Saturday, 30 November 2013

Chess and Education Conference

As part of the London Chess Classic at Olympia, a two-day conference is taking place next weekend, with a range of speakers (mainly from foreign countries) with the snappy title 'Successes and Challenges - Improving School Chess Practice, Research and Strategy'.   The conference is organised by CSC (Chess in Schools and Communities).

According to the published blurb, the first day, 7 December, will be of special interest to teachers and researchers, while the second day, 8 December, with its focus on organisational and strategic questions, is tailor-made for project leaders and chess federations.   Included amongst the speakers are representatives from the Swedish Chess Federation, the Judit Polgár Foundation and the University of Cambridge

The cost is £125 for the whole conference, or £75 if you wish to attend on one day only.

For more information and booking form, click here.


Friday, 29 November 2013

Bury Knights Champions

Following yesterday's report on the Woodbridge Junior, the four Bury Knights members who won the team prize are pictured above.   Between them, they played 24 games, winning 20, drawing three and losing only one.   Left to right: Anita Somton (u10 winner), William Sait (u14 runner-up), Mario Saenz de Villaverde (u12 winner), Aaron Saenz de Villaverde (u10 runner-up).   The only loss incurred was when Aaron lost to Anita in the Under 10s!


Thursday, 28 November 2013

Woodbridge Junior results

The 13th Woodbridge Junior Open took place last Sunday; a total of 88 players entered.

The results were as follows:

Under 8: (8 participants)

1st   Michael Stone (Norwich Junior)   6/6
2nd (& Woodbridge champion)   George Na Nakhorn   4½/6

Under 10: (20)

1st   Anita Somton   (Bury Knights)   6/6
2nd   Aaron Saenz de Villaverde   (Bury Knights)   5/6
Woodbridge Champion:   Tobias Juszt   4/6

Under 12: (25)

1st   Mario Saenz de Villaverde   (Bury Knights)   5½/6
2nd   Jenny Kilcline   (Colchester)   5/6
Woodbridge Champions:   Harry Rennell and Oliver Pheland  3½/6

Under 14: (11)

1st   Moby Wells   (Norwich)   5½/6
2nd   William Sait   (Bury Knights)   5/6
Woodbridge Champion:   Hugo Kelleway   4½/6

Under 16/18: (10)

1st   Daniel Such (Woodbridge School and Under 18 champion) 5½/6
2nd   Taisei Tsuruoka (Woodbridge School)   5/6
Woodbridge Under 16 champion:   Alex Bogdanov   3/6

Open: (14)

1st=   IM Bernd Rechel (Norwich); FM Justin Tan (Woodbridge School)   5/6
3rd   IM Dagne Ciuksyte (Martlesham)   4½/6
Under 140 Grading Prize:   Mark Weidman (Martlesham)   3/6


Team Prize:   Bury Knights (Anita Somton, William Sait, Aaron Saenz de Villaverde, Mario Saenz de Villaverde)

Wednesday, 27 November 2013

London Chess Classic

The London Chess Classic takes place at Olympia between 7 and 15 December.   A range of tournaments are on offer:

FIDE Open - This is a nine-round event, with one round each day between 7 and 15 December inclusive.   Open to anyone, the entry fee ranges from £100 to £150, depending on FIDE rating.   A £25 late entry fee applies after Friday this week.

FIDE u2000 - a five round event for anyone rated under FIDE 2000.   Those with no Elo rating must have an ECF grade under 175.   One round each day between 9 and 13 December, the entry fee is £30 (or £40 after Friday).

ECF u135 - Open to anyone graded under 135, or 1730 Elo.   Entry fees as for the u2000 event.

Weekend Classic A - Five rounds in four graded sections (Open, u170, u145, u120) over the 7/8 December weekend.   Entry fee as for u2000 event.

Weekend Classic B - Five rounds in four sections (Open, u2000, u1800, u120 ECF) over the 13/15 December weekend (includes one game on Friday evening).   Entry fee as above.

English Junior Rapidplay - Six rounds on 7 December.   Open to all juniors.   Entry fee £15 (£25 after Friday)

Classic Rapidplay A - Six rounds in four graded sections (Open, u170, u145, u120) on 8 December.   Entry fee £20 (£30 after Friday)

Classic Rapidplay B - As above on 14 December

Classic Rapidplay C - Six rounds in four graded sections (Open, u165, u140, u115) on 15 December.   Entry fee as above.

