Monday Evening At Fenton

Fenton 'B' beat Division 3 leaders and previously unbeaten Newcastle 'C' by 3-1. Despite this result Newcastle 'C' stay top of the division.

Rob Taylor  1  Sam Onions  0
Steve Emmerton  0.5  Watson Fuller  0.5
Derrick Wallace  0.5  Pete Shaw  0.5
Mike Smith  1  Paul Clapham  0

Fenton 'D' were beaten 2.5 - 1.5 by Cheddleton 'E'. This result sends Cheddleton to the top of Division 4.

Geoff Yates  0.5  Phil Birks  0.5
Neal Davies  0.5  Alex Cartlidge  0.5
Carl Mustafa  0.5  Paul Shelley  0.5
Roy Hammerseley  0  Jacob Cartlidge  1

Holmes Chapel Website Hijacked

The Holmes Chapel website - www.holmeschapelchess.co.uk - appears to have been hijacked by another organisation. Watch this space for more information on when this problem is resolved.

U140's Go Down Against Leicestershire

The Staffordshire U140 team were beaten 10-6 by Leicestershire yesterday. Click here to view the full score card.

Friday Night At Cheddleton

Fenton conceded their Intermediate (U130) Cup match at Cheddleton last night as they were unable to raise a team. The holders will now be away to Holmes Chapel in the semi-final.

In Division 4, Cheddleton 'F' beat Alsager 'D' by 2.5 - 1.5 by virtue of a default on Board 5.

Alastair McFadden  1  Neville Jones  0
Jack Healings  0.5  Andrew Parker  0.5
Jacob Boswell  0  Richard Martin  1
Daniel Holland  1  Default  0

Alsager Whitewashed

An Alsager team tasted defeat for the first time this season when their 'B' team were beaten 5-0 by Newcastle 'B' in Division 2 last night.


Martyn Harris  1  John Booth  0
Ian Jamieson  1  Robert Kermeen  0
Sam Onions  1  Jack Savas  0
Peter Shaw  1  Oliver Horrocks  0
Nicholas Wright  1  Richard Martin  0

Heavy Defeat For The U160's At Notts

The Staffordshire U160 team went down by 11.5 - 4.5 against a much stronger Nottinghamshire side on Saturday, with the Staffordshire team being outgraded on every board except one. Click here to see the full score card.

Stafford Into Next Round Of Intermediate Cup

Stafford moved into the next round of the Intermediate U130 Cup
with a 3.5 - 1.5 win at Meir last night.

Ray Rhodes  0  Peter Evans  1
Tony Cooling  0  Denis Nesbitt  1
Stuart Green  0.5  James Topp  0.5
Mike Judd  1  Sumat Raisinghaney  0
Abby Sergeant  0  David Barker  1

Monday Night Double For Fenton

A good night for the home club as Fenton won both their matches without losing a single game.

In Division 2, Fenton 'A' kick started their season with a narrow 3-2 win over Holmes Chapel Rooks. Draws were the order of the day in this match but a win on Board 5 gave Fenton the points.

John Amison  0.5  Jon Blackburn  0.5
Rob Taylor  0.5  Malcolm Roberts  0.5
Steve Emmerton  0.5  Martin Gill  0.5
Derrick Wallace  0.5  Paul Clifford  0.5
Geoff Yates  1  Joe Morris  0

In Division 4, Fenton 'D' scored their first points of the season with a 3-1 win over Newcastle 'E'.

Neal Davies  0.5  Pete Shaw  0.5
Robert West  0.5  Paul Clapham  0.5
Peter Tideswell  1  Hamid Shabani  0
Joe Orsolics  1  Scott McGowan  0

Friday Night Result From Cheddleton

The Cheddleton 'D' and 'E' teams played each other in Division 4 last night, with the 'E' team coming out on top by 3-1.

Philip Birks  0  Alastair McFadden  1
Alex Cartlidge  1  Jack Healings  0
Paul Shelley  1  Jacob Boswell  0
Jacob Cartlidge  1  Samuel Beardmore  0

Wednesday Evening Results

Newcastle 'A' opened their Dision 1 account with a 3.5 - 1.5 home win over Holmes Chapel Kings.

Alan Paling  0.5  Jonathan Blackburn  0.5
Barry Jones  1  Patrick Bennett  0
Ian Jamieson  0.5  John Turner  0.5
Robbie Coats  1  Andrew Raeburn  0
Sam Onions  0.5  Ian Bates  0.5

Newcastle 'D' remain bottom of Division 3 with no points from 3 matches following a 4-0 home defeat by Cheddleton 'C'.

