Our 2017 AGM was held on the 31st of August and it proved to be quite entertaining . The Club had quite a successful season . We also had the opportunity to finally present the awards for the previous season Division 2 Championship team.
Kevin Rowden and Dave PattersonStan Johnson and Dave Patterson
Kevin Rowden and Assanga GunasekeraMike Savin and Ron Evers TrophyChris Sayers and Ron Evers TrophyBrendan Glasper with Ron Evers Trophy
Alan Blackburn with Ron Evers TrophyDave Patterson presenting Durham Division 2 Championship Trophy to Eddie CzestochowskiDave Patterson and Paul Bielby Seniors NCCU Champions 2017
Brian Tpwers Club Champion 2017 presented by Mike SavinColin Campbell with Dave
Last season with the help of all the club members South Shields won the Durham League Second Division , retained the Ron Evers Rapid Play Trophy for the second year in Succession ,won the Northern Counties Chess Union Seniors Trophy and are in the final of the Summer Knockout Plate . Chris Sayers won the Durham Congress Minor Competition and Dave Patterson won the Tony Mezzo Trophy for best performance by a Durham League Player in the Major . It is going to be a major challenge to better this in 2018 .
South Shields Chess Club have in recent years fielded a team in the Durham league as well as three teams in the Northumberland League. Captained by Eddie Czestochowski, the Durham team operates a rotational policy in an effort to give a wider opportunity to members throughout the club. The team was usually picked based on availability, on venue and on who our opponents were. This season we utilized 12 players who all contributed very well to our overall success in winning the Division B Championship. This year the 12 teams in the Durham League played an all play all basis through the first part of the season . South Shields finished in 6th Place which qualified them in the play off for the B Division Trophy. This put us into a knockout situation where wins against Gateshead and Durham were required to secure the B Division Championship .
Congratulations to the team consisting of Paul Bielby , Brian Towers , Yaroslav Kolodiy , Dave Paterson , Colin Campbell ,Chris Sayers , Jim Riddle , Ben Wood ,Piotr Niedbal,Dominik Schwarz , Asanga Gunasekera, Eddie Czestochowski . Thank you all for your efforts .
The following is a report submitted by the indefatigable Paul Bielby . A stalwart of the Chess Scene in the North of England and regular player for South Shields for a number of years now. He can been here holding the Club Championship Trophy he won in 2015. You can also see some examples of his other passion , his paintings on the wall.
Until I retired from teaching 5 years ago I had been concentrating so hard on Junior Chess I had never thought very much about Senior Chess. Sure I knew that some tournaments offered a small prize for the best veteran, but that was all.Retiring allowed me to play more chess for myself. I won the Senior (over-60) competition at the Palaeochora Tournament in Greece, came back home and won the first NCCU Senior Championship for the newly instituted John Littlewood Cup for over-60s. I was hooked on Senior Chess. FIDE stepped in and altered their definition of Senior players so that their Senior Competitions were played in two age-groups, over-50 and over-65.The ECF followed FIDE into running their Senior Championship in two separate sections. I played in the Over-65s and shared top place at the British Championships at Warwick in 2015. Senior Chess, which has been big in Germany for some years, is starting to spread. My favourite Malta tournament has now introduced a Senior Section, sticking to the German pattern of Over-60.
What about Senior Chess in the North of England? The NCCU still runs the John Littlewood Cup competition subsumed within its Individual Championship. In addition it runs a Seniors competition for Club teams. I persuaded a number of my South Shields colleagues to join me in entering the competition this year.
A word about the NCCU Senior Club competition. It is for teams of four from one club. Their average age must be over 55 and no individual can be younger than 35. It is run as a knock-out competition. In the event of a drawn match the first tie-break is board count. To justify this the team with white on board 1 has black on boards 2 and 3 and white again on board four. If board count is equal the team with the higher average age wins. This year’s competition attracted 7 entries, South Shields were given a bye in the first round – straight through to the semi-final. There we met Darlington who had beaten Beverley in R1, and beat them 3-1. In the final we were due to meet Heywood from the Manchester area.
Leeds City Centre Chess Club arranged for us to use their club room for the match and on 22nd July the teams lined up for the match.
South Shields v. Heywood
Joe Watson v Martyn Hamer
Paul Bielby v Paul Timson
Brian Towers v Bill O’Rourke
Eddie Czestochowski v David Almond
The Captains tossed for colours and South Shields were White on boards 1 and 4; Heywood on boards 2 and 3. South Shields were on average by several years the older team.
My game against Paul Timson was the first to finish. He had the better of the opening and pressed hard, but swapping off pieces enabled me to hold things and a draw was agreed with a rook and seven pawns each left on the board. At this stage it looked quite possible that all four games might be drawn, allowing us to win on average age!
Joe, who has been a tower of strength for South Shields since his return to chess, was the next to finish with a showy checkmate at the end.
A horrible blunder. 31. Re2 is safe enough. Now White forces mate.
32… Nf6!
Black resigns – there is no defence.
This put us one up but, being on top board also meant board count would give us the match with only one draw from our final two games needed. It was not going to be easy though. Eddie , the junior in the side aged 54 ,had been a pawn ahead in his game, but got himself into serious time trouble and succumbed.
