Three club members headed down to Alsager on Tuesday night, to participate in a simultaneous exhibition against one of NSDCA's top players FM Jonathan Blackburn, in aid of the British Red Cross. Whilst confident at the beginning, as the room began to fill with more and more players Jonathan began to realise the mountain of the task ahead of him. Nether-the-less, he set about putting as many different openings for white around the 18 boards as he could muster, and the players settled in to see if anyone could best the talented Welsh pro.
Over on Joachim's table, Jonathan spent the game fighting a strong attack on the Kingside, but with precise strategic positioning was eventually able to overwhelm black by ensuring his opponent's two rooks could never connect without abandoning the attack.
Meanwhile, around the rest of the room, players were dropping left, right and centre, but understandably Jonathan was beginning to tire. Whilst taking three scalps from the Macclesfield contingent, he finally made a mistake against departing member John Ewens who took a well deserved victory, after enduring two losses against Jonathan in the previous season's league matches. Jonathan finished the evening with just two losses and two draws, a valiant effort.
Macclesfield Chess Club would like to extend a warm thank you to Jonathan Blackburn and the Alsager Chess Club for arranging this charity event, a wonderful gathering of community chess, and we look forward to more events like it.
The club has once again begun meetings this month, kicking off with the AGM where club members discussed various important matters, such as club finances and organizational roles.
Whilst we wait to see where the season will lead us in terms of league fixtures and club competitions, the club has seen a flurry of activity featuring a lot of casual chess, as well as the final few games of the Secretary's Quickplay.
Marcus has found a late extra point against Tom, and Dan fought valiently to tie his matches against two strong opponents in Joachim and Anthony. A strong day for the white pieces!
The club has tentatively scheduled in the first handicapped Quickplay tournament of the season for the 2nd of October. This competition runs two to three times a year, with the overall winner taking the Pollard Cup. More information about this will come next week.
The season’s Spring rapid-play took place on the 5 th June 2023, the last evening of the season.
There were 10 players for this year’s Spring Quickplay. The tournament went well and there was no mayhem. All players played in a competitive but friendly manner with plenty of ups and downs.
The event started well for Joachim Trier who beat Denzil, Roy Gray beat John Ewens on time.
Tony Brough and Geoff Laurence started strongly with wins in the first two rounds and met in the third round. Tony Brough beat Geoff in the third round. John E and Denzil progressed steadily, John Paul was on zero and Joachim faded.
There were lots of ups and downs with Simon reaching 2 points and Geoff, John, Tony Brough, and I (Denzil) also progressed nicely.
In the final round Denzil (3 points) played Tony Brough (3 points) and John (3 points) played Geoff (3 points).
Fortunately for me, I beat Tony and John beat Geoff to secure joint first place.
See Quickplay section for full details.