Club Championship Round 1 Draw

Club Championship Round 1

Bill Wilson v Mark Priest

David Lowcock v Graham Matthews

Eddie Glass v Dave Smith

Peter Harker v Kevin Waterman

Bernie Price v Frank Boagey

Games to be played on Monday 1^st November

Chess Ladder Update

The chess ladder has been updated with the new standings.

http://tinyurl.com/ChessLadder2011

The rules of the ladder mean all players start with 500 points.  We add or remove points for a win, loss or draw as compared with the difference in ECF rating points.

Any rumour that this point system is flawed and ECF stands for Eddie Rating Points is totally fatuous.

Hartlepool vs Guisborough 'B'

Ray Stonehouse	1 - 0	Ste Henderson
Keith Smith	1 - 0	Gordon Middlemiss
Bernie Price	1 - 0	Chris Carabine
Bill Wilson	1 - 0	Mike Hardy
Dave Smith	1 - 0	Dennis Sawdon
'Mighty' Hartlepool	5 - 0	Guisborough 'B'

Gordon finished first, i didn't see what happened but it sounded painful.

It took a while for the next game to end, I think it was Ste Henderson who had an interesting tactical struggle on board 1.

Dave and I finished around the same time, Dave was a piece up, later giving it back to get a dangerous passed pawn.

Mike was always on the back foot in our game after a dubious pawn push in the opening. I did however have to be careful that we didn't trade into a drawn ending. Mike could have put up a little more resistance at some points but once my rook hit the 7th it was over.

Bernie finished last (again) having 2 extra pawns in a rook endgame he was just able to make the time control and Chris was forced to capitulate a move or two later when the pawns reached the 7th.

Random Trivia: Hartlepool are currently top in all 3 of the Durham, Darlington and Cleveland divisions they have a team in.



The spectators are literally watching the last game.




It's all over. Handshakes exchanged and once again Hartlepool are victorious

Great Ayton 'Knights' v Hartlepool

Ian Richardson	0.5 - 0.5	Keith Smith
Joe Richardson	0.5 - 0.5	Bernie Price
Philip Whittingham	0 - 1	Bill Wilson
Alan Reed	0 - 1	Dave Smith
Alan Jefferson	0 - 1	Eddie Glass
Great Ayton 'Knights'	1 - 4	Hartlepool

I finished early, Phil fell into an old trap - we've all done it in one form or another.

Eddie was next to down his foe, a hard battle on the bottom board and a welcome return to chess for Alan.

I didn't see alot of Dave Smith's victory but he was 3rd to claim a point and seal the match result.

This only left our top 2 players Bernie and Keith. Bernie had a promising position and turned down a draw offer from Joe (By moving his queen to a square where Joe could fork it and a rook.) Joe could have won this position but offered another draw a few moves later which Bernie accepted faster than I've ever seen him move.

Keith was a piece up for 2 pawns, and offered a draw. He probably had chances to win but it didn't look quick and the match is already well over.

A good start to the campaign for the Hartlepool Heroes.

Random Trivia: Great Ayton doesn't have t-mobile coverage. But there was an open WIFI.



Bernie (Left) ponders the best way to decline a draw.



"about that draw ..."




Unrelated Cleveland Individual Match. Can't help thinking that Peter would have performed a little better had he actually eaten the peanuts.

Cleveland Chess Association Club Map

View Chess Teams in a larger map

Hartlepool Chess Club

Hartlepool Chess Club meet most Mondays @ 7pm in the Atheneum club in church street.Athenaeum Club Church Street Hartlepool TS24 7DH Tel: 01429 272112.


Here it is!

Yes it's the door hidden behind the lamppost to the left of the Pizza shop.

Rapidplay Chess Ladder Starts

The standings for this seasons chess ladder will be updated here:

http://tinyurl.com/ChessLadder2011

Eddie is the top performer so far!  All players start with 500 points and gain or lose points by playing.  I'll give some more information about how the scores work in a future message.