Rugeley Chess Club

A strong team was fielded to take on Warley as we tried to solidify our position at the top.

Nikoli forced a great draw on board 1 limiting his opponents chances to a minimum.

Both Matt & Bill on boards 2 & 3 were pretty comfortable in their games, and were able to convert their superior positions in the endgame.

Rob on board 4 despite dictating play and opening up his opponents castled kingside, fell to a sucker punch of a move which left him no option but to resign a few moves later. But it was yet another team win that keeps us in the hunt for the Div 3 trophy with only 2 games left to play now.

Rob Fell
WDCL Div 3 Captain

Confusion reigned initially for this match as nobody was quite sure if their full team was going to turn up. In the end, Bushbury managed to fill 3 boards and in a contest that matched top against bottom of the league the outcome was very pleasing if not a little predictable.

Matt secured the tempo early on playing board 1

Rob & Cath each went a piece up respectively on boards 2 and 3.

Luke was left frustrated with not having an opponent to face but hopefully this will resolve itself in our next home match. Well done everybody, fantastic result!

Rob Fell
WDCL Div 3 Captain

After a streak of recent losses for us in this divison. We gathered up another fantastic team to try and get revenge.

B.1- Nikoli Walker Vs Steven Gaskell. Nik had a great game pushing his opponent in a grinding endgame where only one bad move by Steven let Black in with the pass pawns. White graciously resigned. 1-0

B.2- Matthew Carr Vs Steve Whatmore. Agressive chess from both players as both sides were attemtping to create chances on the enemy king. Steve was the pawn up but with Matt Knowing his rooks pawn end game managed to tie Black to defening and could not promote. 0.5-0.5

B.3- William Hulley Vs John Staniforth. A masterful display from Bill proving that solid chess is always a good idea against the stronger player. Bill held his own against John and the end game was very equal and so a draw was agreed. 0.5-0.5

B.4- Luke Sullivan Vs Alex Pready. Pieces swapped for a rematch from last years div 1 game. Luke took advantage of an early innacuracy and advaced connected pass pawns to infiltrate. With only 40 seconds left Luke had an overwhelming mating net and Black resigned. 1-0

Final match score 3-1to Rugeley. Thanks to all players and good luck to Rushall in future games.

Luke Sullivan
Cannock Div 1 Captain

A tight affair between 2 teams near the top of the league.

Nic uncharacteristically got his Queen trapped earlier on in the game, and despite fighting on had no option to resign as his opponent got on top.

Matt achieved another fine win on board 2 slowly applying the pressure on his opponent and threatning to win a piece in the middle game.

Rob managed to go a pawn up on board 3 after a Queen swap, and that passed pawn then became decisive in how the game panned out.

On board 4 Bob somehow managed to snatch a defeat from the jaws of victory by moving his rook on the one square that resulted in him going a piece down rather than a piece up - extremely unlucky.

So, a fair result in the end that sent Rugeley top of the league for now.

Rob Fell
WDCL Div 3 Captain

A fantastic away victory was achieved here which I think caught everybody by surprise.

Nic sensed some opportunity's within his opponents pawn structure on board 1 and duly won.

On board 2 Bill played some steady chess & kept everything tight, a draw was the fair outcome.

On board 3 Rob went a pawn up after an opening trap and grinded out a win.

Board 4 ebbed and flowed but Tony finally was able to win some decisive pawns in the endgame and put the icing on the cake.

A nearly perfect team performance by everybody, well done!

Rob Fell
WDCL Div 3 Captain

We welcomed St Georges to our club well aware of the threat they posed with them being top of the league. A strong team was selected to try and combat this challenge.

B.1- Nikoli was pitted against Mark Tallis and despite the early game looking solid for both sides, opposite side castling provided a strong attack for black. Added to some risky pawn pushes for white, a well-deserved victory was ensured for the Rugeley man.

