Over the 3rd,4th and 5th of February, three Macclesfield players participated in the Frodsham Congress. Phil Colville was playing in his first standard play congress in over 25 years, but fresh from his success at Stockport, he won 4 of his 5 games to finish equal second in the U120 section. Patrick Curr managed 1.5 points but, as lowest graded in the section, that represented a good return. The Secretary having taken a half point bye in round 3, entered the final round of the U160 section on 3.5 and in joint first place. He turned down a draw offer (which would have given him a 4 way share of 1st place), as he was a pawn to the good. A serious error this turned out to be as he went on to blunder, losing material and eventually losing on time....will he ever learn!
An army of Macclesfield players invaded Stockport on Sunday to participate in the annual quickplay tournament. In addition to the various section prizes, of particular interest were the Stockport League trophies (for best placed Stockport League registered players) and also the veterans prize for which Macclesfield had its own dad's army contingent!
Robert Shaw produced a fighting defence of his Open section title with an excellent score of 4 out of 6. In the Major, Colin Davison was not able to hold on to his Stockport League prize from 2016, but that honour remained in the club thanks to Dave Risley whose 4.5 points included a win over the secretary. Dave won a grading prize too and also took the veteran's prize to complete a profitable campaign. Denzil may have been lowest graded in this section, but managed a couple of good wins.
In the Intermediate Section, the Macclesfield Challenge came from the two Phils, and also Mick and Marc. All recorded good scores, but Phil Colville, in his first congress of recent years, scored 4 points to win both a grading prize and the Stockport League trophy. Phil was last seen walking out into the Manchester evening to spend his winnings on on a family meal.
It was another dark, dank, dismal, dreary January night and Macclesfield C entertained Denton in what was already being billed as a crucial game for both teams to preserve their Division 2 status. Denton had hitherto recorded a win against a strong Chorlton side, defaulted 0-6 to Macclesfield B and then got trounced by East Cheshire. What team, if any, would Denton be putting out?
Denton’s top 3 aka the three Davids were all in attendance and their Board 6 had beaten me 24 hours earlier in the Stockport Rapidplay so the omens were not good. Marc was dropped down a couple of boards to give him some respite and boy did he take advantage dispatching Ivan before the rest of us had finished developing. Team captain David H for Denton must have been rubbing his hands when confronted by his favourite opening and he certainly Pirc’d up enough to end Philcos resistance (that’s enough of that – Ed). Next to finish was the top board where Man with Hat was staring down the barrel. David C pulled the trigger and missed from close range letting the Hat keep his Rook pair. He then reloaded and shot himself in the foot allowing me to plonk both of the said Rooks on the 7th rank to claim an unlikely draw. Onwards and downwards (to the bar that is) where Tom found me to give news of his fabulous victory over Eric on Board 6. I walked back upstairs with a sense of trepidation. Yes, we were ahead 2 ½ : 1 ½ but I knew that David S was struggling and he eventually succumbed to Stan. Whilst the crowd were circling this board the Match of the Day theme tune was being played over on Board 2 where Tony was bringing home the full point and the match after closing out against the experienced Dave B.
A great night at the Queens hotel, Macclesfield C recording their first victory of the season, leapfrogging Denton to climb off the bottom of the table. Some fantastic performances but a supreme team effort to win when conceding an average of over 18 grading points per board. Well played to both teams and we shall look forward to the return fixture.