We congratulate Graham for winning the Stockport League Cup which was played in Stockport. Graham finished 4.5 points 6 joints with Mark Constantine in the Intermediate section. As we all know, Graham has been traditional doing the Christmas puzzles for the club. What a performance to mark of his 61^th birthday.  

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/stockportRapidplay.pdf

Another notable player involved was Phil Olbison who lost a crucial game in the last round to finish on 4 out 6 points. Phil has represented us in a lot of Tournaments over the years. Well done guys.

Chorlton 1 beats 4.5 to 2.5 Bolton II to claim the match point. We got there a little bit late because of the heavy traffic in Chester Road. To our surprise, they still had snow in Bolton on the pavements and we were coming from the rain in Manchester. We knew that Bolton II was not as strong as Bolton 1 and No Surtees and the IM. Bolton chess club have got a rich history in the leagues so we could do with a little dent. Having spoken to the team captain John why we could get a strong team out there? Almost half of the players are committed to work and their good luck wish was just enough.

Hope was playing a veteran Harry Lamb and French opening was played that is a Bolton defence. I quickly lost a pawn in the opening with little attack. Harry had an upper hand most of the game but ended up in time trouble. He had 40seconds on his clock and managed to get perpetual check. A draw was a fair result.
Chris was playing Ian McGlory and Sicillian opening was played. Chris was black and McGlory went for the quite line Be2. Chris was completing pissed off that the game because his opponent had only 23 seconds left. May be few checks could help out, wrong strategy adopted. That was our only loss of the night

Phil Olbison had a tricky endgame which ended up with 2 pawns against a knight in blitzing time. Questions are still being asked whether it was drawn. Surely somebody to explain the rules clearly to us how it works? However Phil used his Chess Cube experience to win the blitz period.

John had an early win from a misplayed Grunfeld opening. Well done John
 We would like to welcome back Jim Mackerel who had not played for a long time. He is getting well soon and he started with a good win. His opponent played 4 pawns KID and lost a piece in the middle game. Fears were raised when the opponent had his rook in the 7^th   and trying to combine with Queen. Well done Jim

We had Micah new club recruit who played the Ian Lamb. It is our first game for the club and he thought 75 min was a lot for a chess game but changed his thoughts by the end of the night. They had a handshake and a draw was agreed. Fortunately Ian did not realise that they needed a point so it cost them a point like he said. Well done Micah.

It was a good night and good win for us. We had a fair chance of using digital clocks. They are just a new thing to us and we are clueless how they work.

Chorlton VI beat Urmston III to win the match and once again well done team. Due to severe weather, some of our players could not make it the venue. May be thinking ahead could help next time guys. However a win is a win.
We have 2 new players who had their debut and one thing you would like to be drawn into an argument. Are they red or blue? Who knows! Welcome Chris Anderson and Richard Johnson. Richard Bailey who made his debut last night played for Withington Peoples in the late 1990s early 2000s.Normally in winter we lose players to the cold but this year it is magical. 

We move on to the digital clocks issues and we are patiently waiting. Surely they do not tick folks and a demo from a club member is useful. John the chairman had ordered the clocks and soon the transformation begins. 

Chorlton VI  3.5 – 1.5  Urmston III

D.Otto 1-0 T.Plunkett

E.Patten 0.5 T.Morris

R.Bailey 1-0 P.Shaughnessy

P.Noel 1-0 G.Randall

Default 0-1 G.O’Shiel

We are doing our first club training session this coming Tuesday on 31 January at the club.The club is putting firs measures for us to share our games and analysis. By doing this hopefully we gonna improve our chess understanding.

See you there !

All the members of the Chorlton Chess Club are invited to Graham birthday  party at Dulcuier  bar in Chorlton. It is  8pm on the 3rd of February upstairs. See you there!