Dear Member
A busy month of chess on and off the board with Gawain Jones continuing his good form with a joint first in the Reykjavik Open and England’s seniors emulating our national team by getting Silver in the FIDE Senior Championships in Rhodes. Tim Wall goes all the way down the 4NCL pecking order (Division 3 North) and Danny Rosenbaum takes on the sensitive subject of cheating and gamesmanship in chess. Two London-based clubs share the plaudits off the board this month – Battersea CC laid down a huge marker by fielding a team of the country’s top juniors against the mighty titled coterie that makes up Wood Green in the London League, and Hammersmith CC have launched a Women’s Chess Month, a superb initiative to attract women to chess in England (both are featured below). If you want to advertise your league, tournament or congress or if you have any opinions on chess matters, please contact me at publicity.manager@englishchess.org.uk – everything will be considered.
— Mark Rivlin
ECF Finance Council meeting outcomes
A summary on the ECF Finance council meeting is here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/finance-council-meeting-summary/
Off the Wall
Tim Wall on the final round of 4NCL in Division 3 North – here
No ordinary Jones
Gawain Jones joins the 2700 club and becomes England number 1 after a joint first 7/9 at the GAMMA Reykjavik Open. More here from Leonard Barden in the Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/apr/19/chess-gawain-jones-reykjavik-england-no1 and here – http://chess-results.com/tnr374902.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&flag=30 and here – https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=10177&sid=4036bef76f4e60e8539802420110b5ed&start=15
Prime time
The English Seniors Congress was played in Solihull in August. Paul Littlewood won the Over 50s section and Kevin Bowmer the Over 65s. More here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/Seniors/the-english-seniors-2019/
Rhodes paved with Silver
Another outstanding showing from an ECF team as England take Silver at the FIDE Senior Championships in Rhodes. Article, summary and images from Stewart Reuben here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/Seniors/european-seniors-in-rhodes/
ACO Graded Championships
Dave Gilbert reports on the Amateur Chess Organisation chess-fest in Rhodes. In addition to the FIDE & ECU events taking place at the Olympic Palace Hotel, the Amateur Chess Organisation (ACO) was holding its graded World Championships next door at the Sheraton Hotel – and the English contingent did good! John Wood from Norfolk (according to the database John has only played four competitive games since 1998) won the 1800 Group. Christopher Bak from Bradford took the Bronze medal in the 2200 Section and Tal Wood (John’s son), who was last spotted as a promising junior playing for Beckenham in 1998 with an ECF grade of 111, finished third in the 1600 Group.
European Women’s Individual Chess Championship
Russian IM Alina Kashlinskaya won the European Women’s Championship in Antalya, Turkey. Kashlinskaya had the best tiebreak among a group of five players who all finished on 8/11.England’s Jovanka Houska just missed out on a qualifying place for World Cup 2020 – http://chess-results.com/tnr423302.aspx?lan=2&art=4&flag=30
4NCL
Guildford march on to another 4NCL title with final summaries and tables here – http://www.4ncl.co.uk/ and here – http://www.4ncl.co.uk/data/tables_1819.htm
More than a slight edge
Danny Rosenbaum on cheating and gamesmanship in chess – here
How to make a GM cry
Bravo to Battersea Chess Club who found a novel way of putting fear into London League giants Wood Green (who last lost a match in 2001 and have won the Division One title of London Chess Club since chess was invented). Instead of putting up the ubiquitous 10 best adults in the club against the giants, Battersea fielded 10 of England’s top juniors, two of whom – Jacob Watson and Luca Buanne – came away with half a point off the untouchables. Battersea member Leon Watson summed up the zeitgeist – Midway through the match, Brian Smith, Wood Green’s benefactor and non-playing captain was heard remarking “I’ve never seen eight grandmasters crying before…” Leon’s article, along with the two drawn games here – https://www.batterseachessclub.org.uk/last-night-we-did-something-special-our-kids-made-8-grandmasters-cry/
Go west London for women’s chess
Another great initiative from the resourceful Hammersmith Chess Club, this time launching a women’s chess month at the club. Says ECF Director of Women’s Chess Chris Fegan, “I am delighted to see this great new initiative, and that we have been able to support it directly from the ECF and the Director of Women’s Chess Budgets” More here – http://hammerchess.co.uk/ and here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/womens-chess-month-at-hammersmith-chess-club/
World Championship for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The 14th championship took place in Cagliari, Italy and there were good performances from Chris Ross and Bill Armstrong. More here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/14th-world-championship-for-the-blind-and-visually-impaired/
World Schools Chess Championships
England had a 27-player representation at the World Schools, held in Antalya, Turkey. A big thanks to our team of coaches, parents and participants for a great trip. More here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/world-schools-2019-in-antalya/ and here for a final roundup of all scores – http://chess-results.com/tnr427511.aspx?lan=1&art=25&fedb=ENG&flag=30. Next up is European Schools tournament in Romania at the end of May.
