News

Date:20/12/2022  Sam the man at Xmas Rapidplay!

A great attendance of 22 in the Xmas Rapidplay. It was great to see so many new players and junior players enter the event! We had several children from the library trying out the club for the first time with George actually winning his group and making the Quarter finals. With quite a few of the likely favourites ill, it looked like it might be quite an open competition, but in the end the 3 highest rated players did all make the semi finals. 2 of them Sam and Sagar contested the final and a blunder from Sagar gave Sam a rook advantage and an easy win from there. This format tends to suit our younger player and as well as Sagar, the junior players performed very well in general with 5 of them making the quarter finals! In only his 2nd visit to the club, Wes made the semi finals and 2 children still in primary school (Tristan and George) made the quarter finals! Well done to Sam though, these events are always difficult to win!

In the semi finals, Sagar finally ended Wes' great run. In the other semi final, Sam played an aggressive line against Chris' Sicilian and opened up the king. From here he ended up forcing off queen for rook and Chris resigned.

The Quarter finals went to form with Sagar, Sam and Wes all progressing. Chris had a tough game against Charlie. He initially thought it was over when he got a knight for a pawn, but it ended up costing 2 pawns and the initiative and Charlie looked to be on top at one point.

In the last 16, Bhima blundered a rook against Tristan. Harris made the Quarter finals again after a win over Malcolm. Ollie managed to get a draw by repetition against Chris after Chris blundered a knight, but Chris won the reverse colour blitz decider. The first time we've ever needed to use this tie-break in one of these events.

In the group stages, the group of death was probably group B. Bill seems to specialise in getting into the most difficult groups in these events and he and Nick could not get passed our young stars Sagar and Harris! In group A, Sam won comfortably, but Tristan caused a surprise beating Janos and Joseph to take the 2nd spot. Group C was an all junior one and as expected finished the fastest! Wes and Ollie were the 2 qualifiers from this group. Group D looked like it would be a competitive one. It was good to see James M back, but it was Charlie and Bhima who qualified from the group. Group E was the closest one. After 2 rounds all 4 players were on 1 win! 7 year old Paulina had managed to pick up a win on her first visit to the club, but it was George and Malcolm who won in the last round to progress. Group F was a 2 player group with 1 qualifier and Chris beat new member Bobby in quite a tough game.


RESULTS
Final
Sagar 0-1 Sam

SF
Sagar 1-0 Wes
Sam 1-0 Chris

QF
Sagar 1-0 Tristan
Wes 1-0 George
Sam 1-0 Harris
Charlie 0-1 Chris

L16
Tristan 1-0 Bhima
Harris 1-0 Malcolm
Chris 1-0 Ollie (in a blitz decider after a draw)

GROUPS

GROUP A
Sam
Tristan
Janos
Joseph

GROUP B
Sagar
Harris
Bill
Nick

GROUP C
Wes
Ollie
Finn
Ava

GROUP D
Charlie
Bhima
James M
Andy

GROUP E
George
Malcolm
Paulina
Laura

GROUP F
Chris
Bobby

Date:15/12/2022  Ollie is surprise of first round!

In the first round of club championship matches, most went to the higher rated players. The one exception was Ollie who pulled off a very surprising victory over Geoff! Elsewhere performance of the round went to Charlie who had Francis in trouble at one point. Francis found a way back and won in the end though.

The tournament definitely hots up in the 2nd round with some of the title favourites paired against each other now. My tie of the round is Brad Vs Mike!:


First Round Results
Francis Batchelor 1-0 Charlie Johnston
Nick Tadd P-P Brian Ellis
Mike Creaney 1-0 Pete Townson
David Pizzi 0-1 Joe McGinnis
Iain Mellis P-P Harris Wilson
Andy Austen 0-1 Sam Greig
James Urwin 1-0 Bhima Patil
Finn Whitfield 0-1 Brad Werritt
Sagar Patil 1-0 Laura Holdforth
Ollie Walton 1-0 Geoff Howsden
Joseph Machin 1-0 Tristan Green

Second Round Draw
Sam Greig V Francis Batchelor
Brian Ellis V James Urwin
Brad Werrit V Mike Creaney
Joe McGinnis V Sagar Patil
Joseph Machin V Iain Mellis
Laura Holdforth V Ollie Walton
Geoff Howsden V Bhima Patil
Charlie Johnston V David Pizzi
Harris Wilson V Nick Tadd
Tristan Green V Andy Austen
Pete Townson V Finn Whitfield

Full information is here

Date:14/12/2022  Thornaby out on away goals rule!

Billingham Synthonia 2½-2½ Thornaby Bombers
Brian Whitaker 0-1 Chris Swales
Dave Frank 1-0 Bill March
Paul Frank ½-½ Sam Greig
Paul Weightman 1-0 James Urwin
Phil Whittingham 0-1 Sagar Patil
(Billingham win on three blacks rule)

The Bombers exited the Plate competition on the 3 blacks rule (if it's a draw the team that had the black pieces 3 times goes through). Acting captain Chris won the toss and chose the 3 white option thinking these particular match ups would suit our team that way round.

Things started well with Chris and Sagar both winning within the first hour. In Sagar's game the queens were off and level on material, but Sagar looked on top in terms of space and activity. The queen side was clear of pawns with both Sagar's rooks on dangerous files and his 2 bishops were on good adjoining diagonals pointing at a8 and b8. He found a slightly complex way to win a piece involving the 2 strong bishops and rooks which would also have forced Phil back even more. Phil just resigned at this point giving Sagar another experienced scalp.

Chris was fairly even with former Thornaby stalwart Brian Whitaker for most of the game before a blunder from Brian allowed a bishop skewer on queen and rook on move 16. Brian couldn't even get the bishop and so resigned immediately.

At 9pm things were looking good with Thornaby 2-0 up and looking at least even on the other 3 boards. Then James pushed the wrong pawn in his endgame and cost himself a possible win.

Sam missed a rook sacrifice that would have led to a win and after the queens were traded off his attack fizzled out. He had a knight and 3 pawns for a rook and the position looked equal. When his opponent doubled rooks Sam thought it looked loseable and agreed a draw.

That left Bill who was a connected passed pawn up at one stage. He also had a time advantage and could have had a draw, but pushed for a win. Unfortunately Bill overpressed and blundered the exchange and the game was lost soon after.

Chris' verdict: "In hindsight, I think I should have chosen 3 blacks!"

Date:13/12/2022  Tristan sets club record!

Thornaby Challengers 0-5 Darlington
Joseph Machin 0-1 Alex Kalyviotis
Janos Mehes 0-1 Jim Garner
Finn Whitfield 0-1 Carl Stephens
Ollie Walton 0-1 Sam Ball
Tristan Green 0-1 Ilya Bowman

Our young 2nd team in the Jeremy Burnette Plate event suffered a whitewash against a strong Darlington team. It was not totally surprising given the quality of the opposition.

Plenty of positives to take though. We entered a second team as a way of giving people extra games and there were team debuts for both Tristan and Finn. Nobody lost very quickly and it was a good experience for them all!

Tristan was first finished. He got a rook trapped and lost quickly from there. However at just 10 years old, Tristan did set a new club record as our youngest ever player!

Ollie was playing in only his 2nd match for our teams. He managed to get the exchange up and was even 1 move away from getting a checkmate when the game ended with himn in checkmate instead!

At around double the age of the rest of the team put together, Janos was definitely the experienced head on the team. He had a solid even game for a while and then made a mistake which led to a quick loss.

