On Wednesday 21st December 2022, there was a match between the two Barrow Mid-Week League teams Barrow A vs Barrow B, the result was a draw with their team being reduced by the absence of Dave Cole witha flu. George Hornes(A team) and I(alan Llewellyn-B team) drew on board 1, Trevor Blower(B team) beat Russell Hayley(A team), on board 2 and Frank Whalley(A team) beat Jon Duffield(B team) on board 3. This left the result 1.5-1.5.
the Monday 19th December 2022, there was a game between myself(Alan Llewellyn) and Matthew Paule which I as white luckily won, in the Barrow Club Championship. The game is below:-
On the 14th December 2022 (Wednesday), The match Barrow A vs Ulverston B was played in the Cumbria Mid-Week League where the Barrow A team of Dave Cole(who lost), George Horne(Who won), Russel Hayley(Who drew) and Frank Whalley(Who won) to leave a result of 2.5-1.5 in Barrow A's favour.
below is a game from the 17th Nov this season showing a book like ending in the Kendal A vs Barrow A with Dave Cole, the Barrow Club Member , making what looks like the obvious move only to lose when another square would have drawn to place the King.
On the 12th December 2022, Trevor Blower beat Russell Hayley in the Club Championship, this win means Trevor is still in with a chance of the title.
Also the South Lakes Congress is coming nearer and the entry forms are out, click on the south lakes congress bar item along the top of the website. SLC page
On the 10th December 2022, the Barrow Whitaker Cup KO team event, was played, it was the semi final vs carlisle B. Though we won it 2-1 because its a handicap system we lost. Matthew Mackenzie won and George Horne and myself(Alan Llewellyn) both drew.
On the 8th December 2022, Barrow B were away to Kendal B and we lost 2.5-0.5, with a reduced team because Jon Duffield didn't turn up (ie our board 3), Trevor Blower on board 2 got a brilliant draw while I (Alan Llewellyn) lost on board 1 vs David Phillips, we defaulted the third board.
On the 7th December 2022, Frank Whalley vs Matthew Mackenzie was a win for Matthew in the club K.O. 1st round, the game is below, Matthew did all the annotation.
Below is the Barrow club member, George Hornes game vs Sanjoy Banerjee , George as Black, from the saturday 3rd match Cumbria vs Merseyside, for board 4.
On the 5th December 2022, The lightning was played with a big surprise in results, although Matthew won it on the night with 4/4, no surprises there, but second was the fast improving Ian Travers with 3/4, who got wins against George Horne and Trevor Blower. I(Alan Llewellyn) came third with 2.5/4.
Below is the upto-date table for the Barrow Club Championship, for December 1st, Matthew Mackenzie looks strong favouite at the moment but Dave Cole could easily catch him up or maybe Jim Woodburn or Frank Whalley
| POS | NAME | P | W | D | L | DEF | PTS |
| 1 | M MACKENZIE | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | T BLOWER | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 3 | A LLEWELLYN | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 ½ |
| =4 | G HORNE | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| =4 | F WHALLEY | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| =4 | J DUFFIELD | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| =7 | T O`MALLEY | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =7 | J WOODBURN | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =7 | M PAULE | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =7 | D COLE | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | I TRAVERS | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | ½ |
| R HAYLEY | |||||||
On the 3rd December 2022, George Horne played in a County Match, Cumbria vs Merseyside, he played board 4 and lost a game he should have drawn, missing a sacrifice of a piece for a pawn leaving a bishop of the wrong colour to promote a lone pawn.
I was originally going to play in the match myself (on board 12) but my opponent had a bug and had to pull out at the last minute. The scoresheet is given below as is my friendly rated game with our Cumbria Match Captain he generously gave me a game and i was ungenerous in my response as I beat him very accurately causing him many tribulations...
On the 30th November 2022, Matthew Mackenzie as white ground down Trevor Blower in the club Championship and won.
