'Guile and resoluteness' is the key

'C' team Captain/Manager Pete Rawling's has rightly
heaped more superlatives on his side's recent play

It was a busy night at the Trades Club on Monday as both of Hebden Bridge Chess Club’s Division 2 sides played home fixtures. In addition, the ‘A’ team played a re-scheduled fixture in Division 1. John Kerrane reports on the night’s events for us. Starting with the ‘A’ team.

“Hebden Bridge ‘A’ took on Halifax ‘A’ in a re-arranged match and scored a 3-2 win, aided by a default on board 5 by the visitors, who otherwise ran the current league leaders very close, Matthew Parsons scoring the only win for the home side over the board.”

The individual results were:

Hebden Bridge ‘A’ – Halifax ‘A’

D. Wedge 0 – 1 D. Ursal

M. Parsons 1 – 0 C. Velosa

A. Wright ½ - ½ R. Cully

N. Sykes ½ - ½ A. Dawson

M. Wedge-Roberts 1 – 0 Default

3 – 2

Here is Captain Alastair Wright’s draw with Ray Cully on board 3. This result means Alastair is still unbeaten in the league this season although I suspect he feels he has drawn a few too many of his games so far.



Back to John’s report…

“Meanwhile, the C team continued their terrific run of good form of late by brushing aside the challenge from Halifax B with a thumping 4½-½ win. Pete Leonard, the team’s new acquisition this season, scored his fourth win in a row, while in the only game where one of the Hebden players looked in trouble, Steve Priest managed to hold on to score a draw.”

The individual results were:

Hebden Bridge ‘C’ – Halifax ‘B’

D. Sugden 1 – 0 B. Wadsworth

J. Blinkhorn 1 – 0 J. Aldridge

S. Priest ½ - ½ J. Nicholson

P. Leonard 1 – 0 G. Cash

N. Bamford 1 – 0 J. Gilhooly

4½ - ½

Here is Josh Blinkhorn’s win against John Aldridge. I fear that the last few moves of the game may be missing but the bulk of it is here for your enjoyment.



‘C’ Team Captain Pete Rawlings had this to say of his charges…

“Another glory night for the Cs with a resounding victory against Halifax ‘B’ against whom in October we managed to lose 3-2. We remain in contention for the top two places and promotion. This is a good team with each player offering guile and resoluteness at the board.”

Finally, John tells us about the ‘D’ team’s result…

"Their junior partners in the second division, Hebden Bridge ‘D’, didn’t fare so well, however, going down 3½-1½ to Courier B. The home side’s best result here was Chris Greaves’s draw on board 4 but the Courier higher boards were too strong for the home players."

The individual results were:

Hebden Bridge ‘D’ – Courier ‘B’

J. Todd 0 – 1 J. B. Smith

P. Dearden 0 – 1 J. Whitehead

M. Levy 0 – 1 P. Jacobs

C. Greaves ½ - ½ R. Bottomley

D. Crampton 1 – 0 default

1½ - 3½

Here is as much of Chris Greaves draw as I can salvage from the score sheet. This was a good result for one of the club’s rookies.



Next week the ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams face massive challenges in their fight for the Championship and against relegation respectively. The ‘B’ team play at home on Monday against Todmorden ‘A’ who are bottom. Lose that match and they will be as good as down. Then on Thursday the ‘A’ team travel to Huddersfield ‘A’ who are, realistically, their only challengers for the title. Win that match and the Champions will almost certainly retain their title. Lose and Huddersfield will become favorites. “Squeaky bum time” as a certain football manager has been known to say!