Martyn Harris  0  Roger Edwards  1
Paul Clapham  0  Roger Walker  1
Steven Cooper  0  David Hallen  1
Derrick Jones  0  Frank Bruce  1

Kidsgrove are another Division 3 team who are still pointless after 2 matches following a 3-1 home defeat by Stafford.

Chris Ford  0  Ken McNulty  1
Julian Cook  0  Andrew Leadbetter  1
Steven Nixon  1  Peter Evans  0
David Johnson  0  Sumit Raisinghaney  1

Knights Take The Points In South Cheshire Derby

Holmes Chapel Knights beat near neighbours Macclesfield away by 3-2 to take an early lead in Division 2.

Anthony Soames  0.5  Andrew Raeburn  0.5
John-Paul Taylor  0  Ian Chester  1
Phil Cattermole  0.5  Ben Scattergood  0.5
Raymond Pomeroy  0  John Hicks  1
Anthony Brough  1  George Scattergood  0

Monsieur de Fault Re-Appears

Monsieur de Fault appears to have been transferred from Alsager to Holmes Chapel Pawns this season !!  After their 3 man team against Alsager last last week they followed up with a 2 man team at home to Newcastle 'C' last night, resulting in a 3-1 defeat. The 2 players that did play gave a good account of themselves against higher graded opponents, drawing their respective games on the top 2 boards. This result leapfrogs Newcastle above Alsager at the top of the division.

George Scattergood  0.5  Sam Onions  0.5
Joseph Morris  0.5  John Day  0.5
Default  0  Watson Fuller  1
Default  0  Richard Cantliff  1

Mixed Fortunes For Fenton

There were mixed fortunes for Fenton in last night's matches.

Fenton 'B' were narrowly beaten 2.5 - 1.5 at home by Alsager 'C'. This continues Alsager's unbeaten start to the season and they take over as leaders of Division 3.

Tony Holdford  0  John Booth  1
Rob Taylor  0.5  John Smith  0.5
Steve Emmerton  0  Neville Jones  1
Derrick Wallace  1  Andy Barker  0

Fenton 'C' extended their lead at the top of division 4 with a 4-0 away win at Meir 'C'

Ray Rhodes  0  Geoff Yates  1
Tony Cooling  0  Derek Whitehurst  1
Mike Judd  0  Jason Plant  1
Abby Sergeant  0  Mike Smith  1

Fenton Flying The Flag For North Staffs

Fenton have decided to fly the flag for North Staffs by entering a team in the National Minor Club Championship. Any other clubs wishing to enter a team in any of the various sections can find more information at the top right hand side of this page.

Terriers Open County Season With A Win

The Staffs Teriers County U120 team, under the leadership of new team Captain, Denis Nesbitt, started their Midland Counties Championship season with a 7-5 win at home to Nottinghamshire. Click here to view the full score card.  Next up for the Terriers is another home match against our southern neighbours, the Staffs Bulldogs, on 12th November.

Cheddleton Win The Clash Of the 'D' Teams

Cheddleton 'D' took the points in Division 3 last night with a 3-1 win over Newcastle 'D'.

John Yee  0  Martyn Harris  1
Colin Abell  1  Steven Cooper  0
Karol Grzybowski  1  Derrick Jones  0
Paul Shelley  1  Scott McGowan  0

Wednesday Evening Results From Newcastle

Newcastle 'B' were beaten 3-2 at home by Macclesfield in Division 2.


Alan Paling  1  Peter Caulkett  0
Ian Jamieson  0  John-Paul Taylor  1
Sam Onions  0  Philip Cattermole  1
Nicholas Wright  1  Marc Jouannet  0
Prabhath Amarasinghe  0  Richard Murphy  1


Newcastle 'E' and Cheddleton 'E' played out a 2-2 draw in Division 4.


Peter Shaw  0.5  Philip Birks  0.5
Hamid Shabani  1  Paul Shelley  0
Steven Cooper  0  Frank Bruce  1
Scott McGowan  0.5  Jacob Cartlidge  0.5

Full Score Card From Meir 'C' v Alsager 'D'

The full score card from the Meir 'C' v Alsager 'D' match, reported in an earlier post, is as follows :


Tony Cooling  0  Alan Thomason  1
Stuart Green  0  John Smith  1
David Hackney  0  Oliver Horrocks  1
Robert Perry  0.5  Richard Martin  0.5

Alsager 'C' Held To A Draw By 3 Man Pawns

Despite defaulting the game on board 4 Holmes Chapel Pawns held Alsager 'C' to a draw in Division 3 last night. The Alsager website will tell you that the Pawns were extremely unlucky not to actually win the match !!

