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Chesterfield A had an impressive win in the top division of the Sheffield Summer League.
After a slow start losing their first two matches, Chesterfield A won their remaining six matches to finish in a tie with Worksop A and Ecclesall A. Under the tie break rules, Chesterfield became the champions having scored more game points against Worksop and Ecclesall. The star player for Chesterfield was Peter Ackley. He played in 7 of the 8 matches, scoring 4 wins, 3 draws and no losses. This amounted to a grading performance of 2269. - Martin Howard
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We were delighted to see that four of our members played in this County match on Sunday 26 April. The match was held at Ullesthorpe near Lutterworth.
Rob Jarvis played on board one and held Middlesex’s strongest player to a draw. On board two Richard Dawson, having gone a pawn up, won his game. Ali Shah was on board three. His was the first game to finish in just 35 minutes. Most impressive ! Simon Evans was on board 14. Although Simon lost, he was unlucky to face one of Middlesex’s top juniors. His opponent obtained the better pawn structure and was able to make that count in the endgame. Although Derbyshire lost the match, this was an impressive performance by our four members. Bearing in mind that Rob, Richard and Ali were on the top three boards, to score 2.5/3 was an outstanding result. This was a great response from all the Chesterfield players who had stepped forward to play for the County at short notice. - Martin Howard Congratulations to George Gledhill and his team for gaining promotion to the Second Division of the Derby & District League.
George said how proud he was not only of his regular players but also of the reserves who turned out for the team. In all, 15 club members played at least one game for the team. Colin turned out ten times and scored an impressive 5½ points. The outstanding performance was that of Ali (Haider) who played six times and won every game. Also unbeaten was Richard who won all three of the games he played. We wish the team all the best in their upcoming season in the Second Division. Chesterfield Chess Club has completed a full 2025 stock take of all our equipment. The inventory covers boards, boxes, sets, and clocks, giving us a clear view of what we have, what is in good condition and what might need replacement.
Our count shows the club holds:
Many thanks to the members who gave their time to count and record every item, particularly Stefan Lewins who set up the inventory spreadsheet. This effort keeps the club organised and ready for play.  Steve Bracey organising the Lightning Tournament Report by Martin Howard
This annual rapid play tournament took place last week. Sixteen players took part. It was encouraging to see that this included five new members. The tournament was run as a randomly paired Swiss. There were five rounds. Each round was 10 minutes per player with no increments. For the last few years we have been grateful that Tim Humphries has run this event. At the moment Tim is taking a break from chess but he provided us with the link to the software that he uses. This enabled Steve Bracey to take the reins. The tournament was hotly contested. It was pleasing to see that at least one point was scored by everyone. After four rounds David Latham was leading with Peter Ackley half a point behind. They faced each other in the final round. Peter won and thereby became the holder of the Centenary Cup for the second time. Brian Crofts and John Trafford also scored well. There were good performances too by Richard Dawson, Kevin Guo and Amar. We are very grateful to Steve Bracey for organising the event. We are also grateful to those members who turned up early on the night to prepare the room for the tournament. Where players have scored the same number of points, the computer program has placed them in order having regard to the performance of their opponents. The final results were as follows:
ROBINSON TROPHY Congratulations to Amar for winning the Club Championship Trophy this year. This is now awarded to the player who makes the biggest increase in their grading over the course of the season. During the period from the beginning of September 2024 until the end of August 2025 Amar’s grade has improved by 69 points. Amar continues to become a stronger player. It is noteworthy that since 2022 his grade has increased by almost 200 points. SAUNDERSON TROPHY Congratulations also to Stefan Lewins for his excellent performance in winning the Saunderson trophy. This is now awarded to the winner of a Swiss tournament open to all club members with a grading below 1700. We are very grateful to Brian Crofts for organising this tournament. EQUIPMENTMany thanks to all those who helped last Thursday to check that all sets had matching pieces. We are particularly grateful to Steve Bracey’s son who repaired several pieces which had lost their weights and felts. We now have 20 perfect sets (this will increase to 22 when further repairs are complete).
The Cup was played at Rolls Royce over four dates: 24 October; 21 November; 20 February and 27 March 2025. Two rounds were played on each date. The first four rounds were used to determine the top four teams to go forward to the semi-finals. The final on 27 March saw the two winning semi-finalists going head to head.
