Month: December 2018

Thanks to everyone who turned up for the Blitz, with special thanks being reserved for David Hulme without whose involvement the tournament could not have been ran.  On the night Dan Dowling won the prestigious title of Chester Chess Club Christmas Blitz Champion after a fine overall performance.  Going into the tense final round there were four players tied for first, including both young Sam Burchett and the slightly older Phil Crocker.  Dan emerged victorious against Sam and John likewise against Phil.

1st = Dan Dowling, John Carleton
3rd  James Lee

Thanks go to Phil McKeown for his kind donation of a bottle of wine as the prize for the winner of the evenings festivities.  There was a good turn out of 24 people which we hope to see again in future years.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The League Individual Championship was this year held on the 1st and 2nd Of December at the Town Crier in Chester. This year’s Open Section was appreciably stronger than last years competition, with 6 players entered being rated over 170.

The Open Section Entries were:

Phil Crocker – Chester
Colm Buckley – Chester
David Jameson – Colwyn Bay
Mike McDonagh – Chester
Nathanael Paul – Malpas & Oswestry
Richard Bryant – Malpas & Oswestry
Ray Williams – Chester
Steve Lloyd – Chester
Haydn Parry – Holywell
Dewi Jones – Holywell

Rd 1

Colm Buckley 1/2 Phil Crocker 1/2
Mike McDonagh 1 Dewi Jones 0
Richard Bryant 1 Steve Lloyd 0
Ray Williams 0 Nathanael Paul 1
David Jameson 1 Haydn Parry 0

Rd 2

Nathanael Paul 0 David Jameson 1
Haydn Parry 1 Dewi Jones. 0
Phil Crocker 1 Ray Williams 0
Steve Lloyd 0 Colm Buckley 1
Richard Bryant 0 Mike McDonagh 1

Rd 3

David Jameson 1/2 Mike McDonagh 1/2
Nathanael Paul 0 Phil Crocker 1
Colm Buckley 1/2 Richard Bryant 1/2
Dewi Jones 0 Steve Lloyd 1
Ray Williams 1 Haydn Parry 0

Rd 4

Phil Crocker 1/2 David Jameson 1/2
Mike McDonagh 1/2 Colm Buckley 1/2
Richard Bryant 0 Nathanael Paul 1
Steve Lloyd 1/2 Haydn Parry 1/2
Dewi Jones 0 Ray Williams 1

As has already been noted by Phil in the previous post to this the final round results left 3 players tied for first place.

Final Standings

P. Crocker, D. Jameson, M. McDonagh 3/4
C. Buckley 2.5/4
N. Paul, R. Williams 2/4
R. Bryant, S. Lloyd, H. Parry 1.5/4
D. Jones 0/4

The round-robin blitz play-off for the title was won in convincing fashion by our Club President Phil Crocker and thus he gained the title of Chester and District League Individual Champion for the 2018/2019 season.

Mike McDonagh came joint second at the Wrexham Rapidplay. He conceded just two draws in reaching 4/5 without getting a chance to play the winner. Jixin and Jack Yang shared the slow starter prize.

Mike nearly added the Chester and District League Championship the following weekend. Unleashing his inner Magnus Carlsen all he needed to do was beat reigning champion Colm Buckley in a microscopically better R+N ending in the final round. Meanwhile on the top board David Jameson and Phil Crocker had already unleashed their inner Carlsens by contriving a move repetition a few moves out of the opening, confident of their chances in the blitz playoff. Ultimately Mike only managed a draw and, perhaps tired from these exertions, blundered into a mate in the final blitz match against your reporter.