Brian Birchall  1  George Scattergood  0
Jack Savas  0  David Price  1
Richard Martin  0  Paul Clifford  1
Oliver Horrocks  1  Default  0

Alsager 'D' Continue The Club's Fine Start

Alsager 'D' emulated their 'A','B' and 'C' teams by winning their first match of the season away to Meir 'C' in Division 4 last night.  Score card not yet available but will be published asap.

Full County U140 Scorecard

Please click here to see the full score card from Saturday's win against Derbyshire.

Fenton 'C' Continue Winning Start In Division 4

Fenton 'C' continued their winning start to the season with a 3.5 - 0.5 win 
over Fenton 'D' last night.


Rob Taylor  0.5  Steve Emmerton  0.5
Geoff Yates  1  Peter Tideswell  0
Jason Plant  1  Roy Hammersley  0
Mike Smith  1  John White  0

County U140's Kick Off With A Win

The Staffordshire U140 team made a good start to their county campaign with a narrow 8.5 - 7.5 win over Derbyshire at Newcastle on Saturday afternoon. The full score card will be published here as soon as I have it.

All Square At Cheddleton

Cheddleton 'C' and Cheddleton 'D' shared the points in their Division 3 opener on Friday evening.


Roger Edwards  0.5  John Yee  0.5
Roger Walker  0  Colin Abell  1
David Hallen  1  David Shiers  0
S Ali Arshad  0.5  Andrei Mihai  0.5

New Website For Meir

Meir are the latest club to launch their own website.  Best of luck to Abby Sergeant and everybody else at Meir involved in this new venture. Please click here to view the site.

Newcastle 'C' Take Early Lead In Division 3

Newcastle 'C' scored their 2nd win of the new season to go 
top of Division 3 with a 2.5 - 1.5 victory over Kidsgrove.


Sam Onions  1  Chris Ford  0
John Day  0.5  Julian Cook  0.5
Watson Fuller  1  Simon Elliott  0
Richard Cantliff  0  Dave Johnson  1

Win Double For Alsager

Alsager are another club making a good start to the new season with
home wins over Macclesfield by 3 -2 in Division 2 and Stafford 'B ' 
by 2.5 - 1.5  in Division 3.


Kamil Zak  0  Anthony Soames  1
Klaudia Zak  0.5  Geoff Laurence  0.5
Alan Thomason  1  Phil Cattermole  0
Gordon Parker  1  Marc Jouannet  0
Brian Birchall  0.5  Alan Sime  0.5


Neville Jones  0.5  Ken McNulty  0.5
Steve Brown  1  Andrew Leadbetter  0
Dick Martin  1  Sumit Rasingham  0
Oliver Horrocks  0  David Barker  1

Cheddleton Too Strong For Meir In Division 4 Opener

A strong Cheddleton 'E' team proved too good for Meir 'B' in their 
opening Division 4 fixture at Meir Royal British Legion last night
and ran out 3.5 - 0.5 winners.

Tom Healey  0  P Birks  1
Ray Rhodes  0.5  Alex Cartlidge  0.5
Mike Judd  0  Paul Shelley  1
Eddie Burke  0  Jacob Cartlidge  1

Bobby Fischer Against The World

Just a reminder that the Bobby Fischer film is being shown at the Stoke Film Theatre next Tuesday 11th October starting at 7:45 pm. Ticket details can be found by clicking here.

Fenton Off With A Double

Fenton got their season off to a good start with wins for both
their 'B' and 'C' teams last night..

Fenton 'B' took the points in Division 3 with a 2.5 - 1.5 win at Holmes Chapel Pawns.

Ben Scattergood  0  Rob Taylor  1
George Scattergood  1  Steve Emmerton  0
Paul Clifford  0.5  Stuart Hull  0.5
Ellen Scattergood  0  Derrick Wallace  1

Fenton 'C' started the defence of their Division 4 title with a 3.5 - 0.5 win against Newcastle 'E'.

Geoff Yates  1  Pete Shaw  0
Carl Mustafa  0.5  Paul Clapham  0.5
Jason Plant  1  Hamid Shabani  0
Mike Smith  1  Scott McGowan  0

Graham Humphreys Presentation

David Anderton, President of the Staffordshire Chess Association, made a
presentation to Graham Humphreys on 18^th September to mark the appreciation of the County for Graham’s invaluable contribution to the organisation of chess both locally and nationally.

The presentation was of a malt whisky which Graham chose and they were able to reminisce about the past and look at some newspaper cuttings about Graham.

