*By default
2nd team fixtures
| Date |
Competition |
Opponents |
H/A |
Result |
Score |
| 08/06/2026 |
E Div(E) |
Glossop II |
A |
Won |
3-1 |
| 22/06/2026 |
E Div(E) |
Heywood |
H |
Lost |
1½-2½ |
| 17/08/2026 |
E Div(E) |
Stockport II |
H |
Won |
2½-1½ |
| 25/08/2026 |
E Div(E) |
Chorlton VI |
A |
Won |
2½-1½ |
| 07/09/2026 |
E Div(E) |
3Cs III |
H |
Won |
2½-1½ |
07/09/2026 - Altrincham II 2½ 3Cs III 1½
Once again a win by the narrowest of margins. This was not enough for us to win the division - only a 4-0 win would have sufficed following Heywood's win against Stockport last week. But 3Cs could have overtaken Heywood with a win by any score.
James Lawrence was first to finish with a solid draw. Steve Douglas, in his first match since December, then put us ahead, when his opponent missed some tactics that cost him material. The scores were level after Daniel Clucas lost on board 1, when his pawn sacrifice did not work out, and his opponent gradually took over.
So all depended on John Hoban, playing in just his second match for the club. In a very blocked position, his opponent turned down the chance of a draw by repetition, and was rewarded when the position opened up in her favour, winning a couple of pawns and seemingly set for a win that would put 3Cs top of the division. But she had used a lot of time, and blundered a Rook in time trouble, after which John had an easy win. This meant we finished in second place, just one game point behind Heywood.
We have used a total of 13 players in the 5 second team matches, with no-one playing more than twice, so it has been a good way of giving match practice to some less experienced players.
25/08/2026 - Chorlton VI 1½ Altrincham II 2½
Another win for the 2nd team, staying in contention for winning the division. Alan Tyson drew on board 1. Steve Burgess lost on board 2 from a good position, but Joseph Ko (in his first match for over 2 years) and Jane Brophy both won to clinch the match. In the final round of matches, Stockport play Heywood next week, and Altrincham play 3Cs the following week. All four teams have a chance of winning the division, to qualify for a play-off with the winners of E Division(West).
20/08/2026 - Eccles II 2½ Altrincham I 3½
Tony Lane reports - Eccles put out a strong team as they needed the win to challenge us for the title. Five of their players have played regularly for their first team. My opponent was unknown to me. After the match I found out he had played 5 matches since starting OTB last month and was unbeaten! Barbara told me he was a keen online blitz player. No doubt that explains why I had stopped recording my moves in the last 5 minutes while he still had an hour left on his clock! But despite being under heavy attack, once the adrenaline kicked in, I was able to set a couple of traps and outblitzed him in the finish winning his queen and mating him. So a great start from the captain leading by example.
A quick review of the other matches filled me with optimism. John appeared to be the exchange down and in a poor position and resigned just after I finished, but we were ahead in all the other games. Guy was the first to get the win with his queen, rook and knight combining well and Black's major pieces nowhere to be seen. Reg's game looked very complex but in his favour. Pieces were quickly exchanged and Reg emerged with a rook, bishop and 3 connected pawns against a rook, knight and 2 isolated (but one passed) pawns. He had less time and his strong opponent was able to hold the draw.
So only half a point was now required and it looked as though we would get two. Simon was an exchange up and decided to up the drama by giving material back to force a precise pawn promotion finish by shepherding connected passed pawns with his king against a lonely knight. That not only clinched the draw for the title but won the match. Simon's result was crucial. I'm glad I'm not a betting man as at the time of my initial review my money would have been on Sheraz to definitely win as he was material up with a favourable ending. Unfortunately, his opponent had only one thing going for him - a passed pawn on the sixth rank which managed to end up becoming a Queen and winning the game, after Sheraz moved his King to the wrong colour square allowing a crucial Bishop check.
Perhaps all was meant to be that way, as the final 3½-2½ win was our fifth on the trot. I think it demonstrates the solidity of our team this season, where there proved to be always enough members to produce whatever was necessary to get us just across the finishing line.
Below are some of the crucial games from the match, starting with Guy's game with his notes. The Sveshnikov Sicilian has become a lot more popular than it used to be, but Guy was not familiar with it following his long break from chess. The best and most common move in this variation is 6.Ndb5; however, 6.Nb3 has been played by Grandmasters, so I have omitted the ?? that Guy used in his annotation!