It has come to my attention that when i mentioned more than one game and put up multiple games in one analysis box , it wasnt displaying the menu to the games like it did in my version, it wasnt doing the same online. The way to get a menu of multiple games is to press the icon second to the right under the board , it is labelled 'layout' and is a small greyish box shape.
On 28th November 2022, ie Monday, I made a huge mistake in my game vurses Trevor Blower , he was White and it was in this seasons club championship, my big mistake was showing up to play him, LOL, he really did play me off the board. The game is given below:-
In the club Championship, Jon Duffield won as white vs Ian Travers in an exciting game shown below (23/11/22)
On Thursday 17th November 2022 the Barrow A team of Dave Cole, George Horne and Frank Whalley lost 2-1 to a strong Kendal A side with Frank the only winner the other two losing.
On Monday 21st November Matthew Mackenzie as white won against Jon Duffield in the Club Championship 22-23 season.
On Wednesday 16th November 2022 an extremely strong Barrow A team met an extremely strong Ulverston A team and the honours were even ie 2-2, the Barrow A team was made up of Dave Cole brd 1, George Horne brd 2, Russell Hayley brd 3 and Frank Whalley brd 4. George won against Barry Hymer and Frank won against Ian Dacre, Dave and Russell lost aginst two ex-Barrow players Kit hopkins and Martin Gawne respectively. George found a mate in 1 which Barry Hymer then missed parrying.
The game between Martin and Russell on board 3, is given below, where Martin seems well prepared against the Englund Gambit that Russell likes to play.
On Monday 14th November, the team of myself(Alan Llewellyn) on board 1, Trevor Blower on board 2 and Jon Duffield on board 3 -making up the Barrow B team played the Ulverston B team of David Wright brd 1, Ian Dacre brd 2 and Neil Foxcroft brd 3 and we went and beat them 2-1, with Trevor just being squeaked by an underated Ian Dacre, and the other two of us winning. In my game below, my opponent David Wright falls for a schoolboy error but even then comes back in it and he was just unlucky not to win as i get tied in knots, even a rook ahead.
Wednesday 9th November 2022, was the night Dave Cole showed some real combinations in his game with Ian Travers, Dave as white, in the Club Championship. He overwhelmed a poor Ian who must have wondered what had hit him...the game is below:-
On the Monday of the 7th Nov 2022, on the frst monday of the month through the season is the Lightning Competition, which only had 3 players in it on its second month of running, Matthew Mackenzie usually only has to turn up on 4 of the 7 competition days of the League usually to win it, but tonight maybe due to train disruption he didnt show and it was George Hornes turn to win on the night with 3.5/4 while I(Alan Llewellyn) came second with 3/4 and Trevor Blower achieved 2.5/4.
On Saturday 5th Nov 2022, the team of Matthew Mackenzie, George Horne and Russell Hayley succeeded n defeating a strong Kendal team with both Matthew and George winning and Russell drew (though he was unlucky not to win aswell), the team won 2.5-0.5. A game from the match is given below.
Frank Whalley won as black vs Ian Travers in the club championship on the 2nd November 2022.
The three games promissed, Matthew Paules draw with Trevor Blower in the club championship and Trevors and Georges best games from their Scarborough Congress 2022 -are included below-see the list half way down on the left to choose individual games.
| POS | NAME | P | W | D | L | DEF | PTS |
| 1 | M MACKENZIE | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2 | A LLEWELLYN | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 ½ |
| =3 | T BLOWER | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| =3 | G HORNE | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| =5 | J DUFFIELD | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| =5 | T O`MALLEY | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| =5 | J WOODBURN | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =5 | F WHALLEY | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| =5 | M PAULE | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | I TRAVERS | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | ½ |
| R HAYLEY | |||||||
| D COLE |
Above is the latest Club Championship table
Hi, there were two games played on the 31st October 2022. Both were in the Club Championship 22-23. The first was a win as Black for George Horne vs Ian Travers and the second given below was a highly impressive win for Matthew Mackenzie also as Black against myself(Alan Llewellyn).(note the game of Matthew Paules draw vs Trevor Blower and a game each from Trevor and George in their chess tournament at Scarborough will be hopefully done on wednesday 2nd november).
