eNewsletter August 2017 – Issue 13

Welcome to the August / September edition of our eNewsletter. The summer is almost over and we are ready for action for a new season with much to look forward to.

A couple of housekeeping points to start with. Firstly, please remember to renew your annual membership fee to the ECF here and secondly, please consider our sponsor Tradewise who
have a special offer on motor insurance for ECF members here …

In this edition we look at English players’ performances at the British Championships, Glorney Cup, Xtracon Copenhagen Festival, World Chess Solving Championship and European Junior Championships. We also give a well-deserved slot to the maters, self-maters and help-maters at the British Chess Problem Society.

I’d like to incorporate your ideas and suggestions about content and style into future editions so please feel free to contact me at publicity.manager@englishchess.org.uk
 
Enjoy the coming season!

— Mark Rivlin

British Championships – Gawain’s World

GM Gawain Jones won his second British Championship in a playoff after a four-way tie also
involving GM Luke McShane, GM David Howell and IM Craig Hanley, all of whom finished with 7/9. The playoff 10-minute plus two seconds increment ormat saw Jones and McShane win against Hanley and Howell respectively and Jones then won the two-round final 1.5-0.5.  IM Jovanka Houska retained the women’s title with 5.5/9. Roundup and analysis here and here where IM Andrew Martin signs off after 20 consecutive years commentating on the British with his final championship analysis of Hanley’s win against Yan Fan Zhou.

Andrew’s ability to make master-level chess accessible and understandable to players of my very humble (138) ranking is the hallmark of his work. He will be a very hard act to follow and we wish him well in all his future endeavours.

English Rapidplay Championship

September 23 and 24, and organised by Liverpool Chess Club and sponsored by Signature Living, the English Rapidplay Chess Championship in Liverpool takes place on Saturday and Sunday 23rd / 24th September 2017. Signature Living have provided the iconic Cunard Building venue and a £10,000 prize fund making the event one of the most lucrative on the UK chess calendar. GMs Daniel Gormally, Mark Hebden and Nigel Davies are booked into the Open section. Details here, including entry forms.
 
AGM 2017 – Going Through the Motions

Ever wondered how decisions regarding chess in England are made or would you like to have a motion presented to Council? This year the ECF Annual General Meeting will be on Saturday 14 October in London (venue to be confirmed) .. more details here
 
Chess in Schools and Communities is a class act

The CSC project is getting mainstream media coverage with an ITV news piece from Park End School Middlesbrough and featuring well-known chess local Sean Marsh, and see also here for CSC’s popular Library Project.
 
What’s the problem?

Founded in 1918, the British Chess Problem Society is the oldest of its kind in the world. With regular London-based meetings, an active website, magazine and publications, the society is the perfect accompaniment to your over the board activities – more here

It was mates in three as the GB trio won silver in the World Chess Solving Championship in Dresden

John Nunn, Jonathan Mestel and Colin McNab came second to Poland with Germany taking Bronze. Nunn came fourth and Mestel seventh in the individual championship. More here …

Calendar

Fancy a game of chess? Plenty to choose from here
 
Going for Glorney

The Glorney Gilbert International took place in Cardiff with England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and France participating. England won the U12 Stokes Cup
 
Making their Denmark

English participation Xtracon Open Copenhagen Chess Festival … GM Nigel Short led the English charge with 8/10 to finish fourth in a strong field. Stephen Dishman made 7.5, FM Ravi Haria and Matthew Wadsworth made 7, Simon Roe and FM Adam Taylor made 6, Max French 5.5, Leif Hafstad 5 and Matthew Dishman 4.5.

Nigel just Short

In the Abu Dhabi Masters GM Nigel Short (7/9) finished with a highly impressive 2717 tournament performance in second place to Egyptian GM Amin Bassem (7.5). IM David Eggleston (4.5) and Malcolm Armstrong (3) also participated — more here
 
European Youth Team Chess Championships, Rymanow-Zdroj

England finished 14th out of 28, up three places from their starting rank, with a creditable 15.5/28 board points. The team was made up of Koby Kalavannan who returned an excellent 5/7, Zoe Varney (4.5), Conor Murphy and Stephen Whatley … more
 
July ratings? What a grade day!

Find out whether you slid down the snake or up the ladder here
 
There is such a thing as a free lunch – CHESS Magazine’s August extract here
 
Support for junior chess – John Robinson Youth Chess Trust

Once again English chess has benefited from the late John Robinson’s bequest, with £1000 donated to the junior bursary fund, £2400 to the Junior Grand Prix, and £9500 to the ECF Junior Academy … more 

Solid as a rock

A strong contingent of juniors from England played in the 7th Gibraltar Junior International. Abigail Weersing was the Champion of the U12 Girl’s section in Gibraltar, finishing with 4 points out of 6. She played a very strong set of opponents, with 5 of her 6 opponents finishing on 4 points or higher and her tournament performance was just under 1600. James Moreby and Nugith Jayawarna came Joint 2nd in U16 with 4.5. Mate Ther was the best English player in the U12 section with 5/6, closely followed by Ranesh Ratnessan and Christopher Tombolis on 4.5.

 
London moves!

London Chess League which has been serving the capital’s players since 1886 (we think it can lay claim to being the oldest chess league in the world) is moving home after 20 years at Golden Lane Community Centre. The new home is Citadines Apartment Hotel in Holborn. The league has six divisions catering for all levels and if you would like to play for a London League club please contact league secretary Brian Smith at secretary@londonchess.com. If you are in or around Holborn and would like to watch the live action, the games will be played on Wednesdays from 7pm from October through to May (no games in December) – more

Book review 

Chess for Hawks by Cyrus Lakdawala; read IM Gary Lane’s review here

Meet and Crete

England well represented in European Teams Championships to be held in October in Hernoissos, Crete. We will be fielding strong teams in this prestigious event. For the Men’s event Michael Adams, David Howell, Luke McShane, Gawain Jones and Nigel Short are playing; and the Women’s team members are Jovanka Houska, Sue Maroroa, Dagne Ciuksyte, Akshaya Kalaiyalahan and Kanwal Bhatia. Further information here

FIDE news 

Some housekeeping links from Fide here …
Agenda | Audited accounts | Verification Commission’s report on the accounts

In Memoriam

Simon Woodcock
A stalwart of Lancashire Chess Association, Simon died on July 17 after fighting cancer. He was 54
[more]
 
Laurie Brokenshire
A former Royal Navy chess champion and President of the Combined Services Chess Association, Laurie died on August 4 aged 64 [more]