Thursday, 10 April 2014

Winners and losers

Two important matches took place this evening at the Bury St Edmunds Club.

Manningtree A secured the league title with a convincing win over the only team capable of overtaking them, Bury St Edmunds A.

This was the Manningtree team that won 2½-1½ this evening (l. to r. John McAllister, Phil Hutchings, Leon Burnett, Jim Buis):

Missing from this evening's team was Adam Taylor (right), who has been the mainstay of the team this season; he is busy with GCSEs.   Both Adam and Leon Burnett won seven games during the season and share the Player of the Season award (unless it is decided that Adam's 7/9 is better than Leon's 7/10).


The other significant match this evening was between Bury St Edmunds B and Ipswich A.   Bury needed just one point to condemn Ipswich B to Division 2.   They won 2½-1½, which moves them off the bottom into 4th place in the table, above both Ipswich A & B teams.



Wednesday, 9 April 2014

Season end draws near

With only a few matches remaining in the Suffolk League and the Bury Area League, several promotion and relegation issues have already been decided.   Two important matches being played tomorrow (Thursday 10 April) will decide both the league champions and the team to be relegated from Division 1 of the Suffolk League.   More of this below.

This is the current situation in both leagues:

Suffolk League

Division 1

Champions:   Either Manningtree A or Bury St Edmunds A
Relegated:   Either Bury St Edmunds B or Ipswich B

Division 2

All six teams are 'in the mix'.   Any of four teams could be promoted, although if Bury St Edmunds C win their final match on 15 April, they are guaranteed promotion.
Any of five teams could be relegated.   The outstanding matches are all due to be played next week.

Division 3

Promoted:   Bury St Edmunds D
This is the only division to be completed.

Bury Area League

Division 1

Champions:   Cambridge Examiners
Relegated:   One of: Ely Beet Bishops, Cambridge Choristers or Bury St Edmunds Cobras

Division 2

Promoted:   Cambridge Oddfellows
Relegated:   Cambridge Bollards

Division 3

Promoted:   Newmarket Thoroughbreds

The deciding matches in the Suffolk League taking place tomorrow at the Bury Club are:
Bury St Edmunds A v Manningtree A, and
Bury St Edmunds B v Ipswich A

In the first match, Manningtree need just half a point to become league champions.   But a 4 - 0 win for Bury A will give them the title!

In the second match, Bury St Edmunds B require one point to survive and send Ipswich B into Division 2.



Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Saved by the bell

An incident from the last 4NCL weekend:

White has built up a promising position and is closing in on the Black king, no doubt confident of impending victory.

Black, the higher-rated player, realises the danger and using the old adage, a wing attack should be countered by play in the centre, plays:

16. ... f6??   This is a fatal weakening, better to wait it out and try to swap further material with 16. ... Ba6.   17.   h5!   Threatening 18.   Ng6+   hxg6   19.   hxg6+   Kg8   20.   Rh8+!   Kxh8   21.   Qh3+   Kg8   22.   Qh7 mate.

17. ... Qf7   The best Black can expect is to emerge the exchange down.   18.   Ng6+   Kg8   19.   Nxf8   Nxf8   20.   h6

White has a significant advantage now and is patiently waiting to see how Black intends to continue the struggle...

However, White is suddenly lost 0-1.

How did that happen?

Black was saved by the bell, White's phone to be precise; it rang and White lost!

We all know we have to turn off phones before a match; the tournament controller may even remind everyone of this.   However that doesn't guarantee that it will happen.   Fortunately it didn’t affect the result of the match.   White’s team won convincingly without his help.



Date set for the Under 18s

(This is yesterday's article - forgot to publish it!)

The annual ECF Under 18 County Championships will take place on Sunday 29 June, at Wilson's School in Wallington, Surrey.

Last year, Suffolk entered a team for the first time in many years.   They struggled against tough opposition, finishing 12th of the 13 teams, scoring 5½ points out of a possible 24.

Silas Peck's Dad Steve is the Under 18 Team Manager and he will be contacting potential team members over the next week or so.

Suffolk won this event in 1997.


Sunday, 6 April 2014

Martin's missed opportunity

Last Thursday saw the visit of Ipswich B to Bury St Edmunds A in an important match where both teams were in danger of being relegated.   On Board 1, Ipswich's Martin Fogg (White) faced Ed Player.   The position below was reached at the time control following Ed's 30th move:

The annotation are Martin's:

Martin says, "Had I seen this variation we would have drawn the match 2 - 2 and stood reasonable chances of staying up in Division 1.   A very painful loss, and a significant one for the league."

Saturday, 5 April 2014

Another title for John Wharam

Dr John Wharam, Adam Hunt's boss at Woodbridge School, is already an International Master at Correspondence Chess (see the article from this website a year ago).   But recently, as reported here, John won a semi-final of the World Correspondence Chess Championship.   This qualifies him for the Candidates and means that he has also achieved the Senior International Master title.

John's next tournament starts in June when he will play on Board 1 for England in a European Team Championship Semi-Final.

John is now targeting the Grandmaster title!



Friday, 4 April 2014

Trophy presentation at the Bury Knights

This evening saw the last meeting of the term at the Bury Knights Junior Chess Club.   As the club doesn't meet over the summer term, this is the occasion when annual awards are presented to deserving members.

The winners are pictured above. They are: (Left to right) - Christina James (Attendance award); Bethany Young (Most Promising Girl); Anita Somton (Best rating improvement); Preston Devereux (Most enthusiastic member 1); William Sait (Joint Club Champion); Alex Sheerin (Joint Club Champion); Amy John (Most enthusiastic member 2); Clement Wallace (Player of the Year and Joint Club Champion); Tom Roy (Most promising newcomer); Alan John (Attendance award).

The ECF-graded Club Championship was shared between three members, who each scored four points out of five.


Thursday, 3 April 2014

And now Manningtree are on Facebook!

Following yesterday's article about Felixstowe Chess Club and their presence on Facebook, Manningtree have now followed suit!   Inspired perhaps by the article, Adam Taylor has quickly set up their new Facebook page.

The destiny of the Division 1 title is still not quite decided (ignore previous assertions on this site; they were wrong).   This evening Bury St Edmunds A beat Ipswich B 3 - 1.   Manningtree face Bury A next Thursday and any result other than a 4 - 0 loss will see Manningtree as League Champions.


Wednesday, 2 April 2014

Felixstowe on Facebook

The only Suffolk chess club with a Facebook presence is Felixstowe.   Click here to see their Facebook page.

With social media fast becoming the accepted mode of communication amongst younger people, perhaps it's time that some other clubs copied Felixstowe's initiative.   Who will be the second Suffolk chess club to be on Facebook?

Phil Hopkins is the man behind their Facebook page; he keeps it regularly updated and is hoping to attract new members as a result.   Already, two newcomers have been to the Club and Phil is hoping that more local people will find the site and come along to the British Legion Club on a Tuesday evening.



Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Alan gets 4th place in the Rapidplay Championships

17-year old Alan Merry scored 7½/11 to finish in 4th place in the English Rapidplay Championships, held last weekend in High Wycombe.   Games were played at the rate of 20 minutes plus an increment of 10 seconds per move.

The 25-strong field included two GMs and two IMs.   Alan drew with the eventual winner, GM Danny Gormally, who scored nine points.   After seven rounds Alan was joint leader on 5½ points but then suffered two losses before winning his final two games.

He finished with an excellent grading performance of 231.


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