So at last it is mission accomplished!Liverpool chess club are once again Merseyside first division league champions for the first time in 38 years (1985)!!!!!
Last night Liverpool 1 won at home to Wallasey A by a score of 5.5 – 1.5 to ensure we are mathematically certain of this years title.
Liverpool 1 (5.5-1.5) Wallasey A
1 Gary Quillan 1-0 Phil Davies
2 Roger Williamson 0.5-0.5 Mike Coffey
3 Colin Horton 1-0 Rich Kelly
4 Mike Griffin 0.5-0.5 Ron Harrison
5 Marek Korsinkij 1-0 Phil Brine
6 Jack Erskine-Periera 1-0 Tony Roberts
7 Barbara Novak 0.5-0.5 Stu Smiley
All players unbeaten for this final game made it more special for all with key performances from all players listed above plus the always smiling Jamie Kumar who have been the key players for the Liverpool 1st team this year. With a very special mention for the shining star young Marek Korsinkij who has won 9 from 9 at the top level so far this season against some top opponents!
I will add the match captains report here shortly to summarise the details of the winning match. Watch this space!
So many fantastic results from so many players this season with only one shock blip, losing one game to Liverpool 2 who nearly derailed the L1 train meaning the team had to dig in again against main rivals Atticus 2 in a crucial and very tough away match just a few games ago. But victory over Atticus ensured we were back in pole position.
10 years ago with Liverpool languishing for many years with just one team mid table every year in Merseyside Division 2 and only 9 players, it was decided we needed to bring the club back to life and seek out the past glory years of this wonderful club.
Things started slowly creating a website and facebook page but even then a few venue changes over a couple of years cause further delay and difficulty attracting new players.
Then we settled again and started a junior club from scratch which has proved the real life line for the clubs progress, then twitter, instagram a second team, then a third and so on and the numbers started to crank up until here we are today with 7 teams and we could probably run 10 teams plus 30-40 juniors at the club every week and the good old days are back at last!
Even Covid tried its best to stop us when Merseyside clubs decided to cut short our season and annul the inevitable in 2019 one game away from becoming division 1 champions but it only stalled our drive and determination to ensure we “officially” get back to top spot.
Great feeling to win the first division at last and still in with a chance of the double in the John Ripley Cup Final against rivals Atticus at Metrocola on Tuesday 9th May! Liverpool havent won the John Ripley cup since 1971, 52 years ago!
Celebrations at the bar late last night saw the first team sticking around a little longer than usual reflecting on the night and some blitz games with a few drinks. A wonderful evening and hopefully the first of many celebrations
Congratulations Liverpool 1 and a huge thank you to ALL the players who have played for the Liverpool first team and all Liverpool chess club teams this season and previous seasons and made it the very special thriving community it now is!
