Competitions
John Ripley Trophy 2009-10
Formby v Liverpool
170 E D Williams 0-1 P Evans 161
174 G Haslinger 0-1 S Mana 159
158 R JPlatt 0.5-0.5 F Ryan 149
146 C P Fisher 1-0 DLeeming 143
151 J M Haslinger 1-0 A Morley 142
137 K Howard 1-0 S Tanyanyiwa 131
Handicap -1.5
3.5—4.0
Formby are out of the John Ripley Trophy even though they won their first round match match by 3.5 – 2.5. This was because their opponents, Liverpool 1, having been relegated last season to the second division of the Merseyside League, were entitled to 1.5 handicap points against their first division opponents and so went through by half a point. In the match, three wins by Phil Fisher, Mike Haslinger and Kevin Howard were not quite enough to gain the 4 - 2 victory for Formby to go through.
Kalmar Cup 2009-10 Round 2 29th October 2009
Ormskirk…..3 Formby….2
Roy Jackson (142) 0 1 Gareth Haslinger (w) (174)
Steve Jacquest (159) 0.5 0.5 Bob Platt (158)
Bart McHugh (141) 1 0 Mike Haslinger (151)
James Rothwell (132) 1 0 Phil Fisher (146)
Mike McGreal (126) 0.5 0.5 Kevin Howard (137)
Formby are out of the Kalmar Cup losing their second round match match by 3 – 2. The first game to finish was board 5 where Kevin conceded the draw with a blocked position with little time left on the clock. All of the other games were tight at the point when Phil turned down a draw in a slightly better position due to the match position, when suddenly Gareth under pressure found a way to checkmate his opponent. Phil's game was finely balanced and he seemed to have the advantage until his opponent managed to force a pawn through, just securing the win with minutes left. Mike always material up was under positional pressure and finally snapped giving our former member Bart the full point. The match being lost at this point Bob agreed a draw although he was ahead in position and on the clock.
BLACKPOOL MARCH 2009
A Personal note
By Mike Barrett
A year has passed and eleven Formby members headed again towards the Golden Mile and the end of the rainbow in search of treasure.
Some were going to travel daily, a couple had booked into the Travel Lodge but the most adventurous had relied on Rob’s nose for a cheap and cheerful hotel and he had got it half right. The welcome was not the warmest despite all the cards and notes of recommendation on the walls but the almost overwhelming warmth of the bedrooms suggested that management catered mainly for OAPs. My bedroom actually reminded me of home when the toilet seat swiveled to allow an almost 360 degree view of the bathroom. The breakfast menu proved basic and simple with a number of ‘ors’ rather than ‘ands’ and certainly did not offer the exotic diet for Phil with no blueberries, cranberries or even muesli, going only so far as to offer English mustard with his poached eggs on Sunday. There was however no Brass Band company.
This year’s venue was Blackpool F.C. ground in what proved to be the (run) downtown sector of the resort. That description was clear from the moment on the way in when we passed the Waterloo Hotel once the Mecca of crown green bowlers but now an empty boarded up shell of a building. It was reinforced during our walk to the ground from the hotel when passing along streets of small hotels with vacancies advertised and whose prices made our hotel appear expensive. The ground itself was surrounded by half demolished buildings and a swathe of fenced off road works and indeed the ground itself in the middle of redevelopment had seating only on 3 sides with the fourth side open to the elements but providing a clear view of any football to the occupants of the Travel Lodge over the road. All these building sites and road works were absolutely devoid of workmen on Friday afternoon, I thought possibly because of Cheltenham Races but it appears that the lack of finance is to blame. The statue of the great Stan Mortenson stood very insignificantly and small amongst all this and reminded me of that of Red Rum in Wayfarers Arcade in doing less than justice to an exceptional talent. All the safety fencing and detours necessary gave a fresh meaning to the expression ‘circuit training’ as a couple of laps of the premises were necessary before an entrance was gained.
Once inside a climb of three flights of stairs took us to the chess playing areas, a large room for the majority and a run of several executive boxes in which the leading players in the open section would play. There were trophy cases and photographs of Blackpool and International stars but as with Wolves and Molyneux of a few years ago the glory was faded with the displays going from the sublime of the early 1950s with cup finals and triumphs to the relative ridiculous celebration of a League 1 play-off victory.
The large room proved to be a little cramped for ease of access to (and more so egress from ) the individual seats, a result of the success of the congress in attracting large numbers whilst the individual rooms reminded me of hospital consulting rooms and did not allow for much in the way of spectating of games in progress. I think the actual players’ response to this particular seating arrangement was mixed. Having said that however there was a bar and small lounge area where the progress of the four leading games could be viewed by a computer link. Food was also a problem item. Only sandwiches were sold in the bar and one had to go to the outside of the building and back in another entrance to buy hot dogs or pies , junk food in keeping with the quality of some of my, and I suspect others’, chess. It was ‘olde worlde ‘ football supporter’s fare and with the soup off I rekindled my taste for hot Bovril.