Joseph looked fairly level for most of the game, but ended up a pawn down in the endgame and couldn't hold on.

Finn had a good even game against Carl for a while and then blundered a piece. He played on, but the end game was essentially lost once he was a piece down.

It was a good try and good experience. Our B teams would have had a tough match against this Darlington team as well.

Date:08/12/2022  Youth matches experience!

The Buffs 2-2 Thornaby Juniors
Derek Simpson 0-1 Sagar Patil
Geoff Garnett 0-1 Joseph Machin
Stephen Ollis 1-0 Harris Wilson
Alan Stockley 1-0 Ollie Walton

Our first ever full junior team match saw a classic youth versus experience encounter! Derek, Geoff and Alan from our opponents all have at least 40 years league experience which isn't far off the combined age of our entire team! So it was a fabulous 2-2 result for our youngsters!

Ollie was making his debut for the club and gave a good account of himself, but eventually came up short. Harris was doing OK, but blundered a rook and it was game over from there.

In a repeat of last weeks league match, Sagar got his revenge over Derek Simpson. That left our young star Joseph who put in a captain's performance in his first game as captain with an excellent win over Geoff Garnett.

At the halfway point in the Team Swiss event, our junior team are actually ahead of our 2 senior teams in the competition. Once again the juniors are showing the way to our older players!

Well done to all 4 for representing the club so well! Especially Sagar and Joseph for beating 2 of the Buffs stalwarts!

Date:07/12/2022  First Durham League Win!

Durham University C 1½-2½ Thornaby
Aaron Gifford 0-1 Mike Creaney
Samuel Bradford ½-½ Joe McGinnis
Hashim Hussain 0-1 James Urwin
Felix Watts 1-0 Default

A bad start to this match when Sam got stranded by train problems and we didn't have time to get a replacement. Fortuntely the rest of the team were on form and we came through to win the match 2.5-1.5 for out first win in this league.

James carried on his good form this season with another win. Mike had a tough game for a while, but in the end proved too strong for his opponent. Joe was winning, but blundered into a bad looking position. His superior end game play allowed him to hold on for a draw though and that took us over the line for the match victory!

Going into Christmas we have 5 points from 5 games in the Durham league with 1 win, 3 draws and 1 loss. It is proving to be a fun and competitive league for us and we've managed to give a few people debuts as well. James is our leading individual player with 3 points so far.

Date:06/12/2022  Aces in Team Swiss draw!

Thornaby Aces 2-2 Great Ayton Camembert
Francis Batchelor Def Richard Hall
Brian Ellis 0-1 Steve Booth
Mike Creaney 1-0 Jim Rogers
Joe McGinnis 0-1 Stephen Gatenby

The latest installment of Thornaby Vs Great Ayton in the Team Swiss was a better result for us than previous contests this season finishing in a 2-2 draw.

Richard Hall was a no-show in the end so Francis won by default on board 1. In a repeat of last seasons league "Game of the season", Brian probably should have got a draw but an inaccuracy proved costly and he lost. Joe was looking good, but a key mistake turned the game around.

That left Mike, whose game was a slow maneuvering one for 17 moves and looking like a deadlock. Then Jim pushed his g-pawn and Mike was able to take over the initiative and produce a nice finish! Final score 2-2.

Date:01/12/2022  Joe prevents Bombers whitewash!

The Buffs 3.5-0.5 Thornaby Bombers
Matthew Jackman 1-0 Chris Swales
John Garnett 1-0 Mike Creaney
Nick Webb 0.5-0.5 Joe McGinnis
Derek Simpson 1-0 Sagar Patil

The Buffs did win their last 2 games 4-0, so we can probably call this a good result! They were given the option at the start of the season of which division to go in as they were last in the A division, but this was partly because of pulling out due to covid concerns. They certainly look like the B division champions elect on the evidence of this match.

Sagar was first finished. He went a pawn down, but there looked to be plenty of play. Sagar ended up being forced to give up his queen for a rook and it was downhill from there.

Mike's game was even on material for a long time, but John looked to have 2 good connected pawns in the middle. Soon one of these pawns had advanced to the 7th rank with rook and queen covering the 8th rank and Mike resigned!

Chris was playing the 2000+ rated Matthew Jackman. He was pleased how he played and his opponent said it was hard all the way through. Probably just being nice, but Chris said it was still good to hear! It was a case of gettingh slowly strangled by a better player rather than a big blunder that lost Chris the game.

Both players were getting short in Joe's game. It was level on material most of the way through. Joe offered a draw a bit before the end which was rejected, but when Nick got down to less than 5 minutes he was the one who offered a draw which Joe accepted. A good result for Joe then which stopped the whitewash.

Date:29/11/2022  Geoff victory for team draw!

Thornaby B52s 2-2 Middlesbrough Knights
Bill March 0-1 Nikhil Bhandari
Iain Mellis 0-1 Sahil Farooq
James Urwin 1-0 Ged Murphy
Geoff Howsden 1-0 Aiden Darlow

James was first finished and it was a pretty short finishing in 17 moves. He played the French defence and after pushing the pawn to e5 gradually put pressure on. Then a mistake from his opponent allowed a discovered attack on the queen and forced an immediate resignation.

Bill finished next losing out to CCA Treasurer Nikhil Bhandari.

Geoff had an up and down game, but came out on top against Aiden Darlow. Geoff said it was not the best game he'd played, but he was glad he'd won.

Iain was last to finish, but he was a couple of pawns down in an end game and couldn't find a way to stop the extra pawns pushing forward.

Still a good 2-2 result for the B52s puts them back ahead of the Bombers. Our 2 B division teams play each other in the new year!

Date:24/11/2022  Thornaby survive University challenge!

Thornaby 2-2 Durham University B
Joe McGinnis 0-1 Theo Jenkins
Sam Greig 1-0 Jasmine Burgess
James Urwin 0-1 Alex Potter
Sagar Patil 1-0 Felix Watts

In our latest game in the Durham league we played host to Durham University B team! They are a strong team and it was a tough match. 2 of our rising stars won their games to force an overall draw for us.

The first game to finish was Sagar who continues his good start to the season with a win! His opponent was surprised to lose to someone so young, but we reassured him that Sagar is good!

Next to finish was James. He played the French defense again. His opponent played a unique variation and the game did not open up for James in the way he likes in the French. James had made a couple of poor positional moves and was a passed pawn down when he blundered a rook and resigned.

Joe was next to finish and unfortunately he fell to top board of Durham University. His opponent said it was a tough game and a pawn push is what undid it for Joe as he had an exposed king. Joe felt he had the initiative for a while, but his opponent was too strong and when Joe was forced to give up a rook for a bishop to prevent checkmate it was all over.

Sam finished last with a really tough game. He went two pawns down but managed to get a queen. His opponent was very low on her clock, with a matter of minutes, whilst Sam was up by five. A few forceful moves later Sam was a rook as well and his opponent resigned. A good win for Sam against a player rated over 1750!

So another draw in the Durham league and an enjoyable night. Acting captain James said our opponents were "great company and I look forward to playing them again!"

Date:23/11/2022  Challengers cruise to victory!

Billingham Synthonia C 0-4 Thornaby Challengers
Graham Edwards 0-1 Sam Greig
Matthew Mawson 0-1 Brad Werritt
Sean Cook 0-1 James Urwin
Graham Bartram 0-1 Geoff Howsden

Tonight I stepped in as acting captain for Nick Tadd, who was unavailable. I am pleased to say that Thornaby Challengers had a crushing victory over Billingham C, winning 4-0.

