List tab at the top of the page.

Revised Grades

The ECF have published some amendments to the July Grading List. The only effect on Fenton is that Stuart's grade has changed from 88 to 87. In addition to this, and based on the 8 matches he played last season, Steven Walley will be treated as e80 this season instead of e60. This is an NSDCA re-grading rather than an ECF re-grading.

South Potteries Chess Challenge Cup

Next Monday sees the 10th playing of the South Potteries Chess Challenge Cup. Meir lead the series by 5 - 4 at the moment so we'll be hoping to even the score this time round. It's unlikely that there'll be many (or even any) people at Longton on the night as most of us will be at Meir, so anybody not in the team might want to join us. You'll be able to treat it as an ordinary club night - just a different venue - as they have plenty of space. Mondays team is as follows :

1. Ray Hyde
2. Rob Taylor
3. Tony Holdford
4. Brian Birchall
5. Steve Emmerton
6. Neal Davies
7. Geoff Yates
8. Robert West

Alex Takes Top Spot In Leek Congress

Alex Richardson put in a great performance to win this weekend's Leek Congress with a score of 4/5. This goes some way to making up for his disappointment in the recent British Championships. He was half a point behind going into the last round, where he had the Black pieces against the leader, but came up with the goods to beat his opponent and pip him to the post by half a point. His win also gives him the title of NSDCA Individual Champion.

Picture Quiz

Well nobody submitted a correct answer for the Spot The World Chess Champions picture quiz so Stuart won't have to put his hand in his pocket for anybody's Life Membership !!

The answer to which two of the people depicted in the painting have NOT won the World Championship is :

a) 2nd from left standing - Serkan Ergun, the artist, who for all I know may not even play chess.
b) 4th from left standing - Susan Polgar, who has won the Women's World Championship but not the actual World Championship.

The full list of people in the painting is :

Seated: Kasparov, Spassky, Alekhine, Karpov, Botvinnik and Lasker.
Standing: Kramnik, Ergün (the artist), Capablanca, Polgar, Smyslov, Steinitz, Fischer, Anand, Petrosian, Tal and Euwe.

Christmas Dinner

This year's Christmas Dinner is being held at the Westbury Tavern in Clayton @ 7:30 on Saturday 21st December. It is important that you let Mike Smith know as soon as possible whether you will be attending in order that he can let them know about numbers. Mike's contact details can be found under the Club Membership tab at the top of the page. The cost is £19.50 per head (excluding drinks) and a deposit of £7 per head is required. This should be paid to Mike as soon as possible.

Fenton Sports & Social Club

For those of you who are interested I have just received a report from the Liquidators regarding Fenton Sports & Social Club. You can click here to view it.

I have also managed to speak to George and he is alive and well and now running a pub called Darcy's in Victoria Road - just round the corner from the old club. He'd be very pleased to see any of you who might want to drop in.

Spot The World Chess Champions

Which 2 people in the painting below have never been World Chess Champion ?

Stuart will pay for Life Membership of the club for anybody who gives me the correct answer by this Friday !!

New Member

On behalf of everybody at the Club I'd like to welcome Brian Birchall as our newest member. Brian is graded 139 and plays for Alsager in the NSDCA League. He will continue to play for Alsager in the League but is now eligible to play for us in County Cup matches and National Club Championship matches as Alsager don't play in any of these. He has also entered the Club Championship and Rapidplay Championship.

ECF Membership Cards

The ECF don't appear to be issuing Membership Cards this year. Rather, you can now print your own. Obviously this isn't very satisfactory as it would just be a flimsy piece of paper. However, if anybody actually wants their card printed then please let me know and I will print and laminate it so it will be more akin to what you received last year. Also, if you can send me a head and shoulders photo of yourself this can be printed on the card.

ECF Membership Renewal

Please note that I have now renewed everybody's ECF Membership for 2013/2014, apart from those few members who have done it for themselves or are registered via another club. If anybody has not paid their Fenton Membership Subscription yet can they please do so as soon as possible as your ECF Fees have been paid up front. Those people who have had their ECF Membership renewed by the Club will find that their ECF Membership No has changed from last year. You can view your new Membership No here. If anybody wants to upgrade to Silver or Gold Membership then please let me know and I will do it on your behalf and you can pay Stuart the additional fee. Silver Membership is required for most congresses that you may enter and costs an extra £6 per year. A very small number of congresses require Gold Membership but this is unlikely to apply to many Club members.