News

Date:15/12/2021  Cadets shock Great Ayton!

Great Ayton C 1½v2½ Thornaby Cadets
Peter Archer 0v1 Joe McGinnis
Gordon Dickinson ½v½ Bill March
Connor Wilson 0v1 Iain Mellis
Steve Gatenby 1v0 Callum Abbott

Well, that didn't go to plan did it? According to The Head of Equipment Director at Great Ayton Chess Club, in his notes this morning, he was anticipating that their top-of-the-table C Team would DESTROY the Thornaby Cadets. Oh dear, what went wrong? The only destruction was anhiliation by Joe and Iain, Callum should have won, threw it away at the end, and Birthday Boy Bill got his customary draw.

Iain's game was starting to look a bit dicey, but his opponent blundered in a spectacular way losing his queen and also leaving his rooks forked by a knight!

Although the Cadets are still bottom of the table going into Christmas, the league has concertinaed a bit with this result and all teams in the league have won at least 1 and lost at least 1. The Cadets are primarily a development team for us and are showing their value with 9 different players starting so far this year and all of our 4 debutants already scoring their first competitive points. Iain has made the brightest start of all with 3 wins out of 4 and he heads into Christmas knocking on the door of the Bombers and even the Aces teams.

Never underestimate a Group Captain Tadd team! Well done all, onwards and upwards!

Group Captain Tadd

Date:14/12/2021  Aces edged out in dramatic finish!

Thornaby Aces 2v3 Redcar
Francis Batchelor 0v1 David Baillie
Brian Ellis ½v½ Andrew Smith
Mike Creaney ½v½ Royce Parker
Joe McGinnis 0v1 Brian Myers
Chris Swales 1v0 Default

Despite Redcar's board 5 Jason Gentle being a late scratch due to illness, the Aces were edged out of getting a result in the last few minutes of a dramatic game on board 1.

On board 4, Joe was up against it early on after ending up 2 pawns down after a complicated set of exchanges in the middle game. There were possible chances in the end game, but his experienced opponent made the advantage count and finished the game off. Brian finished soon afterwards agreeing a draw against the tricky Andrew Smith.

With the match score level, both Francis and Mike's games went into the last few minutes. Mike was a pawn up, but his doubled pawns meant it didn't look like a decisive advantage. At the end, the end game looked to be going away from him and he seemed to be in trouble with a rook against a rook and a pawn, but he played the endgame skillfully under time pressure and the 2 players agreed a draw when both were left with just seconds on the clock.

That left Francis who looked ahead in his match against David Baillie with 2 pawns dangerously advanced, but with only 1 piece off the board each and less than 10 minutes on the clock each, the position was complicated. With Francis pushing for victory, David found a mate in 3 combination and Redcar took the match victory.

The Aces are 5th in the table going into Christmas, but this game shows we can compete with most of the other teams in the league with our strongest team out.

Date:03/12/2021  Big Guns off to good start

2 of the big 3 favourites for the club championship got their campaigns off to good starts earlier this week with quick wins. Brian beat Geoff and Mike beat Joseph after a blunder from Joseph left him a queen down. Full results are here.

Results
Brian Ellis 1v0 Geoff Howsden
Mike Creaney 1v0 Joseph Machin

Date:03/12/2021  Club Championship Update

The club championship started this week with 2 newcomers to the club getting their campaigns off to good starts against more experienced opponents.

On Tuesday, Callum defeated Nick. Callum played very well indeed and although Nick did get 2 pawns ahead in the opening, his King's side was very under-developed. Then a nasty looking Knight fork on Bishop and Queen coupled with a possible mating threat left Nick forced to surrender a Rook. It was slowly downhill for Nick after this. Well done to Callum in his first ever graded game! He is now tuned up to real life match action - ready to be unleashed in the Cadets League!

On Wednesday, fellow newcomer Iain joined Callum at the top of the standings by defeating Geoff. Iain has played a couple of games for the Cadets already this year, but it was a good sign of his progress to win against a Thornaby stalwart who has already played for all 3 of our teams this year! With Callum, Iain and Joseph in the draw as well, the club championship is going to be an interesting competition this year with several very attacking and dangerous looking wild cards for anyone who wants to win it to overcome!