Unusually, we outgraded our opponents. With bottom board, Geoff Howsden, outgrading Billingham's top board, Graham Edwards. Although Billingham did have Matthew Mawson who is provisionally rated 1400.

The first game to finish was between Sam and Graham Edwards. The game only lasted 18 moves. Sam created a trap for Graham in the opening but he did not fall for this, but later fell for a trap that would cost Graham his queen. With this becoming apparent, Graham resigned the game.

Next was Geoff Howsden, who earned a gradual victory over Graham Bartram. Geoff went up a pawn and kept it that way for most of the game. Soon he was gaining in material and the advantage was becoming too much. I believe Graham resigned but it may have been a checkmate. Geoff's summary "Nice lads on that team friendly and game played in correct spirit. Good solid win for me, he did push with queen and horsey thing but I waited till it ran aground and brought my other pieces into the game".

My game finished next and I played against the lovely Sean Cook who has become a good friend of mine and other Thornaby chess players. I played the English opening and got a steady game, going a pawn up early on. An exchange of knights allowed me to execute a pawn fork that allowed me to go up a piece. I was able to wiggle my queen into Sean's back rank and perform a series of checks to eventually get checkmate.

Finally, we have Brad's game against the unknown entity of Matthew Mawson. The game was utterly chaotic to say the least. Threats were spread out across the board from both players and Brad even gave up his queen to get some positional advantage and force his opponents king out in the open. Overall, Brad seemingly was losing this game, but constant harrassment and bombardment with his pieces pressured his opponent into checkmate, securing the fourth and final victory!

All good results for us tonight, V for victory!

James

Date:22/11/2022  First team points for Rosie and David!

Thornaby Cadets 1-3 Hartlepool B
Joseph Machin 0-1 Kevin Waterman
Rosie Irwin 0.5-0.5 Graham Matthews
Harris Wilson 0-1 Dave Lowcock
David Pizzi 0.5-0.5 Graham Marshall

Hartlepool had a good team out and given their board 4 was rated higher than our board 1, a whitewash was potentially on! So it was very well done to Rosie and David who both scored their first ever points for our club! Very creditable performances against the 2 Graham's rated 1576 and 1434 and respectively.

Joseph and Harris both played good games as well. None of the Hartlepool players had an easy game by any means. It was a while bfore there was a decisive advantage in either Harris or Joseph's games.

It was a very good Thornaby debut for Rosie who also became the first woman ever to play in a match for a Thornaby team!

Date:22/11/2022  Darlington defeat for Aces!

Thornaby Aces 1½-3½ Darlington A
Chris Ross 0-1 Steve Dauber
Francis Batchelor 1-0 Jonathan Sams
Brian Ellis ½-½ Richard J Harris
Mike Creaney 0-1 Luke Owen
Chris Swales 0-1 Alex Kalyviotis

A defeat for us tonight against our visitors, the league champions from Darlington.

Mike finished first, and I didn't quite see but it looked like the material was going down slowly and the game was only going one way and they called it rather then await the inevitable.

Chris made a mistake early on and ended up a piece down with his king quite exposed. He played on for a while, but the game was only going one way and he resigned.

Brian managed a draw from a position it looked like he was trying to be a nuisance and hold it with the queens still on the board approaching an endgame, so must have found the right way for that.

For myself I managed to really claim a lot of space and cramp in my opponent, I was up a doubled pawn for most the game but in the end it was the slightly relocation of the pieces to give up the pawn and expose the very weakened dark squares, and everything was going to fall at once for him so resigned rather than see the mess through.

Chris R then went for it to try and get a win for the match draw, from what may have been a drawn position; but an overstretch cost him the game and the match was secured for Darlington.

Francis

Date:22/11/2022  Tristan wins school championship!

Earlier this afternoon Chris organised a chess competition in a local school with help from Joe and Sam. Chris runs an after school chess club there and 24 children aged from 7-11 were excused from lessons for the afternoon to take part in a 5 round Swiss event.

Our very own Tristan's extra club experience showed and he took the title with 5 wins out of 5. Fletcher was in joint 2nd with 4 out of 5 (only losing out to Tristan in the 4th round). A call up for the Cadets is surely just around the corner for Tristan after this win and some eye catching results at the club recently.

Chris said "I really just wanted the children to enjoy the event and what I was most pleased about was that it was played in such a good spirit. I was particularly pleased with the youngest year 3 children in the event. They coped really well with everything, took defeats graciously and won plenty of games between them. One potential star of the future got 4 out of 5 and one of the year 3 girls just missed out on the girls title on count back.".

The event was very well received by the children and the school. Mr Birthwhistle the head teacher said "Absolutely fabulous event. I loved seeing the concentration and enjoyment on the children's faces. Well done for organising Chris and thank you to your friends/team mates for helping out. I really appreciate the time, effort and care you put into this!"

Date:14/11/2022  Sagar scores direct hit for Bombers!

Middlesbrough Knights 1½-2½ Thornaby Bombers
Nikhil Bhandari ½-½ Mike Creaney
Sahil Farooq ½-½ Chris Swales
Ray Pallister ½-½ Joe McGinnis
Ged Murphy 0-1 Sagar Patil

Outgraded on every board this could have been a tough game, but after half an hour or so all 4 games looked favourable for Thornaby players.

Sagar was first to finish. He played a good opening and had a decent position with black early on. Then found an excellent combination which left Ged with too big a material defecit for it to be worth continuing.

The others games went a lot longer. Chris was on top with a pawn up and several of his opponents pieces stuck on the back row after 20 moves, but he couldn't find a killer breakthrough. Things had got a lot more even and his extra pawn was about to drop when he offered a draw which his opponent accepted.

Mike finished next. He also had a pawn advantage, but with a 40 minute time defecit it was hard to make that count and with a perpetual check available anyway, both players agreed a draw.

Joe was also a pawn up in his endgame, but the experienced Ray Pallister was able to block the position so that there was no way forward for either player and a draw was agreed.

So it finished 2.5-1.5. A first win for the Bombers sees them climb 2 places to 6th in the table. We frequently lost games 2.5-1.5 last season and Sagar looks like he could be the missing ingredient to improve on last years fortunes!

Date:14/11/2022  Urwin continues charge!

Hartlepool A 2½-1½ Thornaby B52s
Ray Stonehouse ½-½ Iain Mellis
Bill Wilson 1-0 Geoff Howsden
Peter Harker 0-1 James Urwin
Graham Matthews 1-0 Joseph Machin

With their board 4 higher rated than our board 1 and most of our team 400 points lower than their opponents, this frankly looked like a potential whitewash on paper! So it was fantastic to say the least that James managed to win and Iain manged to draw!

Geoff and Joseph put up brave fights against their more illustrious opponents, but ultimately couldn't get a result.

Iain achieved probably his best ever result with a draw against Ray Stonehouse who is rated over 1900.

Best performance of the night though went to James with a stunning victory over Hartlepool captain Peter Harker. James missed a tactic that left him a pawn down, but had managed to solidify the position pretty well. He then found a brilliant knight move in the end game which would have left Peter a piece down even with perfect play, but a wrong move from Peter would have left James a rook and a piece up if he hadn't immediately resigned!

The B52's are proving their worth giving lots of players B division experience whist staying reasonably competitive in the division. James continues his charge up the ratings with another victory against a higher rated opponent.

Date:09/11/2022  Durham Draw in Durham League!

