Sunday 30 December 2018


East Cheshire New Year Social Evening on January 2nd 2018 

Our usual Christmas social is transformed to a New Year social! It will take place on Wednesday 2nd January. The usual format will apply – please arrive with some food and/or drink to share by 7:30 so David can get us off and running with round 1 at 7:45, and there'll be the usual lengthy break in the middle to enjoy our combined food and drink and to chat.
As this is an unusual date for a social it would be helpful to get an idea of numbers attending so we can see in advance whether it will be successful: if you know you can’t attend you might like to let me know, similarly if you do intend to come. If you don’t yet know whether you will attend or not you might like to let me know when things become clear.

Friday 23 November 2018

Holmes Chapel 5 - 1 ECA

We knew it would be tough against a strong Holmes Chapel team last night.... but just before 10.00  with 2 fantastic draws already agreed, and well in contention on other boards, it looked like we could actually get something from the match.  Alas, it was not to be.

Stuart Clarke (213)  1/2  John
John showed all his class to comfortably hold against his highly rated opponent.

Jon Blackburn (207)  1 - 0  Steve Tr
Steve plays the Dutch to win and sacrificed the exchange for 2 extra pawns in an exciting unbalanced game.  His opponent unfortunately got an initiative late on though and Steve ran out of time.

Patrick Bennett (176)  1 - 0  David T
As usual David proved hard to beat but just lost out in a pawn endgame.

John Turner (173)  1 - 0  Tudor
Tudor was last to finish and bravely dug in but eventually John's extra Qside pawns were decisive.

Mike Hancock (161)  1 - 0  Paul
I was in control of this one right from the opening and eventually set up a winning attack..... I'd seen the natural e-pawn push which was crushing but I bizarrely retreated my Q instead, which lost on the spot.  What an idiot.

Ian Bates (146)  1/2  Steve K
Many thanks to Steve for stepping in at the last moment and he did us proud.  He never looked in any trouble and was even up on time and earned a very credible draw.

Next up is Macclesfield A which also is no picnic.  The good news though is that Macc B have lost all their games and are joint bottom with us.  The relegation battle will start in the New Year!.

Tuesday 13 November 2018

Macc 2 - 3 East Cheshire (Charnley)

David Taylor's report on last night's victorious result in the Charnley Cup at Macclesfield:

 
Quite an eventful night!  The choice of replacement captain did not work out well at first:  Tudor decided to do some pre-match warm-up exercises (why? this was to be a game of chess, not a marathon) and went into severe back-spasm.  Keven and I called in, but it was clear we could not lift him up the stairs in the Queens Arms (that sounds a bit strange!) so arrived at Macc without him.  The others turned up, even John, out of breath from a hasty return from the other side of the Pennines, but Macclesfield A-team did not seem to know we were coming, so those of the club who were not playing Wilmslow in the Limit League eventually decided to sit down in grade order and play us five.  Result:  3-3 including the cunning Tudor ploy of losing on the bottom board by default.  Why cunning?  Because we did the right thing and defaulted on bottom board, we win this knockout game since the score is modified by tearing off the bottom boards until a result emerges – so we win 3:2 as follows:-
  
Macc                              East Cheshire
 
1.  P Cattermole (151)  0.5  0.5  G Brindle (167) 
Geoff:      Had a strong attack down the H-file but allowed his advanced G-pawn to be taken giving check, which undermined his attack and thwarted all his attempts to double rook and Q in time for mate.
 
2.  G Lawrence (149)      0      1    J Reed  (168)
John:  The master of the endgame triumphed via an elaborate and long drawn-out zugzwang involving kings, bishops of the same colour and pawns (JR’s sensibly not on squares the same colour as the bishops).  When it was clear he must gain a crucial pawn, his opponent sensibly gave up.
 
3.  P Colville (140)          1     0    K Holton  (141)
Keven:  Found himself playing the French as black and it took too long for him to sort out the combinations possible, losing on time as a result:  better stick to the Modern in future!
 
4.  D Lobo (139)             0.5   0.5  D R Taylor (135)
David:  Feeling his age, played the move after the one he planned to make, losing the en-prise knight he thought he’s moved to safety!  Even so, achieved at least parity with two passed pawns and a pin of the opposing knight – might have won if he’d played on but was happy to get the draw when offered.
 
5.  A Brough  (138)         0      1     N Flaherty  (121)
Nick:  The star turn!  Never looked in trouble or likely to lose, calmly out-playing his higher-graded opponent to score the decisive victory quite early on.
 
6.  [ N Other                   1      0     Default ]    board cancelled to prevent drawn match
 
Final Score                2       3
  
Regards from the vice-vice-captain (DRT)

Wednesday 7 November 2018

Stockport A 5 - 1 ECA

It's never easy facing Stockport A and last night was no different - even though they were missing 4 or 5 of their other stars.  We got stuck in though and competed well and even managed to avoid the dreaded whitewash!  Brief highlights below, although I didn't see too much of the other games as I was too much under the cosh myself.

