40 years ago
David Hardy • 23 February 2021
From Phil Platts "This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the meeting between Oldham and Stott Benham in the final of the Rochdale League Knockout final. Oldham were the division one champions, my team, Stott Benham, were the division two champions. Vastly out graded on all boards, Stott Benham went down to a gallant defeat 3.5 – 0.5. Our only half point point was gained by Paul Harrington playing against a certain Dave Hardy" Paul now works for Chess & Bridge in London
This week David was away and he left Pete and Steve in charge of the evening. The knight was quiet to begin with until we had an influx and 3 new members arrived. To keep things simple we all just remained in the hall to play friendly games which did get quite noisy at times. The tuck shop opened as soon as a queue formed (about 6:50 rather than 7:30) and Steve did a great job in upselling chocolate and suggary sweets to the children. The evening finished slightly ahead of schedule so we were able to pack up, tidy up and be ready for the caretaker to throw us out.
The match with our friends from over the hill turned out to be a fantastic success. The Standard play element was a 3.5 draw but we won the Rapid play part 10-4 with some very inexperienced players. We are now getting a team ready for the return match on 29 May.
Stuck what to do over Easter - don't worry we have Wednesday nights covered as the club remains open
This week I showed Pauls' brilliant game v Ian Oates of Glossop which featured a beautiful sacrifice to open lines to the Black King. If you want to check out the game in full look at my tuition page in the drop down.
This week I showed Pauls' brilliant game v Ian Oates of Glossop which featured a beautiful sacrifice to open lines to the Black King. If you want to check out the game in full look at my tuition page in the drop down.
We have just started a new FB page for all those in Tameside who are interested in chess - feel free to join the group which is called Tameside Chess Community
We moved back to the top of B division temporarily after beating Bolton 2's 5-1 - well done everyone on a great result
Last night I was away playing football in Spain. The fort was held brilliantly by Pete, Paul. Sacha and Tuck Man Steve although as usual they did their best to make the cupboard as untidy as possible just to upset me. Back to normal lessons next week in the Hall.
Very pleased to inform everyone that we have been given funding to buy 2 x Chess Up 2s to help our beginner and intermediate players. Although some of our first team players seem to like playing against it too.
We have recently hooked up with another junior club from over the hill and have matches planned for 16 April at home and 29th May away. - should be fun.
