3rd Match Report: 17/09/24

Tuesday Match Report: 17/09/24
Bury 1 – 5 Eccles
MCF B Division Cup Match
https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/league_fixture/257250

Great Club is Bury with longstanding players who go back many years. The club was founded in 1956 and has an unbroken history of nearly seventy of playing league matches.

Bury Chess Club was famously known for having GM Keith Arkell play for them when he lived in that neck of the woods before moving to Heywood. Bury News 2008

Keith is one of the nicest GMs anyone could ever meet and I when I plucked up enough courage to ask him if he would like to help me promote Chess in the Manchester area I was absolutely delighted when he smiled and said, “yes, I would like to help you with this”. I was so chuffed by Keith’s response that I had to restrain myself from diving over the table and smothering him with lots of hugs and kisses. I am so excited about this new development and with help and support from GM Keith Arkell and IM Ameet Ghasi we can really make a difference in getting “Chess is for Everyone in the Community of Manchester” recognised further and bouncing off the ground. I was always told “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”. So fingers crossed!!

Of late, Bury was on the near verge of collapse but the club players somehow managed to pull themselves up by their boot strings and won D Division beating Eccles taking first place in the South East Lancashire Summer Chess League 2024

Well played Bury, we thought we had lost you forever a few years back and we are all so pleased to see you back firmly in the playing area!!

Man of the Match: Patrick Tzortakos (pictured with his wife and daughter at the WITW Manchester Chess Festival)

Nice Guy is Greek Patrik and even though he has moved out of the Eccles catchment area he still continues to play for us. It would be awful for Eccles to lose Patrik or anyone else for that matter because a Community Group is like a newly created family getting together, bonding and sharing each other’s lives.

There really should be more support in helping the volunteers who make Community Chess Groups happen. With help and support from everyone, the health and wellbeing benefits that can be gained by playing chess better are obvious. Chess is not about making money – I should know!! It’s about making people’s lives better. This includes those who don’t play chess, as their lives will have been improved by association with those who do. This is a “win win” situation.

This is what Patrick had to say about his game:

The game was an interesting Kings Indian defence. A fun game and well played by my opponent. The home team showed great sportsmanship and waited for us to arrive despite us being late to the match venue many thanks to Bury for hosting.

GM Keith Arkell will be vistitng Manchester to take part in the Bolton Blitz tourney Sunday 29/09/24. Keith also intends to visit Eccles Community Chess Club at their Eccles High Street Venue to show his support in promoting chess for Ladies and Learners on Monday 30/09/24 and also intends to join us on Club night on Wednesday 02/10/24. Keith has also agreed to play in the odd League Match for Eccles. How fantastically cool is that for doing this for us and we at Eccles are going to show our appreciation ten fold for his kindness and supporting this new and exciting venture. Keith we applaud you!!

Next Match:
Monday 23/09/24
Altrincham1 v Eccles3
MCF B Division Cup Match.

Monday: Ladies and Learners in Chess.

Wednesday: Chess for Fun

Thank you reading my Journey into Promoting Chess in the Community.

Barbara