RR found himself with black against Steve Hill, and making significant decisions from early in the game. We join proceedings with RR pondering his eighth move, having already elected to exchange dark square bishops.

Steve Hill v RR after 8 0-0

The queen's knight is in need of development, so Nc6, d6 to vacate d7 for the knight, or even d5 are all natural, but RR elected to start dictating the next phase of play with
8 ... Ne4, 9 Qc2 f5 This is not going to be a game of nebulous queen-sidee manoeuvres
10 Nc3 d6, 11 Rad1 Nd7, 12 Nd2 Nxc3, 13 bxc3 an unexpected choice of recapture. Stev obviously feels very comfortable with the sort of pawn structure common in the Nimzo.
13 ... Bxg2, 14 Kxg2 Nf6, 15 Nf3 Ne4, 16 Nd2 Nxd2
17 Qxd2 Qd7 with vague thoughts of getting a rook to h6 and advancing e and f pawns to cause trouble on h3. The queen is also placed to slow any attempts by white to infiltrate the white squares on the queenside, and possibly to make white worry about the check on c6.

18 Qc2 Rf6 declining 18 ... Qc6+, 19 d5 Qxc4, 20 Rd4
19 d5 e5, 20 f3 Raf8, 21 Qb3

Steve Hill v RR after 21 Qb3

21 ... g5 Rh6 and Qf7h5 is a better way of prosecuting the attack, but hey, throwing pawns forward is fun.

22 Qb5 Qc8, 23 Qa4 a6, 24 e4 Rh6, 25 exf5 Qxf5
26 g4 Qf4, 27 h3

White has been struggling to find things to do. Having failed to persuade black to exchange queens he suggests that rooks should be exterminated on the f-file. In fact
24... fxe4, 25 fxe4 Qg4 has much to commend itself for black, but white's continued search for activity has aided black's cause.
Chess puzzles can be fun, though there is a tendency to disparage them as such positions never arise in our own games. Except of course they do. It is just that no message appears below the board telling us that white is to play and mate in three, or whatever. In the position reached (left) RR failed to notice that it was black to play and win, and so came up with the anaemic continuation Qe3. No doubt you, dear reader, would have done better.

Steve Hill v RR after 27 h3

27 ... Qe3, 28 Qc2 Rhf6, 29 Qd3 Qc5 For the second time RR refuses to win a pawn. This time it was an oversight that led to him not playing Rxf3 as on this occasion white will have no compensation, just the sort of permanent deficit liable to increase with time.
30 Rde1 Kg7 aware that he may at some stage wish to play h6 without leaving Qg6+ available in response.
31 Re4 Rf4, 32 Qe2 c6 Now it is RR's turn to get unnecessarily busy. This is an attempt to get his queen mobile, but for now moves like h6 and Qa5/3 are enough.

Steve Hill v RR after 33 Qf2

33 Qf2 Rxe4 RR fails to find the best continuation again. His problem is that he has remmoved support from the b-pawn, which he decides to solve by using said pawn to recapture on c5. A better solution is
33 ... Qxf2, 34 Rxf2 cxd5, 35 cxd5 b5, protecting the b-pawn by advancing it and fixing white's remaining c-pawn as a backward pawn on a half-open file. Why do I miss these things at the board?

34 Qxc5 Re2+ (Rxg4+ is the grab-a-pawn continuation, but that gives white first choice of plan with his rook at the end of exchanges)
35 Rf2 bxc5, 36 Rxe2 cxd5, 37 cxd5 Rb8, 38 Kf2 Rb1
39 Re1 Rb5, 40 Re4= Kf6, 41 Ra4 Rb6 with equality.

Rb1 was a waste of time, while the last move flies in the face of the necessity to keep rooks active. From clearly won to nothing in it in fourteen moves - Steve has clearly outplayed RR in this section of the game.
42 Ra3 c4 back to active mode
43 Ra4 Rb5, 44 Rxc4 Rxd5, 45 Rc6 a5, 46 Ke2 Ke6, 47 a4

Steve Hill v RR after 47 a4

RR's rook is beginning to run out of squares, though the position is not even close to critical. He certainly doesn't want to play Rc5 since after an exchange on that square followed by c4 from white RR has no more than a draw. 47 ... Kd7, 48 Rc4 h6, 49 Ke3 Rd1 The rook springs back into action. Interesting is
49 Ke1 Rd3, 50 Ke2 after which black has to play e4 to retain chances, giving white a choice of pawns to offer him in exchange for black's e-pawn.

There has been plenty of action off the board. Alsager have Simon Hood back in harness and have returned their top team to the first division. Cheddleton and Macclesfield have both changed venue, Macclesfield pre-season and Cheddleton a few weeks into it. Hassell are now operating under the Cheddleton banner though continue to play home matches in Newcastle. After several years of expansion Fenton have hit a sticky patch. Accepting that their proposed A team wouldn't work they have pulled them form the second division after one match.

In the league we have had an ineligible player and an over-graded team, both of which have been dealt with automatically, and a 10.2 claim not resolved on the night on which a ruling is awaited.

