News
Update at 25th november
Formby 2 drew with atticus 5 this week helped by a default win and a good end game by Eddie who forced a possibly premature resignation against an inexperienced player .
N.B. the 'new' Merseyside site is now up and running and team results for all league and cup competitions can be found on it at 'merseysidechess.org.uk. it is quite an involved site which will repay some ex
Stewart is defending his title at the Palma congress this week in a much stronger field including 28 grandmasters and he is seeded 11th. After 6 of the 9 rounds he has won 3 and drawn 3 to lie equal 8th but 13th on tie break. More detail can be found at 'chesspalma.com'
Update 11th November
At the fifth time of asking Formby Chess Club have eventually won a Warrington League Cup game. An outgraded Formby managed three wins against the oppositions two. First to finish was Eddie with a clear win as black against his opponent recently returned to chess and having an assigned grade of 120. This was followed by a win for Mike who was always in control. Allan followed with a win following the win of a piece, thereby wrapping up the match. Central's boards 1 and 4 despite arriving late managed to seal their wins before the clock fell. Formby look forward to another home game against St Helens 2 before Christmas.
Kalmar Shield First Round 10th November 2009
Formby Central
1(b) Dave Taylor (136) 0-1 Ken Johnson (156)
2(w) Mike Barrett (132) 1-0 Rob Barlow (126)
3(b) Allan Worthington (124) 1-0 Richard Hughes (123)
4(w) Rob Haseman (118) 0-1 John Blaney (120)
5(b) Eddie Patten (114) 1-0 Paul Langan (120)
Grade Total (624) (645)
Match Score 3-2
Unfortunately Formby 1 lost on Monday night 1.5 to 3.5 to Atticus and the Warrington League team lost 0.5 to 4.5 on Wednesday to St Helens.
30th October 2009
Following their first loss of the season in Division 1 to Atticus 2, see First Team, Formby are out of the Kalmar Cup, see Competeitions, 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.
27th October 2009
Formby 3rds win at Southport. With wins by Paul Sutton, Pete Willoughby, Patrick Kent and Bob Greaves, and Eddie Patten still playing as I left, Formby thirds managed to win their second match (out of 3), next match Skelmersdale 2nds at home on November 17th. Well done lads!
Update at 25th October 2009
Congratulations to Stewart for winning outright the Unive (prev Essent) chess open tournament with an unbeaten 7.5 out of 9 and beating 3 grandmasters and drawing with 2 on the way.
Formby 1 have opened their season in division 1 by beating Prescot 1 away.
Formby 2 are finding live difficult in Div 3 but beat EEC after losing to Skem 1 and Waterloo 2
Formby 3 may suffer from their previous top players being required for the 2nd team but beat Prescot 2 before losing to Hoylake 2.
18th October 2009
Formby’s Wirral League side proved a match for Chester first’s, one of the strongest teams in the top division. Wins from Mike Barrett and Peter Willoughby brought the scores level with just Kevin Howard’s game in prgress. Both players were in dire time trouble and finally agreed a draw with just seconds left on the clocks and the match was drawn 2.5–2.5. In the Merseyside league, Formby thirds had to default a board and lost 2-4 to Hoylake seconds, Andre Eagle being Formby’s only winner. The 2-3 defeat of Formby’s Warrington league team at Winwick was hard fought with Mike Barrett winning on top board.
Formby………2.5 Chester 1……2.5
D Williams 0-1 C Doran
P Fisher 0-1 R Bryant
K Howard 0.5-0.5 P Watson
M Barrett 1-0 J Nemcek
P Willoughby 1-0 J Sutcliffe
Hoylake 2…….4 Formby 3……..2
H. Griffiths 1-0 P. Sutton
C. Hughes 0.5-0.5 E. Patten
J. Hanson 0.5-0.5 P. Willoughby
A. Clarke 0 -1 A. Eagle
J. Davis 1-0 B. Greaves
R. Ledgard 1-0 Default
Winwick B …..3 Formby ………2
1 M. Cook 0-1 MBarrett
2 J Brierley 0.5-0.5 R Haseman
3 C Mather 1-0 E Patten
4 B Bedworth 0.5-0.5 P Willoughby
5 F Skidmore 1-0 M Jacques
11th October 2009
Formby are out of the John Ripley cup 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.
