Maddocks Christmas Club Rapidplay 2018
Congratulations to Adrian Zdanowski on winning the Club Rapidplay for the second year in a row, with a score of 3½/4. A draw in round 2 against Dave Gostelow didn't deter Adrian, who went on to beat Glyn and Richard in the final two rounds to retain the trophy he won the previous year!
Dave was tied on 3 points with William Bates, but, according to the "sum of progressive scores" tie-break rule, it is William that claims 2nd place, and so Dave is 3rd.
There was a 3-way tie on 2½ points, between number 3-seed Richard Archer, and the two lowest-rated players in the tournament, Michael Reynolds and Ian Jamieson! Richard was clearly ahead on the tie-break to take 4th place, whilst Michael and Ian were both so thrilled with their performances that they were very happy to be both classified as "Joint 5th" - a fantastic achievement from a 4-round event consisting of 14 players!
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Adrian Zdanowski receives the trophy from Chairman, Steve Tarr
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The Shropshire Minor Individual Champion 2018
Congratulations to Tony Preece on winning the inaugural Minor Individual Championship, specifically for players graded below 125. It was a good job he did so at the first attempt, as his grade has now rocketed to a very impressive 138! It is a very nice glass bowl trophy on a wooden base, with engraved plaques.
Tony was the clear winner, with an excellent 6 points out of 7, his only loss being against the eventual runner-up, on 5½ / 7, Stefan Tennant. They were neck-and-neck on 5 points going into the final round, but Tony's win against Ian Davies secured the title, as Stefan could only muster a draw against Chris Paul.
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Division 3 Champions 2016-17
Our 'B' team had a great season in division 3, winning 7 matches and losing 3. We were crowned champions in what was a nailbiting finish to the season. We were tied on 14 points with both Wellington 'B' and Telepost 'D', but our superior game points difference (+12 as opposed to +7 for Wellington and +6 for Telepost) was enough for us to win the title by the narrowest of margins.
Pictured with the trophy (from l to r) are:- Gary White, Michael Reynolds (captain), Munroe Morrison, George Viszokai and Tony Preece.
The Shropshire League Trophy
We were presented with the trophy back in July at the Shropshire AGM, but the engraved names of the winners only went as far as 2011. The trophy has now been extended, with a new block of wood inserted, (thanks to my brother Alan at Apex Patterns for turning that free of charge!) to accept the new silver-plated band with the names of the latest winners nicely engraved - including Priorslee Lions A in 2015. Thanks also to Shropshire Trophy & Bowling Centre of Shrewsbury, for the good price on the silver-plated band & engraving.
Pictured below with the trophy (from l to r) are:- Munroe Morrison, Steve Tarr, Gary White, Adrian Zdanowski, William Bates, Glyn Pugh and George Viszokai.
Pictured left is a close-up of this magnificent trophy. The winners date back as far as 1946, so it is wonderful to have it fully up to date and extended to accept the winners of the future for many more years to come.
We have it proudly on display at The Lion for all to admire and we will endeavour to defend our title this season, as we dearly wish to hold on to this piece of silverware!
League Champions!
It is the first time we have won the Shropshire League title as Priorslee Lions, and 18 years since we last won it as Coddon.
We remained unbeaten throughout the entire season, with 9 wins and 3 draws, to finish 7 points ahead of Newport 'A'.
Special congratulations go to two of our players who were also unbeaten during the season; William Bates won 4 and drew 8, whilst Glyn Pugh won 10 and drew 3.
Pictured celebrating the win are (from l to r) George Viszokai, Steve Tarr, William Bates, Marvin Carbin, Glyn Pugh, Gary White and Adrian Zdanowski.
2014 Club Rapidplay
Steve Tarr (right) is presented with the trophy after winning the 2014 Christmas Club Rapidplay tournament. Tied on 3 points out of 4, Steve won on the "sum of progressive scores" rule. Adrian Zdanowski and Gary White were joint 2nd.
At The Double Again!
2014 proved to be a great year for Priorslee Lions, winning both the Cox Trophy AND the Division 2 Rapidplay.
Pictured above with the Cox Tropy are (from l to r) Glyn Pugh, William Bates, Adrian Zdanowski and Jim O'Neil.
Pictured left, with the Division 2 Rapidplay Trophy are (from l to r) George Viszokai, Gary White, Glyn Pugh, William Bates, Adrian Zdanowski and Jim O'Neil.
The Lion - Two Matches, November 2011
A full house at The Lion with both the 'A' team and the 'C' team in action, hosting Shrewsbury 'A' and Telepost 'C', respectively. On the left hand side we see a deep-in-thought Glyn Pugh against Jamie Hopkins, with Jim O'Neil, Andy Tunks and John Tunks to Glyn's left. In the foreground is Marvin Carbin, seemingly more interested in George Viszokai's game (out of shot to the right, along with Nathanael - sorry but the panorama feature doesn't work too well close up).
On the far side of the room we see the other three 'C' team players, Alan Pickles, Chris Paul (mostly obscured by Vinny Crean!) and Paul Broderick in the corner.