Durham City 2-2 Thornaby
Fedir Dyshlyuk 1-0 Mike Creaney
Andy Proudfoot 1-0 Chris Swales
Tony Shires 0-1 Sam Greig
Vaughan Davison 0-1 James Urwin

Our first away trip outside of the CCA zone in our new adventure in the Durham league saw us travel to Durham City to take on their C team.

Mike was first finished. He played a young Ukranian boy called Fedir Dyshlyuk on top board whose current provisional rating of 1892 looks like an underestimate if anything! Definitely a name for the future. On the white side of the Nimzo Mike missed a basic tactic and the talented youngster quickly pounced to get a piece up with Mike's king in the open and in all sorts of trouble. Game over!

Sam finished next. In his words, he got a "pleasant position" out of the opening. Some slightly inaccurate moves let his opponent back into the game and then Sam found himself the exchange down. At this point Sam allowed his other rook to be taken to get his opponents king in the open and then he managed to find a checkmate after his opponent took a pawn on h7. Sam's verdict "Not my cleanest game by any means, but one I really enjoyed playing."

Our taxi driver for the night James thought he was a bit lucky to win, but once again found success with the Creaney inspired French defence! The game was even most of the way through, but time pressure played it's part and his opponent moved his king to the middle of the board. A series of checks from James forced the king towards his side of the board and a mate followed involving the pawns as well.

Chris was last to finish and played against the wing gambit. His opponent had some good pressure for a lot of the game. However Chris did emerge with a strong position and a material advantage after a complicated set of exchanges. Then in Chris' words "Not much to say about my game. Having spent most of the last year telling kids not to play too fast (I must have said it about 1000 times and that's not an exaggeration!), I played a move too fast and lost my queen for a bishop! It was a combination of arrogance and tiredness, I thought the game was pretty much over!"

We enjoyed our visit to a new venue to pit out wits against a new opponent for us. Creditable wins against higher graded players for Sam and James underlines their recent progress. Overall a draw was a good result looking at our opponents ratings, but it could have been more if Chris hadn't blundered!

Date:08/11/2022  Aces high after Ross inspired win!

Thornaby Aces 4-1 Middlesbrough Rooks
Chris Ross 1-0 Nic Tavoularis
Francis Batchelor 1-0 Giuseppe Magazzu
Brian Ellis 0-1 Peter Ridsdale
Mike Creaney 1-0 Nikhil Bhandari
Chris Swales 1-0 Sahil Farooq

I'm pleased to report a victory for the Aces tonight against what is often a tough night out against Middlesbrough Rooks.

All the matches went for a long time into the night, but Brian and Chris R finished first not too far apart. I saw Brian trying to hold an even and blocked pawn position but working an exchange down after a sharp Spanish line, so the material advantage must have pushed through.

Chris R went for a pawn grab at one point, and looked too be a good choice as he was operating in a difficult looking but manageable position, but the game might have been a draw without a time-pressured mistake by Cleveland Individual Champion Nic Tavoularis.

For Chris S and Mike, both looked very draw-like the last I saw. Mike had lost his last 2 games with Nikhil, but this time he said he managed to outplay his opponent in the endgame of a slow manoeuvring Exchange Slav. Chris said he was under pressure at one point, but a mistake from his opponent allowed him to win a key central pawn and he ended up getting a further 2 pawns up before finishing with a mate in 2 involving a rook and the queen.

My own game with Giuseppe went down to under 1 minute left on the clock each! A symmetrical English that I thought I had made a non-traditional combo that would result in an interesting game, but as it turned out too much came off the board into what I thought a pretty drawn position, so much so I offered one at two points. We played on through to see how the game would end up, and it was a bit of a wild endgame. Even after getting my Queen there was a big chance of being mated. I think I won it only because I managed to hold onto my time for longer, while he had to make a few rapid moves, I was only in rapid mode for about 4.

Francis

Date:08/11/2022  Ecstatic Joseph gets first win!

Thornaby Cadets 2-2 Billingham C
Sagar Patil 1-0 Graham Edwards
Joseph Machin 1-0 Bernie Callaghan
Charlie Johnston 0-1 Matthew Mawson
Harris Wilson 0-1 Fraser Craig

After a lot of good draws against solid B division type players over the last year, Joseph got his first win for the team in a 2-2 draw for the Cadets against Billingham C. It's a moment that would certainly have come sooner, but some of those draws gave Joseph a decent first rating and he ended up playing on board 1 or 2 for most of last season. Joseph's Mum said he was "ecstatic"! Well done Joseph, we're all proud of you!

Sagar also won defeating his opponent Graham quickly in a very convincing performance. Afterwards Graham said that Sagar was the best young player he'd played against!

The 2 lower boards featured newish players for Billingham C who look likely to go up the ratings. These games proved tougher for our team. Charlie lost quite quickly to Matthew Mawson describing it as his "worst performance so far". Harris was ahead against Fraser, but missed a tactic and the game went the other way.

Well done to all of the team though, a first point in the league!

Date:07/11/2022  Brad wins again!

Darlington C 2½-1½ Thornaby Challengers
Robert Donner 0-1 Brad Werritt
Richard Kuby 1-0 Geoff Howsden
Chris Sinu ½-½ James Urwin
Josh Hall 1-0 Nick Tadd

Brad was the star performer for the Challengers in a 2½-1½ defeat against Darlington C. He managed to beat 1642 rated Robert Donner. Brad was actually losing the game, but managed to cling on long enough to get a win on time.

Geoff faired less well against Richard Kuby and found his opponent too strong in the end.

Darlington were fielding 2 young debutants and one of them (Josh Hall) beat Nick. The other (Chris Sinu) was the recent winner of the Under 13 section of a Darlington junior competition and James had a tough game against him which ended up a draw.

Good result for Brad though. His excellent start to the season gives him a provisional rating that puts him 3rd in our club. An Aces call up may not be far away!

Date:01/11/2022  Mellis off the mark!

Thornaby B52s 1-3 Great Ayton B
Bill March ½-½ Mike Pointon
Iain Mellis ½-½ Ray Honeybourne
Brad Werritt 0-1 Kegan Harrison
David Pizzi 0-1 Andrew French

Tough opposition for our team with their board 4 higher graded than our board 1. So in the end it was good results for Bill and Iain against their more illustrious opponents!

David had a diappointing night with an early blunder leading to a quick defeat. Brad was a pawn up for a long time, but it was given to him by Kegan for a positional edge and this proved decisive in the end with Kegan forcing Brad back and getting the win.

Iain has had some tough games to start the season, so it was good to see him get off the mark with a draw against a good player. Iain felt he had the edge with a passed pawn, but in the end Ray opened up his king and Iain accepted the offer of a draw.

Bill continued his good start to the season with another board 1 draw. This time it was a mirror image of his draw for the A team last week with Bill having the knight against a bishop in the end game. Neither player could gain a decisive advantage and a draw was agreed.

Date:01/11/2022  Swales avoids whitewash!

Thornaby Bombers ½-3½ Hartlepool A
Mike Creaney 0-1 Bernie Price
Chris Swales ½-½ Bill Wilson
Joe McGinnis 0-1 Peter Harker
Sagar Patil 0-1 Kevin Waterman

It's usually tough when a B team plays an A team and there was no exception this time.

Mike had a strange game given the quality of the players involved with 2 piece losing blunders from Mike and 1 from Bernie. Mike's verdict "If I was a football manager I would be sacked in the morning!"

Sagar had a strong position and probably a winning one with a pawn well advanced and Kevin's pieces looking trapped. An inaccuracy from Sagar allowed Kevin back into the game and he ended up with a winning endgame with a pawn majority on one side and an unopposed passed pawn on the opposite side of the board.

