Wellington Chess Club UK

🏆 Club Championship Winner: Simon Pickard
🏆 Club Junior Winner: Max Kaye

A huge well done to Simon and Max on their achievements, and thank you to everyone who took part in this year's events.

We are now on instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/wellingtonchessclubuk?igsh=ZnVyYTBzd2c3Mmdp

POSTPONED to Wed 3rd June

Wellington Chess Club UK AGM.

This coming Wednesday 27th May 7.30pm at the Chapel we will hold the club's AGM. We'll take a look at announcements, what happened this past year and will happen at the club next. Club officers and Team captains selected too.
Please attend if you can.

Sharpen Your Chess This April
We’re hosting a special guest lecture with Oleksandr (Sasha) Matlak on Monday 27th April at St George’s Parish Centre, Wembdon.

Learn how to cut blunders and spot tactics faster in real games.
Reserve your spot today — get in touch to secure your place.

A slightly delayed Div 1 match report for all our followers:

Wellington v Frome

Due to earlier issues with availability, travel and weather the first match of the season between Wellington and frome had been delayed. In view of this the captain's agreed that this second match should be played as a double points league fixture, forgoing the need to play two matches on two separate nights.

With this in mind Wellington planned a strong team and arrived on the night close to full strength.
Adam - playing black
Alex
John Morrison
Alan stonebridge
It was a real credit to the club generally that they can field a team prepared to travel approximately an hour away for one game on a weeknight. To have a team of that strength though Wellington were feeling optimistic for the match.

First to finish was Alex. He played an experienced player who had been Frome's board one or two for a very long time. He is a solid opponent with a reputation for draws and this game looked like it may go no differently as he opened with the Petroff defence, a famously steadily equal line for black.

Alex however pushed things a bit further forward than he perhaps should have done and gave up an exchange to keep pushing. Suddenly though all of Alex's pieces were very active and his opponent's defences to failed to one of the numerous tactical ideas in the position. A good early win for the team.

Alan then followed up with a great performance on board 4 where he was outrated. His young opponent appeared to play very tactically, after a long series of exchanges Alan correctly judged some important checks and emerged better, his opponent then soon resigned

At 2-0 the team needed just another half a point to seal the match and the double league points that came with it.

John Morrison went one better than that though and managed a win on board 3. His position looked very closed for a lot of the game, but as often seems to happen in John's games it soon exploded into life and his opponent was left in deep trouble. A great win to make it 3-0 for the team on the night and decide the fixture

Adam seemed to be in control in the earlier stages of his game on top board but time was very much a factor. With a complex endgame involving active pieces and rooks it was difficult to choose the right path and Adam settled for a draw against a strong opponent.

A final score of 3.5-0.5 to Wellington on the night and a much welcomed 4 points for the league standings.

Division 1 match report
Wellington v Sedgemoor chess club

Wellington recently travelled to Sedgemoor for a four board away match in division 1. Sedgemoor have been absolutely flying in division 1 and look almost certain to win the title with a very strong squad overall.

It is often tricky to get a team for an away night that doesn't match Wellington's normal chess night, Sedgemoor playing on a Monday meant that there were some difficulties in team availability. Captain John opted to give a division 1 debut to Craig worden on board 4

Wellington arrived with
Alex Conway - playing white
John Morrison
Alan Stonebridge
Craig Worden

Craig was unfortunately up against it though as Sedgemoor had a talented junior player on board 4. It became clear that his strength was quite a lot higher than the predicted grade that he had been listed with. This is often the case when playing juniors. Craig played a solid opening but then was on the receiving end of a barrage of tactics that forced him to resign.

Alex was outrated playing a hugely experienced candidate master on board 1. Having played the same opponent a couple of times previously though Alex stuck to his guns and tried his preferred opening ideas. His opponent avoided some sharp variations that led to him losing in a previous fixture. This caused the game on the night to get blocked up and no real progress could be made for either side. A draw was agreed.

With the scores at 1.5-0.5 to Sedgemoor Wellington could still win the match with two wins and chances appeared to be present on both remaining boards.

Alan on board 3 looked to be gaining a reasonable advantage in the middlegame but in trading down to the endgame he ended up with equal material. The position remained unbalanced though and his opponent found the correct approach to push a dangerous pawn further. This pawn became a critical problem for Alan that couldn't quite be solved. Alan was unlucky to lose this one against a higher rated opponent

John faced sedgemoor's team captain on board 2. He set up a solid opening position and waited for the right moment to crack open the position. A couple of slow moves from his opponent were answered by John with a testing pawn sacrifice, this was a great idea that opened important lines and diagonals. John regained his pawn with a clear positional advantage and went on to win the captain vs. captain face off on board 2

The final score was a 2.5-1.5 loss for Wellington but against a side who are convincing league leaders with a lot of strength in their team.

Wellington vs Sedgemoor chess club

Great effort, first team. Valiant effort - at one stage we thought we might have been looking like winning the match against Sedgemoor but it was not to be.

Losing to the top team in the First Division by a margin of 2.5 to 1.5 is a creditable performance

Well done to Alex, Craig, Alan and John M.

Wellington Chess Club resumes Wednesday 11th March, 7.30pm.

Getting to Chelston chapel is easier now that road works are further along the A38. Access from Chelston roundabout should be fine, but if you are coming from Taunton direction you may need to take a diversion.