On course for titles
Matthew Wadsworth got a GM norm and Adam Taylor an IM norm after the final 4NCL weekend.
Qualifiers for European Youth, and World Youth and Cadets
Deadlines to qualify for these events are are here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/qualifiers-for-european-youth-and-world-youth-and-cadets/
Members Benefits
The ECF membership includes number of benefits, listed here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/membership/membership-benefits/ and we are delighted to have agreed a range of discounts off chess products with Chess Direct here – https://www.chessdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Discount-Information.html
ECF Awards 2019
The deadline of 19th May for nominations for these awards is approaching. The awards are – President’s Award for Services to Chess, ECF Club of the Year, ECF Small Club of the Year, ECF Website of the Year, ECF Congress of the Year. More here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-awards-2019/
Academy tender
The ECF have appointed UK Chess Challenge to provide training for the ECF Academy. More here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/ecf-academy-tender-decision/. The ECF has also published an article on the selection process here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-academy-statement/
Director of Women’s Chess monthly report from Chris Fegan
The big event of May is Women’s Chess Month at Hammersmith Chess Club and which is a fantastic innovation and I am looking to attend and speak at one of the events this month. I would encourage all chess clubs throughout England to try and emulate the fantastic work that been done by Hammersmith. I am also pleased that the 2019/20 ECF Budget was agreed by the ECF Council meeting and we are now planning events and work for the forthcoming year. As I explained at the ECF Council we need to look at structural improvements for women’s chess in England and I was disappointed that we did not agree to structural changes to the County Championships to encourage more women to participate. I will continue to examine ways of doing so over the summer months.
Women’s congress sponsorship
Through Stephen Greep of the Hull and District Chess Association, the ECF were pleased to accept sponsorship from the Women’s Enterprise on the Humber and Turpin Bookkeeping in Hull for three trophies to be presented at the English Women’s Chess congress to be held in Hull later this year. The awards will go to the best performances for Under 12, 16 and 20 alongside the cash prizes already announced. Jo Hutchinson of the Hull and District Chess Association (second left in the picture) displayed the trophies at the latest meeting of the Women’s Enterprise on the Humber …
Organisers’ consultation
Instructions for getting a copy of the organisers’ consultation document are here –
SCCU/London Club Championships
Dave Gilbert writes — A 6-round rapidplay for teams of four players in three average grade sections at St Luke’s Church,12 Kidderpore Avenue, Hampstead, London NW3 7SU on Saturday 29 June 2019. More details from the SCCU website – https://sccu-chess.com/index.php/en/london-club-champs
Stevenage successes
Marcus Harvey and Mark Hebden came put on top in the 4NCL Easter Congress in Stevenage. See results here – http://chess-results.com/tnr433144.aspx?lan=1&art=4&flag=30 and watch Danny Gormally’s excellent analysis of two games here – http://www.4ncl.co.uk/reports1920/rep.gormallyd.htm
4NCL Spring Bank Holiday Congress
Use the late May Bank Holiday to ramp up your grading at the 4NCL FIDE-rated congress in Basingstoke. Details here – http://www.4ncl.co.uk/fide/information_springbh_2019.htm
REYTA awards 2019, we nearly made it!
The ECF is proud to have been shortlisted in the Remarkable East Yorkshire (REYTA) Awards 2019 in the Remarkable Tourism Category for last year’s highly successful British Chess Championships in Hull. Unfortunately we did not win, but there was a certificate by way of consolation. Pictures here – https://www.englishchess.org.uk/reyta-awards-2019/
All white on the right?
Hull Chess Club’s Stephen Greep finds a way to pass the time on a recent train journey. I wonder if the game’s outcome was dependent on the signals’ exchange variation …
Tigers’ tyre burning bright
4NCL team Celtic Tigers had an adventure getting to Telford for the final weekend of fixtures, but all ended well …
BBCA rapidplay
Latvian FM Tokranovs Dmitrijs won the fourth ECF graded British Bangla Chess Association (BBCA) rapidplay with 5/5, ahead of Argentinian GM Damain Lamos and BBCA’s Adam Bukojemski, both on 4/5. The next rapidplay is on Sunday 26th May – see the ECF calendar for details –
Chess Magazine
The May taster is here
Obituaries
Timothy Whitworth – http://www.jsbeasley.co.uk/ochess/timothywhitworth.pdf and here – https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=10194
Tony Buzan – https://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=10189 and here – https://twitter.com/oxfordfolio/status/1118468309190610944?s=19