Fantastic to see such a gathering of players and we had mixed results - sadly the 'A' team lost 3-2, but the 'C' team pulled off a great victory, winning 3.5-1.5
2011 Double!
We had a double success in our very first year as Priorslee Lions! The 'C' Team, pictured below (from l to r) George Viszokai, John Tunks, Chris Paul, Alan Pickles and Alan Shaw, were showing off the silverware after becoming Division 3 Champions.
Our 'A' team (right) triumphed in the Cox Trophy Rapidplay and are seen celebrating their victory. (from l to r) Nathanael Paul, Glyn Pugh, Jim O'Neil, Andy Tunks and William Bates.
IM Lawrence Cooper Simultaneous at Coddon Chess Club on 9th September, 2009, making his first move against Andy Tunks.
John Tunks with his trophy for "Player of the Tournament" in the 2011 Minor Knockout, after a very impressive 4 wins out of 4!
Despite this, Priorslee Lions 'B' agonisingly lost out in the Final on the "board count" rule after a 2-2 draw!
Telford v Coddon
Shropshire League, 8th April,2009
On board 5 (left, with the black pieces) is Telford captain Ian Wilson, preparing to face Nathanael Paul of Coddon, while on board 4 Colin Roberts faces Andy Tunks.
Eugene Raby (left), organiser of the blindfold simultaneous, is seen here having a friendly game with IM Paul Littlewood.
Paul played 10 boards and lost just one game, against Coddon's Glyn Pugh, and had draws against Newport's Nick Rutter and Telford's Windsor Peck.
Peter Mellor (right)
Another great junior player who won the top prize at the Nottingham Congress. He plays top board for the county junior team and remains an exciting prospect for the future and part of the Coddon league teams.
Carl Portman (left)
Former secretary of Coddon Chess Club from 1989-1997, he will always be remembered as a great organiser whose skills greatly contributed to Coddon's success!
Simon Fowler (left)
Coached by Alan Shaw, Carl Portman and I.M. Robert Bellin, in 2005, aged just 16, Simon reached the grade of 189 and overtook Nick Rutter as Shropshire's highest graded player!
Along the way he achieved national and international success becoming British U12, U16 and U18 Champion. His finest result was in the Jersey Chess Festival where he achieved 3rd place ahead of many titled players and included a win against GM Jony Hector, making him the youngest player to ever beat a grandmaster!
GKN Sankey Chess Club
Back, from left: Jack Baldwin, Lou Prescott, George Partington and Cliff Rust (2 names missing - any ideas?)
Front: Les Heath, Otto Scalscha and John Gorvin.
Alan Knight (left)
County champion in 1970 and 1979. A local player and was founding member of GKN Sankey Club, he followed his 1968 Div 1 title with the first of his individual titles in 1970. His skills on board 1 brought five more league titles between 1989 and 1994 with his new club, Coddon.
Glyn Pugh (above left)
One of Sankey's strong young players, his attractive attacking play always proved entertaining. He became County Champion in 1985 before the club moved to Coddon where Glyn has remained one of its best players.
Gareth Edwards (above right)
A prominent member of GKN club in both league and county events, he arrived from Staffordshire. However, it was lightning where Gareth excelled, winning the Shropshire lightning title for three consecutive years from 1973 - 1975.
Jon Speelman Simultaneous
Organized by Carl Portman at the Coddon Chess Club on 11th December 1988. Jon Speelman was at the time ranked 4th in the world, he won 27, and drew 4.
Playing against (l to r) Glyn Pugh, Richard Archer, and David Everington.
John Bloore (left)
A Newport school teacher, John graced the Shropshire chess scene from 1979 until 1986. He was county champion three times, in 1980, 1982 and 1983. John took a dominant role at the GKN club and at county level, achieving a grade of 195 in 1980. He also contributed with the Shrewsbury Chronical chess column.
Coddon Chess Club dominated the 1st division league from 1992 to 1997, the only club ever to win SIX consecutive league titles!
Back, from left: Phil Cameron, Sue Portman, Carl Portman. Front: Richard Archer, Trevor Brotherton and Kiddy Makwaya.
John
Jeggo
(right)
John was for many years a top county player and contributed greatly towards Sankey's chess club, playing alongside his good friend Alan Knight. For many years he missed out so narrowly in the county championship until his return to chess in 1999 when he struck a major blow for the older generation by defeating Nick Rutter to take the title.
A late 1970's scene from GKN Sankey's chess club. Pictured with an impressive array of trophies are (from left) Glyn Pugh, George Viszokai, Geoff Maiden, Geoff Mansell and Jack Baldwin.
Lev Polugaevsky Simultaneous (left)
Organized by Carl Portman, Lev took on 30 boards of Shropshire's best players at The Buckatree Hall on September 13th, 1992.
Victor Korchnoi Simultaneous (above)
Organized by Geoff Mansell in 1981 at GKN Sankey.
Tony Miles Simultaneous at GKN
On 29th April 1979 Britain’s first G.M. Tony Miles took on 63 boards in a monstrous display at GKN Sankey ballroom. Over 100 spectators turned up to watch and the event took 9 hours to complete. Miles lost just 6 boards, for his part he said the display was the toughest he had ever taken on and he would not repeat such a high number?!
Many thanks to Eugene Raby for supplying a number of these archive pictures which give a great insight into over 30 years of history of GKN Sankey and Coddon Chess Clubs.
Please e-mail me (see Contact Us) if you have any pictures that you would like to see included here.
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