Each team consisted of 4 players. All games were played at a rapid rate of 30 minutes for all moves. In the semi-finals and final, players played the same opponent twice with colours reversed for the second game. Chesterfield A was one of eight teams to compete for the Cup. These were the strongest chess teams in the County. Our team for the first four rounds was Peter Ackley, David Latham, Martin Pettinger and Martin Howard. Both David and Martin Pettinger were unbeaten, each scoring an impressive 3.5 out of 4. This helped Chesterfield finish top at the end of the preliminary rounds with 12.5 points. Breadsall scored 11 points, Belper A 9.5 and Derby A 9 points. As a result these four teams progressed to the semi-finals with Chesterfield facing Derby A and Belper A playing Breadsall. The semi-finals took place on 20 February 2025. Very sadly, Martin Pettinger had died at the end of 2024. Chesterfield were also missing Peter Ackley because of a clash with one of his Nottinghamshire matches. Steve Gibbs and Kevin Fairburn stepped in to replace them and did us proud. Steve won a fine game against Derby's Dave Williams. Meanwhile Kevin outplayed his opponent but had to settle for a draw just before he could deliver mate because he ran out of time. Dave Latham and Martin Howard won both their semi-final games to give Chesterfield an emphatic win over Derby A by 5.5 points to 2.5 points. The other semi-final was won by Breadsall. The final took place at Rolls Royce on 27 March 2025. Chesterfield were represented by Peter Ackley, Hubert Mossong, Dave Latham and Martin Howard. Chesterfield took the lead in round one, scoring 2.5 points out of 4. However Breadsall turned the tables in round two by the same score. This left the teams tied on 4 points each. Fortunately Chesterfield were declared the winners on board count. It was very satisfying to win the Cup albeit by the narrowest of margins. Hubert had been outstanding, winning both his games. Peter also made a massive contribution to our victory by holding Breadsall's top player, John Molyneux, to a draw in both his games. Martin Howard  This photograph from the 1950s shows some of the original founding members Chesterfield Chess Club was formed 100 years ago. Its first club night was held on 6th October, 1924 at the Station Hotel (later named the Chesterfield Hotel and recently demolished). The driving force behind the establishment of the Club was Colonel Victor Owen Robinson MC, JP who had served in the First World War and been awarded the Military Cross for bravery an incredible three times. He was later (1945) to become Chairman of Robinson & Sons, the large family business that manufactured surgical dressings and cardboard boxes locally. As part of the Club's Centenary celebrations, we held a Rapid Play Tournament on Thursday evening 26 September in the function room at the Red Lion in Brimington. This was well attended by members and former members of the Club. Chess clocks were used. Players had 10 minutes each to make their moves. This enabled five rounds to be played. The event was won by Peter Ackley who is a County player and one of the strongest players in the Club. He was unbeaten. We were particularly pleased that our President, Andy Mort, was able to attend the Club for the first time since suffering a major stroke in 2021. Despite being told by doctors at the time that he would never walk again, he was determined to be there. Although the function room is upstairs and there is no lift, Andy amazed everyone by climbing the flight of stairs. This was remarkable because he had not climbed stairs since his stroke. As a result, Andy was able not only to participate in the tournament but also to present the Centenary Trophy to the winner. 2024 has been an exceptionally successful year for the Club. In the Derbyshire League, we won the First Division under new captain Martin Pettinger. The President presented the Derby Trophy to Martin following the Rapid Play Tournament. We had also entered a second team in the Derbyshire Third Division. This new team gained promotion at their first attempt which was a noteworthy achievement for George Gledhill in his first season as a captain. It was also a splendid performance by his team, several of whom were new to playing league chess. The Club also has three teams in the Sheffield & District League. Chesterfield A tied on points in the First Division but lost out on winning the Championship as a result of a tiebreaker. The team did, however, gain revenge by winning the First Division of the Summer League. In addition, Chesterfield B were promoted to Division Two and Chesterfield C were promoted to Division Three.  This feature appeared in the September 2024 edition of Reflections magazine The following report was published in the Derbyshire Times on 16th May 2024.  As part of our Centenary celebrations, we organised a chess tournament for local Secondary schools. This saw pupils from Outwood Academy, Brookfield Community School, St Mary’s Catholic High School and Netherthorpe School compete for a trophy donated by the club. The 2024 tournament took place on Friday 19 April at Outwood Academy Newbold. It was organised by Martin Howard, Brian Crofts and George Alexander from Chesterfield Chess Club as part of the club’s centenary celebrations. Pupils from Outwood Academy, Brookfield Community School, St Mary’s Catholic High School and Netherthorpe School competed for a trophy donated by Chesterfield Chess Club in memory of their former President, Mike Johnson. The schools were represented by six pupils in each round. They were aged 11 to 18. There were three rounds so that all the schools played each other. Digital clocks were used in every game with the competitors having 20 minutes each to complete their moves. This added to the tension. Tom Scotney (Brookfield), Volodymyr Savkin (Netherthorpe) and Kevin Guo ((Outwood Academy) won all three of their games. Bowei Ke (Brookfield) was also undefeated. The performance of Kevin Guo was particularly impressive because he was playing on top board for Outwood Academy against the strongest players from the other schools. The result of the tournament was in the balance until the very end. Netherthorpe and Outwood scored an equal number of match points but Netherthorpe were declared the winners because they won more individual games. The trophy was presented by Andy Mort, President of Chesterfield Chess Club. Every pupil who took part received a Certificate of Participation. The event was attended by teachers Chris Bingham (Outwood), Marc Vestey (Netherthorpe), Chris Dunne-Wragg (St Mary’s) and Nick Davey (Brookfield) who had all helped with the organisation. Also in attendance was the headmaster of Brookfield Community School, Keith Hirst. Chris Bingham thanked Chesterfield Chess Club for organising the tournament. Nick Davey later described it as a hugely enjoyable and gripping event and a great opportunity for all the players. Marc Vestey said that his pupils had loved the competition and hoped it would become an annual event. (He has since confirmed that the headteacher of Netherthorpe would be happy for her school to host a future tournament). Martin Howard said that he had been extremely impressed by the standard of play shown by all four schools.  |
