It seems a shame to expect Man With The Hat (aka The Crab) to fill all these pages – especially as his prowess at blog production seems to be deterring others, so here goes. The presence of Macclesfield A at the top of the div. 1 table on January 14 meant 100 days at the top – was I the only one having a drink to celebrate?!
Meanwhile the B team skipper has skilfully managed his forces to exceed this stat – it was Jan 7 when they reached 100 days at the top. I wondered why my personal form has collapsed in January – now you know – I've been finding too many excuses for a drink or several. J-P broke a record recently when he contacted me from Malaysia to report we had a late drop out from one of his teams and asked me to get a replacement. What dedication!!
The most recent outing saw me personally making my 3rd visit to Denton in just over 3 months. Believe me this trip is not really that attractive. You wouldn't want to take your holiday there anyway. (Only joking, Denton fans). Ant sadly went down early but then Dave avenged an earlier defeat by overwhelming Denton Skip Tim H. The secretary secured a boring draw, Phil Colville a more vital one. That left 2 of our more in form men, Tony S and The Cat himself, to battle for the win. Tony got his opponent sweating and it resulted in the latter running out of time. And what's this – can The Cat really win a rook ending from level material? Not a problem at all…..
Man with the Hat returns from his Tour of Duty (President’s Cup, Charnley Cup and Stoke League) hoping to lead his team to a 3rd consecutive win in Division 3 of the Stockport League. Apologies for the abridged version of events but with the `A` team playing in the same room it wasn’t easy to move about. Picture, if you dare, a middle-aged, slightly rotund gentleman breathing in and performing a crab-like manoeuvre in order to squeeze past his team mate. I did venture out on one occasion only to be drawn back by noticing that my opponent had played the move that I had hoped he might. For a welcome change, I finished first. My opponent either misjudged or missed completely the discovered threat from my fianchettoed bishop 1:0. Marc then signalled that he had lost on top board to the experienced John Kelly 1:1. The ever improving David S, still unbeaten in this season’s Stockport League, was next to declare. I heard others commenting that 3 pieces had been traded for a queen and when I glanced over it looked absolute carnage but David S prevailed. So, 2:1 to Macc and with 2 games to finish and 2 draws required we had 2 safe pairs of hands on the tiller. David M, who is becoming hard to beat, moved his hand faster than Billy the Kid when his opponent offered the draw. That left Pete on Board 2, a pawn to the good but aware of the match score, to agree his draw. 3:2 to Macc.
Macclesfield chess club kicked off the New Year with the return of Dave B and the Cheddleton yoof desparate to avenge the 4-1 drubbing handed out at the school (see Top Cat Deputy blog). B5 and Cheddleton's Dominic gave our Dave M plenty to think about before a draw was agreed. B4 - Oh Dear! Man with the Hat had a material advantage plus 20 minutes left on his clock and the Queens off the board. Its fair to say that I didn't make the best choices from here on in but having conceded the exchange and the initiative to my youthful opponent I was outplayed in what should have been a tricky endgame so well played Jack! B3 and JP seemed to have opted for a quiet thematic game that provided a good foil for the attacking minded Jacob C. 1 win each! B2 and no chance of any tranquility here as Phil Cat gets in an early f4 quickly followed by f5 to win what looked to be an exciting game with Jacob B. B1 and Tony locks horns again with Dave B. Didn't see the opening here but noticed Tony's Queen on f6 - Trompowsky attack? Next time I looked the Queen was back on its more natural square of C7 but Dave B was already applying pressure on the C file and he eventually broke through. So 2.5 each and we move on.