Results
Nick Tadd 0v1 Callum Abbott
Geoff Howsden 0v1 Iain Mellis

Date:02/12/2021  Aces high against the Buffs!

The Buffs A 1v4 Thornaby A
John Garnett 0v1 Chris Ross
Andrew Killick 0v1 Francis Batchelor
Nick Webb 1v0 Brian Ellis
Default 0v1 Mike Creaney
Default 0v1 Geoff Howsden

With the aces at almost full strength for the first time this season, we were confident going into this match. After the poor weather left our opponents 2 players short (even though it was a home game), victory was already close before the actual games even started!

Due to illness, Geoff stepped in as a last minute replacement for Joe and in his own words "didn't put a foot wrong!" Mike got his first full point of the season in the same way!

In the middle of the actual games, Chris was a pawn up, Francis 2 pawns up and Brian's game in the balance. Chris and Francis converted their advantages into wins, but Brian's up and down game unfortunately ended in defeat.

Nevertheless it was a good 4-1 victory for the Aces which takes us off the foot of the table.

Date:30/11/2021  Bombers crash in top of the table clash!

Thornaby B 1½v2½ Middlesbrough Knights
Mike Creaney 0v1 Nikhil Bhandari
Joe McGinnis 0v1 Alfie McMonagle
Chris Swales ½v½ Ray Pallister
Geoff Howsden 1v0 Chris Rumsey

A close match saw the Bombers narrowly lose to the table topping Middlesbrough Knights. It was a close game with Geoff finishing first and seeing off newcomer Chris Rumsey after a couple of blunders from his opponent. Chris held the experienced Ray Pallister to a draw after a poor start in the opening. Mike succumbed to a very fierce Kingside attack on the black side of the French Rubenstein. That left Joe to battle out against the up and coming youngster Alfie McMonagle. Unfortunately Joe missed a pawn move which left a piece pinned and also put him right on the back foot. It was downhill fast from there.

Defeat to the tabletoppers is no disgrace though and our 4th 2½-1½ match in a row shows that we're going to be very much competitive in this league.

Date:17/11/2021  Bombers soaring high!

Billingham A v Thornaby B 1½-2½
Brian Whitaker ½v½ Mike Creaney
Paul Weightman 0v1 Joe McGinnis
David Frank 0v1 Chris Swales
Darren Donnison 1v0 Nick Tadd

Another welcome win for the bombers with Chris first and then Joe sealing the victory! Mike finished first. Despite outgrading his opponent (Brian Whitaker) for the first time this season, a first full point proved elusive. Mike was white and played the Colle-Zukertort and looked to have a strong opening with a nice attacking position. However he couldn't make the promising looking sacrifices work and Brian held firm. Mike had to retreat into a blocked position with opposite coloured Bishops and little option but to accept the draw offer.

Nick was next to finish and was a tad unluck after putting up a good fight on board 4. He was only a pawn down towards the end, but unfortunately it was enough and his opponent queened the pawn and mated Nick on the 61st move.

Chris really won the game between move 15 and 18 with his opponent (Dave Frank) over-commiting to an attack and ending up 2 pawns down and them missing a tactic which lost a bishop as well. A couple of moves later, Chris gave up 1 of his pawns to force a queen exchange and get his extra bishop onto a very strong square. It should have been plain sailing from there, but Dave showed his quality from this point onwards and fought well before the advantage inevitably paid off and Chris started hoovering up pawns. Dave eventually resigned when a pawn was about to queen.

Joe's game had two key moments. He thought he had blown it about move 10, when he missed a knight fork, but instead found a checking combination which won the knight for pawns. Joe eventually ended 2 pawns up before Paul played a bishop sacrifice for 2 pawns which left Joe a whole piece up. The 2nd key moment was when Paul left his queen in front of the king allowing Joe to exchange off queens and it was relatively smooth from there. Joe's bishop didn't get off the back row until move 32, but it proved crucial in the end game!