Chris had a solid positional draw against Bill. Both players probed for a positional advantage with 10 of the last 14 moves involving knights trying to get onto the right squares to force a mistake, but in the end both players were reluctant to push pawns and settled for a draw.

Joe looked under pressure for most of the game with the usually aggressive Peter Harker going straight for the kill early on. Joe held on well though and after 26 moves computer analysis showed him with a neglibible +0.1 advantage. A weak move at this point proved fatal though and Peter capitalised to get a checkmate a few moves later!

Date:27/10/2022  Defeat in Durham League home debut!

Thornaby 1-3 Darlington B
Mike Creaney 0-1 Robert Donner
James Urwin 1-0 Jim Garner
David Pizzi 0-1 Carl Stephens
James Martin 0-1 Sam Ball

Our first ever home game in the Durham league finished in defeat to the current champions Darlington B.

Let's start with the positive James U. James seemed to me to play very fast, playing his 26th move when Mike was on move 11. His strong pressure included a chess.com "brilliancy" and induced a blunder from his opponent who hung a Rook.... game over!

Mike tried a new opening he had been studying lately the Czech Pirc. Bob was unfamiliar with this and took his time, but Mike eventually ended up in an inferior variation of the French. So inferior in fact that he had to resign on move 17 with material equal but with all his opponents pieces aimed at his king, and an unstoppable winning sacrifice on h6 coming!

James M was making his club debut and put up a decent fight against the up and coming Sam Ball. Results will surely start to come later in the season.

David was last finished and gave a good account against a high rated opponent and even looked ahead at one point. Like James M, a first win is only a matter of time.

So some positives to take away and good experience for David and James M, but we couldn't quite get the team result.

Date:26/10/2022  Sagar off the mark!

Billingham B 2½-1½ Thornaby Cadets
Gary Leighton 0-1 Sagar Patil
Darren Donnison ½-½ Joseph Machin
Stephen Roe 1-0 Charlie Johnston
Liam Laing 1-0 Andy Austen

The Cadets lost 2½-1½, but it was a good team performance from all 4 for most of their games and promisingly the 1½ came from our 2 under 18's.

Andy was first finished. His game looked level most of the way through and if anything he probably had an edge, but then he blundered a rook and that was fatal.

Joseph had a good result against Darren Donnison. He went a pawn down at one point and Darren had 3 pieces bearing down on g7 with Joseph's king on g8. It looked complicated, but Joseph is good in these kinds of position and he fought back to get his pawn back and probably had a slight edge. Darren must have thought so to and he found a perpetual check to force a draw. Still a good result and performance from Joseph!

Teesside junior champion Sagar was level on material, but looked to have a positional and space edge for most of the game. When it came to a rook and 5 pawns against a rook and 5 pawns he looked well on top with a nice chain of 4 connected pawns and his opponent's pawns more scattered around the board. From here he dominated the game and ended up with 2 connected passed pawns and a rook against a rook. It still took a while from here, but it was an excellent mature performance from Sagar.

Charlie was last finished and had his opponent down to 3 minutes on the clock. It was level most of the way through, but Charlie has a slight edge most of the way through. An interesting end game followed with both players having well advanced pawns and rooks at the opposite end of the board. Charlie's opponent Stephen said afterwards that Charlie was better than his estimated grade and will win games like that soon when he gets used to longer games and with a bit more end game experience.

Meanwhile non-playing captain Chris and his wife came 8th out of about 15 in the quiz with some help from Sagar and Joseph's parents until the last round. According to Chris there was too much 70's and 80's music for them to have any chance of winning and they didn't win the £395 jackpot either!

Another promising sign from this game was that both of our star Under 18s finished after 9pm which is a good sign that they are starting to get used to the longer games! At just 12 years old, Sagar set a club record last week as our youngest ever player and he's now also overtaken Harris as our youngest ever winner of a game for the team!

Date:26/10/2022  Battling Bill holds Glocky!

Great Ayton A 4-1 Thornaby Aces
Virgil Szekely 1-0 Francis Batchelor
David Wise 1-0 Brian Ellis
Steven Booth 1-0 Mike Creaney
Andrew Smith ½-½ Joe McGinnis
Martin McLaughlin ½-½ Bill March

One look at our opponents team sheet told us that we were in for a tough night, so for Joe and Bill to avoid defeat was very creditable to say the least!

Bill was in trouble a pawn down, but a mistake from his opponent gave hime the pawn back and allowed him back into the game. Bill thought he might even be ahead, but was happy with a draw against a much higher rated player. It's good to see Bill back in form and he has started the season well with 2 draws against very strong players so far.

Joe managed to salvage a draw against a very strong opponent. He had a backward e pawn that looked like a problem, but managed to rescue the situation when his opponent allowed him a tempo so that he could play b5.

Mike tried the Larsen (1.b3) against Steve and thought he got a reasonable position with a draw the likely outcome, but Steve then sacked a piece for two pawns opening up his King side which Mike thought he should be able to defend. Unfortunately the 2 passed pawns on the king side 3rd rank proved too strong and Steve won.

Brian thought he'd found a nice combination to win a pawn, but he miscalculated and dropped a piece. Not something anyone comes back from against Dave Wise!

Francis was last to finish and took his very strong opponent down to the wire. After game analysis showed Francis had an advantage if he'd played f4 on several moves, but it was something he completely overlooked during the game. In the end he fell into a gradually worse position and Virgil won in the end.

Date:25/10/2022  Bishops dash Challenger prayers!

Thornaby Challengers 1½-2½ Middlesbrough Bishops
Iain Mellis 0-1 Nikhil Bhandari
Sam Greig ½-½ Ged Murphy
James Urwin 1-0 Chris Rumsey
Nick Tadd 0-1 Aiden Darlow

As expected, we were out graded on all 4 boards, so I suppose a 2½-1½ defeat was not so bad really against a very strong outfit.

Unfortunately, I was the first to go down against Aiden. I started well with white with a variation of the London system, which blocked him in a bit and gave me quite a strong attack on his castled King side and feeling quite comfortable. To finally break through I decided to swap a few minor pieces off but that ended up with me losing a pawn and my attack blunted. Seemed to go downhill after that!

Next up was James who played the Mike Creaney inspired French defence! After a positional battle a knight fork on 2 pawns got James a pawn up and he won well from here ending up with 3 passed pawns on the queen side. 1-1.

The final two games went the distance. Iain seemed to be in trouble but then got out of it against CCA Treasurer, Nikhil Bhandari, and looked like he could be heading for a draw, but unfortunately, a Bishop and Pawns against only Pawns, Nikhil came out on top.

That left Sam, against Ged Murphy, the Middlesbrough captain, battling on in a good position but not quite able to convert, so a draw was agreed.

Nick

Date:25/10/2022  Record entry for Club Championship!

A record 22 people have entered this seasons club championship! There is an exciting mix of youth and experience and a lot of first time entrants that will make it an intereting competition.

Francis is the defending champion and starts as the favourite. Joe McGinnnis was runner up last time and Aces regulars Brian and Mike are also expected to challenge. Sam, Sagar, Charlie and Brad are all names to watch out for in their first attempt at the competition and the rapidly improving James Urwin could also be a dark horse.

As well as 5 players aged under 18, there are also lots of other new faces looking to make their mark including David, James Martin and Laura.

First round draw is here http://www.thornabychessclub.co.uk/ClubChampionship.htm

Date:19/10/2022  Solid start for B52s!