[Event "Summer League C, Eccles II v Alt I"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2026.08.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Guy Simpson"]
[Black "Martin Pope"]
[Result "1-0"]
[BlackElo "1836"]
[ECO "B33"]
[EventDate "2026.08.20"]
[WhiteElo "1759"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Nb3 Bb4 { Plan for Black looks simple, smash up White's pawns, swap everything off, win the ending ...... } 7.Bd3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 d5 9.Bg5 dxe4 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.Bxe4 O-O 12.O-O Bf5 13.Nc5 Rfd8 14.Qe2 b6 15.Bxf5 Qxf5 16.Ne4 Rd5 17.f3 Rad8 18.Rfd1 Qd7 19.Nf2 h6 { Black looks to have followed the plan, nothing good for White except that the c6 Knight is a bit useless. Expected something like } ( 19...Rd2 20.Rxd2 Qxd2 21.Qxd2 Rxd2 22.Rc1 { White can kick the rook with Kf1 and Ke1 and the c6 N is still a bit duff but grim at best. But after 19...h6 Black begins to drift... } ) 20.Rd3 Qc7 21.Qe4 Rc5 22.Rad1 Rxd3 23.Rxd3 Ra5 24.Qc4 Rc5 25.Qg4 Ra5 { With Rd7 and Ne4-f6 coming the tables look to have turned. In fact the engine gives } ( 25...e4 { when suddenly the c6 Knight has e5 and... } 26.Rd7 Qe5 27.Qxe4 { and White is maybe level. Happily, Black didn't find it. [Reg's note - 25...Nb8 also looks OK for Black, preventing Rd7] } ) 26.Rd7 Qb8 27.Ne4 Rxa2 28.Nd6 { Phew..... } 1-0
The notes to the next two games are by Reg.
Simon's game
[Event "Summer League C, Eccles II v Alt I"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2026.08.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Simon Calvert"]
[Black "Andy Roberts"]
[Result "1-0"]
[BlackElo "1860"]
[ECO "B06"]
[EventDate "2026.08.20"]
[WhiteElo "1770"]
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Be2 Nbd7 6.f4 e5 7.fxe5 dxe5 8.dxe5 Nxe5 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.O-O-O+ Bd7 11.Bd4 Re8 12.Nf3 Nc6 13.e5 Nxd4 14.Rxd4 c5 15.Rd3 Ng8 16.Rhd1 Re7 17.Nd5 Bb5 18.Nxe7+ Kxe7 19.R3d2 Bxe2 20.Rxe2 Rd8 21.Rxd8 Kxd8 22.c4 Ne7 23.Kc2 h6 24.a3 Nc6 25.e6 fxe6 26.Rxe6 Ne7 27.Ne5 Bxe5 28.Rxe5 b6 29.b4 cxb4 30.axb4 Nc6 31.Rd5+ Ke7 32.Kc3 Ke6 33.b5 Ne5 34.Rd8 Nd7 35.Ra8 Nc5 36.Rxa7 Ke5 37.Ra6 g5 38.Rxb6 { Watching from the sidelines, I thought for a moment Simon had blundered, and we were going to lose the match. In fact the game should now be drawn, which would have been enough for us - but Black finds a way to lose it again anyway. } 38...Na4+ 39.Kb4 Nxb6 40.c5 Na8 { ?? } ( 40...Nc8 41.b6 Ne7 42.Kb5 Kd5 43.b7 Nc6 44.Kb6 Nb8 45.Kc7 Na6+ 46.Kc8 Kxc5 47.Kd7 { ! should be drawn with best play. If instead White plays 47.b8Q?? then Black wins, as his King will have time to get back to gobble up the White pawns. } ) 41.b6 Nxb6 42.cxb6 Kd6 43.Kb5 Kd7 44.Ka6 Kc8 1-0
Some interesting tactics in the next one!