So two successful bombing raids in enemy territory and a close home defeat leaves us 2nd in the table and makes for a respectable start to the season. Well played everybody!

Date:16/11/2021  Rapid play victory for Brian Ellis!

Brian was the champion of today's rapid play tournament. To try to make for competitive games, the tournament was drawn as Group A for over 1350 grades and Group B for ungraded and under 1350 with the winner of Group B choosing colour in the final. This seemed to work quite well and as you would expect in quick games, there were lots of blunders, surprising sacrifices and sudden reversals in many of the games!

The format certainly suited Joseph who sometimes doesn't use much more than 15 minutes in his long games! It was still a creditable performance to come out of Group B with 3 wins out of 3 though. What turned out to be the decisive game was against Callum in the 2nd round of matches. Callum looked to be on top, but Joseph found a checkmate with the queen moving all the way from the corner of the a8-h1 diagonal to mate Callum.

Group A surprisingly produced 8 wins in a row for white. Going into the last round of matches there was a possibility of all 5 players finishing on 2 wins (which would have been a bit of a headache to determine who progressed!) However black finally won a couple of games with Francis beating Chris and Brian beating Mike. This left both Brian and Francis on 3 wins. A blitz play off was used to decide who progressed. Francis looked to have found a good knight fork on Brian's 2 rooks, but a check from one of the rooks left Francis in a pretty hopeless looking position and with a minute less on his clock he resigned.

Joseph battled valiantly in the final, but Brian proved too strong and finished a rook and a piece up. Well done to Brian!

RAPID PLAY TOURNAMENT 16/11/2021
(15 minutes per player for all moves)

GROUPS

GROUP A

Francis 1V0 Mike
Joe 1V0 Brian
Mike 1V0 Joe
Brian 1V0 Chris
Francis 1V0 Joe
Chris 1V0 Mike
Brian 1V0 Francis
Joe 1V0 Chris
Chris 0V1 Francis
Mike 0V1 Brian

NAME W D L Pts
Brian Ellis* 3 0 1 3
Francis Batchelor 3 0 1 3
Joe McGinnis 2 0 2 2
Chris Swales 1 0 3 1
Mike Creaney 1 0 3 1

(*Brian beat Francis in a blitz play off)

GROUP B

Andy 0V1 Callum
Joseph 1V0 Janos
Callum 0V1 Joseph
Janos 1V0 Andy
Andy 0V1 Joseph
Callum 1V0 Janos

NAME W D L Pts
Joseph Machin 3 0 0 3
Callum Abbott 2 0 1 2
Janos Mehes 1 0 2 1
Andy Austen 0 0 3 0

FINAL

Joseph Machin 0V1 Brian Ellis

Date:08/11/2021  Aces avoid whitewash!

Darlington A v Thornaby A 4½-½
S,Dauber 2073 v Brian Ellis 1810 ½-½
K.Wilson 1863 v Mike Creaney 1713 1-0
R,Harris 1795 v Bill March 1578 1-0
J,Sams 1743 v Joe McGinnis 1563 1-0
D,Leigh 1720 v Chris Swales 1548 1-0

Another match against tough opposition outgraded again with the inevitable outcome although they were made to work for it, another good draw on top board for Brian to prevent the whitewash.

Joe lost to a very nice attacking combination which he completely missed. From analysis afterwards he was actually up 1.4 at the time, though material was equal. He had played the opening and early middle game better than his opponent.

Chris missed a pretty much winning move in his game which their board 4 spotted when we looked through it afterwards. It was very complicated though. Chris had a decent position from the opening, but was outmanouevered from then on really.

Mike was black against the London system, after going the exchange down at move 16 he was expecting to be ground down and Kevin obliged at move 47.

Bill went wrong at a very early stage after getting completely outplayed and could have comfortably resigned at move 16. However he plodded on and his opponent missed a couple of forced mates! Although Bill was well behind on the clock his opponents frustration at not landing the killer blow spilled over into taking an age on his moves and suddently they were into a Q and pawns ending with Bill a couple of pawns down, but his opponent only had 2 minutes to his 13. It wasn't to be though and Bill got mated with his opponent down to about 20 seconds on his clock. A great fight from Bill to make a game of it after a poor start.