Formby 1…..3.5 Liverpool 1….2.5
D Williams 0 1 P Evans
G Haslinger 0 1 S Mana
R Platt 0.5 0.5 F Ryan
P Fisher 1 0 D Leeming
M Haslinger 1 0 A Morley
K Howard 1 0 S Tanyanyiwa
Formby’s Warrington league team made a losing start to their campaign with a close loss by 3 – 2 away to Winwick despite a good win on top board by Mike Barrett..
4th October 2009
Following their promotion last season, Formby Chess Club first team opened their campaign in the first division of the Merseyside Chess League with a fine away victory over Prescot Chess Club. Formby players won three of the eight games, the finest being by Dave Williams on top board, playing the Black pieces. Mike Haslinger and Paul Jordan also gained the full point in a 4.5 – 3.5 result. There were mixed results for Formby’s other Merseyside league sides, with the seconds, heavily outgraded on all six boards, losing 4.5-1.5 to Skelmersdale firsts in Division 3 and the newly-promoted thirds producing a fine result in Division 4 by beating Prescot seconds by 3.5 – 2.5, courtesy of wins from skipper Paul Sutton on Board 1, Peter Willoughby and Andre Eagle. Formby’s Wirral league team, who play their ‘home’ matches at new Brighton Cricket Club, and are in the top division of that league, suffered an unexpected defeat after a long journey into Wales, losing 4 – 1 to a Buckley Mold side whom they outgraded on the top four boards.
Prescot 1 ….. 3.5 Formby 1…… 4.5
K Sartain 0 D Williams 1
J Ormrod 0.5 G Haslinger 0.5
M O’Mahoney 0.5 R Platt 0.5
G Houghton 0.5 P Fisher 0.5
G Chandler 0 M Haslinger 1
D Al Daini 1 K Howard 0
D Moore 0 P Jordan 1
E Amos 1 M Barrett 0
18th September 2009
Everybody at Formby Chess Club send their condolences to John Littlewood's family and friends. John was a member of Formby Chess Club for a while, and had many close friends here. We were privileged to join in a one minutes silence for John at our recent match at Skelmersdale. He will be sadly missed. An excellent obituary can be found on the Merseyside site
Update at 2nd September 2009
Welcome everybody to the new season which kicked off with the traditional President’s (and treasurer’s) evening.
13 players from all teams took part and after 5 rounds Dave Williams won with 4 closely followed by Mike Haslinger, Andre Eagle and Mike Barrett with 3.5. The exotic prizes of wine, lager and tiramisu presented by Phil were well received.
The Merseyside website is up and running with all fixtures and admin details for the new season, which may be a difficult one for the club, and team captains will be anxious to have the cooperation of all members in getting full teams out and fulfilling all requirements. Pete Brocklebank is taking a rest this season but Duncan McNab has rejoined albeit (only at present hopefully ) on a social rather than competitive basis.
The first fixtures are:
Wirral League team: Wednesday 9th September lost 1-4 at Buckley/Mold
Formby 2: Wednesday 16th September at Skelmersdale
Formby 1: Tuesday 22nd September at home to Widnes
Formby 3: Tuesday 22nd September at home to Prescot 2
Kalmar Shield: Tuesday 29th September at home to Central
Formby 2: Tuesday 29th September at home to Waterloo 2
Warrington League Team: Monday 5th October at Winwick
John Ripley: Tuesday 6th October at home to Liverpool.
On Saturday 19th September the club plays host to the new Merseyside Junior Chess Congress with the first games starting at 10am. The club committee ask that as many members as possible make themselves available at times during the day from 9am onwards to help ensure the success of this venture and of course to enjoy the chess played.
Update at Sunday 5th July
Stewart finished equal first with 3 others at Hilversum this last week scoring 6 1/2 out of 9 and unbeaten. He played 5 GMs beating one . I could tell you more if I could speak Dutch as the congress website did not do a full English translation.
