The postponed penultimate match in the Huddersfield Examiner League from the 11th of January became the ultimate match this Monday evening when a very strong Netherton A turned up at the Club right on cue.

Because we were handsomely outgraded on the first five boards, we received a 3 point start handicap. Unfortunately for us none of these higher graded opponents were out of form and managed to lose or draw any games.

On board 6 however we were evenly matched both players having the same grades. Past Presidentof the Club and Honorary Life Member, John Hainsworth managed to prevent a whitewash of losses, with the only victorious game result in Wakefield’s favour.

8th of February 2010 Wakefield v Netherton A 1. C. Thompson 0 1  P. Shaw 2. A. Holloway 0 1  N. J. Edwards 3. M. Shelmerdine 0 1  A. A. Gilpin 4. I. Johnson 0 1  R. A. Atkinson 5. M. Wilford 0 1  J. Eagers 6. J. G. Hainsworth 1 0  J. R. Morton Result  Hcp.  +3 4 5 Â

-

The photo above shows John Hainsworth getting ready to play at the 2008 Doncaster Chess Congress (can you identify the player sat next to him who also played in Monday’s match?)

-----

On Tuesday evening we were entertained by Holme Valley in this weeks Huddersfield Examinerfixture. Holme Valley’s usual Examiner top board, Leo Keely, was not available for this match and Geoff Peake duly stepped in as a replacement. Apart from the top board, the rest of the teams were evenly matched, grade wise. We started with one half point lead.

As can be seen from the match details below the match was close with four draws on the middle four boards. Holme Valley won the match though, with wins on both top and bottom boards.

-----

Wakefield went to play Huddersfield Rooks in the shadow of  Lindley Campanile this Tuesday  evening. Taking only four team members, meant we were 2 points worse at the start, and being outgraded on all! four boards, the match result of a loss seemed inevitable. However a fantastic team performance by all the four team members resulted in Wakefield gaining a valuable match point. Alan lost to Spanish Tony on top board where the grading difference was greatest, but Ian managed a fine draw against Steven Priest, but best of all were wins by Captain Mike Wilford and Dave Pallagrass which meant the match result was 3.5 points each.

                   

24th November 2009 Huddersfield Rooks v Wakefield 1. A. Aguirre 1 0  A. Holloway 2. S. Priest 0.5 0.5  I. Johnson 3. M. Shah 0 1  Mike Wilford 4. D. Tyfa 0 1  D. Pallagrass 5. A. N. Other 1 0  Default 6. A. N. Other 1 0  Default Result 3.5 3.5 Hcp points start +1

The photos above show the heroic members of our four-man team.

-----

Our home match this Monday evening against the Huddersfield Dragons provided our second victory in the Huddersfield Examiner Handicap this season, and brings our results to 50 percent for the season, so far. We were helped by the fact that the Dragons defaulted on boards 5 and 6, but this does in no way detract from the fine wins by Dean Hepworth and Ian Johnson on boards 3 and 4 respectively.

-----

As can be seen from the match details shown below, this was a keenly fought match that could have gone either way, with just one half point deciding the result. Unfortunately, this time it was our opponents,  Netherton B who fielded a  relatively strong team who won this time.

......

Mark Shelmerdine, Wakefield’s sole game victor in this match.

-----

Yesterday evening’s match against West Bretton was unusual. It was unusual in that, only members of Wakefield Chess Club took part in the match. (West Bretton’s board 4 Rueben Ta,asan was a member of last season’s Wakefield Juniors who won the AG Sunderland Cup, see Photo Gallery! Rueben also played for Wakefield A in last season’s Woodhouse Cup match against Rose ForgroveA).

The match could not have been closer and as you can see from the match details below, the result did indeed indeed end in a draw. Although West Bretton won over the board with a score of 4 points to 2 we were heavily outgraded and so started with +2 handicap points. This meant that both teams played to expectations and a draw resulted. To 2 half points from draws by Mark Shelmerdine and Ian Johnson, a full point was added by a win from David Pallagrass on board 6. This resulted in a score of 4 points apiece.

  

The members who won their games are shown above.

-----

The match details from yesterday evening’s match away at Calderdale are published below. As can be seen from them, we were outgraded on every board which gave us a points start of +2.5. This meant that we needed 2 points to win the match and Calderdale needed 4.5 points to win the match with no draw possible. In the end it was close with Alan gaining a a fine draw against Matthew Parsons on board two and Mark Shelmerdine scoring a good result against Peter Hughes on board three with Wakefield’s only win on the night. Unfortunately this was just not quite enough to add any points to our first match victory over David Brown’s.

The photo above shows Wakefield ‘s Mark Shelmerdine playing with the White pieces against Robert Sutcliffe from a match played last season.

Other Club members were once again in action for other teams, including Wakefield no. 1 Peter Shaw who gained a victory for  Netherton A on top board against Dave Gray of David Brown’s. Dave Toulson gained a fine draw for  West Bretton on board 2 against Spanish Tony of Huddersfield Rooks.

-----

Our first away match in the Examiner Handicap was lost by just a half point. I will endeavour to publish the match details as soon as I have them.

-----

Our Captain managed a fantastic coup this year during the August transfer window by managing to sign up the services of West Bretton’s equivalent of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and top board player for years, Mike Denison, adding to an already well experienced team. With potential new top board talent also coming out of Mike’s Junior Chess Academy but with a lot less experience who have not yet been signed up by the competition such as Kiruthika Rajeswaren, the Vani brothers’ Amol and Adarsh and other promising juniors who have played for the Winning Wakefield Juniors in last season’s AG Sunderland Cup, the future has not looked brighter than at the present time.

Our new signing started the new season impressively with a fine performance against David Brown’s 151 rated top board David Gray. With a win from Captain Mike Wilford and draws from Alan Holloway and Mark Shelmerdine and, admittedly a default on board 5 for David Browns, Wakefieldscored a fine victory in the first league match of the season.

 

14th of September 2009 Wakefield v David Browns 1. D. M. Denison 1 0  D. Gray 2. C. Thompson 0 1  A. Ward 3. A. Holloway 0.5 0.5  J. Hill 4. M. Shelmerdine 0.5 0.5  R. Caulfield 5. I. Johnson 1 0  Default 6. M. Wilford 1 0  P. Hill Result 4 3.5 Hcp pts. start   +1.5

David Gray v Mike Denison board 1

 

The photo above shows Mike in action during a match last season

The photo below shows our other winner Mike Wilford in action, also during a match last season