Grandmaster Keith Arkell
Opportunities to play against Grandmasters don’t occur regularly for us Journeyman level club players. So I was particularly pleased to be drawn against Grandmaster Keith Arkell in round 3 of the Rhyl Open.
I was even more pleased to hold the draw! I even wondered at one point if I might be able to get more but he is a stubborn defender. Game below:
Link to pop out board
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)
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