On the weekend of friday 28th October 2022 til sunday 30th, both George Horne (in the intermediate) and Trevor Blower (in the minor) were involved in the really tough Scarborough Congress. George despite being on paper the underdog in all his games, managed to get a great score of 3/5, his improved rating will more reflect his ability in future I guess.
Trevor usually scores 3/5 in the minor at scarborough which is also a extremely creditable score-(I have only ever managed 2/5 myself) but this time it wasnt to be as he achieved an also creditable 2/5.
On Wednseday 26th October 2022, Matthew Paule had the white pieces and again got a draw in the Club Championship, i will put the game on the site below see this place on monday next week. Matthew is really getting great results his rating will be getting higher.
Frank Whalley with the white pieces beat Jon Duffield and Jim Woodburn with white beat Ian Travers both games also in the Club Championship.
On monday 24th October 2022, Matthew Paule had the white pieces vs Ian Travers and they drew, ian caught Matthew out with his relative inexperience, with an opening trap but Matthew managed to calm the position down. It was in the club championship for season 2022-2023.
On the same day Barrow B a team made up of Trevor Blower, Jon Duffield and Tony O'Malley met a very strong Kendal A team in the mid-week league. Barrow B lost 0 - 3, our teams are finding the new look league with so many strong teams, difficult.
On wednesday 19th 2022,I (Alan Llewellyn) had the white pieces vs Trevor Blower in the Club Knock-Out Round 1, and I was a bit lucky to come back from two pawns down to win.
A game from the Barrow B match vs Ulverston A mentioned on monday, between Trevor Blower for Barrow and Barry Hymer is given below. Barry is a past Cumbrian Individuals Champion and he certainly didnt win it by luck. In the game Trevor has Barry floundering hopelessly but misses a possible advantageous line.
On the Monday 17th October 2022, Barrow B played Ulverston A in Ulverston and lost 3-0. Ulverston A are another strong team in the league with Barry Hymer and Martin Gawne their top two boards. Those noticing whether it stated Ulverston B then Ulverston A should be aware we were not sure which team it was.
on the same day, Ian Travers lost despite giving Matthew Mackenzie a scare from all accounts. Matthew is Candidate Master level and on paper the strongest player at the club even if Dave Cole can often match upto him. This game between Matthew and Ian was in the club Championship and Ian was white.
On the 12th October 2022, Barrows most successful team (ie Barrow A) went down 0.5-2.5 to Kendal B, with George Horne the only person that got any points with a draw. Having looked at the team it is similar to the weekend league winning team that won so many times in that county wide competition, and for it to be the B team, you have to ask, what the hell is theyre A team like?
The first thing to note is I gave entirely the wrong impression of Tony O'Malley and Ian Travers in a comment that was in the 5th October text. It sugested both are new to the game(it was badly written) but that couldnt possibly be further from the truth, both are very experienced players and it was never my intent to signify otherwise.
As to the championship this season, on monday 10th October 2022, Ian Travers lost vs Trevor Blower, Matthew Mackenzie beat Tony O'Malley and I(Alan Llewellyn) drew vs George Horne.
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In the above position it is white(myself, Alan Llewellyn) to move after George Horne has just got his pawn he was down back but if i play Rxc5 here most of his pawns all lined up on the 5th rank undefended fall, but anxious to get at the g5 pawn with check and already looking for a rook placed on h4 and f3 being played I forgot that if George takes the c4 pawn then the a4 pawn and i play Rh5 and Rh4, the move f3 no longer works as a pin (if exf3?? then Rxa4 wins for me) but George had the intermezzo Ra1+ and then exf3 the game went along those lines but I realised my mistake in time. ie 32.Rxf5? Rxc4!? 33.Rxg5+ Kf7 34.Rh5 Kg6 35.Rh4 Rxa4 when i spotted my mistake and played 36.Kd2 not 36.f3? the game ended with a lucky draw (in the end it was I under pressure).