It was left to Brian to rescue something from the match and he managed to get a draw against the highly rated Steve Dauber.

Date:08/11/2021  Janos prevents cadets whitewash!

With three of our top guns getting shot down over Darlington, and another on reconnaissance somewhere over the Atlantic, and then whilst just arriving in Hartlepool with Co Pilot Mehes and Navigator Austen, I receive a phone call at 6:40pm that Pilot Officer Mellis would not be taking off, we didn't seem to have much of a chance of getting any result ! With earlier notice I could have had a replacement for our 4th aircraft as young Cadet Machin was prepared to play ! Needless to say this made our mission almost impossible against a strong Hartlepool squadron.

Graham Matthews 1563 1-0 Nick Tadd 1180
Dave Lowcock 1443 1-0 Andy Austen 1060
Dave Finer 813 0-1 Jonas Mehes U/G
Daniel Mudd U/G 1-0 Default

Very well done to Janos who completely obliterated his opponent for his first victory for the team and saved us from a whitewash

I tried to open with the London system and for a while it worked well, and by move 17 we both had two minor pieces before it suddenly began to go horribly wrong. Graham played brilliantly from then on and by move 23 it was all over. Nothing I could do could stem the tide. Going back over the game with Graham afterwards, with a simple pawn move, it could have helped me to stay in the game a lot longer, but I doubt it would have altered the result !

Next to go down was Andy who seemed to slowly disintegrate into defeat but then with a beer we both watched with amazement Janos obliterate poor Dave Finer with a load of unnecessary, and very puzzling, sacrifices before Dave's resignation !

So that was it. With Board 4 in operation, I firmly believe we could have got a draw out of this match.

Group Captain Tadd

Date:04/11/2021  Cup disappointment for Thornaby!

Both knockout competitions ended in disappointment for Thornaby this week, but we put up a decent fight in both of them.

In the cup, the aces were outgraded as usual, but the team put up a good fight with Mike Creaney being the exception. He was first to finish around 9pm after being outplayed on the Black side of the English eventually succumbing to a Kingside attack which as they say ran on oiled wheels.

Bill March got his draw against the very experienced Brian Myers. Brian Eliis had an excellent win against a strong opponent and Francis held their top board to a draw. Joe McGinnis only needed a draw in the last game as Thornaby would have gone through on the 3 black pieces tie breaker, but alas it wasn't to be with the experienced Jason Gentle coming out on top.

The grade boundaries for the plate competition did not suit us very well this year and with players missing, a weakened team always looked likely to be up against it, playing the defending champions. After flying through a horrible wet night to Great Ayton, visibility very poor, the bombers were shot down 4½ - half. It was closer than the scoreline suggested with all of our players having their moments, but one by one the wings were shot off and only Chris Swales returned unscathed to base.

Nick Tadd was the first to go down on board 3 against Andrew French. He opened well with white and had Andrew well boxed in until inadvertently leaving a Knight en prise. Nick castled Queen side and built strength on his King side. Andrew then swicthed pieces over to attack the Queen side. To get out of a tricky position Nick gave up his Queen for a Rook and a Bishop. It still left the King vulnerable to a Knight and Queen attack, and things were looking decidedly dodgy when Andrew inexplicably blundered away his Queen! With two Rooks and a Knight against Rook, Bishop and Knight Nick could have gone on to win, but carelessly got one of his Rooks pinned behind the King. Eventually a pawn couldn't be stopped from getting to the end - game over!

Andy Austen went down next against Peter Archer. Andy appeared to have a bit of an initiative at one point, but then it all went wrong. Janos Mehes was two pieces up at one stage against Kevin Wilson but then made mistakes which cost him the game. Chris Swales had a real battle on Board 2 against Kegan Harrison and was possibly shading it, but with the match already lost took a draw when offered. Partly because he was starting to get short on time and partly to avoid a whitewash! Joe McGinnis on Board 1 had an almighty battle with Mike Pointon, level at the end with 2 minor pieces and 5 pawns each. It looked like a nailed on draw, but a couple of small tactical errors in the end game cost Joe.

