Author: Culcheth Chess Club - Admin

We are now roughly half way through the 2024-25 season, Culcheth entered two teams in the league this year. An A team to defend their title in division 1 and a B team to complete in division 3. As well as this we entered a side in the grade restricted Richard Furness League and sides in each of the cup competitions.

In division 1 early year defeats against Winwick, Skelmersdale and Northwich got us off to a slower then usual start this season. Our team is definitely in a perios of transition no longer boasting the strength in depth of yesteryear. Despite this it has been good to see new players rising through the ranks to take their place. Shlok Maheshwari and Isaiah Slater for example have recently found themselves playing in the A team and scoring fine wins.

As the season has progressed the A team currently find themselves just off the pace with half a dozen or so matches left to play.

The B team have quite often had Captain Jonathan Miller scrambling around for players this year as a number of players are listed as either panelled or additional to the A team. It has been great to see this give opportunities to some of the lower rated newer players however and I think the fact we are in division 3 helps with this. For the past few season’s our second side has taken part in division 1 which really is a tough birthplace for new players.

Currently six games in the B team find themselves joint top of division 3

Phil Dawson has this year captained the Richard Furness league side, again he has done a great job of picking some of the players who might not normally play league chess such as Mike Selway and young players Mark Williams and Shlok have also featured with success, the RF side currently find themselves top of this closely contested division.

Due to bye’s and fixture postponements and bye’s there is not a huge amount to report upon from the cup competitions. We did play two games in the Peninsular cup in which our A team progressed V Winwick, whilst our 2nd side were defeated V Wigan.

The Kalmar cup side received a bye into round 2 whilst, our George Davision team were eliminated in a thrilling match v Stockton Heath which has already been reported on this website.

Finally I leave you with a close encounter between Atherton’s Martin Lythgoe and Nick Burriss which ended in a draw. (A smaller link is at the top of the page)

Lythgoe V Burriss

by Ste Potter – St Helens

The 4 Nations Chess League has been in existence since 1993, but there has never until now been an entry from the Warrington League or a team playing in it.

Now that has changed with the entry of the Warrington Mates. The team is made up of experienced players from some of the strongest clubs in the Warrington League.

Most of the players already have experience of playing in the 4NCL with other teams such as the Manchester Manticores.
The 4NCL offers a much longer time control than is usual in local league chess. The time control was 90 minutes for 40 moves, then an additional 40 minutes with an extra 30 seconds per move.

Arbiters are present, no mobile phones are allowed, no smart
watches either, this is proper, competitive chess.

Round 1
The 4NCL did not play at Peterborough last season in the 4NCL, so this was not just a new adventure for The Mates, but for the other teams too. The unbeaten victory does not tell the true story. Not all the wins were straight forward, but an unbeaten win is an unbeaten win. The games are included below. A good start to the league and our adventure in the 4NCL, which in division 4 is a Swiss System, so that guaranteed a team in round 2 who had also won.

Warrington Mates Watford B
(w) E Norris 1-0 J Edwin
(b) L Kay 1-0 S Sujan
(w) P Mulleady 1/2 E Davids
(b) R Newton 1-0 M Dairi
(w) D McCarthy 1-0 L Kunz
(b) S Potter 1-0 D Dairi

The Evening Meal
For any 4NCL weekend to be complete it needs a team meal on the Saturday night.

Damian got a tip from hotel reception that The Gurkha Lounge was fairly good. It was better than that, the best chicken tikka Bob had ever tasted. All agreed.

Round 2
We were expecting to be on the other side of the draw and to have colours reversed
from the first round. For whatever reason the computer chose otherwise, so some of us
ended up with two whites over the weekend, the others got two blacks. Again another
strong showing, three wins and three draws, so again unbeaten.

Warrington Mates CSC/Kingston 3
(w) E Norris 1/2 P Vachtfeidl
(b) L Kay 1-0 P Stimpson
(w) P Mulleady 1-0 H Evans
(b) R Newton 1/2 B Attwell
(w) D McCarthy 1/2 C Cooke
(b) S Potter 1-0 J Denning

Summary
A good first weekend to our 4NCL adventure. 12 games played, 8 won, 4 drawn and 0 losses.
As Damian pointed out there was probably some significance in the two drivers having the most troublesome games on Saturday. After a good night sleep though both players got good wins on Sunday.
There are currently 6 teams on 4 points, well be playing one of them in round 3, next time in Coventry.