B.2- Matt was playing against the Scandinavian defence opted by Derek Stockhall. Again though, opposite side castling proved the difference as Matt launched an onslaught down his opponents kingside and his passed pawn proved decisive. Another great win.

B.3- Bill's game against John Lunn ended in another draw quickly agreed. While the position initially looked even, was an opportunity missed by black to press his advantages home as his opponents position fell apart?

B.4- Rob up against Ken Wise was given a schooling in how to push home a small advantage. Carelessly losing a centre pawn early on, this proved decisive as each forced piece swap resulted in white's position falling apart. A poor display by the Captain but a well deserved victory for the St Georges man.

So Rugeley manged to win the match 2.5 to 1.5. An important win that keeps the team on course for the title, next up Stourbridge!

Rob Fell
WDCL Div 3 Captain

With a total rating of 7100, our strongest rated team so far set out for a Division 1 match against the formidable Rushall.

B.1- Nikoli Walker Vs Steve Whatmore. Nik found a clever sacrifice and traded a knight for 3 pawns. It did look as if he was going to get an advantage with a possible new queen but Steve found the sacrifice right back and the game fizzled into a draw. 0.5-0.5

B.2- William Hulley Vs Arapu, Cosmin-Constantin . Bill was giving it his all and found himself in an equal end game. He only had to make one slight innacuracy for his higher rated opponent to promote. 0-1

B.3- Rob Fell Vs Steven Gaskell. The black position looked very fragile as he gave up the kings bishop and grabbed the exchange. Rob tried to surround Blacks king and threaten nasty tactics but unfortunatly gave up a knight in the process, a valient effort none the less. 0-1

B.4- Luke Sullivan Vs Alex Pready. Pirc from luke, he looked to attack White early on into the opening, With such a long time control Black left a hole which White exploited. Black was frozen and so white forced mate.0-1

Final match score 0.5-3.5 to Rushall. Thanks to all players and good luck to Rushall in future games.

Luke Sullivan
Cannock Div 1 Captain

We Travelled to Tamworth for the first round of the Chase Trophy knockout. We anticipated that this was going to be a massive challenge for all boards.

It was certainly a shock for us all when shown the rating difference we would face, showing no fear the team tried with all their stregnth to over come the challenge.

Catherine was holding her own against a 2000 stregnth but got respectfully outplayed in the end game. Luke went the exchange up but couldnt hold onto a draw being out rated 200 points. Tony was fighting only a pawn down and looked to be holding. His opponent just forced the issue with a better king. Dan on 4, made a statement and forced a draw preventing it from being a white wash.

Final match score 0.5-3.5. Well done to Tamworth and good luck in the Final

Luke Sullivan
Cannock Div 1 Captain

We travelled to Telford for our 2nd match of the campaign hoping to build on the previous win.

B.1- A very tight match ensured between Nikoli & Toby Neal. But approaching the endgame Nik managed to get a positional stranglehold and made his advantage pay by forcing a nice mate.

B.2- Bill was up against Roger Brown and again this game looked evenly matched. So much so, that a draw was agreed very early on in the match.

B.3- Rob managed to capitalise on his opponent Richard Thompson not developing his pieces quickly enough, and a forced mate ended up on the cards.

B.4- Bob playing against Ryan Baron managed to get a very closed position early on and this looked very much like a stalemate. Unfortunately for Bob, Ryan managed to break through down his castled king side, while many of his other pieces couldn't get into the game to defend the forced mate.

So Rugeley managed to win the match 2.5 to 1.5. Many thanks to all those that played & provided lifts for the match.

Rob Fell
WDCL Div 3 Captain

We travelled over to Walsall to start our 2023-24 season in Division 3 with two new debutants in the team. This year we have high hopes of gaining automatic promotion, and hopefully enjoying ourselves in the process.

B.1- One of our new players Nikoli was up against Andrew Perry and initially it looked a very evenly matched contest. However during the middle game, Nikoli started to gain control of the open files which proved decisive with the inevitable pawn push. A sturdy win for white.