Results of the Skelmersdale Rapidplay Congress May 2009 kindly provided by Joe Dilworth
OPEN 1st KEITH ARKELL 232 5
2nd MITCHELL BURKE 163 4.5
3rd MIKE SURTEES 174 4
3rd MARTYN JACOBS 162 4
MAJOR 1st SIMON WOODCOCK 147 5.5
2nd NEIL COWARD 137 4
2nd MIKE O'MAHONEY 126 4
MINOR 1st THOMAS FIELDING 122 5
1st DEAN HARTLEY 121 5
2nd RACHAEL CASS 119 4
2nd ATHAR MEHMOOD 116 4
2nd GEOFF LAURENCE 115 4
2nd STEVEN JONES 104 4
2nd PHILIP COUGHLIN ungraded 4
NOVICE 1st LEO TSOI 82 6
2nd MATTHEW WALSH 86 5
3rd CLINTON HALSALL 90 4.5
3rd JOHN HIPSHON 86 4.5
3rd DAVE DUNNE 86 4.5
87 Players in Total
The Warrington League AGM was in some disarray after the usual formalities of electing new Officers. Judy Brown is the new Match Secretary, Martin Cooksey the returning ECF Grading Officer, all other positions remain the same.
In the Division that matters for us, Northwhich C have resigned, Wigan Knights B have entered, leaving six clubs in the division, Culcheth-Lymm C, Formby, St Helens C, Skelmersdale and Winwick B being the other teams leaving only ten games this season.
The grading bands for the Kalmar Cup and Shield have been raised to 800 and 650 respectively and the Grappenhall WDCL dispute has still not been resolved by the Executive Committee leaving one of the countries elite junior chess clubs out of the competitions this year. On the one occasion we played Grappenhall, although we were soundly beaten, we found them courteous, pleasant and good competitors, and I think that it will be a shame if the ongoing dispute results in them not participating in the WDC competitions again.
The grading for the 400 League has been raised to 500.
Update on Monday 22 June
Ken Wilkinson died last week at home in the company of his family and having made some positive decisions in the last few months about his illness.
He was a valued member of the club over several years ever willing to play for any teams and often at the last minute and so played for all teams in all leagues. He also helped Alan in his secretarial duties with his enthusiasm for computer action.
Update at 26th May
Bob Platt is Club Champion again (for the twelfth time) after beating Mike Haslinger in the Final after a replay.
Stewart’s demo/talk to club members on Thursday 28th May at RAVENMEOLS went very well, he took us through one of his games from the recent Benidorm tournament, guiding us through some of the mysteries of the opening, middlegame and endgame. For those members who missed this , shame on you, you missed a treat. Thank you very much Stewart.
The AGM was held on Tuesday 2nd June in the Royal Hotel in Liverpool Road , and was followed by a Balti meal for those hardy souls who ventured forth. The highlights of the
AGM include presentation of trophies and medals including Merseyside Second Division and Fifth Division Championship trophies. Stewart Haslinger was unanimously elected as Honorary Vice- President of the Club, following his continued participation at the club following his FIDE International Grandmaster title. Officers of the club remain essentially the same except for Mike Barrett officially becoming webmaster after being increasingly involved in the activity throughout the year. Bob Greaves has agreed to become his deputy.
Don't forget the weekly English language weekly chess programme http://www.worldchessnews.com/ and for a bit of light relief the skittles room http://www.theskittlesroom.com/
It is really great to know that so much information about chess is freely available on te internet.
The reformed Golf society tournament has taken place and details are on the social page.
Bob Platt beat Mike Barrett in the semi final replay and will now meet Mike Haslinger in the final.
Update at 15-30 Wednesday 8th April
The 1st team has done it!!!
With a resounding 6.5-0.5 win against Southport the team has won the 2nd Division and will face the challenge of Div 1 (yet again) next season. The score reflected the relative gradings but not the effort that was necessary and the closeness of individual games. The Haslinger family outing proved very successful and I hope is the first of many in the 1st team. By winning Mike has a share in the Leading Player award closely followed by Gareth who would surely have been involved had he played a couple of matches more . Skipper Bob Platt is also on the leader board and is to be congratulated for his very active part in the team’s success.
The Challengers’ Competition is over. Congratulations to Rob Haseman who beat Patrick Kent in the final.
John McLardy, a life member of the club and onetime 1st team captain and treasurer has been poorly following a fall and is now in residential care in Formby. He is another whose enthusiasm for chess is matched by that for LFC.