The Games
Click on the links to view

Round 1
Ethan https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3ShPIl7Wad9GQgyMdCor0valmcKTrKIH9hh7rQDszqbar
Lee https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SpvCzRlS2ukZmDlD5/Nq5otSHbkhIiajhBMmf8AHh+6m
Peter https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SsNDF/H/pvuLA+tL2x0FULida5Httvmj1SFblMz94/do
Bob https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SkVUwyIO5k8Fbn++yZefo5LUYNcgEeanuaizTTMKNtJA
Damian https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SmQ6hN5y+AzeXubZ+lBkQnS98hsCjRM3tvRwJH9kmi2o
Ste https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SmOy4Ji8pkLAj3CWyuc1xVhGhW3Kn2yhYw07uupq1ds0

Round 2
Ethan https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3StXfRIJAQYSzLc76BJur4m+Tsjd0GnxASB8DvNfHihcE
Lee https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3Sg7CQ4fA0eN9glauAqtki0i3E/wefY6i68KQ61JUSneD
Peter https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SgjXbt8TrHqSKyKzjEiZAFFicQVvSNJ46XzFQh6au+kW
Bob https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SvSzi43pyHYdLaN7j4EmCeAUV2TT95rHCa8T+wyhnK4z
Damian https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SviTCGAmp/9CVdsrLYhnAbkxZaVIv2cku1Bb2OjGMUjQ
Ste https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=SB7qngIWLle3BunNzeG3SmHhDhDCBEOT3At2uaFya3lGKhD8cariSGGU7JgIJX4z

One of the largest weekend British chess weekend events is held annually at Scarborough towards the last weekend of October. This year Culcheth were represented at the event as Andy Bak, Damian McCarthy, Andy Coe, Nick Burriss and Shlok Maheshwari all made their way across the country to take part.

After the event some of the players share their experiences playing at this year’s event.

Andy Bak & Damian finished just outside of the prizes in the Major section. on 3.5/5 and 3/5 respectively.

Most of the fun was had in the Intermediate however where Andy Coe, Nick Burriss and rising star Shlok Maheshwari were competing.

First off Nick gives the following report of his progress;

“My scores in each round of Scarborough were as follows:

         1. 0 (White)

       2. 0.5 (White)

       3. 1 (Black)

       4. 1 (Black)

       5. 0.5 (White)

In Round 1 I lost having been a piece to 2 pawns up following an unsound sacrifice by my opponent. But in a chaotic position I mistakenly exchanged Queens giving Black a dangerous phalanx of advanced pawns which ultimately overwhelmed me.

Round 2 saw me playing over-cautiously against a Scandinavian Defence in which Black obtained easy equality. I incorrectly ignored opportunities to instigate a K-side attack at the cost of a pawn and handed the initiative to my opponent. But in a rooks and pawn ending the game fizzled out into a draw.

My Round 3 game was littered with inaccuracies but hopefully they are instructive: Pearce V Burriss – Large screen

Round 4 saw me adopting my favoured Kings Indian set up with c6 against the Fianchetto variation. My results have been mixed at best and after 18 moves I was decidedly worse. Fortunately White lost his way and overlooked that I could trap his rook and win the exchange. Thereafter it was fairly plain sailing to secure the win.

As White in Round 5 I played the opening very badly against the Alekhine Defence and was fortunate to survive relatively unscathed. To my surprise, and relief, my young opponent offered me a draw on move 14 which I was more than happy to accept.

To paraphrase Meatloaf, 3 out of 5 ain’t bad. – Nick”

Thanks to Nick for that summary of his event, Shlok one of our youngest members also shares his tournament story below along with one of his games:-

From Shlok, “Here’s my summary of the games I played at Scarborough Intermediate tournament.

Round 1: Won with White pieces

It was a sound position on move 20 until I played a tactic to win a pawn but left me with a weak position and I was losing but straight after my opponent made a blunder and left me a pawn up. It was easy to win the game after that.            

Round 2: Draw with Black pieces

I played the Dutch system after 1.d4 but just on move 8, I lost a pawn to a very nice tactic by the opponent and soon they took a second pawn but after a lot of calculation, I managed to get into a drawn rook and pawn endgame.

Round 3: Lost with White pieces

I played the Grand Prix against the Sicilian. On move 15, I got my highest chance of winning at +1.9 (as per evaluation bar) but soon after, I blundered and slowly my opponent dominated the position and I resigned.

Round 4: Draw with Black pieces

This was an interesting game! Here it goes: Jackson V Maheshwari

Round 5: Draw with Black pieces

My opponent played the very interesting Sokolsky opening but ended up to be a draw by mutual agreement.

Thank you,

Shlok”

Last but by no means least we come to Andy Coe who had a terrific event winning three of his first four games! Sadly he was to lose in the last round but finished on an excellent 3/5.

Thanks to all of you for making it to this lovely weekend, a real treat getting an annotated game from Shlok at such a young age, we feel sure he has a bright chess career ahead of him!