On the Saturday football collided with chess and with TV screens dotted around the non playing areas it was possible to watch the Man U v Liverpool game. The result was so surprising that Rob and Andre felt it necessary to phone Alan Worthington to obtain confirmation of the final score . This was of course readily given by that notable ’red’ supporter. In the evening several of us strode into the town centre with Eddie eager to sample Indian food again. Last year’s restaurant had closed down but what turned out to be a better one was found nearby and a good evening was had by all. In addition to the eating much time was spent in trying to get a change to the proffered menu to receive whole lychees and icecream and a lengthy discussion involving our vegetarian player as to whether the Indian icecream contained gelatine. This was not helped by our charming and smiling waiter not seeming to understand either ‘vegetarian’ or ‘gelatine’. The delights of the British Legion were then given a miss in the rush to get back to watch the football highlights. Phil in his continued pursuit of the exotic had disappeared into the foothills of the Himalayas ending up dining very well at the Gurkha Restaurant and Bar near the South Shore and which he highly recommends.
And now to the chess!
Over the first 2 days Stewart progressed seemingly effortlessly to 3 out of 3 although he might say that his was the mental equivalent of the swan all calm and serene on the surface but with all the effort and wild calculations going on under the surface. His games are all available on the Merseyside Chess web site. No-one was pointless and Bob Greaves in an unfortunate pairing had beaten Andre in the first round. On Sunday morning there were mixed results but Stewart with a draw ,and Eddie, Rob and Andre with wins were in line for prizes.
By 5 o,clock Eddie had won again to get a share of 2nd place and a grading prize. The past year’s experience had been very beneficial when facing youngsters and of course the correct preparatory diet had been essential. Rob had at last found out how to play an end game properly, unlike his next door neighbour at the table ( see the Learner’s page) and also won to get a grading prize (albeit from a pool of 6 players two of whom had withdrawn) but Andre had lost. Stewart’s game was going past 70 moves and Mike Fraser seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Stewart ultimately won both game and Open Championship with the icing on the cake of a Spurs win against Villa. The other family members were less successful and it was interesting to note that Gareth did not lose against players graded higher than himself and his dad did not win against players graded lower than he.
As for myself, Peter and the other 350 players competing;
Roll on 2010
Formby v Liverpool
170 E D Williams 0-1 P Evans 161
174 G Haslinger 0-1 S Mana 159
158 R JPlatt 0.5-0.5 F Ryan 149
146 C P Fisher 1-0 DLeeming 143
151 J M Haslinger 1-0 A Morley 142
137 K Howard 1-0 S Tanyanyiwa 131
Handicap -1.5
3.5—4.0
Formby are out of the John Ripley Trophy even though they won their first round match match by 3.5 – 2.5. This was because their opponents, Liverpool 1, having been relegated last season to the second division of the Merseyside League, were entitled to 1.5 handicap points against their first division opponents and so went through by half a point. In the match, three wins by Phil Fisher, Mike Haslinger and Kevin Howard were not quite enough to gain the 4 - 2 victory for Formby to go through.
Kalmar Cup 2009-10 Round 2 29th October 2009
Ormskirk…..3 Formby….2
Roy Jackson (142) 0 1 Gareth Haslinger (w) (174)
Steve Jacquest (159) 0.5 0.5 Bob Platt (158)
Bart McHugh (141) 1 0 Mike Haslinger (151)
James Rothwell (132) 1 0 Phil Fisher (146)
Mike McGreal (126) 0.5 0.5 Kevin Howard (137)
Formby are out of the Kalmar Cup losing their second round match match by 3 – 2. The first game to finish was board 5 where Kevin conceded the draw with a blocked position with little time left on the clock. All of the other games were tight at the point when Phil turned down a draw in a slightly better position due to the match position, when suddenly Gareth under pressure found a way to checkmate his opponent. Phil's game was finely balanced and he seemed to have the advantage until his opponent managed to force a pawn through, just securing the win with minutes left. Mike always material up was under positional pressure and finally snapped giving our former member Bart the full point. The match being lost at this point Bob agreed a draw although he was ahead in position and on the clock.
BLACKPOOL MARCH 2009
A Personal note
By Mike Barrett
A year has passed and eleven Formby members headed again towards the Golden Mile and the end of the rainbow in search of treasure.
