Season finale

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.

Winners Decided on Crazy Night

John-Paul became club champion for the first time when 2 games were decided suddenly by Secretary-style blunders. John E was certainly holding his own when he moved his queen to allow mate in 1. Joachim looked well up with John A behind on material and also playing on the time increments. Sadly a couple of blunders led to the loss of, first a rook, and then a queen. None the less John-Paul's play has certainly merited his success.

Meanwhile Ant defeated Tom to take the Pomeroy Cup. Tom put up a good fight but Ant used all his experience to find a number of challenging moves - to cap a good campaign.

Denzil's guile meanwhile threw the Quickplay competition wide open when he saw off the secretary 2-0,

overcoming an early loss of the exchange in game 2.

Busy Night

Macclesfield held one of the favourites, Fenton, to a draw in the North Staffs league, thanks to excellent wins by Phil and Ant. Meanwhile there was significant progress in the various competitions. By defeating John A, John-Paul finally crushed any hope for Carl winning the Club Championship. The game between J-P and John E is now looking to be a key one. Watch this space!

Jake completed his Pomeroy Cup campaign by defeating Dan. There are 3 games left with Tom to play Dan, Brian and Ant. Can Ant be caught?

For once, games in the Secretaries Quickplay competition didn't feature the Secretary. Marcus moved into 2nd place by taking 3 points off Joachim. Tom picked up 2 wins from 3 games and with Denzil also now on the board, everyone features in the league table. Still, Geoff's lead looks formidable.....