Secretary's Quickplay winner finally crowned

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.

Simultaneous exhibition at Alsager Chess Club

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.

Chess season kicks off

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.