All square again and all depended on Brian. Could he get a draw?
After which point – with both players down to about 2 minutes each – nobody wrote down any moves. The game lasted for several more moves, White blundered away his bishop and resigned just before his clock fell.
So we won the match by 2½-1½. Desperately close; desperately exciting, Age and experience won out in the end. We really enjoyed our experience of Senior chess and very much hope that other clubs in the North-East will join in next year .
Our thanks also go to Dave Patterson who was part of the team that beat Darlington in the previous Round . This was as always a club effort by South Shields.
Paul Bielby accepting the Seniors Trophy from Bryan Bainbridge
South Shields have fielded a team in the Northern Counties Chess Union Seniiors competition and recently progressed to the final . They are now due to play Heywood in early July . We wish them the best of luck .
Paul Jenkins Alan Todd Stan Hawes Ian Maughan Ray Wynarczyk Arthur Tarn
It is always nice to unearth an image from times gone by. Both Ray and 1an are still very much both active chess players . Very smartly dressed and an excellent bunch of fellas by all accounts.
Simon McGuinness a long time member of our club handed this Memorial Shield back and I thought it would be a nice to record its history on our website . I asked other members for their recollections and received this wonderful piece from Ian Maughan and I share it with you in its entirety below .
When I first joined the club, back in the early Seventies, round about the same time as Stan Johnson and the much-missed Late Stan Hawes, it was in the process of moving from the old Marine & Tech (now South Tyneside College) to the Y.M.C.A. (no singing, please!) building in Burrow Street, just off Fowler Street. At that time, Eddie Jenkins was club secretary, a dapper, Noel Coward-like, well-presented gentleman, and very much in charge.
This was in the glow of the famous Fischer-Spassky Match; clubs were thriving and chess was on an upward spiral and almost front-page news. I think it may have been my first night there when a photographer from the Gazette arrived to take a photo of a very young Simon McGuinness and Eddie Jenkins – not quite as young – with some competition trophy – it may have been the Friend’s Bowl, it slips my memory? After Eddie died, his son Paul took over as secretary and ran the club successfully for many years. In those days, it was a real honour to be asked to play for one of the teams. I believe someone called Williamson played top board for the first team back then, Lance Oliver may have been on board two, I’m not sure?
Later for several years, SSCC regularly had a stall at the annual Flower Show at Gypsy’s Green. One year Geoff Capes turned up to tow a heavy truck along the prom. I remember on one occasion I attempted the slightly less strenuous feat of taking on eight opponents (a mixture of club volunteers and interested passers-by) in a simul. I don’t recall how I did. Probably not that well. But the idea was to attract public interest. We did usually pick up one or two new members through promos like that.
Sometime later, the club moved to St Hilda’s Song-Room and Arthur Tarn, took over as secretary. Smartly-turned out like his predecessors, decidedly one of the old school, and a stickler for formality, Arthur’s main claim to fame had to be his near-legendary tobacco pipe, which he’d take out at the start of a game and proceed to tamp the bowl meticulously with a small penknife and slowly but surely coax it into life. This procedure couldn’t be rushed. Not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the longer it took, the more I think he preferred it, sometimes not actually getting around to lighting it till late on in the middlegame! Or not all, if checkmate was reached first. Once he did manage to begin puffing away, I always thought he gave the distinct impression of being like Inspector Maigret deliberating over a particularly baffling murder case – and not actually playing chess at all! On cold winter nights at St Hilda’s chess was played in near Sub-Arctic conditions with attendees (I nearly said members) almost freezing to death over a sluggish, yet hard-fought Petroff Defence or a teeth-chattering Lasker’s Trap. Under Arthur’s efficient command, committee meetings were held regularly in the Citizens Advise Bureau offices, then above a shop in King Street. And true to form, specially typed documents were prepared for pretty much every eventuality. All three of these loyal club secretaries are owed a massive debt of gratitude and looking back their contribution to running “The Cannyfolk Chess Club” was invaluable and greatly appreciated. Certainly, well-deserving of a thank-you shield for all eternity.
Eddie Czestochowski v Chris Sayers and Ben Wood v Jim Riddle
Matches to be played by 26th may 2017. Further details on Club notice board
Club Championship current situation .
Mike Savin and Colin Campbell narrowly missed their chances to upset the form book by losing to Ian Maughan and Brian Towers respectively . The remaining Quarter final games .
Ben Wood v Dave Patterson and Eddie Czestochowski v Kevin Rowden .
South Shields finished in a creditable 6th Place in the Durham League and now face GATESHEAD on the 20th of April , with home advantage , in the play off for the B Division Trophy . The winner of this game will then play either Durham City Canons or Darlington Locos in the final game .
We are expecting a very tough game , we played them earlier in the season with the result going to GATESHEAD 3 -2 .
South Shields Chess Club entered two teams in the 2016 Ron Evers Memorial Team Rapid Play Competion . Winners of the previous year competition both teams started well and with both teams winning their opening games in Round 1 and 2 , they lie first and second and face the prospect of playing each other in Rounds 3 and 4.
Whether you're a total beginner or a seasoned player, there's a place for you at South Shields Chess Club. Come along for a few games, meet friendly faces, and discover a community that loves the game as much as you do.