The club championship for season 22-23 got a few more results on Wedneday 5th October 2022. Tony O'Malley won as white vs Ian Travis and Jon Duffield drew as white vs Trevor Blower in yet another great result for Jon. I have the Jon vs Trevor game below...
on the 3rd October 2022 their was the first Lightning League night of the season. Matthew Mackenzie the player who wins it every year, won the round 1 night with 3.5/4. George Horne achieved 2.5/4 and in third was Jon Duffield and Trevor Blower on 2/4.
On the last weekend (30th sept til 2nd oct 2022) I went in my car over to the Northumbrian Congress in North Shields and entered the Minor Section (not a junior event but minor in ability not age). I was unbeaten going in to the 5th round but without making a clear mistake, i lost that final game to finish on 3/5 (with 2 draws to start with). My performance was as expected of a 10th seed(I finished 13th out of 43) i dont think i'll gain many rating points.
After I lost in the Penrith B vs Barrow match, and was totally outplayed (in human terms as the computer actually liked my position even though i thought it stank) , we were saved by Matt and Russell Hayley, who also played an interesting game, very accurately and his opponent lost patience in the end. Here is the game below:-
On Saturday 24th September 2022, Barrow beat Penrith B 2-1, the team was Matthew Mackenzie, Russell Hayley and myself(Alan Llewellyn) and I lost and the other two won. Matts game is given below and is almost grandmaster standard, I recomend it to you.
Jon did it again surprising us slightly by gaining a half a point draw against George Horne in the Club Championship 2022-2023, watch this space for the game I am hoping to get a copy of it uploaded here tomorrow. ie date of the game, was 21/09/2022. update: here is the game of George vs Jon
The games in the club championship are coming slowly as people are leaving it til they don't have time to complete theyre games as usual. Very few are turning up for the club meetings especially on a monday -this monday theyre were only three of us Tony O'Malley, Ian Travers and myself(alan Llewellyn). Ian played a match with me and after about 1 hour of tough resistance(he was actually slightly ahead for most of that time), Ian made a few errors and I managed to win as Black. The game is given below:-
On 5th September 2022 on the first club night of the season, I (Alan Llewellyn) got my opening theory mixed up and blundered a piece in my Club Championship game with Jon Duffield who was Black. I was rusty but soon got back in the game as Jon equally rusty gave me back the piece. When i showed the game on the english chess forum it was unfairly pilloried but if you understand my opening theory, and it is complex, the move I blundered makes a kind of sense. I ended up winning the game in our first round game of the club championship-the competitions only game so far.
The 2022 One Day Junior Cumbria Chess Champioship is on the Saturday the 8th October 2022, please click on the followign link for a flyer and entry form.
A new season has started (5 th september 2022) and the sheet showing what colours everyone is in the club championship. is here also the club itenerary is here. Note if your names on the club championship and you dont want to play its not set in stone that you are playing.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001bkvt this is a link to a radio 4 bbc show on the renuion of people from the deep blue match with Garry Kasparov in 1997.
Below is a youtube video professional made of a documentary on the history of chess and the chess championships. I think it was made by the chess.com website.
On the 24th August 2022 there was a Pairs Tournament where 4 teams of two played 3 games each against everyone in their tier , there being a top and bottom tier. The teams were Trevor Blower and myself (Alan Llewellyn) team A, Frank Whalley and Ian Travers team B, Dave Cole and Tony O'Malley team C, and finally George Horne and Jon Duffield team D.
George and Jon won with a great score of 5/6(Jon getting an incredibly good score of 3/3)
Dave and Tony finished in second with 3.5/6
Trevor and myself(Alan) got 2/6
and Frank and Ian got 1.5/6
The last seasons(2021-22) roll of honour can be seen here