B.2- Rob was pitted against Mike Groombridge and due to his opponents slightly slow development was able to slowly carve out a win by increasing the pressure on his uncastled king.

B.3- Bob was finally playing as white against David Friend. This was an interesting game which locked up in the middle quite quickly with regards the pawn structure. Neither opponent wanted to risk trying to force the win and leaving themselves exposed so a respectful draw was agreed.

B.4- Another new debut for Dan Turner against Victor Brown who played remarkably well to stay in the game despite being a material swap down. Dan managed to force it into the end game and a satisfying draw was reached.

Rob Fell
WDCL Div 3 Captain

After Long last and much anticipation, Rugeley enter the first division 1 game of the season.

B.1- Nikoli Walker Vs Benjamin Farman. This was the final game to end on the evening. After a pieceful game the position consisted of same coloured bishops and equal pawns. Unfortunatly with only the slightest of miscalculations Nikoli was forced to resign. 0-1

B.2- Matthew Carr Vs David Hulme. Matt had some outstanding development and looked to take advantage of blacks double pawn, yet his higher rated opponent held on and fizzled the position into an equal end game, so a draw was agreed. 0.5-0.5

B.3- Robert J Edgar Vs Adam Routledge. kings Indian from Bob seemed solid untill he admitidly fell into a pin which proved to give Adam extra pawns. The pass pawn could not be stopped thus black had to Resign. 0-1

B.4- Luke Sullivan Vs David Fone. London From Luke but David knew his lines well preventing whites Knight on e5 causing too much Grief. However in the haste of battle and the self admitted loss of concentrating, Black bundered 2 Rooks.1-0

Final match score 1.5-2.5 to Lichfield. Thanks to all players and good luck to Lichfield in future games.

Luke Sullivan
Cannock Div 2 Captain

Its with a heavy heart I write this, as our final match of the season was a must win encounter to secure any chance of securing our league status in division 2. Had we just simply run out of time though?

B.1- Bill played admiringly well against A.Singh, and even swapped his queen for a rook to gain tempo and potential winning possibility's. Sadly he miscalculated that his opponent could defend the onslaught and ultimately resigned.

B.2- Matt continued his fine rich vein of form by matching his opponent J.Turner all of the way. This game was extremely tight with neither player being on top, another well earned draw.

B.3- Rob up against P.Maybury started to make inroads and initially looked like going a piece up. A few timely checks and repositioning of his opponents pieces though flipped the game over and he actually went a piece down. Despite getting it back in the end game, Rob had to resign with being 3 pawns down.

B.4- Luke continued to play solid steady chess against a worthy opponent in J.Fahy. The end position was fascinating with neither player being able to push for the win because it would have rendered them vulnerable. A classic drawn end game.

Rob Fell
WDCL Captain

We welcomed Tamworth for the final of the chase cup. Myself, Luke and Rory took up the challenge, as did Tony who stepped in for cath late notice.

B.1- Luke Sullivan Vs Mesesan, Mircea-Marius. Massivley outrated luke had nothing to loose. Luke allowed Miercea to attack on the king side while he focused on the open file against whites king. Black left all the tention possible to complicate and With both sides threatening massive advantage it was not clear who was winning so white accepted a draw. 0.5-0.5

B.2- Tony Meakin Vs Peter Oliver. A cagey start with Peter having a strong pawn centre. Black had the pawn advantage on the Queen side while Tony had controlled the kingside. Neither could convert their advantage. 0.5-0.5

B.3- Rory Melough Vs Andrew Taylor. After a nervy start both players developed well. After 20 moves the game was well balanced. Black had some counterplay, both going for mate. In time pressure Rory noticed his opponent had mate in 2 and had to resign. 0-1

B.4- James Perks Vs Patrick Kelly. Matirial was even untill move 25 where black had a bishop on both rooks. James had a decent time advantage and was hoping to pressure Patrick into a mistake. One tiny error from James and Black found a checkmate. 0-1

Final match score 1-3. Thanks to all players and congratulations to Tamworth on winning the Chase cup.

