Author: mikemcd

On December the 17th we held our annual handicap blitz tournament. This year Rohan Yesudian won the prestigious title of Chester Chess Club Christmas Blitz Champion 2019 after a coruscating performance.

1st – Rohan Yesudian 5/5 + 0.5

2^nd = (all with 4.5)

• Caitlin Challoner 2/5 + 2.5
• Graham Dobson 4/5 + 0.5
• Seren Fletcher 2/5 + 2.5
• James Lee 3.5/5 + 1
• Michael McDonagh 4.5/5 + 0

A Bulleted thanks list (yes, bulleted…)

1. Thank you to everyone who turned up for the Blitz this year.
2. Thanks once again to David Hulme without whose involvement the tournament could not have been ran.
3. Special thanks are reserved for Caroline Burchett, without whose involvement we would have likely still been playing into the early hours of Wednesday!
4. Thanks also to our professional clock handlers Steve Lloyd and Colin White whom helped the event run smoothly.
5. Thanks also to Warren Bates and Phil Crocker for donating prizes for the winners of the evening’s festivities.

There was an excellent turnout of 32 people with grades ranging from 35 for Seren to 208 for John C; we hope to see this again in future years. Happy New Year All.

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.

As has been noted in a prior news post this year was the 10th Anniversary of the D&A Challenge Cup. David Hulme has shared some of his meticulous records of the event with me (Mike) which sustain sufficient interest upon further scrutiny.

Somewhat surprisingly despite being down 5-4 in the series Chester actually lead the series on board count. Of the 217 games played Chester are 3 up leading 110-107. Chester have used 79 different players, Wallasey 52 players, a total of 131 players. Chester having used substantively more players indicative of a strong Junior presence over the series.

Both teams possess only two players that have played in all 10 matches: David Hulme and Ian Clayton for Chester; Leon Wolszczak and Colin Rees for Wallasey. All four players deserve congratulations for their commitment to the match series and for Colin further applause is due for his attainment of the best overall score attained by any player (8/10).  The best score for Chester being attained by Graham Bromley (7.5/9) who  has only missed a single match in 2013.

Additional background provided by David Hulme:

On Tuesday the 19th of June 22 players from Chester Chess Club met 22 players from Wallasey Chess Club at the Town Crier in Chester.  This challenge event has has been held annually during the close season of recent years and this year reached its 10 year milestone.   As always the match was hard fought and Wallasey as seems to be the trend surged into an early 5-1 lead.

As the evening progressed Chester gradually eased back into contention and late on went into the lead.  The match was finely poised at the point when Chester were two up with three to play.   Of the three games that were still in play Jack Yang was clearly lost and Jo Nemcek faced a difficult defence a pawn down in a minor piece ending.  Fortuitously for Chester Rob Killeen emerged victorious and thus Chester clinched the match.  The final result was 12-10 to Chester, a result comprising of 10 wins, 4 draws and 8 losses. With this result Chester have pulled one back in the series but still remain 5-4 down to Wallasey. Here is to next year and the chance to finally draw level in the series!

Wallasey Challenge Match 2018 Results

As part of the development process for the new club website it was agreed at committee that a logo for the club be developed. Graham has promptly produced a number of hand crafted designs which can be seen below. A vote on which of these logos we will use as a basis for producing a digital logo going forward will be held at this year’s AGM.

And for the Roman Soviet Legionnaires amongst you…

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. Daniel Savidge won the prestigious title of Chester Chess Club Christmas Blitz Champion for the second time after a fine win in a tense and tactic filled Armageddon playoff with the black pieces against Paul Woodfinden.

1st = Daniel Savidge, Paul Woodfinden
3rd = Ian Clayton, Jack Yang

There was a good turn out of 26 people which we hope to see again future years.