Billingham A 2-2 Thornaby B52s
Dave Frank ½-½ Bill March
Paul Weightman 1-0 Iain Mellis
Paul Frank ½-½ James Urwin
Brian Whittaker 0-1 Brad Werritt

A draw overall! I was the first to finish against Paul Frank, who was marginally their highest rated player. I opened with the English and the game was pretty unremarkable. He encroached on my side of the board with a Bishop & Knight, but his refusal to swap off these minor pieces temporarily forced them back. He made another approach with an annoying outpost for his knight, but I was able to swap off both his knights to free myself of them! A pawn push with his H pawn allowed me to do a Bishop & Queen battery against that pawn with tempo on his Queen. He opted to swap off the Bishops as well, and soon after the queens. I attempted some attack down the H file but with both of us equal in material and stuck with bad dark square Bishops he offered me a draw which I accepted!

Bill finished second with a draw against Dave Frank. It seemed the game was very tight, as I believe only a pawn each had come off the board. Whilst Bill said he was relatively happy with his position, and had a notable time advantage, his opponent would be able to plonk a knight in the middle of the board and he would have no means to dislodge it. When his opponent offered a draw he accepted it!

Brad played against Brian with the Sicilian, unfortunately for Brad, Brian chose the closed Sicilian which he is unfamiliar with! The game wore on and looked very equal, with Brad utilising all his pieces. Unfortunately, Brad spotted what he thought was a free pawn grab but turned out to cost him a full Bishop after Brian forced swapping off rooks! The game carried on and Brad was able to win his Bishop back at the cost of his other rook. Stuck now with his Queen & Bishop against Brian's Queen, Bishop & Rook, the game looked finished. However, Brian's over extended pawns around his king allowed Brad a check that restricted his king. Following this was a nasty skewer by Brad with his Bishop against Brian's Queen & backwards pawn that threatened a check that would force Brian to give up his Queen! Brian managed to avoid this but had to allow Brad to win his rook back in the process. The game carried on but Brad's constant threats paid off as Brian overlooked a checkmate that Brad seized upon for victory!

Iain's game against Paul looked relatively equal but Iain eventually found himself a pawn down. They got themselves into an endgame with Paul having much more threats all over the board. Iain held as best he could but gradually the game favoured Paul as he soon had four pawns against Iain's one. Remarkably, through Iain's sheer stubbornness, he was able to drag it out and run Paul's clock down to under 5 minutes. Of course, it was a lost endgame, and whilst it finished with Paul only having one pawn against Iain's king, he was just about able to stop Iain's king forcing a draw and guaranteed himself a queen on the board.

A good debut for B52s and a great confidence boost for debutant Brad! Our opponents were all seasoned players, so we can take this result with pride!

James

Date:19/10/2022  Narrow defeat for Bombers!

Great Ayton B 2½-1½ Thornaby Bombers
Mike Pointon 1-0 Mike Creaney
Ray Honeybourne ½-½ Chris Swales
Jim Rogers 0-1 Joe McGinnis
Kegan Harrison 1-0 Sagar Patil

An all too familiar result from last year for the Bombers with another narrow 2½-1½ defeat!

Sagar had a tough debut for Thornaby playing against league secretary Kegan. He aquitted himself well though, but got on that back foot after a mistake in his Caro Kann opening. Sagar ended up in a very defensive looking position with all his pieces on row 7 and 8 except 1 and Kegan forced a win with bishops and queen bearing down on the king side.

Chris also got on the back foot in the opening and ended up so neither my d or b pawn could advance for a long time and this left his white squared bishop trapped. Ray converted this into a pawn advantage, but with different colour square bishops it always looked hard to break through. Ray tried swapping his white squared bishop for a knight, but that left Chris with a dark squared bishop against Ray's knight, but a pawn down. Chris said there was never any prospect of a win for him unless Ray tried to force a win somehow. Something Ray realised himself soon enough and agreed a draw!

Joe managed to win a knight with a discovered attack although Jim had an extra past pawn and Joe's knight ended up a bit trapped by making this move, so it didn't look like a clear cut win for a while. Joe eventually forced a resignation though.

Mike was a pawn up for a long time, but this is normal in the Benko gambit. He ended up missing a complication and losing a piece when the queens were swapped off which was fatal at this level!

The positive is that we still look competitive at this level after the summer break!

Date:11/10/2022  Harris wins on debut!

Thornaby Cadets 1½-2½ Great Ayton C
Joseph Machin 0-1 Gordon Dickinson
Charlie Johnston 0-1 Kevin Wilson
Andy Austen ½-½ Stephen Gatenby
Harris Wilson 1-0 Alan Jefferson

A decent start to the season for the Cadets, but they came up just short of a result. The highlight of the evening from a Thornaby point of view was undoubtedly a win on debut for Harris. He was down on material, but with a decent attack going. From about move 15 onwards it was all Harris and he forced a resignation from last weeks conqueror of Nick when his queen captured a rook on h8.

Charlie and Joseph were both up against tough experienced players. Joseph played a strangely defensive game for him and ended up losing when his opponent captured a pawn on the 7th rank and created a lot of other threats at the same time. Charlie's debut was decent and he put up a good fight, but Kevin proved too strong in the end.

Andy was looking good to seal an overall match draw with 3 pawns ahead. However his opponent Stephen found a perpetual check to force a draw.

Despite the defeat, there are plenty of positives to build on for the rest of the season!

Date:10/10/2022  Durham Debut Draw!

Hartlepool 2-2 Thornaby
Ray Stonehouse 1-0 Mike Creaney
Dave Lowcock 0-1 Chris Swales
Mark Priest 0-1 Joe McGinnis
Geoff Howsden 1-0 David Pizzi

Our first ever match in the Durham League was a solid start against last years B division runners up.

Mike was our human sacrifice against Hartlepool's top player Ray Stonehouse! He had a reasonably level position early on, but then went a pawn down and soon lost.

Mike playing allowed Chris and Joe to play on a board lower, but both had to battle hard to win against their lower rated opponents. Joe and Hartlepool captain Mark were both down to less than 5 minutes on the clock and it was Joe's opponent who made the crucial mistake in time trouble. Chris felt he was slightly on top throughout and particualrly after a surprising bishop retreat to c1 on move 10 from his opponent. It was still a good game and a proper battle throughout and it took a blunder in time pressure to finish it off when a missed discovered check won his opponent's queen. Chris felt he had a better endgame at this point anyway anyway against 2 isolated pawns.

David played a solid match on his competitive debut against Geoff, but his experienced opponent proved too strong in the end.

As this is the only game played so far, we are joint top of the league until Wednesday evening!

Date:10/10/2022  Tough Start for Thornaby Challengers!

Hartlepool B 3½-½ Thornaby Challengers
Graham Matthews ½-½ James Urwin
Kevin Waterman 1-0 Nick Tadd
Oliver Brightey 1-0 Janos Mehes
Andrew Robson 1-0 Yves Scott

For various reasons, the Challengers were missing 6 of their main 8 squad, so this was always likely to be a tough start to the season with the reserves having to be called in. Yves played a decent game on debut and showed his promise for the future. Club stalwarts Nick and Janos fought bravely, but ended up material down and lost. James looked to be slightly on top against Graham Matthews, but it ended up a draw.

In a positive sign for chess in our area, it was nice to see our opponents able to field 2 teams at the same time and it was by far the busiest I've seen it there. They've had 3 new players join in the last month and experienced A team stars Peter Harker and Bernie Price were also there to support the teams. Last year they would almost certainly have been playing in 1 of them.

Date:08/10/2022  Thornaby Juniors dominate in Darlington!