James Perks
Chase Trophy Captain

We travelled with high hopes on the back of our recent win, and the journey was relatively straightforward. The pattern of the journey did in parts mirror the outcomes of the games, but not quite what we had hoped for!

Board 1 - Our Bill was up against a tough opponent in Tony Hickey, but equipped himself to the task really well. Steady play in the opening enabled both to mobilise both their rooks on opposite open flanks, and after a little more play a well deserved draw was agreed.

Board 2 - Bob was also up against a strong opponent in Andy Lake, and found himself a pawn down after miscalculating a positional move in the opening. This proved decisive after the pieces eventually got swapped off, leaving a bishop v knight ending. A tight but unfortunate loss for Bob

Board 3 - Matt was playing his usual "gung ho" chess against Keith Thomas and with good reason - his results lately have certainly been on the upturn. After sacrificing a rook for a bishop and 4 pawns, his opponents end game position crumbled adding yet another magnificent win to his belt.

Board 4 - Rob went into this game with huge confidence. Despite dictating play most of the game, and having a huge time allowance, he carelessly allowed his opponent Kevin Spillane an opportunity to attack his King and fell into the trap of trying to play even quicker to run the depleted clock down. As soon as his Queen was forked against the King he duly resigned.

So an opportunity was missed to claim a vital win, and all of the Captain's experience proved that on the day sometimes other factors can come into play

Rob Fell
Wolverhampton Div 2 Captain

In the treacherous weather we travelled to Tamworth for our much anticipated final game of the cdcl season.

B.1- Matthew Carr Vs Mesesan, Mircea-Marius. Faced with a much higher rated opponent Matt prepared for blacks opening. White played it perfectly with a beautiful rook sacrifice forcing the ending with opposite colour bishops. 0.5-0.5

B.2- Catherine Hiley Vs Andrew Taylor. Super aggresive Cath with the advantage from the start. White couldnt keep up with the pressure and lost a rook, Cath may have let some counter play back in and had to give the extra rook back for the 2 pass pawns. 0.5-0.5

B.3- Luke Sullivan Vs Patrick Kelly. Luke bashed out the trompowsky attack and had to push for the win for the team. After 3 draw declines from black, luke found a nasty tactic in his opponents serious time pressure forking the queen also giving checkmate in 6. 1-0

B.4- James Perks Vs Dale Finnegan. James played a nice solid defence giving his opponent plenty of trouble. James had a super advantage and thought he had a draw. White had an unstoppable pass pawn in the end game. 0-1

We completed the season undefeated throughout. Thank you to all Rugeley players involved. Final match score 2-2. Thanks to all players and good luck to Tamworth in future games.

Luke Sullivan
Cannock Div 2 Captain

Fresh from our previous victory the other week, we anticipated a tougher examination against Mercia A. A narrow loss was genuinely what we expected.

On board 1 - Bob who was initially playing on board 2 had to step into the breach at the very last minute to deputise for Bill. A tough game soon ensured against Andrew McCumiskey. Despite playing extremely well and getting his main pieces down to 2 rooks against a queen, sadly he was picked off in the end game as his opponents' other pieces were more mobile

On board 2 - Matt had been practising playing black all day but unfortunately that went out of the window also. He did remember some advice from Cath though regarding his opponent Steve Tyler previously and went all out attack from move one! He was rewarded with a stunning victory which was never ever in doubt

On board 3 - Rob gave up 2 pawns in the opening to ensure he had the tempo with black. Unfortunately, as the game wore on and pieces were swapped off, he found himself struggling in the end game just to hang on! Thankfully his opponent Will Vout's clock was virtually down to the last minute, so was able to snatch a draw from the clutches of defeat

On board 4 - A vast exchange of pieces in the English opening lead to what looked like an equal game after both queen's came off. Luke was winning on the Queens side, but Barry Smith had good compensation with very active Rooks on the Kings side. A draw was offered and accepted as a fair outcome.

