top of page
Man with Hat

ALAN IS LONE SPARKLER

Alan C was a lone sparkler in a night of confusion, chaos and carnage.

The Man with Hat is attempting to get 40 winks after his daily toil followed by a quick snack and a shower before heading off for what was always going to be a tricky fixture against East Cheshire. Then at 5.30pm he hears the sickening sound of his telephone and anyone who has captained will tell you they know, at that time, what this means. We are now a player down. An obvious replacement is Francis who is often at the club even when he has no game. His phone rings out and I am subsequently told that it has been lost. At the club we have Alan C who has never played a competitive game. Alan – you’re in, Alan we don’t need you now as Denzil is free, Alan we do need you now Denzil is needed for the Stoke league fixture and so on and on and on and on it went with Alan eventually joining the other 21 players for this double fixture. Man with Hat slumps into his newly elevated position of Board 1 opposite John who is massively out-grading me. I look down the far side of the room and there is Franny, I start to headbutt the palm of my hand a la John Cleese, this isn’t going to end well!

Almost immediately it became apparent that some clocks used in last week’s Stoke fixture had been reset incorrectly giving out increments of 10 minutes instead of 10 seconds. Cue pandemonium before the situation is finally resolved by the Secretary. A huge thank you and an apology from The Hat to the Secretary for still not achieving his NVQ Level 2 in Digital Clock settings. It should also be noted that this didn’t end well for the Secretary as after returning to his board he immediately blundered and resigned instantly.

And finally the chess… Tony was first back in the hutch after struggling with his opponent Geoff’s Owens Defence. He was looking in good shape until I realised he was a piece down. A similar fete awaited Marc who also fell after falling behind in material against Keven. Tom was also a piece down against Tudor and struggled in vain to equalise against the wily Welshman and author of the second best chess blog in the world. Board 5 and this looked better. John A looking for another score to add to his debut ½ from last month appeared to be well on course for at least a whitewash saving ½ until he blundered gifting the full point to his experienced opponent David T. Mr Hat was just happy not to be the first to finish or the second, third, or fourth. My opponent admitted that he had banged out the opening moves fast because he had played them so many times before. Since I was playing this without memory then I’ll take that as a compliment. Well played to John R though for his ruthless win and its now 0-5. Cue the resistance! Alone a man was standing, prepared to die on his sword if necessary. No way was he going to let this be a whitewash. A giant colossus of a man steps from the shadows and with a huge bishop begins to scythe down his opponents pawns. Alan, the last second stand in, in a beautiful game that ebbed and flowed had conquered Jim and secured a win that no-one had anticipated.

No more cheesy firework puns from this blogger – I’ve thrown them on the Pun fire!!

(A trademark shaking of the head and a sigh from Mrs Hat)!

Man with Hat

And we’re off!

After months of fevered excitement, of stomach-churning adrenalin rushes, of dreams of glory, of verses of `this is my quest, to follow that star`, Macc C’s season finally gets underway with the visit of Marple. It’s not bonfire night until a week on Sunday and the majority of players took heed with the notable exception of Marc whose very own firework display on Board 6 illuminated the Macclesfield skyline. On the opposite side of the room (Board 1) an equalising point from Paul over PhilCo. I didn’t see exactly what happened as Denzil was taking me through `an idiots guide to setting Digital clocks`. It looked like PhilCo was trying to build a mating net to compensate for being a piece down. It didn’t quite work and the extra move taken by PhilCo in time pressure forgot about the mate that he himself was facing.

Sandwiched in between were 4 draws, Board 5 and John playing his debut game for Macclesfield takes a good ½ from the hugely experienced Mr Doust. Board 4 and our Tony agrees an equally cagey draw with Martin C. Man with the Hat gets spooked by Tony Kays active Queen and takes off the ladies at the cost of undoubling his opponents pawns and with it any hope of winning the game. Board 2 decider and this one went down to the wire. Marple’s Alan is up a Rook and 2 pawns against a Rook and 1. Never easy with the pawns close together and Joachim holds out for the draw.

4 Draws in a 3-3 match draw. It is what it is! exclaims Mr Hat profoundly. Mrs Hat refuses to be drawn and limits herself to a slow shaking of the head. The chess season has indeed begun.


Macclesfield , against all odds now head the Stockport League Division 1 table. This may not sound very exciting but it is Macclesfield B leading the way.

Team manager (John-Paul Taylor) suggested this might be a "Two horse race between Macc B and Macc A for the division 1 title now"

The Team standout performance has been Joachim Trier with 3/3 (100% record)

Well done to Macclesfield B , although this will undoubtly be short lived, we will enjoy it while it lasts

Asset 1.png

Macclesfield Chess Club

The Queen's Hotel, 5 Albert Place, Macclesfield SK11 6JW

  • Facebook
  • phpmeXx6V
  • 5cfd2630-2a8f-4fa9-8f78-04c2d9f0e5fe_lichess-box-1024
bottom of page