Skelmersdale Chess Club History
2008-2009Merseyside Chess Association: Skem 1, Div 3, finished 2nd of 7 teams; Skem 2 MCA Div 4, finished 4th of 6. Lancashire Central League: Skem A 1st Division, finished 7th of 8 teams; Skem B 3rd Division, winners from 6 teams. Warrington League: Division 4: 3rd from 7 teams Rapidplay again at Skem Unitied, was expanded to 4 sections, made little profit. Future uncertain. Player of the Year : Dave Stanfield 2007-2008Skelmersdale fielded 6 teams: 3 in the Merseyside Leagues, 1 in the Warrington and 2 in the Lancashire Leagues. Skelmersdale 1 after a promising start lost a too many matches in the 2nd half of the season to have any chance of regaining promotion to division 2. Skelmersdale 2 & 3 both topped their divisions to gain promotion to the 3rd and 4th divisions Will Hayes won player of the year Division 4 Merseyside League In the Lancashire Leagues good performances resulted in mid table position for both teams In division 4 of the Warrington League the Skelmersdale team improved on last years performance The Skelmersdale Rapidplay moved to a new venue at Skelmersdale Football Club. Player of year was Joe Dilworth with 21 points from 30 games. 2006-2007Skelmersdale fielded 6 teams: 3 in the Merseyside Leagues, 1 in the Warrington and 2 in the Lancashire Leagues. A team was entered in the NCCU competition. Skelmersdale 1 struggled to field full strength teams and lost too many games by the narrowest of margins, resulting in bottom of the league position. Skelmersdale 2 topped their league for much of the year, but failed to clinch promotion. In the Lancashire Leagues good performances resulted in mid table position for the A team in the B division, and 2nd place in the C Division to the B team. We again won the Vaux trophy. In division 4 of the Warrington League the Skelmersdale team ended up mid table with 4 wins out of 10 games. Player of year was Dave Stanfield, playing an impressive 41 games, scoring 20.5 points 2005-20066 teams competed this year : 3 in the Merseyside Leagues, 2 in the Warrington and 1 in the Lancashire Leagues. A team was entered in the NCCU competition. Skelmersdale 1 had to fight for a while to maintain their position in the newly promoted division 2, but eventually was safe. Other team all had a mixed season. The Lancs team won the Vaux Trophy beating Leyland A - 2:3 to Skelmersdale. The 3nd Skelmersdale Rapidplay followed the success of the previous years, with 112 players an increase of 32. Player of year was again Dave Stanfield. 2004-20055 teams competed this year : 2 in the Merseyside Leagues, 1 in the Warrington and 1 in the Lancashire Leagues. A team was entered in the 400 League to give new players and juniors a chance to experience competitive matches. Skelmersdale 1 won promotion for the second successive year to the 2nd division. Skelmersdale reached another final this year - the Knotty Ash Cup loosing in the final to Runcorn. The 2nd Skelmersdale Rapidplay followed the success of the previous year, expanding to 3 sections. Player of the Year was Dave Stanfield. Roy Atherton won the Members Trophy. Colin Winstanley won the members rapidplay for the 2nd year in succession. 2003-2004Again 4 teams were running: two in division 4 Merseyside, and one in both the Central Lancashire League and the Warrington Leagues. Skelmersdale 1 won division 4 of the Merseyside League for the first time only losing one match. Paul Stanley was the division player of the year. Skelmersdale won the John Ripley Cup for the first time beating Hunts Cross, a first division side, in the final. The score was 6-3½ The first Skelmersdale Rapid Play took place in May 2004 and was a great success. Paul Stanley won the members trophy. Colin Winstanley won the club rapidplay. Internet site launched. 2002-2003The 1st team was joined by the 2nd in the 4th division of the Merseyside Chess Association. The 3rd Team moved into the Warrington League and a team was entered into the Central Lancashire for the first time. The Members Trophy was won by Paul Pitman. Paul tied with Roy Atherton in the Rapid Play. Club Player of the Year was Paul Massey. 2001-2002This year saw a big expansion of the club with the 2nd and 3rd teams being formed and entering into the 5th division of the Merseyside League, to join the 1st now in the 4th division. 2nd Team followed the previous year's success of the 1st team by also winning promotion. Ray Weedall again won the Members Trophy together with the first club Rapid Play. Players of the Year for their respective teams were Stewart Bullen (1st team), Dave Stanfield (2nd team), and David Hughes sen (3rd team).David Hughes jun also got a special mention for the 1st team. The Club moved its home from the Labour Club to the Royal British Legion. 2000-2001This year saw our first full season, and the formation of the 1st team which joined the 5th division of the Merseyside League. Our team won promotion and also reached the semi-final of the John Ripley cup. Ray Weedall won Members Trophy and was club player of the year. 1999-2000September 1999 Club was formed due to the hard work of
David Robinson. Many thanks Dave! |