So, we exceeded expectations and managed to earn a well-deserved draw. Maybe Rugeley can escape relegation yet?

Rob Fell
Wolverhampton Div 2 Captain

We travelled to St George's with slightly dampened spirits as results recently hadn't been going our way. Maybe with lower expectations the pressure would now be off?

On board 1 - Bill against Mark Tallis played a standard opening and quickly went the exchange down to gain an attacking tempo. The game fizzled out into a well deserved draw through a perpetual check.

On board 2 - Matt tried out a new weapon against D4 - The Wade Defence! However this should have been renamed to Attack, as against John Lunn he proceeded to demolish his opponent quite comfortably.

On board 3 - Rob soon got into a commanding position against Xabier Gutierrez, and it was only a matter of time before his defence was breached and a resignation soon followed.

On board 4 - Tony carved out little gains against Derek Stockhall resulting in a pawn up in the end game. However he found it increasingly difficult to transfer this into a win, and a draw was reluctantly agreed.

This resulted in Rugeley finally winning a match 3-1, and all the players were relieved that the long anticipated wait was over. Next up - Mercia A!

Rob Fell
Wolverhampton Div 2 Captain

New Division Contenders Walsall came well prepared but would they break our streak.

B.1- Rob Fell Vs Mike Groombridge. The time advanage for Rob proved crucial. After opposite side castling Whites conservative play left him a tempo down, eventually Blacks position became crushing.1-0

B.2- Luke Sullivan Vs Victor Brown Jr. White made a complete mess of the opening and had to fight to complicate. Blacks exchange of pieces cost him his positional advantage and Lukes H pawn storms to promotion. 1-0

B.3- Tony Meakin Vs Peter Nixon. Black played extremley agressivley gaining a huge amount of space. White made a go for gold on Tonys king. With black threatening mate Alex found a perpetual.0.5-0.5

B.4- James Perks Vs Alex Mcarthy. White went a pawn up very early on. James had a devestating attack on the weak G7 square and the attack proved to be winning. Black resigned as mate was evenvetable. 1-0

Final match score 3.5-0.5 to Rugeley. Thanks to all players and good luck to Walsall in future games.

Luke Sullivan
Cannock Div 2 Captain

Would our quaint little club still go undefeated this season. Mercia came hoping for an epic night.

B.1- Catherine Hiley Vs Steve Tyler. What a game to spectate! This could have gone either way but Steve played a "cracking move" and threatened mate multiple ways. 0-1

B.2- Luke Sullivan Vs Andrew Snell. A very complicated middle game with whites knight plonked on D5.Luke had the advantage and maybe could have pushed on but it fizzled out into a drawn end game. 0.5-0.5

B.3- Steve Heath Vs Chris Sallard. Black had a clear winning chance from a very early point, white was struggling to hold on to equality. Steves passed pawns would claim the win. 1-0

B.4- Rory Melough Vs Ethan Patel. Yet again Rory takes every opportunity to smother his opponent. A very agressive check mate was in the centre of the board before you could say check! 1-0

Final match score 2.5-1.5 to Rugeley. Thanks to all players and good luck to Mercia in future games.

Luke Sullivan
Cannock Div 2 Captain

Our club traveled in high spirits to local club Stafford in the hopes of retaining our current undefeated streak in the cannock league.

B.1- William Hulley Vs Nefyodov, Pavel. Bill had the advantage of 2 open rook files while his opponent had 1. White kept the tention well untimatley equalising againt his higher rated opponent. 0.5-0.5

B.2- Catherine Hiley Vs Kenneth Mcnulty. Caths super aggressive style was given the test as kenneth managed to win the exchange. Black tried to give all she could but succumbed to a mate in the centre of the board. 0-1

B.3- Luke Sullivan Vs Steven Luff. London Vs the Caro was the choice of openings, black played well but misplaced his knight, eventually blundering too much material for the end game (2 Rooks against Queen and Bishop). 1-0

B.4- Ryan Wood Vs Peter Evans. Ryan was just too strong for good sportsman peter as he quickly found himself a pawn down. Ryan used the advantage to eventually pin whites rook to the king and get a serious winning chance. 1-0

Final match score 1.5-2.5 to Rugeley. Thanks to all players and good luck to Stafford in future games.