Formby 2 drew with atticus 5 this week helped by a default win and a good end game by Eddie who forced a possibly premature resignation against an inexperienced player .
N.B. the 'new' Merseyside site is now up and running and team results for all league and cup competitions can be found on it at 'merseysidechess.org.uk. it is quite an involved site which will repay some ex
Stewart is defending his title at the Palma congress this week in a much stronger field including 28 grandmasters and he is seeded 11th. After 6 of the 9 rounds he has won 3 and drawn 3 to lie equal 8th but 13th on tie break. More detail can be found at 'chesspalma.com'
Update 11th November
At the fifth time of asking Formby Chess Club have eventually won a Warrington League Cup game. An outgraded Formby managed three wins against the oppositions two. First to finish was Eddie with a clear win as black against his opponent recently returned to chess and having an assigned grade of 120. This was followed by a win for Mike who was always in control. Allan followed with a win following the win of a piece, thereby wrapping up the match. Central's boards 1 and 4 despite arriving late managed to seal their wins before the clock fell. Formby look forward to another home game against St Helens 2 before Christmas.
Kalmar Shield First Round 10th November 2009
Formby Central
1(b) Dave Taylor (136) 0-1 Ken Johnson (156)
2(w) Mike Barrett (132) 1-0 Rob Barlow (126)
3(b) Allan Worthington (124) 1-0 Richard Hughes (123)
4(w) Rob Haseman (118) 0-1 John Blaney (120)
5(b) Eddie Patten (114) 1-0 Paul Langan (120)
Grade Total (624) (645)
Match Score 3-2
Unfortunately Formby 1 lost on Monday night 1.5 to 3.5 to Atticus and the Warrington League team lost 0.5 to 4.5 on Wednesday to St Helens.
30th October 2009
Following their first loss of the season in Division 1 to Atticus 2, see First Team, Formby are out of the Kalmar Cup, see Competeitions, 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.
27th October 2009
Formby 3rds win at Southport. With wins by Paul Sutton, Pete Willoughby, Patrick Kent and Bob Greaves, and Eddie Patten still playing as I left, Formby thirds managed to win their second match (out of 3), next match Skelmersdale 2nds at home on November 17th. Well done lads!
Update at 25th October 2009
Congratulations to Stewart for winning outright the Unive (prev Essent) chess open tournament with an unbeaten 7.5 out of 9 and beating 3 grandmasters and drawing with 2 on the way.
Formby 1 have opened their season in division 1 by beating Prescot 1 away.
Formby 2 are finding live difficult in Div 3 but beat EEC after losing to Skem 1 and Waterloo 2
Formby 3 may suffer from their previous top players being required for the 2nd team but beat Prescot 2 before losing to Hoylake 2.
18th October 2009
Formby’s Wirral League side proved a match for Chester first’s, one of the strongest teams in the top division. Wins from Mike Barrett and Peter Willoughby brought the scores level with just Kevin Howard’s game in prgress. Both players were in dire time trouble and finally agreed a draw with just seconds left on the clocks and the match was drawn 2.5–2.5. In the Merseyside league, Formby thirds had to default a board and lost 2-4 to Hoylake seconds, Andre Eagle being Formby’s only winner. The 2-3 defeat of Formby’s Warrington league team at Winwick was hard fought with Mike Barrett winning on top board.
Formby………2.5 Chester 1……2.5
D Williams 0-1 C Doran
P Fisher 0-1 R Bryant
K Howard 0.5-0.5 P Watson
M Barrett 1-0 J Nemcek
P Willoughby 1-0 J Sutcliffe
Hoylake 2…….4 Formby 3……..2
H. Griffiths 1-0 P. Sutton
C. Hughes 0.5-0.5 E. Patten
J. Hanson 0.5-0.5 P. Willoughby
A. Clarke 0 -1 A. Eagle
J. Davis 1-0 B. Greaves
R. Ledgard 1-0 Default
Winwick B …..3 Formby ………2
1 M. Cook 0-1 MBarrett
2 J Brierley 0.5-0.5 R Haseman
3 C Mather 1-0 E Patten
4 B Bedworth 0.5-0.5 P Willoughby
5 F Skidmore 1-0 M Jacques
11th October 2009
Formby are out of the John Ripley cup 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.