After a stuttering start to the season for our adults, our juniors showed us how it's done by almost claiming a clean sweep at the Darlington Junior Chess Competition. A total of 5 players from our club and library sessions made the trip and all of them won trophies by finishing on the podium!

In the Under 10 section, Isaac underlined his recent jump in standard and finished as the champion. In his first competitve tournament, George finished in a very creditable 3rd place.

In the Under 12 section, big things were expected from Sagar and he didn't disappoint, cruising to victory with 5 wins from 5 games.

In the 12 and over section, 2 of our Thornaby Cadets were in action. Joseph finished as the runner up in the section and Harris finished in 3rd place. A good warm up as both will be in league action for the Cadets later this week.

Well done to all! Maybe it's time you started teaching our adult players instead!

Date:05/10/2022  Aces fail to take off!

Great Ayton Brie 3-1 Thornaby Aces
David Wise ½-½ Francis Batchelor
Martin McLaughlin 1-0 Brian Ellis
Ray Honeybourne ½-½ Mike Creaney
Kevin Wilson 1-0 Chris Swales

A slightly disappointing result for the Aces as Great Ayton have split their 3 Swiss teams evenly. Having said that, their 13th player is still rated the same as our 4th player, so this was still not an easy game. The ratings were fairly even and we were still outgraded on boards 2 and 3.

It was definitely a forgettable night for Chris. He was well on top with both knights and a bishop causing havoc and felt like he should have won. He said "I felt like I played most of the right moves, but somehow it didn't work and I let it slip away". Later on he tried to force the issue against a lower graded player, but just succeeded in weakening his own position and allowing a crushing attack!

Brian's night was probably even more disappointing as a new opening he was trying went wrong and he lost quickly. Mike and Francis had solid draws against good players. David Wise was our regular board 1 player for 7 years and only lost 2 games in his last 3 years at our club (both against Nic Tavoularis). He's always been very difficult to beat and although Francis was level on material, he was probably slightly behind positionally and he was happy with the draw. He said "the only other likely alternative was a loss if I'd played on"! Mike was a pawn up and on top against another Thornaby defector Ray, but let his pawn advantage slip and Ray did what he normally does and got the draw!

Date:04/10/2022  Bombers Cheesed off!

Thornaby Bombers ½-3½ Great Ayton Appenzeller
Iain Mellis 0-1 Mike Pointon
Sam Greig ½-½ Kegan Harrison
James Urwin 0-1 Peter Archer
Nick Tadd 0-1 Alan Jefferson

The new CCA Team Swiss compeition started slowly for the Bombers with Great Ayton Appenzeller running out easy winners. In their own words, Great Ayton have decided to "copy rivals Thornaby's team naming policy" for this competition by "incorporating silly names" that are "cheese related"!

The bright spot from a Thornaby point of view was a draw for Sam against Kegan Harrison who is a solid B and A division player. Others did not fair so well with Nick, James and Iain all losing. Iain thought he had a drawn position, but let it slip. James swapped a pawn and a rook for 2 pieces, but Peter's knights proved too strong in the end game. Nick lost out in an endgame to Alan Jefferson.

Date:02/10/2022  Victory at Last!

After several close calls in the last few weeks, James won his first ever event over the weekend when he took first place in the foundation section of the Northumberland Congress!

There was no narrow miss or tie break systems needed this time as James romped home to victory with an impressive 9.5 out of 10. His nearest challenger was on 7 and James easily took home the trophy and £75 first prize.

Well done James, other teams beware!

Date:02/10/2022  Ingleby Barwick Chess!

Members of our club are starting a free weekly chess session at Ingleby Barwick library. They are going to be there every Friday between 4pm and 6pm. First session is this week on October 7th.

Thornaby Bombers captain Joe McGinnis will be leading the sessions. All skill levels are welcome including beginners, so come down and give it a try!

Date:30/09/2022  Fantasy Thornaby Chess Club Launched!

For a bit of fun this season, we're running the first ever "Fantasy Thornaby Chess Club" game! All you have to do is pick 1 player from each team box. Each player scores you the total number of points they score for that team during the season. The winner of the competition will have shown their team selecting skills and gets to captain the Aces next season! Not really, but there will be a prize of some kind! If you want to have a go, email the club address to get an entry form (club members have been emailed it already).

To help you with your selections, the rogues gallery section of the website has recently been updated so that you can find out about all of our players......
http://www.thornabychessclub.co.uk/Players.htm

RULES
-The wild card group score points for any team they play for.
-Should someone be moved to a different squad in the same division (eg Cadets to Challengers) for any reason, they will score their points for that team instead.
-You can only pick each player once. Eg "Chris Swales" is in the Aces and Bombers list, but you can't pick him for both. Not that you'd want to!
-Only league games count, not cup or team Swiss ones.
-First game for any team is October 10th, so best to enter before then. You will only score points for games played after you enter.

Good luck everyone!

Date:28/09/2022  Urwin comes close again!

James continued his good recent form finishing as joint runner up in the latest Billingham Quicklplay event. James finished the competition on 2 out of 3. This was the 3rd event in 2 weeks that he has finished as runner up.

Like in the Vince Skillcorn Memorial Trophy, it was Brian Whitaker who pipped James to the title. A win must be coming soon James!

Our other 2 entries in the competition also performed well with Nick and Geoff both finishing on 1.5/3.

Date:26/09/2022  James Just Misses Jackpot!

Over the Summer months, James Urwin has been playing in the Vince Skillcorn Memorial Trophy. This has been a 7 round Swiss competition run by Billingham Chess Club in memory of a popular former player who died recently.

The tournament concluded last week with James finishing the competition unbeaten on a very good 5 out of 7. This left him in a tie for first with former Thornaby stalwart Brian Whitaker. James initially thought he'd won, but unfortunately the tie break SB system meant Brian had just pipped him to the title.

Sam also did very well in the competition and finished in joint 3rd with 4.5 out of 7. It could have been even better for Sam, but unfortunately he missed one of the early rounds due to isolating with covid.

Well done to both for representing the club so well in the off season! Both are looking in good form for the start of our new season next week.

VINCE SKILLCORN MEMORIAL TROPHY - LEADING FINAL STANDINGS
1st) Brian Whitaker 5/7
2nd) James Urwin 5/7
3rd) Sam Greig 4.5/7
= Paul Weightman 4.5/7
= Darren Donnison 4.5/7

Date:20/09/2022  Stephens takes Quickplay title!

A fantastic turnout for the Quickplay yesterday with 25 people taking part yesterday making 29 in total across the 2 nights! The unusual use of dummy scores for players who weren't in it last week meant the competition was a little bit unbalanced in some ways, but it seemed to work reasonably well.

One of the effects of the dummy scores was that last weeks leaders got some tougher than expected matches (mostly against Francis!). This meant going into the final round, James was leading on 4 points with 3 players in touching distance on 3.5. In a match between 2 of these, Carl managed to beat Iain to go to 4.5. Alex lost to Sagar meaning he stayed on 3.5. James had a decent go, but lost to Francis. He did claim the best Thornaby player title, but it was Carl who finished as the champion with 4.5 out of 6. Well done to Carl and thank you to all our Darlington visitors for giving our players a real test before the season starts!

3 of the players new to this week managed to win 3 out of 3 on the night. Francis beat all of the top 3 in the final standings on his way to a dummy score of 6/6. Sagar started on 1.5 and won 3 games against players rated 1400 and above. Charlie started on 1 and won his 3 games including a good victory over Darlington's Richard Kuby in his last game.