Luke Sullivan
Cannock Div 2 Captain

We travelled to Lichfield with high expectations of getting a result after fielding a near to strength full team.

Bill got a magnificent draw on board 1 against David Hulme which appeared to be a very locked up position.

Bob was unlucky to lose in an end game to Adam Routledge on board 2, as being a pawn down ultimately proved decisive.

Matt had a cagey affair on board 3 against Milenko Walner and managed to hold on for a draw with discaplined piece play.

On board 4 I had a rook swapped for a knight and bishop plus tempo, which enabled me to give the piece back later on as I went for the jugular. All in all, the 2-2 was highly commendable against a very strong team.

Rob Fell
Wolverhampton Div 2 Captain

We anticipated that this match would be tough so knew that we all had to play well to stand any chance.

Bob on board 1 put up a great fight against Joseph Friar despite being severely out-graded, but as with playing these strong players it always comes down to the fine margins and ultimately lost in the end game.

A similar story unfolded on board 2, same circumstances and result but a stellar performance nether the less from Matt against John Wrench.

On board 3 I managed to edge a close game (no pun intended) against David Close, and on board 4 Luke managed to hold Alex Eaton to a draw which looked like an extremely tight contest.

Despite losing 2.5 to 1.5, I thought the team played brilliantly and can hold their heads up high.

Rob Fell
Wolverhampton Div 2 Captain

Our Neighbouring Club Lichfield came to us for our much anticipated CDCL match following our recent draw against their A team

B.1- Robert Fell Vs Brian Homewood. White had admitted that he had not prepared for robs opening. After loosing a rook early on the attempts to mate blacks uncastled king was futile and brian resigned. 1-0

B.2- Luke Sullivan Vs Travis Hackett. Very aggressive opening from travis over extended his centre pawns. luke took advantage of a pin to blacks queen. While in an equal end game travis sacrifised his rook for promotion but mis-calculated. 1-0

B.3- Tony Meakin Vs David Fone. This was a very steady game where neither side wanted to be too agressive and open the position. Tony sacrifised a pawn for 2 pieces and tried to make something happen yet david used the extra matirial to win. 0-1

B.4- Rory Melough Vs Fred Biles. Rory had a firm grasp on the position from start to finish. his pressure kept mounting up around blacks king stuck on its home square. A clever mate from rory explioted this weakness. 1-0

Final match score 3-1. Thanks to all players and good luck to lichfield in future games.

Luke Sullivan
Cannock Div 2 Captain

We travelled to Rushall in anticipation of another closely fought match and we were not to be disappointed (apart from the result!).

Bill had a tough game on board 1, and although had 2 Rooks against a Queen in the end-game unfortunately lost on time.

Myself playing board 3 found the position locking up, and despite trying to make headway pushing for the win ending up with a perpetual draw.

Tony was doing exceptionally well on board 4 playing promising aggressive moves, until a rush of blood encouraged him to play G5 in front of his castled King and his position soon collapsed.

On board 2 Bob played pantomime villain to perfection ruining Steve Wilcox's 1,000 game by getting a well-deserved win. Thank you to all that played last night, now onto the next match!

Rob Fell
Wolverhampton Div 2 Captain

We headed into this match with reasonable optimistic expectations as quite a strong side was fielded. After narrowly losing in our last outing, we hoped that it would be all "white" on the night! As things go, that's pretty much what happened too.

Board 1- Pavel Nefyodov v Bill Hulley (1-0) Bill was up against an extremely tough opponent in Pavel and precision play would be the key. Unfortunately, a decision not to castle early on came back to haunt black, as white manoeuvred a commanding bishop and restricted Bill's options of utilising all of his pieces.