Formby 1…..3.5 Liverpool 1….2.5
D Williams 0 1 P Evans
G Haslinger 0 1 S Mana
R Platt 0.5 0.5 F Ryan
P Fisher 1 0 D Leeming
M Haslinger 1 0 A Morley
K Howard 1 0 S Tanyanyiwa
Formby’s Warrington league team made a losing start to their campaign with a close loss by 3 – 2 away to Winwick despite a good win on top board by Mike Barrett..
4th October 2009
Following their promotion last season, Formby Chess Club first team opened their campaign in the first division of the Merseyside Chess League with a fine away victory over Prescot Chess Club. Formby players won three of the eight games, the finest being by Dave Williams on top board, playing the Black pieces. Mike Haslinger and Paul Jordan also gained the full point in a 4.5 – 3.5 result. There were mixed results for Formby’s other Merseyside league sides, with the seconds, heavily outgraded on all six boards, losing 4.5-1.5 to Skelmersdale firsts in Division 3 and the newly-promoted thirds producing a fine result in Division 4 by beating Prescot seconds by 3.5 – 2.5, courtesy of wins from skipper Paul Sutton on Board 1, Peter Willoughby and Andre Eagle. Formby’s Wirral league team, who play their ‘home’ matches at new Brighton Cricket Club, and are in the top division of that league, suffered an unexpected defeat after a long journey into Wales, losing 4 – 1 to a Buckley Mold side whom they outgraded on the top four boards.
Prescot 1 ….. 3.5 Formby 1…… 4.5
K Sartain 0 D Williams 1
J Ormrod 0.5 G Haslinger 0.5
M O’Mahoney 0.5 R Platt 0.5
G Houghton 0.5 P Fisher 0.5
G Chandler 0 M Haslinger 1
D Al Daini 1 K Howard 0
D Moore 0 P Jordan 1
E Amos 1 M Barrett 0
18th September 2009
Everybody at Formby Chess Club send their condolences to John Littlewood's family and friends. John was a member of Formby Chess Club for a while, and had many close friends here. We were privileged to join in a one minutes silence for John at our recent match at Skelmersdale. He will be sadly missed. An excellent obituary can be found on the Merseyside site
Update at 2nd September 2009
Welcome everybody to the new season which kicked off with the traditional President’s (and treasurer’s) evening.
13 players from all teams took part and after 5 rounds Dave Williams won with 4 closely followed by Mike Haslinger, Andre Eagle and Mike Barrett with 3.5. The exotic prizes of wine, lager and tiramisu presented by Phil were well received.
The Merseyside website is up and running with all fixtures and admin details for the new season, which may be a difficult one for the club, and team captains will be anxious to have the cooperation of all members in getting full teams out and fulfilling all requirements. Pete Brocklebank is taking a rest this season but Duncan McNab has rejoined albeit (only at present hopefully ) on a social rather than competitive basis.
The first fixtures are:
Wirral League team: Wednesday 9th September lost 1-4 at Buckley/Mold
Formby 2: Wednesday 16th September at Skelmersdale
Formby 1: Tuesday 22nd September at home to Widnes
Formby 3: Tuesday 22nd September at home to Prescot 2
Kalmar Shield: Tuesday 29th September at home to Central
Formby 2: Tuesday 29th September at home to Waterloo 2
Warrington League Team: Monday 5th October at Winwick
John Ripley: Tuesday 6th October at home to Liverpool.
On Saturday 19th September the club plays host to the new Merseyside Junior Chess Congress with the first games starting at 10am. The club committee ask that as many members as possible make themselves available at times during the day from 9am onwards to help ensure the success of this venture and of course to enjoy the chess played.
Update at Sunday 5th July
Stewart finished equal first with 3 others at Hilversum this last week scoring 6 1/2 out of 9 and unbeaten. He played 5 GMs beating one . I could tell you more if I could speak Dutch as the congress website did not do a full English translation.
