Club Championship 2024/25
The Club Championship for 2024/25 was contested by eight players and was run as an all play all competition over nine rounds. The Neil Pennock the Club Champion from the previous year lost in the first round to Colin Weller which made retaining the title difficult. The most interesting chess was played by Simon Dixon who could have beaten Paul Hutchinson and escaped with a draw again Colin Weller in sharp games. Rafal Rogowski did beat Paul Hutchinson when Paul exchanged his large positional advantage into extra material but faced a counterattack which resulted in mate. In the final round Rafal had the bye and had to watch the game Neil Pennock against Paul Hutchinson.
A win for Paul would give him the Club Championship whilst a draw would give him the joint championship with Rafal and a loss would give the sole championship to Rafal. In a tense game Paul played to imbalance the game with the black pieces. Firstly, going for opposite side castling and then advancing his queen into white's position rather than going for a solid defensive position. Neil Pennock managed to trap the queen for a rook but in a very blocked position spent too much time looking for the win. With both players becoming short of time Neil Pennock bailed out and offered a draw which Paul Hutchinson accepted. It was the third time that Paul Hutchinson had become joint Club Champion and the first time Rafal had become Joint Club Champion.
York and District Chess League - Cup Final
The York and District Chess League came to a conclusion for Scarborough Chess Club with the Cup Match against a team from Eagle and Child. On paper the Eagle and Child team were favourites as they had won the league and defeated Scarborough in both league matches. In previous years the Cup had been decided on grading as both years the final had been drawn. For the final this year Scarborough had a marginally higher grade so needed to win the match.
In a tense final, five games were drawn leaving Simon Dixon as team captain needing to win to secure the cup which he did. Congratulations to all who have played in the team.
Team News
The Scarborough Chess Club Team is reaching the end of the 2024/25 season in the York and District Chess League. With two matches outstanding it is going to be a close fight for second place between Scarborough and a team from York University who are currently tied on 18 points with the tie break favouring the University team.
In the Knock Out event the Club has reached the final for the third year in a row. Both previous finals were decided on tie break with the Club winning the first and losing the second. In the final the Club faces the winners of the Division and so will be the underdog in the match.