[Event "SE Lancs Summer League C Div; Eccles II 2.5 Altrincham I 3.5"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2026.08.20"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Chris Jardine"]
[Black "Reg Clucas"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[BlackElo "1740"]
[ECO "B50"]
[EventDate "2026.08.20"]
[WhiteElo "1819"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 Nc6 { Of course not 4...Nxe4?? 5.Qa4+ } 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 g6 7.O-O Bg7 8.h3 O-O 9.Nc3 a6 10.Be3 b5 11.a3 Bb7 12.Bd3 Rc8 13.Rc1 e5 14.b4 exd4 15.Nxd4 Ne5 16.Qd2 Nc4 17.Bxc4 Rxc4 18.f3 Re8 19.Rcd1 Qc8 { The fun starts here! } 20.Ncxb5 axb5 21.Nxb5 Rc2 22.Qxd6 Nxe4 23.fxe4 Bxe4 24.Rf2 Bxg2 25.Rxc2 Qxc2 26.Qd2 Qxd2 27.Rxd2 Bc6 28.Nd4 Rxe3 29.Nxc6 Rxa3 { Black has emerged from the complications with an extra pawn, but with time running short the pressure on f7 persuaded me to take a draw. } 30.Rd8+ Bf8 31.Kg2 Rb3 32.Rb8 Kg7 33.b5 Bc5 34.Rb7 Kf6 35.Nd8 Be7 36.Nc6 Bd6 37.Nd8 Be7 38.Nc6 Bc5 39.Nd8 1/2-1/2
17/08/2026 - Altrincham II 2½ Stockport II 1½
After two months without a match, the second team had a narrow win against a Stockport team who, like us, had a mixture of players with different levels of experience. First to finish was Thomas Hague on board 2, playing his first league match since November - the lack of practice may have been responsible for his defeat, apparently choosing the wrong piece to make a recapture with fatal consequences.
On board 4, John Hoban made his debut for the club - his young opponent was also playing his first league match, though he had recently competed in one of the age-restricted events at the British Championship where he scored a creditable 5 out of 7. In the middle game there was a rough equivalence of material, with John having Rook & Pawn against his opponent's Bishop & Knight, but John gradually took over the centre, and trapped his opponent's Bishop, which proved to be decisive. On board 3 John Brophy had a long game, though his win was fairly comfortable as he gradually increased his material advantage. At 2-1, the match now depended on Daniel's game on board 1, against a strong opponent. Dan gave up a pawn for active play, but was unable to find a breakthrough, and things did not look too good when he dropped another pawn in time trouble. However, his opponent then spent a lot of time looking for the best way to finish the game, eventually going in for exchanges, which worked out in Dan's favour as he was able to go into an opposite colour Bishop ending which was dead drawn.
[Event "SELSL E Altrincham II v Stockport II"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2026.08.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Scarlett Rozman"]
[Black "Daniel Clucas"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[BlackElo "1643"]
[ECO "A90"]
[EventDate "2026.08.17"]
[WhiteElo "1726"]
1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 d5 5.Nf3 Bd6 6.O-O c6 7.Nc3 O-O 8.Bg5 Qe8 9.Rc1 Ne4 10.Nxe4 fxe4 11.Ne1 Qh5 12.Be3 Nd7 13.f3 Nf6 14.Qd2 Bd7 15.Bg5 h6 16.Bxf6 Rxf6 17.fxe4 Rxf1+ 18.Bxf1 Rf8 19.Bg2 dxc4 20.e5 Be7 21.Rxc4 Bg5 22.e3 Qg4 23.Rc2 h5 24.Qe2 Qf5 25.Rc1 Be8 26.Nf3 Qg4 27.Re1 Be7 28.Nd2 Qxe2 29.Rxe2 c5 30.Bxb7 cxd4 31.exd4 Bb5 32.Rf2 Rd8 33.Nb3 Bg5 34.Kg2 Be3 35.Rc2 Ba4 36.Rc8 ( 36.Rc3 { would have been better, forcing Black to exchange the dark squared Bishop, thus avoiding the opposite colour Bishop scenario. After } 36...Bxb3 37.Rxe3 Bxa2 { White would still have winning chances. } ) 36...Rxc8 37.Bxc8 Bxb3 38.axb3 Bxd4 39.Bxe6+ Kf8 40.Kh3 Bxe5 41.Kh4 g6 42.Kg5 Kg7 43.Kh4 Bxb2 44.Kh3 Bf6 1/2-1/2
27/07/2026 - Altrincham 1½ Swinton & Worsley 4½ (Yarker Cup)
Swinton & Worsley were somewhat understrength, but we were also missing three regulars so were unable to take advantage. Daniel Clucas made his first team debut on board 6 and was our only winner. Tom Tomkins had a good draw against a strong opponent on board 4. The rest of us (Guy Simpson, Tony Lane, James Lawrence and Reg) were unable to overcome our rating deficit.
20/07/2026 - Altrincham I 3½ Bury I 2½
Another win by the narrowest possible margin, against Bury, though we were a tad lucky this time. Guy Simpson got us on our way with a nice checkmate with Rook & Knight, followed by a draw for Nick Lowe in his first match this summer. Then things turned a bit sticky with defeats on the top two boards for Simon and John. So the match now depended on myself(Reg) and Tony Lane, but we both had very bad positions. My opponent was Richard Leese, for 25 years the leader of Manchester City Council - it's not every day you get to meet a Knight of the Realm, let alone play chess with one! And he is no mean player, having me in serious difficulties for most of the game. After 42 moves we were in mutual time trouble, and fortunately it affected Richard worse, making 4 mistakes in a sequence of 5 moves which lost him two pawns, a Knight and then the exchange. With my King in the open I had to play carefully for a while to avoid perpetual check, but eventually closed off the game. Meanwhile Tony had also turned his game round, finishing with a mate.
