Suffolk Chess

The Suffolk First Team lost this morning to a strong Norfolk side by 6 points to 10.   But in the afternoon they bounced back, narrowly defeating Bedfordshire 8½ - 7½.

No Suffolk player won both their games, but three players scored 1½ points - Tim Lunn, Leon Burnett and Somton Ukken.

Both Suffolk and Cambridgeshire have now played two matches, with the other three counties - Norfolk, Beds and Herts each having played four matches.   The league table is therefore a bit distorted, although Cambridgeshire are the only county to have won all (both) their matches.

1    Norfolk 6 pts from 4 matches
2    Cambs 4 pts from 2
3    Beds 4 pts from 4
4    Suffolk 2 pts from 2
5    Herts 0 pts from 4

With most of the first half of the season completed, it's time to see who are leading the Player of the Season statistics.

In Division 1, Steve Gregory (Ipswich) has scored 4½/5, with the two juniors Adam Taylor (Manningtree) and Silas Peck (Ipswich) both on 3½/4.

In Division 2, Rob Sanders (Sudbury) leads with 4½/5, followed by Malcolm Lightfoot (Saxmundham) on 3½/4 and Ed Kirkham (Adastral Park) on 4/5.

In Division 3, Phil Hopkins (Felixstowe) has retained his 100% record with six wins.   He is followed by Manningtree's Carl Phillips and Ipswich's Andrew Molloy, both on 4½/5.

This weekend and next will see three Suffolk teams in action against other EACU counties.

On Sunday the First Team take on Norfolk and Bedfordshire, whilst the following Sunday (7 December), the Under 160s play Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.   On the same date the Under 100s are matched against Cambridgeshire, whom they will play twice with reversed colours.   All matches take place at the Turner Hall, in Newmarket, starting at 10.00.

Team captains Ian Wallis (First team) and Bob Jones (u160s) have managed to find full teams of 16 players, albeit a little weaker than usual.   But Daniel Yarnton, the Under 100 captain, is still seeking three more players to complete his team.   Any Suffolk players graded below 100 who would like to play should contact .

(EDIT): The Under 120s (captain - Peter Collicott) are also playing Norfolk in a double-header on Sunday!

Five members of the Bury Knights Junior Chess Club played last weekend at Hinckley in the Junior 4NCL league, which features some of the strongest juniors in the UK.

The photo below shows four members of the team that played on Saturday: left to right: Tom Roy, Adam John, Alan John, Alex Sheerin (Board 1).   On Sunday, Daniel Garcia-Leon replaced Tom Roy.

Alan top-scored with 3½ points from five games, whilst Alex and Adam each scored 2½ points. Both Tom and Daniel won one game, so no one went home empty-handed.   The team finished in 6th place out of 20 teams in Division 2, an excellent début in this tough event.

In effect (Alex excepted) this was the Club's second team, with the likes of Emilia Jewell (130), Anita Somton (128), William Sait (126), and Patrick Gembis (90) waiting in the wings.   The Club hopes to be able to field two teams in the next rounds, on 24/25 January, with one team in Division 1 and the other in Division 2.

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11-year old Alan John and his 8-year old younger brother Adam continued their good form in the Suffolk League this evening, both winning their games against their Felixstowe opponents.   Alan, graded 58 in July, is heading for a grade of more than 100 in January 2015.   Adam only has a rapidplay grade (24) at present, but should achieve a standard-play grade in January in the region of 60 or 70.

Vicky Allen, the Suffolk Ladies' Organiser, has published the draw for this season's Championship.   There are five entrants, including current Champion Emilia Jewell, who will play in an all-plays-all over the next few months.

Round 1:
Bethany Young v Emilia Jewell
Vicky Allen v Chris Hargan

Round 2:
Anita Somton v Bethany
Emilia v Chris

Round 3:
Vicky v Anita
Chris v Bethany

Round 4:
Emilia v Vicky
Chris v Anita

Round 5:
Anita v Emilia
Bethany v Vicky

These five entrants come from just two clubs, with Stowmarket providing three and Bury St Edmunds two.

The competition must be finished by the end of April, so entrants are encouraged to organise their games as soon as possible, even playing them out of order if necessary.