Results of the Skelmersdale Rapidplay Congress May 2009 kindly provided by Joe Dilworth
OPEN 1st KEITH ARKELL 232 5
2nd MITCHELL BURKE 163 4.5
3rd MIKE SURTEES 174 4
3rd MARTYN JACOBS 162 4
MAJOR 1st SIMON WOODCOCK 147 5.5
2nd NEIL COWARD 137 4
2nd MIKE O'MAHONEY 126 4
MINOR 1st THOMAS FIELDING 122 5
1st DEAN HARTLEY 121 5
2nd RACHAEL CASS 119 4
2nd ATHAR MEHMOOD 116 4
2nd GEOFF LAURENCE 115 4
2nd STEVEN JONES 104 4
2nd PHILIP COUGHLIN ungraded 4
NOVICE 1st LEO TSOI 82 6
2nd MATTHEW WALSH 86 5
3rd CLINTON HALSALL 90 4.5
3rd JOHN HIPSHON 86 4.5
3rd DAVE DUNNE 86 4.5
87 Players in Total
The Warrington League AGM was in some disarray after the usual formalities of electing new Officers. Judy Brown is the new Match Secretary, Martin Cooksey the returning ECF Grading Officer, all other positions remain the same.
In the Division that matters for us, Northwhich C have resigned, Wigan Knights B have entered, leaving six clubs in the division, Culcheth-Lymm C, Formby, St Helens C, Skelmersdale and Winwick B being the other teams leaving only ten games this season.
The grading bands for the Kalmar Cup and Shield have been raised to 800 and 650 respectively and the Grappenhall WDCL dispute has still not been resolved by the Executive Committee leaving one of the countries elite junior chess clubs out of the competitions this year. On the one occasion we played Grappenhall, although we were soundly beaten, we found them courteous, pleasant and good competitors, and I think that it will be a shame if the ongoing dispute results in them not participating in the WDC competitions again.
The grading for the 400 League has been raised to 500.
Update on Monday 22 June
Ken Wilkinson died last week at home in the company of his family and having made some positive decisions in the last few months about his illness.
He was a valued member of the club over several years ever willing to play for any teams and often at the last minute and so played for all teams in all leagues. He also helped Alan in his secretarial duties with his enthusiasm for computer action.
Update at 26th May
Bob Platt is Club Champion again (for the twelfth time) after beating Mike Haslinger in the Final after a replay.
Stewart’s demo/talk to club members on Thursday 28th May at RAVENMEOLS went very well, he took us through one of his games from the recent Benidorm tournament, guiding us through some of the mysteries of the opening, middlegame and endgame. For those members who missed this , shame on you, you missed a treat. Thank you very much Stewart.
The AGM was held on Tuesday 2nd June in the Royal Hotel in Liverpool Road , and was followed by a Balti meal for those hardy souls who ventured forth. The highlights of the
AGM include presentation of trophies and medals including Merseyside Second Division and Fifth Division Championship trophies. Stewart Haslinger was unanimously elected as Honorary Vice- President of the Club, following his continued participation at the club following his FIDE International Grandmaster title. Officers of the club remain essentially the same except for Mike Barrett officially becoming webmaster after being increasingly involved in the activity throughout the year. Bob Greaves has agreed to become his deputy.
Don't forget the weekly English language weekly chess programme http://www.worldchessnews.com/ and for a bit of light relief the skittles room http://www.theskittlesroom.com/
It is really great to know that so much information about chess is freely available on te internet.
The reformed Golf society tournament has taken place and details are on the social page.
Bob Platt beat Mike Barrett in the semi final replay and will now meet Mike Haslinger in the final.
Update at 15-30 Wednesday 8th April
The 1st team has done it!!!
With a resounding 6.5-0.5 win against Southport the team has won the 2nd Division and will face the challenge of Div 1 (yet again) next season. The score reflected the relative gradings but not the effort that was necessary and the closeness of individual games. The Haslinger family outing proved very successful and I hope is the first of many in the 1st team. By winning Mike has a share in the Leading Player award closely followed by Gareth who would surely have been involved had he played a couple of matches more . Skipper Bob Platt is also on the leader board and is to be congratulated for his very active part in the team’s success.
The Challengers’ Competition is over. Congratulations to Rob Haseman who beat Patrick Kent in the final.
John McLardy, a life member of the club and onetime 1st team captain and treasurer has been poorly following a fall and is now in residential care in Formby. He is another whose enthusiasm for chess is matched by that for LFC.