1 - 0  Allan Beardsworth (215) v John
John was up against Nigel Short's old school chum and had a go by pushing some pawns forward but unfortunately one of them got picked off and Allan then showed his technical ability.

1/2  Andy Reeve (203) v Geoff B
Man of the night Geoff soaked up some early pressure but was then able to equalize and was offered the draw.  Well done Geoff!  A great result.

1 - 0  Alan A Smith (194) v Keven
Kev seems to be enjoying life in Division 1 and plays with a smile on his face.  He got some early pressure in his game but unfortunately his opponent turned it around later on.

1/2  Mike Crowther (166) v Jim
Man of the night Jim (yes, there were at least 2 last night) did a great job against the always tricky City fan and produced an assured display for a solid result.

1 - 0  Mike Taylor (165) v Tudor
Tudor went the full distance and caused his usual problems but just got edged out in the end.

1 - 0  Mike Tunstall (156) v Paul
In an opposite castling game I was under pressure but managed to get double R's on the half open g file attacking his K.  With my other pieces well placed I thought I had some late counterplay before I blundered badly although I think I was losing anyway.

So, on a positive note this was our best result so far this season.  The only way is up.


Thursday 4 October 2018

A Team 0.5 - 5.5 Macclesfield A

Welcome back to Division 1 - a thumping defeat!

Our first match of the season saw us up against Macclesfield's A team who are a handy team.  After 2 hours of play though every board was being well contested and looked pretty even.  Unfortunately we just got edged out and, at the end, the result flattered Macclesfield somewhat.

John  0 - 1  Robert Shaw (200)
John had a decent game against his titled opponent but just fell short in the end.

Keven  0 - 1  Dave Risley (172)
Kev is useful with the white pieces and seemed in contention until he missed the dreaded backward diagonal tactic.

David T  0 - 1  Colin Davison (163)
In an exchange French, David made it difficult for his opponent as usual but just got picked off in the end.

Tudor  1/2  James Heppell (160)
Star man of the night was Tudor.  He had the better of this and was slightly ahead with the B pair in a minor piece ending.  When the draw offer came he was probably right to take it, particularly as he had been battling with British Gas all day over the dreaded annual boiler service.

Paul  0 - 1  Carl Gartside (157)
I had an edge out of the opening and had the initiative when I swapped off the Q's but unfortunately ended up losing when I ran out of time in a pretty drawn position.

Nick  0 - 1  John Paul Taylor (156)
After a solid opening by Nick this was a close game for a long time before he unfortunately lost a Qside pawn.  He made it difficult though and in an exciting time scramble where both players showed great calmness JP eventually managed to get over the line with an unstoppable pawn,

A disappointing result but we were certainly not outclassed......

Monday 17 September 2018

D Team becomes the C team

Since we have only three teams this year our Limit League team has become the C team

Our Limit League side is now the C team

We stay in the same division of the Stockport Chess League

The C team becomes the B team

Since the club is running three instead of four teams this year members of the C team will be pleased to note that they have been promoted to membership of the B team ! Winning the Stockport  Division 3 proved not to be possible so we adopted this easier route to promotion instead.

Sunday 16 September 2018

Club Open Again for Start of New Season

Club nights have resumed

A Team Back


The A team are back in Division 1 for the new 2018-19 season

Thursday 3 May 2018

ECB - League Champions!

We had our last match of the season last night against Chorlton B and we knew that we just needed to pick up one game point on the night (one win or 2 draws) to clinch the League 2 title.  Obviously, nothing could go wrong, could it? ..... well, as it happened Chorlton gave us a real run for our money.

Steve Tr  0  Dave Kierman (150)  1
This game ignited into life and became a really crazy affair and unfortunately Dave's runaway h pawn ended up winning the day.

Geoff B  1  Paul Harnett (138)  0
Geoff was up against the Englund Gambit and it seemed a fairly level game until his opponent kindly dropped a piece and Geoff was able to finish it off.

Paul  1/2  Daniel Otto (137)  1/2
I managed to get an attack in (a rarity this season) but my opponent defended well and I couldn't finish it off and had to settle for a draw.

David T  1/2  Phil Bennett (122)  1/2
David maintained his unbeaten record this season, although he was happy to take a draw in this one in what turned out to be an inferior position.

Tudor  1  Howard Hughes (120)  0
Tudor seemed to have the best of the opening but then went a pawn down and was offered a draw.  The game continued and Tudor then went on to find a swindle to claim the full point.  He's been our trump card this season on the lower boards winning an amazing 8.5 out of 9! 

Roy T  0  Joel Prittie (100)  1
Roy looked solid in this until late on when unfortunately he inadvertently lost a piece.

