This week marked the start of the Club Championship and the Pomeroy Cup. It is now up to the players to set about organising their games, and match reports will follow in the coming weeks.
There was no action in the Club Championship, as all of the club's top players were away at Wilmslow playing in the second round of the Charnley Cup.
Match Report - Charnley Cup
Wilmslow had white on odd boards. Denzil quickly forced his opponent to give up his queen to stop a mate and went on to win quickly. The Secretary benefited from his opponent's generosity, setting up Macclesfield with a 2-0 lead. Carl found it tough going on top board, eventually losing a pawn and soon after had to resign. Joachim was merciless in his match, winning pawn after pawn, and when his opponent Colin resigned it was 3-1. Ant was not doing well and looked lost so when team captain John Paul turned down a draw offer it was very worrying. Although he went a pawn down it was a relief when opposite colour bishops forced the half. Ant meanwhile was a rook down but his opponent was short of time and missed some simple wins. Inexplicably his opponent eventually let his clock run down and so Ant took home the "Swindle Of The Evening" award.
Wilmslow | 1.5 - 4.5 | Macclesfield |
Lamb, H Michael | 1 - 0 | Gartside, Carl |
Moran, Kevin J | 0.5 - 0.5 | Taylor, John Paul J |
Mills, Colin J | 0 - 1 | Trier, Joachim |
Mowat, David | 0 - 1 | Brough, Anthony RW |
Warhurst, Robin | 0 - 1 | Laurence, Geoff |
Howells, Mark | 0 - 1 | Lobo, Denzil P |
And so Macclesfield progresses to the semi final of the SDCL Charnley Cup, with the future opponent yet to be announced.
Meanwhile at home base, Brian and Marcus kicked off the 2023-24 Pomeroy cup competition, with Marcus besting his experienced opponent, punishing an early mistake.
Gauging new players grades is always a challenge at the state of the season, but the
handicap system ensures grades are changed to reflect performance. Simon Darwell is
starting to use his time advantage to good effect, becoming more of a contender for major
prizes.
There were 10 contestants to start, with Ben Imrye coming after the competition started,
making it 11 total contestants. Ben’s online grade is a lot higher than his old over the board
grade. I have given him a lower grade to start with and his performances will reflect his
adjusted grade going forward.
Newcomer Dan Barnes played well, winning his first 4 games and drawing the last versus
Joachim, to clinch the competition with 4 points.
Joachim started badly with a loss to Tony Brough but stormed back, remaining unbeaten
and taking on Dan in the final round. He need to win this for joint first place but the pressure
got the better of him and the game was drawn.
Geoff Laurance played Tony Brough in the final round and won to secure joint third place with Tony.
Marcus, Ben and Simon also won their final games to also secure joint third places, a five
way tie!
The tournament went well, without any hiccups and everybody (almost) enjoyed the evening.
Another busy night at the club this week, as Dan Barnes set about finishing the remaining fixtures for the Secretary's quickplay. With Jake Darlington unable to complete his fixtures, Dan's two matches against Denzil and one match against Geoff were crucial to crown the eventual champion, with just one point in the favour of the secretary over Denzil.
The first game went the distance, after a rapid start from Denzil, Dan methodically whittled away and found himself with a rook, bishop & pawn vs rook & pawn endgame which, with only increment on the clock, he patiently converted. The second game was much clearer, with Dan finding a decisive advantage relatively early on. These two games cemented Geoff's victory in the tournament, but that didn't dampen his competitive spirit, and he took a victory lap, confidently beating Dan in the final game of the tournament.
And so completes the 2022-23 season of club chess. Fittingly the Secretary's Quickplay has been won by the secretary himself! Congratulations Geoff, and thank you for organising.