There were some small prizes for the best under 1500 grade (James) and under 1250 grade (Janos and Andy joint). Harris picked up a prize as the best junior player in week 1.

As well as Sagar and Charlie's excellent form, there were some good performances from Sam and Brad. Going with Harris and David last week, it all looks good for the new season. In a sign of our continuing growth, James M and Daniel both joined the club yesterday. James managed to get 2/3 and looks like he could be a solid C division player for us this season. All in all a great night and a lot of positives for the new season!


FINAL STANDINGS
*before a name means the player only played on 1 of the nights.
4.5) Carl Stephens
4) James Urwin, Liam Bellwood
3.5) Iain Mellis, Alex Kalyviotis
3) *Charlie Johnston, *Francis Batchelor, *Sagar Patil, Joe McGinnis, Janos Mehes, Andy Austen
2.5) Harris Wilson
2) *Sam Greig, *Brad Werritt, *James Martin, *Mike Creaney, Laura Holdforth, Tristan Green
1.5) *Callum Abbott
1) *Nick Tadd, *Joseph Machin, *Bhima Patil, *David Pizzi, *Ollie Walton, Daniel Ayre
0.5) *Richard Kuby, *Geoff Howsden
0) *Fletcher Hoyland, *Yves Scott

Bottle of Wine Prize
Winner) Carl Stephens

Chocolate Prizes
3 Points in Week 2) Francis Batchelor, Sagar Patil, Charlie Johnston
3 Points in Week 1) Alex Kalyviotis
Best Under 1500) James Urwin (4/6)
Best Under 1250) Janos Mehes+Andy Austen (3/6)
Best Youth Player Week 1) Harris Wilson

Date:16/09/2022  Sagar quallifies for National Finals!

Thornaby youth star Sagar has qualified for the National finals in the under 12 section of the Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge.

Sagar won the Teesside megafinal earlier in the year and last weekend qualified from the online gigafinal with 4.5/7.

This is the toughest junior chess competition in the UK and repressents a significant achievement for Sagar, very well done! It's phenomenal progress from someone who only started playing at our club and library earlier this year!

Date:13/09/2022  Darlington Raiders Lead Quickplay!

A good night at the first half of our September quickplay. Our 3 visitors from Darlington showed why they had a clean sweep of the 3 divisions last year by winning 8 of their 9 games between them! Carl and Alex go into next week on the maximum score. There are 5 quality players within easy reach next week though and it is still all to play for.

The highlight from a Thornaby point of view was undoubtedly the form of Andy who shocked Liam in the first round with a win on time and then beat Iain in the second round. Very well done to Andy, start having more belief in yourself! Harris and David also stood out. Harris was the best junior again and both look ready for competitive action next month!

Leading Standings:
3) Carl Stephens, Alexandros Kalyviotis
2) Liam Bellwood, Andy Austen, Mike Creaney, James Urwin, Iain Mellis

Date:04/09/2022  Chess debuts at Thornaby Show!

Chris, James, Callum and Joseph spent yesterday at Thornaby Show representing the club. They talked to a lot of people, played around 40 games against members of the public and handed out lots of leaflets about our club and library sessions.

The challenge to the public was to beat one of our 4 experts to win a box of chocolates. Several players gave us a good run for our money including a man who played in the league in the 1970's and 80's who managed to run Callum very close. However we only had to hand over 1 box of chocolates to a Falklands veteran who apparently played a lot when he was over there who managed to beat Joseph. Joseph did play the most games though and he included a 3 move and a 4 move win amongst his many victories on the day!

All in all it was a fun day at the fair enjoyed by all of us who were there which will hopefully lead to a few new faces at the club and library over the next few weeks!

Date:30/08/2022  Thornaby Chess Club Awards Ceremony!

Our AGM today was followed by a first ever Thornaby Chess Club Awards Ceremony. A total of 8 different players won awards in the various categories!

Our young player of the Year award was given to Joseph Machin for some excellent performances for the Bombers and Cadets in his first season playing for the club.

Iain's performances in the club championship and for all 3 of our teams which gave him a final season rating of 1522 earned him the "Newcomer of the Year" award.

Janos was particularly delighted with his "Clubman of the Year" award. It was given to Janos for being almost ever present on club nights this year, his enthusiasm for talking about chess books and most importantly bringing us all snacks most weeks!

There was much anticipation as Brian Ellis delivered his verdict on Club Game of the Season. Brian was chosen to judge as he had already won the CCA League game of the season! Sam finished a creditable 3rd with his very first game for the club. Chris Ross finished 2nd for his tactical win over Sarah Grattage. However, it was Joe McGinnis' win against Peter McKay in the B division that took the honours! Brian liked the way Joe gained a small advantage and kept it throughout the game against a higher rated player.

Francis win earlier in the week against Geoff was decisive and he won the Club Championship with 8.5 points. Joe McGinnis was the Runner Up with 8 points.

Our top individual scorers on each team (Francis, Chris and Callum) received team player of the season trophies.

The winners of the 3 Club Rapidplay tournaments (Brian, Francis and Chris) also received trophies on the night.

LIST OF AWARDS
Club Champion - Francis Batchelor
Game of the Season - Joe McGinnis
A Team Player of the Year - Francis Batchelor
B Team Player of the Year - Chris Swales
C Team Player of the Year - Callum Abbott
Club Rapidplay Winners - Brian Ellis, Francis Batchelor, Chris Swales
Newcomer of the Year - Iain Mellis
Young Player of the Year - Joseph Machin
Clubman of the Year - Janos Mehes

Date:30/08/2022  Thornaby Club AGM Report!

The club AGM was held today. We reflected on an impressive year for membership growth, but a difficult year results wise for our teams. There was a lively discussion about how many teams to enter in the various competitions, but the upshot of it was that we are entering a club record number of teams in the league next season!

Most committee posts have stayed the same, but James is a welcome addition as membership officer. His enthusiasm and sense of fun have really helped drive the club forward over the last year.

2022/23 Commitee
Chair: Nick Tadd
Secretary: Francis Batchelor
Treasurer: Geoff Howsden
Club Championship: Joe McGinnis
Membership Officer: James Urwin
Web Officer: Chris Swales
CCA Captains: Francis Batchelor, Joe McGinnis, James Urwin, Nick Tadd, Chris Swales
Durham Leeague Captain: Chris Swales

Date:17/08/2022  CCA AGM Report!

It was a good night for Thornaby Club at the CCA AGM yesterday, with a lot of constructive proposals discussed from members of our club. We have also filled some of the league committee positions. Francis is now the President of the league! Chris is now the official grader of the league and he also has a new job that didn't previously exist as "league publicity officer". Geoff remains the "Association Fund Manager".

There were 2 rules added to the league yesterday. Rule 1 was accidentally left out when they did a re-write last year! Rule 2 will hopefully resolve any issues like Iain had this season:

1. A player may not play for more than one team in the same league during the season.
2. The introduction of the ECF rating system has caused some anomalies between playing strength and rating, especially for unrated/provisionally graded players. In such cases the Grader, in consultation with the relevant team captain, may impose a rating which will be utilised for all games played under the auspices of the league. The Grader will continually review such a rating making amendments as necessary.

Summary of other changes agreed:
-The season will end in May instead of June.
-B division will be going back to 5 players per team.
-Teams will only play each other home and away rather than 3 times in a season.
-A team Swiss style event will be trialled to fill some of the weeks this potentially frees up.
-A D division may start up in January/February playing in the same weeks as the B division if there is enough interest in January.