For more information on any of the above events, or if you'd like an entry form posted to you, contact (Bob Jones).


Tuesday, 26 November 2013

Media coverage

There can be little doubt that the recent World Championship contest between Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen has generated plenty of welcome attention from the World's media.   Whether this translates into membership enquiries amongst local clubs remains to be seen.   Let's hope so!

Here are a few items of press coverage:

BBC News Magazine

BBC News India

Wikipedia

RFI (France)

USA (New York Times)

Germany

France

Spain (El Pais)

Italy

Time Magazine (by Garry Kasparov)

If you know of any others, please let know.   Also, please let me know if you sense any increase in interest in chess, either in clubs or in schools.



Monday, 25 November 2013

David's back from Malta

David Spence recently returned from Malta where he played in a strong Open tournament which featured 4 GMs, 5 IMs and 8 FMs.   David (2221) scored 6½/9, losing only to an IM.   He finished in joint 8th place, just one point behind the winner, GM Bart Heberta (2556).

Several other English players competed but David finished above all of them.   A total of 161 players entered.

The main playing area

For full details, click here.



Sunday, 24 November 2013

County First Team in action

Suffolk's first team was in action yesterday in the EACU County Championship, where they faced Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire.

Against all expectations, Suffolk lost 6½ - 9½ to Cambridgeshire, but beat Bedfordshire by the convincing margin of 10½ - 5½.

The league table can be seen here and the full results for Suffolk are here.

In brief, only Martin Fogg was able to record two victories.   Those on 1½ points included Graham Moore, Steve Ruthen, Nick Savage and Leon Burnett.

The next round of matches takes place on 2 February, when Suffolk face Bedfordshire and Norfolk.


Saturday, 23 November 2013

A new World Champion

As the whole of the chess world must know by now, we have a new World Champion in the shape of 22-year old Magnus Carlsen (his 23rd birthday is next Saturday).   He beat the previous champion Vishwanathan Anand by 6½ points to 3½, an unassailable lead in their 12-match championship in Chennai.   Nicknamed the 'Justin Bieber' of chess, he will certainly bring a new impetus to chess around the world and we may find his success encourages more people to take up the game.

Even the BBC has woken up to the fact that there's a new chess champion.

Magnus' own website gives a lot more information about him.


Friday, 22 November 2013

Peter the nonagenarian

Happy 90th birthday today to Peter Keffler!

Members of Clacton Chess Club celebrated Peter's birthday at their Club Night on Tuesday.   A cake was presented to Peter which featured his queen sacrifice from a 1970 game where he played Black in a Two Knights Defence against Gerhard Niemand which lasted only 15 moves.

During the evening everyone present had a piece of Peter’s cake with their coffee/tea.












Here's the game:

The photo (right), shows Peter playing a game against John Perfect from Maldon.

Thursday, 21 November 2013

Suffolk chess book authors (Part 3)

This is the final article in Michael Clapham's series.   Click here and here for the earlier articles.

Of course no record of Suffolk chess authors/editors is complete without mentioning Bob Jones who has done more to promote Suffolk Chess than anyone else with the help of his many self-published chess periodicals, booklets, newsletters and ratings lists.

Bob took over the production of the Suffolk Rating List at an early stage and, while this was primarily aimed at juniors, it provided all chess-players in Suffolk with a monthly update on local chess events.   The publication was packed full of ratings, statistics, results and news etc. and was eagerly anticipated by all players to check their progress (or otherwise).

The Suffolk Rating List ran for 8 years up to May 1996 when it was incorporated into the newly launched Suffolk Chess Journal edited by, guess who, Bob Jones, with the assistance of Colin Roberts and Steve Lawer.   The old Suffolk Chess Bulletin had run for many years but fizzled out in 1995.   The photo (right) shows the 50th anniversary issue of the rating list.

The Suffolk Chess Journal was issued six times a year and included many articles, games and items of local interest as well as the regularly updated rating list and statistics.   This continued under Bob’s co-editorship until February 1998.   Bob again took over the editorship of the SCJ in 2010 and continued until this was superseded by the excellent Suffolk Chess website.

Bob also produces the annual, indispensable, Bury Area Chess League booklet which includes all of the information necessary for BACL members including fixtures, rules, grades, maps of venues and much more.

Bob has produced several other publications over the years including:

*    Suffolk Junior Chess: List of Players (1990)
*    Around the County Newsletter for the county chess teams (1991-92)
*    Numerous Results and Cross-Tables from the many congresses that he has organised.

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