The league table shows us with a big lead, but we can still be caught by Eccles or Chorlton. We need to avoid defeat in our final match at Eccles next month to ensure finishing top.
13/07/2026 - Altrincham I 3½ Chorlton IV 2½
The run of narrow wins continues, this time defeating Chorlton 4, who had also won their first two matches. Simon Calvert and Reg had fairly early draws. Guy Simpson lost a piece for 2 pawns and was unable to hold the endgame, but Tony Lane levelled the scores with a fairly easy win which for once did not involve any time trouble! Nicolas Rojas, in his first Summer League match this year, converted his material advantage in a Rook & Pawn ending to make it 3-2. So all depended on board 1, where John Roche seemed to be under a lot of pressure in a position where most of the pieces were still on the board. Eventually he went wrong, losing a couple of pawns, but by this time his opponent was down to his last couple of minutes, and John won back the lost material after which a draw was agreed.
06/07/2026 - Blue Club II 2½ Altrincham I 3½
The top two boards were evenly matched, but with John Roche and Simon Calvert both winning, we seemed set for a comfortable win. But we struggled to get the next 1½ points needed for victory, despite having a rating advantage of around 300 points per board on the four lower boards. Guy Simpson and myself duly drew, but with James Lawrence in a losing position, we needed a draw from Tony Lane. He was a pawn up in a Knight endgame, but once again seriously short of time and let his opponent back into the game and was even in danger of losing. But once again a sight of the scorecard convinced him to accept his opponent's rather generous draw offer.
22/06/2026 - Altrincham II 1½ Heywood 2½
Tony Lane reports - Steve Burgess had an extra piece and a couple of pawns for a rook, but his king was extremely unsafe. It was exposed to queen, both rooks and a bishop, while his own rook and bishop on the queenside remained in their starting blocks and the bishop's access was also blocked by his own knight and pawn on the d2 and e3 squares respectively. Steve surveyed the position for some time but understandably was unable to find a solution and resigned for a relatively early finish.
When Steve resigned I thought we were favourites for a 3-1 win. James made a step in the right direction, bringing the scores level with his win. He had pushed a pawn menacingly to the sixth rank which enabled him to win a piece for a pawn. His opponent still had a reasonable position and James was not that well developed. He made a bid for freedom with a double edged central pawn push which turned out well for him as he outplayed his opponent in the endgame.
I was very confident we would win both the top boards. Tom and Vijay both had the better positions and massive time advantages on their clocks. I'm sure the engines would have had no trouble winning. Unfortunately Tom went astray after a very long think when his opponent complicated by offering him a bishop which he didn't capture, and subsequently he went on a downward spiral when his opponent moving instantly on increments pushed connected passed pawns and a further central pawn towards their queening squares forcing Tom's resignation while his opponent still had about only 30 seconds left on his clock.
Finally, Vijay blundered his exchange advantage back by missing a knight fork but still entered a favourable endgame a pawn up. It took a long time before his advantage looked like paying off, and just after he made the breakthrough he went astray again to end up with just king against king and pawn, which was eventually drawn.
08/06/2026 - Glossop II 1 Altrincham II 3
Winners were Tony Lane, Vijay Kakarparthi and John Brophy, with Jane Brophy losing in what was her first match for over a year.
01/06/2026 - Altrincham I 3½ Northenden 2½
Our Summer League campaign began with a narrow win in the 'local derby' against Northenden. Guy Simpson continued his good run with a win, balanced out by a defeat for Sheraz Khalil. I (Reg) managed to fend off my opponent's dangerous Kingside attack to reach a level endgame which we agreed drawn, and shortly after John Roche, playing on board 1, did likewise. With the match level at 2-2, it was difficult to foresee the outcome - Tony Lane was a pawn up but running low on time, whilst Simon Calvert had 3 pawns for the exchange. Simon eventually trapped his opponent's King in a mating net with his Queen and Knight. By this time Tony was now 3 pawns up in an easily winning position, but seriously short of time, having to beware of various knight fork threats from his opponent. I wrote Simon's result on the match card, and sight of this was enough to persuade Tony to offer a draw, which was accepted, ensuring we won the match.