Stobo-Bland Trophy, 12 April 2008

Manchester Chess Federation v Lancaster, Morecambe & District Chess League

Venue: Stretford Bridge Club

As Alan Hansen famously once said, ‘You’ll never win anything with kids’. He was proven very wrong in his statement and again history repeated itself, only this time in the unsung world of Chess.

Manchester Chess Federation assigned John Reyes from Chorlton Chess Club the task of collating a team of players from all clubs within the federation – and a combination of youth and experience was seen as the way to achieve the goal.

Players from the Lancaster, Morecambe and District Chess League were the opponents in 5th annual Stobo-Bland Trophy match. Alan Stobo was a long-serving officer of the Manchester Chess Federation and would have been proud too see his good work continued with a win by the Mancunians. The result was a more than convincing 21½ to 6½ to victory to the MCF against the defending champions from Lancaster and Morecambe District.

MCF league captain, John Reyes “I am more than happy that this match has shown the strength of the Junior players in the MCF and has helped to build bridges with our neighbours from Lancaster for the future of the game.”