The history of chess
how or whether to complete the 2019/20 season, including issues like promotion and relegation.
The MCA involves 15 teams from around the region, including Formby, Ormskirk and Skelmersdale, the furthest being Hoylake and Wallasey.
Although players can’t meet up in person as yet members Kevin Walsh tells us we can still play against each other – or indeed other players worldwide – as the chess club is online.
To join please register at https:// lichess.org/team/southport-chessclub. Have fun!
The club’s present membership is small with 23 members (13 of them Graded), two of them female, but Geoff will be adding to that after the lockdown, once he has blown off the cobwebs!
In the MCA League Division Two 2019-2020 Southport 1 took third place, whilst Southport 2 is currently in Division Three. The club is also in the 600 League and Southport 2 is in the 440 League.
The club’s top (Graded) players at present are, in alphabetical order: Paul Dansey; James Foy; Peter Jenner (2nd Captain); Chris Kaye; Carl Kennedy; Karl Nadin; Kenny Parker; Kenneth Payne; Barry Pursall (secretary); Phil Ramsey (captain); Jonathan Rothwell; Geoffrey W. Sage; Arnold Topham; and Fergal Wright.
However, the up-to-date ECF Grading Database lists 21 Graded players for Southport, and the other league players are: Shay Charlton; Nickolas Chatten; Lilly-Mae Davis; Igor Da Silva; Harry Pollock; Oliver Skidmore; George Walton; Kelly Zheng; and Kevin Zheng).
The Southport Junior 1 is in the MCA Junior Division One and Southport Juniors 2 is in the Junior Division Two. Regarding league history, following the suspension of the MCA League due to World War
Two, Southport 1 secured its best victory by winning Division 1 in 1950 (the first and only time).
In 2012 the MCA expanded to five divisions, and since then a Southport team has been crowned Champion seven more times: Division Two 2015 Southport 1; Division Three 2012 Southport 1; Division Four 1979 Southport 4; 1986 Southport 2; 2006 Southport 2; 2015 Southport 2; 2019 Southport 2.
With extremely tough competition regionally, Southport has done really well in securing three pieces of MCA silverware with Knotty Ash Trophy wins in 2003, 1989 and 1981.
In club competitions, the winner of the 2019 Summer Lightening Tournament (2019) was Carl Kennedy who won all five of his games, with Chris Kaye runner-up.
All in all the Southport Chess Club is still vibrant – so we will see you down there, when it is safe to do so. Checkmate!