Clacton's Peter Keffler is 91 today - many happy returns!

Peter received a visit recently from Michael Clapham, who went to his house to collect some books to sell at the Bury St Edmunds Congress.   Michael reports that Peter was in good spirits.

Although he only has limited mobility these days and his eyesight is very poor due to macular degeneration, Peter is mentally as bright as ever and still enjoys a long chat about almost anything.

Up until last season Peter was playing league chess but is now unable to get to matches but is still keen to play at home with friends.

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There will be no more articles until Wednesday 26th as I'm away.

With an average weekly attendance this term of 40, the Bury Knights Junior Chess Club continues to thrive.   Lately, more attention has been paid to coaching.   Last week the top group (Division 1) received an hour's coaching, whilst this evening it was the turn of Division 2.

Each 'division' at the Bury Knights contains between 10 and 15 children, according to ability.   Each month, members are promoted or relegated based on their performance against others in their division.

In the top group, all but three players have Elo ratings in excess of 1000, with Alex Sheerin currently top on 1575.   Division 2 ranges from 635 to 820, but there are some highly promising players included who are anxious to attain the heights of Division 1 as soon as possible!

Coaching today was based mainly on rook endings, with the emphasis on K & R v K.   Some pawns were then introduced, with the classic Lucena and Philidor positions demonstrated.

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A team from the Bury Knights will be playing this weekend in the Junior 4NCL, in Hinckley.   All four players (Alex Sheerin, Alan and Adam John, and Tom Roy) performed well at the recent Bury St Edmunds Congress, so should do well against the other teams in their division.

Rob Sanders has made the draw for the first round proper of the new Cup & Plate competition.

Cup

Ipswich D v Manningtree
Ipswich E v Ipswich A
Sudbury v Ipswich C
Ipswich B - Bye

Plate

Saxmundham v Stowmarket
Bury St Edmunds E v Bury St Edmunds D
Felixstowe - Bye
Ipswich F - Bye

Competitions Secretary David Green has said that the two fixtures that involve the same club can be organised on a convenient date (before the end of February) to suit their club.   The Bury E v Bury D match in the Plate will therefore take place on Thursday 29 January.

David will sort out the remaining fixture dates, in consultation with the clubs concerned.

Aided by tea/coffee and an unlimited supply of Doritos, a small group of chess players (a sub-committee of the Bury Area Chess League) met this evening to discuss the future of the Bury St Edmunds Congress.   After lengthy discussion of the various tasks involved in organising the weekend event, several distinct job roles were agreed.

Norfolk's John Wickham will be the Tournament Director, responsible for running the congress over the weekend (24/25 October 2015).   He will also co-ordinate, from afar, other people who have differing responsibilities.

Steve Lovell will be the Congress Secretary, responsible for distributing the entry forms, receiving and recording entries, and preparing the wall charts.

Paul Kemp will be the Congress Treasurer, and will prepare the budget and set the prize fund.

Entries via PayPal will continue to be encouraged and Tim Davison will ensure the website is updated.

The photo above shows (left to right) Steve Lovell, Paul Kemp and John Wickham during the meeting.

Roles that still need to be filled include a Sponsorship Manager, responsible for securing some £1,000 of financial support.   Also needed is an Equipment Officer, who will ensure that sufficient sets, boards, clocks, scoresheets, result slips, wall charts, pens etc are available.   He will also co-ordinate a team of local players who will need to set up the Apex venue on the Saturday morning.

Any volunteers for these two roles?

The new Cup and Plate competition has nearly finished its preliminary stages.

The draw will shortly be made for the first round proper.   In the hat are the following teams:

Cup

Ipswich A
Ipswich B
Ipswich C
Manningtree A
Sudbury

Plate

Bury St Edmunds D
Bury St Edmunds E
Felixstowe
Ipswich F
Saxmindham

One preliminary round match, Stowmarket A v Ipswich D, was played this evening, but the result is not yet known.   The winners will play in the Cup and the losers in the Plate.

Rob Sanders, as the originator of this competition, will undertake the draw for the first round shortly and will be published here.