So we managed to draw the match 3 - 3 on the night and that's enough for us to win the title by a clear point.  A big thank you for everyone who turned out for us this season.  We're normally fighting against relegation so this season has been a pleasant change.  This is only the start of it of course and we just need to find a rich Arab benefactor and we'll take Division 1 by storm... !

Thursday 19 April 2018

ECB 5 - 1 Marple B

On a sweltering evening we managed to keep our cool last night and came up with some good finishing in a tense match.  The scoreline flattered us a bit and at one stage it looked like we were going to be lucky to draw the match at best.

John Reed  0  Andy Jenkins (140)  1
It can happen to the best of us.  An oversight by John let his opponent in for an unstoppable attack.

Geoff B  1  Terry Cowling (131)  0
Geoff got off to a flier and was 2 pawns up but then it became awkward and he had to give a pawn back before finishing it off.

Paul  1  David Preen (129)  0
In a tight game it looked like it was an even endgame but I managed to fix a weakness on his b pawn then come up with a tactic to force my a pawn through.

Keven  1  Chris Baker (126)  0
As usual Kev varied his opening and this Sicilian led to a very exciting game.  Kev was a pawn down but had more activity, particularly with his R's, and was eventually able able to sac a R on the h file to set up an unstoppable mate.

Jim  1  Tony Kay (124)  0
Jim also was a pawn down but had a strong "dragon" B.  He was later able to create an advanced passed pawn which caused his opponent to panic and Jim won easily at the end in a time scramble.

Tudor  1  Jeff Barlow (101)
Our secret weapon on board 6 gives us a 1 - 0 head start every match (no pressure on the next game Tudor!)  This time he created pressure and then struck with a N fork winning a Q.

So, we're sitting pretty at the top of the table and just need a draw from our last match to clinch the title - and if Altrincham drop any points in the meantime in their last 2 matches we've won anyway.

Thursday 12 April 2018

ECB 4.5 - 1.5 Macc C

We hosted bottom of the table Macclesfield C last night and this was a match we expected to win.  Having said that, they have picked up a few points from their last few matches and they didn't make it easy for us either.  Brief details:

John  1  Francis Moan (144)  0
This was the last to finish and Francis hung in there well until the pressure finally told and John picked up material late on.

Geoff B  1  Anthony Brough (140)  0
Geoff won a piece fairly early on and it counted in the end.

Paul  1/2  Joachim Trier (123)
I was a pawn up in a R + P ending but it got complicated (for me) and I had to settle for a draw.

Keven  1/2  Phil Caulkett (118)
Kev unleashed his pet opening and had some play before it fizzled out in to a middle game draw.

David T  1/2  Mick Renshaw (117)
Dependable David maintained his unbeaten record for the B's this season with another solid performance.

Tudor  1  Marc Jouannet (119)
Two attacking players slugged it out before Tudor found a winning attack against his tricky opponent for another good win.

This win sends us back to the top of the table and with just two games left it's all to play for.

Thursday 8 March 2018

E Cheshire 0 - 6 Stockport

Our glorious Charnley Cup run came to an end last night in the semi final against Stockport.  Well Ok, we'd had 2 byes to get this far but they all count.  Stockport are in good form - winning all 6 league games and dropping just 5 boards - so we were unlucky with the draw.. If only we'd had another bye we would have made in to the final.

Having said that, Stockport commented afterwards that it hadn't felt like a whitewash.  Indeed every board was strongly contested.  I'm sure that if I hadn't lost the toss it could all have been very different.....

John  0 - 1  Allan Beardsowrth (216) 
John seemed to be doing OK till a pair of R's came off and then it was lost.

Steve Tr  0 - 1  Andy Reeve (198)
This looked fairly drawish and indeed Steve offered a draw but Andy fought on and got active late on to find the win.

Geoff B  0 - 1  Alan Smith (194)
Geoff put up a really good show in his usual calm manner and this went down to less than a minute each on the clock until his opponent's B pair finally saw some daylight and settled it

Paul  0 - 1  Phil Siddall (189)
I was doing OK in a Stonewall type position but I went astray when I tried to mix it up a bit.

Keven  0 - 1  Daniel Sheppard (170)
This game came to life after some exchanges but unfortunately not in Kev's favour.

Jim  0 - 1  Mike Taylor (166)
Jim was a pawn down in an endgame but had some hope with a runaway pawn which unfortunately eventually got rounded up.

There's always next year.

Wednesday 7 March 2018

Chrolton B 1.5 - 4.5 ECB

Report from Tudor: .....

Pleased to report great result. John Reed suffered unexpected defeat. Default on board six helped but not decisive. (Non playing Chorlton 'gentleman John' Horner stayed to give William a game).