Board 2- Matt Carr v Andrew Mowat (1-0) Matt was the school swot in this game, as he admitted beforehand that he had done his homework on his potential opponent earlier and it worked a treat! Playing with controlled aggression, Matt carved out attack after attack and eventually was able to produce a delightful mate in one with no escape.

Board 3- Ken McNulty v Cath Hiley (1-0) This game could have been billed as "attack" against "attack" as both players went on the offensive in a bid to claim the win. The game at times was like a pendulum, swinging from white having the tempo to black. Unfortunately for Cath it came down to white having a more active knight against black's fairly inactive bishop, and the advancing pawns proved decisive.

Board 4- Rob Fell v Peter Evans (1-0) Both players were developing quite nicely until black decided to go extremely aggressive with his castled king's pawns. Lots of gaps soon appeared in blacks defence resulting in white winning comfortably.

So, the final result was a 2-2 draw, which was certainly an improvement on our last result. Many thanks for everybody that played and now we have something to build on against our next opponent Rushall B.

Robert Fell
(WDCL captain)

Board 1- Robert J Edgar Vs yuri Slobodyuk. Bob Sacrified a pawn for some serious innitiative but always faced the problem of not being able to collect one back. The queens were here there and everywhere in the end game. Yuri had 1 minute left to Bobs seconds. With no attempt from either side to win Black was a true sportsman and offered the draw. 0.5-0.5

Board 2- Luke sullivan vs Michael Hoare. The slav Defence from luke saw the queens exchanged early. Mike tried to give Black a bad bishop but it also made his own bishop very bad. Luke found a tactic in what looked like an equal position and eventually trapped Mikes knight. A few moves later luke blundered the piece back and the position became dead drawn. 0.5-0.5

Board 3- Steven P Heath Vs Ray Sawyer. White played the scotch gambit, with both players out of book it was an instinctual game. Steve got the move order wrong and couldnt hep but misplace his pieces. Ray applied the pressure and steve resigned. 0-1

Board 4- James Perks Vs Phillip Sykes. James played cautiously and gave his absolute all into the fight despite being massivley out rated. The end game was enough to see a matirial advantage for white and James graciously resigned.

Final Match score 2-2 due to a rating limit breach from Lichfield A .Thanks to all players and good luck to Lichfield in Future matches.

luke Sullivan
(CDCL Captain)

We Travelled over to Sutton for round 1 of the 2022 chase Trophy. Out rated on every board, Rugeley needed something special.

Board 1- Robert J Edgar Vs Marek Soszynski. 0-1 Robert played a rather suspect version of the reti which he has had good success with in the past. Marek played accurately which left white behind in development. The pressure caused a pin on whites knight and this won the game.

Board 2- Catherine Hiley Vs Roy Lawrence. 1-0 The usual style of unconventual openings from Cath where the position was isolated pawns and an exposed king. She was given the chance for some counterplay with great effect, causing massive time trouble and a queen blunder for her opponent.

Board 3- Rory Melough vs Robert Marks.1-0 Black took the initiative gaining a free pawn in the opening, however while concentrating on a pawn promotion, Rory promoted his own into a queen. What ever black played ended in a lost position. The counterplay came too late for black as his flag fell.

Board 4- James Perks Vs Steven Mildenhall 0-1 A series of exchanges unfortunatley lost James vital matirial. Back rank mate threats were attempted by black with the hopes of atleast winning the matirial back. Several attempts to win the matirial back was futile.

Rugeley WIN on Board count 2-2. Rugeley are now into the final.

James Perks
(Chase Trophy Captain)

Rugeley's First home game of the season as we welcomed a strong sided Wolverhampton to our friendly club.

Board 1- Robert J Edgar Vs Phil Bull (0-1) Bob was up against an extremley Strong player in Phil and set out to very quickly lock the position and limit space. This game was pretty even, although an aggressive pawn move. Bob tried to set a trap but alas it wasnt meant to be.

