Junior Club Night
Bangor Chess Club's juniors are growing in number. A dozen primary school youngsters are attending regularly at Club nights from 7:00. This week, club President, Richard Proctor, joined in, challenging the juniors in a simultaneous display of sorts. With so many enthusiastic new recruits, Richard is determined the club should stimulate their enjoyment of chess. Along with lead organisers, Harry Patterson, Mark Newman and Michael McKimm, the club intends developing a structured evening for the benefit of this growing group. Richard says "adult players can benefit too from the chess exercises these young people enjoy so much" and encourages all members to get involved with the junior coaching.
Senior Club Night
This Weeks League Matches
Carnegie captain Mark Newman created a stir last week when he confidently addressed his team members as "Bangor's premier, league team". Groomsport captain, Richard Proctor, rose to this challenge by exhibiting his Division winner medal from last year saying "only winning teams win prizes". He went on to boast his leadership in the club's three successes in recent years. Carnegie face Groomsport in Thursday's opening league match. Fireworks are likely on all boards.
The Templar Team will be spectating the Division 1 derby having played their opening league match in Randalstown on Monday evening.
Richard Morrow's Winston Team will definitely not be spectating on Thursday; they entertain Bombardier in their opening league match. Last week the team got together in preparation for the new season. There was obvious tension among the players: apprehension at the prospect of such illustrious opposition, and the anticipation of causing a few upsets. Determination creased their brows as they prepared their game-plan against the 2002 Division winners.
Barracudas Dine Out
The Templar Team, nicknamed the Barracudas, startled Randalstown with a 4.5-0.5 win on Monday night. Martin Moorcroft on board 1 dropped a Bishop early on but trapped his opponent's Queen in a surprise knight fork to recover a great win. Michael McKimm agreed a draw in a tense positional battle with neither player gaining advantage. Philip Todd persevered, claiming the end-game with a pawn advantage for a good win. David Grzymek punished his opponent winning in convincing style. Drew Ferguson captured a Rook and a Pawn in a nasty fork on move 11 forcing capitulation 12 moves later. An excellent result for the team's league debut.
Next Weeks League Fixtures
Thursday 20th sees another local derby as Templar take on their Division 2 rivals Winston. Both sides are well matched but in this early part of the season, game-play might be unusually tentative as players adjust to competition conditions.
In Division 1, Carnegie travel to Civil Service on Wednesday, while Groomsport entertain RVH Hawks. Ordinarily Civil Service would be well matched with Carnegie, but the Bangor team's current high morale should make them favourites for a majority win. For Groomsport, RVH Hawks are an uncertainty; this season, RVH have definitely lost their dominance of the Ulster chess scene but the effect of these changes on the Hawks line-up will remain unclear until the visitors arrive in Groomsport. Still, Groomsport's recent acquisitions, Stephen Scannell and Damien Lavery, lead a strong challenge.