I managed to convert a pawn up into pressure before a blunder gave immediate resignation.

Geoff survived a complex game by mix of strategy and accurate defense 

One Steve broke though with monster attack on QS 

The other drifted into K and B versus K, Kt, and Pawn ending with distinct losing changes but survived.

Playing conditions up to normal standards ...

Heroes one and all.

Now for Stockport aces.

1 - 0  Hooman Escandari (123) v John
0 - 1  Howard Hughes (120) v Geoff B
0 - 1  James Crawford (100) v Tudor
1/2    Joel Prittie (100) v Steve Tatlock
0 - 1  Anthony Fagan (93) v Steve McCall
0 - 1  DEFAULT v Will
1.5 - 4.5
Altrincam A recently lost to Wilmslow which means that the chance (or do I mean danger) of promotion is now in our own hands.  We have 3 league matches left, all at home.

Wednesday 14 February 2018

Altrincham A 1 - 5 ECB

On another cold night (inside and out) we made the trip last night to Altrincham who are possibly our main competition for the title this year.  As usual there were some hard fought games but we came through well in the end.

Mark Hann (169)  1/2  John  1/2
John had a slight edge with good central control and 20 minutes up on the clock but with no pawn levers to open up the position he settled for a draw.

Mark Whalley (142)  0  Steve T  1
Steve was facing an in form opponent who has won 6 out of 6 so far this season (including a win against me, so he's obviously top notch).  Mark was determined not to play a normal Dutch position and came up with a novelty where he had 4 pieces on the 1st rank and his king on the 3rd.  Steve eventually found a way through to win a pawn and then simplify to win the endgame.

Sheraz Khalil (132)  0  Geoff B  1
Geoff unleashed his pet opening and his greater knowledge lured his opponent in to a trap to get a commanding position for a quick win.

Anthony Lane (138)  1/2  Paul  1/2
I was able to mess up his kingside with double isolated pawns which looked pretty good.  But when the queens came off quickly followed by the rooks I suddenly realised that, with play on both sides, his B was looking better than my N and when he offered a draw I accepted.

Michael Davies (110)  0  David T  1
This was looking a very tight game for a long time before David managed to open it up and win a pawn and then force his opponent into a mistake.

Bill McCartney (122)  0  Tudor  1
Tudor got a great position with a good B and an imposing N on a good outpost and won 2 pawns.  He then won a further pawn and showed his good technique to finish it off.

So this win actually puts us top of the table.  We won't be getting carried away just yet though and the champagne will remain on ice until the fat lady sings....

Tuesday 6 February 2018

Wilmslow 1.5 - 4.5 ECB

On a cold night we made the trip to surprise league leaders Wilmslow.  At the pre-match huddle the instructions were simple - we needed to win board 1, lose board 2 and win the lower boards.  The game plan was executed to perfection!

As we settled into the match we were serenaded by the Wilmslow Ladies choir singers on a practice night in the room next to us.  In the bar room on the other side we could hear the exploits of Deulofeu and co who were giving Chelsea a good thrashing.  This wasn't going to put us off though, and we had the compensation on playing on the finest wooden boards in the league.

Tudor got us off to a great start.  He was the exchange up and then started causing havoc with R and N forcing resignation. In my game I got outfoxed by my opponent and wasn't sure what his opening was going to transpose into and I got my set up wrong and didn't really get much play.  Meanwhile Keven secured an extremely valuable half.  He had offered a draw some time earlier but Colin was hoping to find something special until Kev found a strong threat which had to dealt with and a draw was agreed.

Jim was playing against a debutant who had won his class in the Christmas Buzzer event at the Ladybrook and is clearly going to develop into a useful player.  The experienced Jim though was too canny on the night and built up a big material advantage and had a menacing pawn on the 7th rank and achieved a winning attack.  David T is proving very consistent this season and in a tight battle he came up with a tactic which won the game.

So we had the points in the bag by this stage but John's game was going down to the wire and he was unaware of the match position.  This had been a very complex affair from soon after the start and I can't really explain what was going on towards the end.  It seemed like it was one of those games when pawn numbers didn't matter but quality did.  John had an advantage on time and appeared to be slowly gaining control of more squares around Kevin's king.  Kevin eventually cracked under time pressure (Wilmslow don't use Fischer!) and John was able to mop up and win an extremely exciting and tense game.

It was a much needed win for us against a team who on paper we should beat, but as always nothing is guaranteed and it was a good overall performance.  Next up is a crunch match against Altrincham who are probably our main contenders for the title.......

0 - 1  Kevin Moran (164) v John 
1 - 0  Richard Evans (159) v Paul
1/2    Colin Mills (150) v Keven
0 - 1  David Mowat (115) v David T
0 - 1  Robin Warhurst (102) v Tudor
0 - 1  Mike Craven (100) v Jim
1.5 - 4.5