Great night's chess and everybody in our team played exceptionally well against very strong opposition. So close and yet so far!



Results
Great Ayton 4½ - ½ Thornaby Bombers
Mike Pointon 1 - 0 Joe McGinnis
Kegan Harrison ½ - ½ Chris Swales
Andrew French 1 - 0 Nick Tadd
Peter Archer 1 - 0 Andy Austen
Kevin Wilson 1 - 0 Janos Mehes

Redcar 3 - 2 Thornaby Aces
Baillie, David ½ - ½ Batchelor, Francis
Smith, Andrew 0 - 1 Ellis, Brian
Parker, Royce 1 - 0 Creaney, Michael J
Myers, Brian ½ - ½ March, Bill
Gentle, Jason 1 - 0 McGinnis, Joe

Date:26/10/2021  Bombers go down in last minute scramble!

Thornaby Bombers went down fighting after a last minute scramble on board 2. 11th hour replacement from the Cadets, Joseph Machin was first to finish. He got a draw on Board 4. He was a pawn up but the endgame was drawn. This was an excellent result for Joseph in his first game at this level and shows that he is quickly developing into a good player for us.

Mike Creaney was next to finish on top board. He played a closed Catalan game. Both players probed for a positional edge, but a draw always looked likely and was soon agreed.

On board 3, Joe McGinnis was about ready to resign on move 24, but found the only move to keep him alive. His opponent still had the edge, but wasn't able to make it count. An attempted bishop sacrifice nearly broke the deadlock, but Joe declined after seeing he could grab a couple of pawns and get to his opponent's passed pawn before he could get the bishop out of its way. That left the game as 2 pawns and a bishop against Joe's 1 pawn and bishop, but the pawn on a5 held up the 2 on a4 and b3, so it was a dead draw with light squared bishops.

And so to Bill March on board 2 whose result would be decisive either way. Bill produced a spectacular queen sacrifice to give him mating chances and a won position regardless, as his opponent had to return the queen in order to survive. The only problem was that Bill had 30 seconds left on the clock to his opponent's 15 minutes. Bill offered a draw, which was declined, and he lost on time. A good effort all round considering the grading imbalance and so close to victory.

Result
Thornaby Bombers 1.5v2.5 Hartlepool A
Mike Creaney 0.5v0.5 Bill Wilson
Bill March 0v1 Peter Harker
Joe McGinnis 0.5v0.5 Graham Matthews
Joseph Machin 0.5v0.5 David Smith

Date:19/10/2021  Promising start for Machin!

Both the Aces and the Cadets were in action on a busy night of chess at the Don Bar. League favourites the Middlesbrough Rooks proved too strong for the Aces running out comfortable 5-0 winners. The Cadets game was closer, but they ultimately lost by the narrowest possible margin.

In the Aces match all of the games went on a long time as the Aces put up stubborn resistance on every board. Mike Creaney felt he was positionally outplayed straight from the opening in the French exchange variation. Bill March was disappointed he let half a point slip away. He held an advantage in the opening, but in an up and down game he eventually lost after blundered pawns proved costly in the end game. Ultimately the Rooks were just too strong and they completed a 5-0 victory.

On a brighter note, the Cadets all played very well against much more expereinced opponents to produce a decent result. Our young upcoming star Joseph Machin played on Board 4 in his very first match for the Club and got a very creditable draw. Geoff Howsden beat the evergreen Bernie Callaghan on Board 1 after 2 knight forks left Bernie in a hopeless position. Even though Janos Mehes played very well in his first game for us well into the middle game, a few errors crept in and it went downhill after that. Iain Mellis fought valiantly to the very end against Gary Leighton to try to rescue something for us, but a Rook and a few pawns more against a Bishop and pawns, unfortunately was too much to hold position before inevitable defeat.

