Leagues underway

Macclesfield started off their NSDCA Division 1 campaign on Thursday 19th October, with a journey to face Holmes Chapel, who sent out a team of four very capable players. Unfortunately due to unavailability, Macclesfield had to send a much weaker team than usual with two relative newcomers in the team in Marcus and Tom. Non-the-less, Macclesfield put up an excellent fight, and the 4-0 result in the favour of the home side belies four very close fought games.

​Holmes Chapel A	4 - 0	Macclesfield
Michael Hancock (2029)	1 - 0	​Geoff Laurence (1708)
Patrick Bennett (1969)	1 - 0	Anthony Brough (1753)
John Turner (1947)	1 - 0	​Tom Moitié (1674)
John Ewens (1938)	1 - 0	Marcus Fothergill (1500)

Macclesfield also kicked off the SDCL Division 1 campain on Wednesday 25th October with a visit to East Cheshire. Marcus provided Macclesfield with the only win of the night on board 6, whilst Carl fought a very strong opponent in FM Alexander Longson for a draw.

East Cheshire A	4 - 2	Macclesfield A
Alexander Longson (2350)	0.5 - 0.5	Carl Gartside (1885)
​Thomas Jones (2028)	1 - 0	Joachim Trier (1816)
Geoffrey Brindle (1976)	0.5 - 0.5	Geoff Laurence (1708)
Jim McKie (1744)	1 - 0	Tom Moitié (1674)
Tudor Rickards (1692)	1 - 0	Denzil Lobo (1641)
Steve McCall (1590)	0 - 1	Marcus Fothergill (1500)

Meanwhile, at the club, Dan started his Pomeroy Cup campaign with a win against Brian, and Tom found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against Geoff under some time pressure, kicking off the club championship in earnest.

Macclesfield progresses in the Charnley Cup

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.

Quickplay Championship kickoff

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.