*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 |
|
|
| 07/09/2026 |
E Div(E) |
3Cs III |
H |
|
|
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.