Suffolk Chess

The Suffolk Closed Championships are taking place at the Ipswich Chess Club over the weekend 22/23 June.

The Championship section will be competed for by six entrants:

Dagne Ciuksyte 227
Shaun Munson 206
Adam Taylor 187
Ted Matthewson 182
Phil Hopkins 177
Stephen Gregory 174

The remaining entrants, so far, include:

Martin Fogg 164
Kevin Greenacre 161
Silas Peck 154
Keith Woodcock 137
Andrew Shephard 136
Mark Weidman 123
Rory Goldsmith e100

Ideally, a few more entrants are required, so that there can be two further sections (Challengers and Swiss).

Anyone interested in playing should contact as soon as possible.

The annual East Anglian Chess Union Congress took place last weekend at the Turner Hall, Newmarket.   A total of 76 players took part, in three graded sections.

Suffolk players were few and far between, with most entrants coming from Cambridge, Peterborough and points north.

In the Open (21 entrants), Chris Davison of Cambridge City and Bury St Edmunds was joint first on 4 points.   Alan Merry (Bury St Edmunds) was 6th= on 3 points, with Ian Wallis (Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds) close behind on 2½ points.   Both Shaun Munson and Adam Taylor withdrew at the end of the first day, having scored only one point out of three.

There was only one Suffolk player, Andrew Shephard (Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds), playing in the Under 170 section.   He scored 3 points to finish 7th= (out of 27 entrants).

There were 28 entrants in the Under 130 section, including six from Suffolk.   Abdulla Mufti and Colin Gardiner (both Newmarket) scored 3 points, the same score as 9-year old Anita Somton (Bury St Edmunds).   With a win, three draws and a bye, Anita was unbeaten.   Other scores were Zac Vane (Bury St Edmunds 2; Gareth Young (Stowmarket) 1½; and Rob Scott (Newmarket) 1.

The AGM of the Suffolk County Chess Association will take place at the Ipswich Chess Club on Tuesday 3 September. An agenda will be published in due course and will be available on this website.

A Committee Meeting (of the SCCA) will be held on Thursday 20 June.   The Committee includes the following officers:

President (Colin Roberts)
Secretary & u160 Captain (Bob Jones)
Treasurer (Adrian Sanderson)
Competitions Secretary (Mike McNaughton)
Results Officer (Dave Wild)
Women's Organiser (Vicky Allen)
Correspondence Captain (Jim Buis)
First Team Captain (Ian Wallis)

The Committee will review the past season and, if necessary, make proposals for consideration at the AGM.   Any affiliated club may also put forward proposals; these may concern the Rules, the Constitution, or any other relevant matter.

There are currently two unfilled posts on the Committee - Vice-President and Junior Chess Organiser.   Anyone interested should contact .

-oOo-

Whilst on the topic of dates, remember that the Suffolk Junior Open is taking place at Woodbridge School on Sunday 16 June.   As well as all the age-groups, there are also sections for adults and parents.   Contact if you wish to enter.

Born in 1961, Rob Woodcraft was Suffolk Junior Champion in 1978.   He died suddenly of a heart attack whilst in Italy in February last year.   Rob and his wide Erica lived in Haute Savoie, France, within range of the slopes on which he loved to ski.   He had worked for Mars for many years and was still a consultant to them.

He attended Ipswich School, and on arrival in the First Form, he soon demolished the reigning school champion.   He is remembered by the school for his inspirational coaching of promising players in the Prep.

He played for the Ipswich Club for several years before moving to France.   There will still be a few players around who remember him.

The following game was played in the Final of the Norfolk & Suffolk Cup in 1978, when Ipswich beat Lowestoft 4 - 2.   Rob played on Board 3, behind Messrs Gregory and Wallis:

Emilia Jewell, just 15, is the new Suffolk Ladies' Champion, having been unbeaten throughout her six matches.   Five of the entrants were juniors, with the youngest, Anita Somton, only eight years old at the start of the tournament.   The final match saw Anita beat Adele Lunn, thus depriving Adele of a share of the title.   This is the final table:

Name	Grade	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
Emilia Jewell	132	4	2	0	5
Vicky Allen	112	4	1	1	4½
Adèle Lunn	105	3	2	1	4
Anita Somton	59	3	1	2	3½
Alba Saenz de Villaver.	76	3	0	3	3
Bethany Young	e25	1	0	5	1
Liya Baby	e25	0	0	6	0

The highest-graded player in the seven-player event, Emilia won four games and drew two (against Adele and Anita).   One important win was against former Suffolk Ladies' Champion Vicky Allen.   This was the position at move 31 with Vicky (Black) to move:

31.... Rc2? (If Vicky had played ... Nf4, the game would be level.)
32. Ne4    Rh6
33. Rxe6!   It's all over after this move.   Rxh5   (If ... Rxe6, then Ng5+)
34. Rd6    Rc4
35. Rd1    d3
36. f3    Rf5
37. R6xd3    Rc2
38. Rd5    Rxf3?
39. Ng5+    1 - 0

(Report from Ted Matthewson)

Last Tuesday, GM Jonathan Levitt bravely took on 17 Ipswich players in a simultaneous display.   There were some tough games which lasted late into the evening.   Congratulations go to Silas Peck, Tim Lunn and Martin Fogg on winning their games.   The full results are given below:

WIN – Silas Peck, Tim Lunn, Martin Fogg

DRAW – Ted Matthewson, Ken Lunn, Alex Sheerin

LOSS – Martin Tomes, Les Jones, Tim Serpell, Andrew Shephard, Keith Woodcock, Bernie Ross, Michael Cook, Alonso Paez, John Feavyour, Sam Brennan, Michael Clapham

Photo above shows (l to r) Tim Lunn, Silas Peck, Keith Woodcock, Alonso Paez, Mike Cook, John Feavyour, with Jon Levitt standing.

Many thanks to all who took part and especially to Jonathan for giving up his time and energy in putting on the display.

11-year old Alex Sheerin missed out on the England team when he scored only one out of six in the England trial over the last weekend of April.   The previous Tuesday he had beaten Andrew Shephard in the Ipswich Club Championship, so hopes had been high.   Mum Jane reports that all his games, except the one he won, were long ones.

Although he has not made an England team he has been invited to play in a couple of regional matches:   Rest of England v London & South East (assume he will be South East but will not know until the day - 22 June) and North v Midlands v Scotland v Wales - 7 and 8 December (boundaries are a bit odd apparently so he will play for the Midlands).   He has also been invited to take part in the Junior Squad training weekend next January, so there are lots of opportunities.

I'm sure we will hear a lot more of Alex.   He will be representing Suffolk at Under 18 level at the end of June, in the ECF Inter-County Champiosnhips.

-oOo-

This coming weekend sees the EACU Congress, at the Turner Hall, Newmarket.   There are three sections: Open, Under 170 and Under 130.   If you want to play but haven't entered yet, send an email to .

-oOo-

A date for your diaries: the SCCA Annual General Meeting will take place on Tuesday 3 September.

This is a summary of all the promotions and relegations from both the Suffolk League and the Bury Area League, as well as the various cup and graded competitions:

Suffolk League

Division 1
Winners - Ipswich A
Relegated - Sudbury
Player of the Year - Shaun Munson (Ipswich)

Division 2
Promoted - Bury St Edmunds B
Relegated - Clacton A
Player of the Year - Bob Jones (Bury St Edmunds)

Division 3
Promoted - Ipswich F
Last place - Stowmarket Rooks
Player of the Year - Peter Chadwick (Saxmundham)

League Cup
Winners - Ipswich
Runners-up - Manningtree

Under 145
Winners - Ipswich
Runners-up - Felixstowe

Under 125
Winners - Felixstowe
Runners-up - Ipswich

Bury Area League

Division 1
Winners - Linton A
Relegated - Cambridge Oddfellows
Player of the Year - Paul Kemp (Linton)

Division 2
Promoted - Bury St Edmunds Cobras
Relegated - Cambridge Dons
Player of the Year - Rob Cope (Bury St Edmunds)

Division 3
Promoted - Newmarket
Last place - Bury St Edmunds 'G'
Player of the Year - Charles Richmond (Newmarket)

Roger Goldsmith Cup Competition (Division 1 - u581)
Winners - Cambridge Students
Runners-up - Cambridge Porters

Roger Goldsmith Cup Competition (Division 2 - u451)
Winners - Linton Lions
Runners-up - Cambridge Bursars

Yesterday's posting reported the narrow loss for the Suffolk Under 160 team in the National Quarter-Finals to Nottinghamshire.   This followed three pairs of matches in the EACU competition, against Norfolk (win, win), Hertfordshire (loss, win) and Cambridgeshire (win, loss).   Suffolk were runners-up to Cambridgeshire, with Herts third and Norfolk last.