Board 2- Matt Carr Vs Karthik Selvan (0-1) Matt had quite a tough game on board 2 as the first 9 moves could be described as the london system reversed. Despite having the initiative early on with tempo, his pieces were pushed back and a pin was ultimatly the decisive factor and Matt therefore Resigned.

Board 3- Rob Fell Vs Ioannis Stefanis (1-0) Playing the kings Gambit declined left black in an inferior position out of the opening, and whites advanced E pawn was causing all sorts of problems. Thankfully Ioannis miscalculated a rook-bishop exchange and a collapse of his position soon followed.

Board 4- Luke Sullivan Vs Andrew Adams (0.5-0.5) An extremley tight game ensued, which wasnt a surprise as both players have similar Ratings. Luke thought he had Won a piece but black had a great intermetzo for reply! With the end game as isolated pawns for black and doubled pawns for white a draw was readily agreed.

Final Match score 1.5-2.5 Many Thanks to all that played in the match, im sure next time we will get the desired result.

Robert Fell
(WDCL captain)

Rugeley chess club have been saddened to learn of the passing of Simon A Jones of Bushbury and Andrew Leadbetter of Stafford.

Both were valued members of the chess community and will be missed.

Condolences go out to the friends and family.

We were disappointed to hear that Rushalls board 4 didn't show. To their Captains credit he tried one last attempt to gain a player short notice.

Board 1- I.A Matthew Carr vs Peter Leary. White was a minor piece up for a significant amount of the game yet Matt had the counter play on whites King. Peter had to give the material back to stop the threats of black promoting. A pin on whites King and a dominant position, Peter gave his hand. 1-0

Board 2- Luke sullivan vs Steve Wilcox. White sacrificed a pawn in the opening to gain the initiative, both Queens were attacked and both came off. Steve equalised shortly after, so with Luke a pawn down he had to play accurately in a drawn knight and pawn end game. Blacks knight proved more active and posed multiple winning ideas. Luke resigned on move 70. 0-1

Board 3- Rory Melough vs Roger Bray. With white successfully boxed in, he was left with two bad bishops in the middle game.White offered a draw, but it was declined and with the queens exchanged in the hopes of slowing blacks advance promotion for either h or g was inevitable. White eventually lost on time. 1-0

Board 4- Ryan wood claimed the win (def) 1-0

Final Match score 3-1.Thanks to all players and good luck to Rushall in Future matches.

luke Sullivan
(Div 2 Captain)

It's been a strange season following the Covid hiatus, and in order to bring some much needed "normality" Matt Carr generously hosted and played in the 5 mins blitz all play all event.

It was a fantastic night with some surprising results, here's how it panned out. http://chess-results.com

Congratulations to Matt Carr for winning the tournament whilst ensuring that the rules were meticulously followed. Quite the arbiter.

Catherine Hiley
(Club Sec)

Our final match of the div 2 season, saw us head to Aldridge social club where Cath eventually managed to park.

Board 1 – Manpreet Sangha v Bill Hulley. White kept the pressure up with every move. Bill played cautiously but unfortunately lost a knight to his significantly higher-rated opponent and black had no winning chances. 1-0.

Board 2 - Roger Bray Vs Catherine Hiley. Black was on the attack but with a relatively equal end game, white was struggling to find moves and with seconds left on the clock it wasn't enough for him to gain anything. 0-1

Board 3 - Shriya Pillay v Luke sullivan. Luke was definitely out of his comfort zone with his talented opponents choice of counter-play. Every move by white gave a greater response from black. Luke had to sacrifice a knight to create a forced perpetual check. 0.5-0.5

Board 4 - Stephan Winman v Tom Woodhall. Tom's naturally aggressive opening gave white plenty to contemplate. White found a nasty threat which unfortunately lost a piece. 1-0

Final match score 2.5-1.5

Thanks to all players who have contributed throughout the season and congratulations to Rushall on winning the league.

Luke Sullivan
(Div 2 captain)