Graham has just completed 60 years of service to chess. His first position was as a member of the Birmingham Easter Congress Committee which he joined at the request of Ritson Morry in 1951.

The main theme of Graham’s work has been the promotion of Junior Chess. He was Staffordshire’s Secretary of Junior Chess between 1951 and 2010 (latterly jointly with Traci Whitfield). Under his captaincy the Staffordshire Juniors reached national finals and were runners up on two occasions. He was Midland Counties Chess Union Director of Junior Chess between 1954 and 1999 and again between 1999 and 2010. He was a member of British Chess Federation Junior Committee between 1955 and 1975 and his roles included serving as a Junior Selector and Manager of England’s Glorney Cup team in the 1950’s.  He also founded the Wolverhampton Schools Chess League in the mid 1950’s and the League continued thereafter for some 40 years.

In addition he has held many positions organising tournaments at all levels including the British Lightning team finals and has served as a delegate to the British Chess Federation on behalf of the Midland Counties Chess Union.

This is an unparalleled length and breadth of service for which many generations of players are indebted to Graham.

Opening County U-140 Fixture

The Staffs U-140 County team start their season with a home match against Derbyshire this Saturday 8th October at Newcastle Chess Club.

Alsager Off To A Flyer

Alsager got their Division 1 season off to a flying start with a 3-2 win away to Holmes Chapel Kings.

Patrick Bennett  0  Simon Hood  1
John Turner  1/2  Kamil Zak  1/2
Andrew Raeburn  1  Ben Zitha  0
Ian Bates  0  Julian Kirk-O'Grady  1
Malcolm Roberts  1/2  John Booth  1/2

Knights Kick Off With A Win

Holmes Chapel Knights started their season in Division 2 with a win over the Rooks by 3 1/2 - 1 1/2.

Malcolm Roberts  1/2  Andrew Raeburn  1/2
Martin Gill  1/2  Anthony Roberts  1/2
Conor Gay  1/2  Ian Chester  1/2
Paul Clifford  0  Ben Scattergood  1
Joseph Moris  0  George Scattergood  1

Newcastle 'C' Win The Division 3 Derby

Newcastle 'C' won the first match of the new season beating Newcastle 'D' by 2 1/2 - 1 1/2 in Division 3.

Martyn Harris  1  Sam Onions  1
Paul Clapham  1/2  John Day  1/2
Steven Cooper  0  Watson Fuller  1
Derrick Jones  0  Richard Cantliff  1

New Captain For The Staffs Terriers

Denis Nesbitt of Stafford Chess Club has taken over as Captain of the Staffs Terriers County U-120 team this season.  Anybody who is interested in playing for the Terriers this season should contact Denis on 07791 770035 or by email at d.nesbitt@ntlworld.com.

The first fixture is at home to Nottinghamshire on Saturday 15th October and is being played at Newcastle Chess Club with a 1:00 start.

More Chess In The Pub

Robert Bellin has contacted me to let me know that there will be another series of his excellent free Chess In The Pub lectures at the Black Country Arms in Walsall. These will all be held on a Tuesday evening, starting at about 7:45, on the 18th October, 15th November and 13th December.

The word Lecture makes these evenings sound very formal which they most definitely are not. They are fun and very informal and involve a lot of involvement with the audience, as well as Robert giving very entertaining talks. As somebody who attended the last three that he held I would recommend that you make every effort to attend - you will find it very worthwhile.

South Potteries Chess Challenge

Fenton beat Meir by 4 1/2 - 3 1/2 in the annual South Potteries Chess Challenge making it the 3rd year in a row that they have won the match.

Steve Hill   0  Alex Richardson  1
Clive Ferry  1/2  Rob Taylor  1/2
Tom Healey  1/2  John Amison  1/2
Mike Judd  0  Derrick Wallace  1
Tony Cooling  1  Jason Plant  0
Stuart Green  0  Mike Smith  1
Dave Hackney  1/2  Geoff Yates  1/2
Bob Perry  1  John White  0

Final Result From The South Cheshire Shield

Holmes Chapel claimed 2nd place in the South Cheshire Shield, beating Kidsgrove by 2 1/2 - 1 /2 in the final match of the competition.

Chris Ford  0  Ben Scattergood 1
Julian Cook 1/2  George Scattergood 1/2
Steve Nixon 1  Dave Price  0
Dave Johnson 0  Paul Clifford 1

Cold Off The Press !!

I've been away on holiday for the last couple of weeks so some of the news items that follow may be slightly out of date and you may have heard of them already. But, just in case you haven't, I'll publish them anyway.