A total of 28 players were used over the seven matches.   Several performed well above expectation, as the following chart demonstrates:

Name	Score	Gp
Adrian Sanderson	1/1*	186.0
Stephen Lewis	1½/2	180.0
John Peters	3½/4	175.3
Ed Kirkham	4½/6*	167.0
Sam Brennan	3/5	165.6
Silas Peck	3½/5	165.0
Andrew Shephard	4½/7	162.3
John McAllister	2/3	160.7
Leon Burnett	1½/3	159.0
Bob Jones	3½/6	158.7
John Lambert	2/3	158.3
Mark Bettley	3/4	157.3
Kevin Greenacre	2½/5	155.6
Harold Thomas	1/2	146.0
Scott Taylor	3½/7	145.7
Keith Woodcock	2/3	145.0
Rob Harden	3½/7	144.3
Carl Phillips	2½/5	139.4
Les Jones	1½/4	137.0
Simon Riley	2/5	132.8
Anna York-Andersen	½/2	132.0
Jakob Tulic	1½/4	130.5
Vivian Woodward	1/4	125.3
Arthur McCormick	½/2	115.0
Jim Buis	0/1	110.0
Melvin Steele	½/2	103.5
Colin Roberts	1/7	102.1
Andrew Donnelly	0/1	101.0

* = also received a default win
Gp = grading performance

The Player of the Season is Ed Kirkham, who scored 4½/6 over the board but also received a default win when his opponent failed to appear.   Five people played in all seven matches.

Cambridgeshire also lost their quarter-final, 7½-8½, to Warwickshire.

-oOo-

It's often amusing to see how journalists, usually with little understanding of the game, use chess as a metaphor.   Here's one from the Evening Standard (16 May).   The journalist was Dan Jones.

The headline read: "Wayne Rooney's been playing chess with Manchester United and it's nearly checkmate".   The article included this reference: "In his chess game with United, this is check, with a view, in not so many moves, to checkmate."   Stick to football Dan.

Back from (two) holidays and the Suffolk Chess website is about to burst into life again.   It won't be quite as frequent as before, because the playing season has ended.   It's planned to do two or three postings every week until September, when the site will revert to daily updates.

So now it's catch-up time.   Time to update the end-of-season happenings, as well as a few new items.   There will be postings throughout this Bank Holiday weekend.

First, then, how did Anita do in Greece?   Pretty well, in fact.   She finished in 20th place out of 39 entrants, scoring 50% (4½ out of 9).   She had some splendid wins, and her last round draw was a clear win but she chose to finish on 50%, rather than risk anything.   Here's one of her games, in Round 7, against a Slovenian girl with a rating of 1386 (about 100 ECF).   This miniature is a good example of Anita's aggressive play:

Anita hopes to be playing regularly next season in both the Bury Area League and the Suffolk League, so watch out!

-oOo-

The Suffolk Under 160 team played against Nottinghamshire on 18 May in the quarter-finals of the Inter-County Championships.   The result was a loss, on board count, after the score was tied at 8-8.   A great pity, because a win would have given us a semi-final against neighbours Essex.   The full result will be published tomorrow, alongside a summary of all seven matches played this season by the Under 160s.

There was some disarray as the date of the match approached, when it was realised that two players, Malcolm Lightfoot and Silas Peck both needed to be approved by the National Controller as they did not have grades in July 2012.   Both had received grades (157 and 154 respectively) in January 2013, but that didn't count.   Malcolm was assessed at 160, rendering him ineligible, and Silas was initially given an estimated grade of 161.   But when Silas' many tournaments, including the 4NCL, were taken into consideration, his grade dived to e141.   So at the very last moment John Lambert was drafted into the team, to replace Malcolm.   Rules!