Results
Thornaby Aces 0v5 Middlesbrough Rooks
Francis Batchelor 0v1 N.Tavalouris
Brian Ellis 0v1 P.Gregory
Mike Creaney 0v1 S.Cole
Bill March 0v1 G.Magazzu
Joe McGinnis 0v1 P.Ridsdale


Thornaby Cadets 1.5v2.5 Billingham C
Geoff Howsden 1v0 B.Callaghan
Janos Mehes 0v1 M.Curry
Iain Mellis 0v1 G.Leighton
Joseph Machin 0.5v0.5 K.Henderson

Date:13/10/2021  Bombers away!

Thornaby Bombers are away and running after they got their season off to a good start with a 2.5-1.5 win over Darlington B. Despite being outgraded on every board, we didn't lose any boards and Chris Swales put in a match winning performance on board 4.

Bill March was first to finish after agreeing a quick draw. Mike Creaney followed about half an hour later with a second draw.

Chris and Joe McGinnis went on quite a lot longer. Chris was well behind in his match at one stage after he underestimated the strength of his opponent's (Carl Stephens) king side attack. The position was complicated though and there were always chances and after Carl over-committed to his attack, Chris managed to get ahead on material with the threat of bank rank mate causing Carl problems. Towards the end, Chris declined the offer of a draw and went on to win a few moves later after Carl resigned with the position at mate in 3.

Joe was last to finish and had the better of things for most of his game, but let it slip a bit towards the end. He declined a draw at move 18, but with the position starting to look more even again he agreed a draw soon after seeing that Chris had won. The draw confirmed the overall match victory for the Bombers!

Result:
Darlington B 1.5v2.5 Thornaby Bombers
1. J Sams 0.5v0.5 Mike Creaney
2. G Hewitt 0.5v0.5 Bill March
3. A Kalyviotis 0.5v0.5 Joe McGinnis
4. C Stephens 0v1 Chris Swales

Date:06/10/2021  Mellis off the mark!

Thornaby Cadets suffered a a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Billingham Synthonia B on our first game of the season, but hearty congratulations to Iain Mellis on achieving his first competitive win. It was our only win on the night, where he beat Richard Dodds on Board 4. Indeed he was the first to finish 1-0 to us!

It went downhill after that. Nick Tadd was next to go against a bright newcomer to Billingham, Luke Londonbrough. He went for a very early kill, messed up, and then found himself on the back foot, desperately defending and having to sacrifice pieces to survive. Tortuous battle, lasted 57 moves before the coup de gras. 1-1

Next to go down was Geoff Howsden to another bright young newcomer to Billingham, Michael Bell. Knight and Bishop against just a Bishop, even with pawns advantage, doesn't usually end well, and this was no exception. Fought valiantly to the end but we became 2-1 down.

Battle on top board lasted all night between Joe McGinnis and Darren Donnison. Very tight, closed game with Darren having the edge for most of it. Towards the end Joe rallied, and at one stage looked like he may have won. But time was against him by now so he offered a draw, but Darren declined and went on to win, with Joe under severe time pressure, errors crept in.

Nevertheless, a good night's chess, especially for Billingham ! Onwards and upwards - good effort team.

Date:20/09/2021  CCA League Structure

The Cleveland League structure for this coming season will be:
-A Division, 7 teams, with one team having a bye each round. Each team will have 5 boards.
-B Division, 6 teams. Each team will play each other 3 times. Each team will have 4 boards.
-C Division, 7 teams, with one team having a bye each round. Each team will have 4 boards.
Thornaby will have a team in each division. The league is scheduled to start Week Beginning Monday 4th October 2021. Full Fixtures are here.

Date:07/09/2021  Club AGM

Today was the club AGM. The big decision we made was to run 3 teams in the Cleveland league again this season after dropping down to 2 for the 2019/20 season.

Date:01/06/2021  New address

Thornaby Chess Club has a new venue:
Thornaby Chess Club
The Don War Memorial Museum
Veterans Hub and Bar
Cranworth Street
Thornaby
TS17 7DR