Alex Richardson has instigated a strong players GP to be played over four nights at Newcastle, each night consisting of a different variation on the theme of quick play. So far we have had a straight 15 minute quickplay and a 10 minutes plus 5 seconds Fischer. Next up is a 5 minute plus 10 seconds Fischer with probably some form of Bronstein bringing up the rear as an approximation to buzzer chess without a buzzer.

First and second division tables Stafford A 2 2 0 0 4 H C Kings 2 2 0 0 4 Alsager A 3 1 0 2 2 Cheddleton A 2 0 0 2 0 Newcastle A 1 0 0 1 0

Newcastle B 6 4 1 1 9 Cheddleton C 5 4 0 1 8 Cheddleton B 5 2 2 1 6 Meir A 5 2 1 2 5 Newcastle C 5 2 1 2 5 Macclesfield 5 2 0 3 4 H C Rooks 5 0 2 3 2 H C Knights 4 0 1 3 1

Even before the snow moved in the first division was hit hard by postponements. Stafford A v Newcastle A may get played on Wednesday, but the league is well behind the 4 matches per team thatthe fixture list said should be played by the time we all sit down for our turkey lunches. So far defending champions Holmes Chapel Kings have been quick out of the blocks, with Stafford showing intent to lose the wooden spoon they picked up last year.

Third, fourth and fifth division tables Stafford B 5 3 1 1 7 Cheddleton D 3 3 0 0 6 Fenton B 5 2 1 2 5 Alsager B 3 1 2 0 4 Newcastle D 4 1 2 1 4 H C Pawns 5 1 2 2 4 Kidsgrove A 5 0 0 5 0

Alsager C 3 3 0 0 6 Fenton C 3 2 0 1 4 Meir B 5 2 0 3 4 Cheddleton X 3 1 1 1 3 Newcastle E 5 1 1 3 3 Kidsgrove B 3 1 0 2 2

Cheddleton H 6 3 1 2 7 Cheddleton E 6 2 2 2 6 Cheddleton I 4 3 0 1 6 Meir C 5 2 1 2 5 Cheddleton G 4 2 0 2 4 Cheddleton F 3 1 2 0 4 Fenton D 6 0 2 4 2

Division two has shrunk to the standard size of eight teams, with Alsager A, Stafford B and Fenton A respectively promoting themselves, relegating themselves and disbanding, and Cheddleton now fielding two sides in this competition. Progress has been less badly hit by postponements than is the case for division one. The result of Meir A v Rooks does not show in the table as it is dependant upon the reult of a 10.2 claim, whilst Knights' win over Fenton does not show due to the latter's withdrawal.
The second is always a very competitive division in which a short run of wins can lift a team well up the table. As late as the end of last February eventual joint champions Newcastle B were four points of the pace with no games in hand, so it is difficult to view current gaps as significant. Points on the board are always nice though, so Newcastle B and Cheddleton C, will be the most content with their starts. However this pair are due to clash on 7th January, so the chasing teams know that there is an immediate opportunity to close on at least one of them.
Division three is one team larger than last year, the gain of Newcastle and Stafford sides more than compensating for the loss of one of the Cheddleton teams. The remaining Cheddleton team looks though as if they intend to keep the title within the club, though many of the other teams are capable of putting in the sort of run of good results that could thwart them. At the other end of the table Kidsgrove look as if they will be pushed to match their last season haul of 9 points despite the extra matches.
This year the fourth division teams will be playing each other oonly twice, the reduction from three times coming about because of the arrival of Alsager in the division. The newcomers certainly look as if they intend to make champions Fenton work hard in defence of their title even though postponements mean that the division is for several teams only in its early stages.
Division five is somewhat Cheddletonesque, with Hassell electing to play as Cheddleton H this year, and the divisions numbers being maintained despite the lack of a Newcastle team by the arrival of an extra Cheddleton team. Internecine warfare at the Moorlands club has not been as extensive as planned for this stage, but withthe new more spacious venue now in operation there should be no difficulty in making up the backlog. Newcastle meanwhile have found that their new members are reliable, so there seems a good chance of a return to this division for them next season, captaincy and transport permitting. Results so far contains little in the way of clues as to the eventual champions, with Fenton's defence looking shaky due to a policy of looking to give games to all their members rather than selecting teams simply with victory in mind. Few will argue against such a policy.

The first round of the Open Cup was not entirely predictable, with Stafford beating defending chamions Holmes Chapel, Alsager defeating Newcastle without dropping a board and Macclesfield edging past Meir 4½ - 3½. Later Maclesfield defeated Meir 5 -  in the league; I would have placed the difference between the clubs at somewhere between that suggested by the two scores.
By their nature the grade limited cups are rarely predictable, so I'll limit my comment to saying that all first round matches have been completed except for the Fenton - Holmes Chapel clash in the major cup.
And so to the crystal ball. Rub it as hard as I can, it still remains semi-opaque. But the winners I think I can see are:
Division one: Holmes Chapel Kings
Division two: Cheddleton C
Division three: Stafford B
Division four: Alsager C
Division five: Cheddleton I
Open Cup: Cheddleton
Major Cup: Cheddleton
Inter Cup: Holmes Chapel
Minor Cup (Perry Trophy): Newcastle