New Grades Released

The latest ECF grades were released in late July. Click here to look yours up. A committee meeting will be held shortly to form the teams for the coming season.

Leamington League

Phil Holt has won the Leamington League Lightning Tournament.

LEAGUE & OPEN CUP CHAMPIONS 2005-06

The Open Cup team completed Stratford's disappointment for 2006, by winning the Final last night in a match with no draws.

Olton A sneaked through a gap in the fence left by Stratford, to win the League Title

Birmingham League

Division 1B have apparently stayed up thanks to Sutton Coldfield beating Lichfield B.

Division 4 have lost their play-off for the Championship and finish as runners up. They have also won the Homer Trophy, beating Warley Quinborne II over the boards.

League Lightning Tournament

The annual 5-minute Tournament was held at Solihull's venue, the Blossomfield club on Wednesday 26th April. Twenty four players took part with grades ranging from 25 to 186 in what proved to be a close competition. There were 9 rounds in all, paired using the Swiss system.

The early rounds saw Mark Page of Leamington take the lead, but this changed with each subsequent round as players dropped vital points. Robert Reynolds briefly went ahead, while Colin Searle stood, as ever, as a stalking horse, waiting for his chance to sneak through at the death.

In the Under 125 section, there was no overall leader for some time. However, Rob Stevens of Daventry took the lead in round 6, with 3½ points and he followed this up with a shock win against Colin Searle, despite being graded only 84. A draw in the last round was enough to win the U125 section overall.

The Open saw Phil Holt go into the last round half a point up and he duly completed a good win to take the Championship. Mark Page came through to take second place, with Robert Reynolds and Colin Searle third equal.

Colin Searle as League President presented the prizes in time-honoured fashion. It was a great night at Solihull and another trophy for Olton.

South Birmingham v Olton

The annual friendly match took place on Tuesday 30th August at Olton's venue, Tyseley Working Mens Club. South Birmingham have won the match for the last seven or eight years and they again won this match by a convincing margin. The full result appears below.

That said, 4 or 5 games could have been won by Olton if the players had not had been suffering from 'rubbish chess player' syndrome. In addition, the four South Birmingham players loaned for the occasion (including Gary Hope, who played for us in preference) scored precisely nil points.

The match started well with a win from Trevor Holt on board 3 and a draw for Bramwell Garner on 21. On the higher boards, things looked quite promising, but both Phil Holt and Alan Lloyd lost badly, the latter after a bad blunder. The other top players did better, though, boards 3 to 8 scoring 4½ points in total.

Lower down, there was less success, Richard Liszewki failing to spot a clear win with his opponent's clock hanging, while Peter Simpson and John Clulee had good positions. Only 2 more points were scored on boards 9 to 22, but as we have always said, its a friendly match and a warm up for the season.

Shirley & Lucas v Olton

This took place at Shirley's venue on Thursday 18th August. Although Olton had a much stronger team, they struggled to make headway early on. A few quick draws and a mate in one against Trevor Holt did nothing to help the Olton cause, but the stronger players pulled through and gave the away team a decisive lead. 

BDCL Lightning Tournament 2006

This annual event took place at Olton's Venue, Tyseley Working Mens Club, on Tuesday 14th March. Teams of four players competed in three sections in games played at 10 seconds per move. The tournament was organised by Lee Collier and Mike Rees.

This year's tournament was dedicated to previous organisers Tony and Dot Crump, plus Phil Church of Redditch CC, who all sadly passed away during 2005.

Olton fielded 4 and three-quarter teams, with Roy Gough of Lucas taking up the spare place. A scratch team of three made up from Shirley and Kynoch players meant that there were 15 teams in total, five in each section.

Olton A (Phil Holt, Alan Lloyd, Dave Gostelow & Dave Cheshire) and B competed in the Open section. A 1½-2½ score against South Birmingham A and a 2-2 against South Birmingham B meant that the A side could not regain the title, finishing second on 10 points. Olton B (Robert Reynolds, Richard Reynolds, Derek Price & Rob Wallman) scored 3½ against the latter, which helped them to finish third with 7/16.

In section B, Olton C finished equal top with South Birmingham C on 11½ out of 16. They scored 3½ points against Birmingham and Redditch A. The team consisted of Mark Cundy, Andy Cottom, Richard Liszewski and Tom Collings. The final result was such that the organisers could not separate the top two teams and the title was shared.

Our two other teams were in section C. Olton D (Dave Stockwin, Jim Gillespie, Bram Garner & Stuart Bradley) finished third, with 7½ points. Olton E (Pete Singh, Bill Yeomans, John Clulee & Roy Gough) were 5th on 5½ and it is interesting to note that both sides failed to take a point off the three-man Shirley side, save for Stuart Bradley's win on board 4 against a hastily-arranged reserve.

The event once again proved a success and an enjoyable evening for everyone attending, including those who were only there for the beer.....