Some were going to travel daily, a couple had booked into the Travel Lodge but the most adventurous had relied on Rob’s nose for a cheap and cheerful hotel and he had got it half right. The welcome was not the warmest despite all the cards and notes of recommendation on the walls but the almost overwhelming warmth of the bedrooms suggested that management catered mainly for OAPs. My bedroom actually reminded me of home when the toilet seat swiveled to allow an almost 360 degree view of the bathroom. The breakfast menu proved basic and simple with a number of ‘ors’ rather than ‘ands’ and certainly did not offer the exotic diet for Phil with no blueberries, cranberries or even muesli, going only so far as to offer English mustard with his poached eggs on Sunday. There was however no Brass Band company.
This year’s venue was Blackpool F.C. ground in what proved to be the (run) downtown sector of the resort. That description was clear from the moment on the way in when we passed the Waterloo Hotel once the Mecca of crown green bowlers but now an empty boarded up shell of a building. It was reinforced during our walk to the ground from the hotel when passing along streets of small hotels with vacancies advertised and whose prices made our hotel appear expensive. The ground itself was surrounded by half demolished buildings and a swathe of fenced off road works and indeed the ground itself in the middle of redevelopment had seating only on 3 sides with the fourth side open to the elements but providing a clear view of any football to the occupants of the Travel Lodge over the road. All these building sites and road works were absolutely devoid of workmen on Friday afternoon, I thought possibly because of Cheltenham Races but it appears that the lack of finance is to blame. The statue of the great Stan Mortenson stood very insignificantly and small amongst all this and reminded me of that of Red Rum in Wayfarers Arcade in doing less than justice to an exceptional talent. All the safety fencing and detours necessary gave a fresh meaning to the expression ‘circuit training’ as a couple of laps of the premises were necessary before an entrance was gained.
Once inside a climb of three flights of stairs took us to the chess playing areas, a large room for the majority and a run of several executive boxes in which the leading players in the open section would play. There were trophy cases and photographs of Blackpool and International stars but as with Wolves and Molyneux of a few years ago the glory was faded with the displays going from the sublime of the early 1950s with cup finals and triumphs to the relative ridiculous celebration of a League 1 play-off victory.
The large room proved to be a little cramped for ease of access to (and more so egress from ) the individual seats, a result of the success of the congress in attracting large numbers whilst the individual rooms reminded me of hospital consulting rooms and did not allow for much in the way of spectating of games in progress. I think the actual players’ response to this particular seating arrangement was mixed. Having said that however there was a bar and small lounge area where the progress of the four leading games could be viewed by a computer link. Food was also a problem item. Only sandwiches were sold in the bar and one had to go to the outside of the building and back in another entrance to buy hot dogs or pies , junk food in keeping with the quality of some of my, and I suspect others’, chess. It was ‘olde worlde ‘ football supporter’s fare and with the soup off I rekindled my taste for hot Bovril.
On the Saturday football collided with chess and with TV screens dotted around the non playing areas it was possible to watch the Man U v Liverpool game. The result was so surprising that Rob and Andre felt it necessary to phone Alan Worthington to obtain confirmation of the final score . This was of course readily given by that notable ’red’ supporter. In the evening several of us strode into the town centre with Eddie eager to sample Indian food again. Last year’s restaurant had closed down but what turned out to be a better one was found nearby and a good evening was had by all. In addition to the eating much time was spent in trying to get a change to the proffered menu to receive whole lychees and icecream and a lengthy discussion involving our vegetarian player as to whether the Indian icecream contained gelatine. This was not helped by our charming and smiling waiter not seeming to understand either ‘vegetarian’ or ‘gelatine’. The delights of the British Legion were then given a miss in the rush to get back to watch the football highlights. Phil in his continued pursuit of the exotic had disappeared into the foothills of the Himalayas ending up dining very well at the Gurkha Restaurant and Bar near the South Shore and which he highly recommends.
And now to the chess!
Over the first 2 days Stewart progressed seemingly effortlessly to 3 out of 3 although he might say that his was the mental equivalent of the swan all calm and serene on the surface but with all the effort and wild calculations going on under the surface. His games are all available on the Merseyside Chess web site. No-one was pointless and Bob Greaves in an unfortunate pairing had beaten Andre in the first round. On Sunday morning there were mixed results but Stewart with a draw ,and Eddie, Rob and Andre with wins were in line for prizes.
By 5 o,clock Eddie had won again to get a share of 2nd place and a grading prize. The past year’s experience had been very beneficial when facing youngsters and of course the correct preparatory diet had been essential. Rob had at last found out how to play an end game properly, unlike his next door neighbour at the table ( see the Learner’s page) and also won to get a grading prize (albeit from a pool of 6 players two of whom had withdrawn) but Andre had lost. Stewart’s game was going past 70 moves and Mike Fraser seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Stewart ultimately won both game and Open Championship with the icing on the cake of a Spurs win against Villa. The other family members were less successful and it was interesting to note that Gareth did not lose against players graded higher than himself and his dad did not win against players graded lower than he.
As for myself, Peter and the other 350 players competing;
Roll on 2010