Suffolk Chess

There are no more Division 1 matches scheduled before the New Year, so now is a good time to review progress up to now.

This is the current table:

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
Ipswich C	6	4	2	0	14
Bury St Edmunds C	6	3	1	2	13
Manningtree A	5	2	2	1	12½
Ipswich A	6	1	3	2	11½
Bury St Edmunds B	6	0	4	2	11
Ipswich B	6	1	2	3	10½
Saxmundham A	5	1	2	2	7½

No team is 'running away' with the division.   In fact, all seven teams are still 'in the hunt'.   Manningtree A will be playing their outstanding match against Saxmundham A on 20 January, a result which could see them overtake the current leaders, Ipswich C.   This match could also see newly-promoted Saxmundham A pull clear of the relegation zone.

Andy Lewis (Manningtree A) is leading the Player of the Year competition, having dropped only half a point from his four games.   He is closely followed by Jon Collins (Bury St Edmunds), who has scored three points from four games.

Only four juniors have played in Division 1.   Silas Peck has played in every game, scoring four points out of six.   Adam Taylor (Manningtree) has scored one point from two games.   The two John brothers from Bury St Edmunds both played in their first Division 1 match this week.   12-year old Alan lost to Andrew Shephard, but 9-year old Adam beat the experienced Les Jones.   This is Adam's best-ever win against an adult.

A total of 43 people have played in Division 1 so far this season.   Ipswich, with three teams, have used only 14 players.   Bury St Edmunds, with two teams, have utilised 16 players.   Clearly the two clubs have differing demographics; Bury players are often absent due to demanding work commitments.

Ipswich Chess Club hosted a second open evening yesterday (see here for a report on their first open evening in October).   Several juniors attended, as well as established members (Alex Sheerin, Steve Gregory, Roger Holt, Les Jones in the photo above).

'Professor' Ted Matthewson (in unfamiliar garb) provided a short presentation, before kids and adults present played a few games and practised the ideas Ted had introduced.   A cheerful and friendly evening.

The club is considering other ideas to stimulate youthful interest in chess in the Ipswich area - watch this space for more details.

A Memorial for Mike Taylor took place today at Haughley Park Barns, near Stowmarket.   This moving tribute to Mike was attended by more than 150 people, and included six Suffolk chess-players (Michael Clapham, Mike Cook, John Feavyour, Steve Gregory, Bob Jones and Laurie Pott).

There were several 'chess' references in the family's memories of Mike, but it was clear that he had many other interests, including music, photography, cycling, food and wine.   It seems he was almost unbeatable at Scrabble and enjoyed a challenging Sudoku puzzle.

Mike had recently started to teach chess to his 6-year old grandson, Alfie, who lives in Bury.   So we may well be seeing him soon at the Bury Knights!

There are currently four vacancies on the SCCA Committee.   These need to be filled as soon as possible.

*    Secretary
*    Junior Organiser
*    Correspondence Captain
*    Vice-President

The County Chess Association is run by volunteers, and can only continue to do so if more people are prepared to take on these roles.   As things stand, I am doing some of these tasks - but I'm not prepared to do so indefinitely.

The Secretary's role is not too demanding.   As the season comes to a close, the Secretary will need to arrange dates for a Committee Meeting and the Annual General Meeting.   Agendas will need to be prepared (in conjunction with the President) and minutes will be taken at both meetings, and distributed.   Apart from the (very rare) correspondence to be answered, that's all there is to it.   So let's see some hands go up!.

The Junior Organiser's role is as big (or as small) as you want it to be.   We have managed for a few years without one, but things are perking up now, with new junior clubs being considered in Ipswich and Martlesham.   Several adult players are helping out at local schools and the County Under 11 team has entered the National Championships for the fourth successive year.   Somebody is needed to co-ordinate all this, and even to encourage further participation.   We all know how important it is to encourage youngsters to play; without them our clubs will eventually fold.

The Correspondence Captain co-ordinates the eight-board Suffolk team that currently plays in the top division.   Jim Buis has undertaken this role for many years but now wishes to stand down.   The team virtually picks itself, so there's little the Captain needs to do, except liaise with the National Organiser and keep his team informed of start and finish dates.

The Vice-President will do (almost) nothing for the next couple of years, but will eventually take over as President.   It's important that the next President is well-versed in the ways of the SCCA, so a minor involvement in 2016 and 2017 is all that's needed.   The VP will need to be committed to take over for a three-year spell in June 2018.

Please contact if you would like to be considered for any of these posts.

Three local players entered different sections of the Weekend Classic at the London Chess Classic.   Adam Taylor (Manningtree) played in the Open; John Peters (Bury St Edmunds) played in the Under 2000 section; whilst Stephen Pride (Cambridge & Bury St Edmunds) was in the Under 1800 section.

All three played well, recording only one game loss between them.   But the best result was by John Peters (pictured right), who was joint winner in the Under 2000 on 4½ points and a rating performance of 2246.   John has annotated his first round win, which is shown below.

Adam Taylor took a first round bye, but scored 3½/4 in his remaining games to finish joint second in the Open.

Stephen Pride was on 3½ points after four rounds in the u1800, but sadly lost his final game to finish in joint 8th place.

The Suffolk Under 160 team faced Hertfordshire this morning at the Turner Hall, Newmarket, losing narrowly by 7½ points to 8½.   However, in the afternoon, Suffolk beat Norfolk quite convincingly, by 9 points to 7.   This scoreline could, and should, have been better, but two of the last games to finish were drawn, with Suffolk players missing the wins.

As anticipated, the Cambridgeshire team was very strong, with more than half their team graded over 150.   By comparison, Suffolk and Norfolk had only three 150+ players, whilst Herts had two.   Cambridgeshire won both their matches.

This is the current league table:

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Match Points	Game Points
Cambridgeshire	2	2	0	0	4	19
Suffolk	2	1	0	1	2	16½
Hertfordshire	2	1	0	1	2	15½
Norfolk	2	0	0	2	0	13

Of the Suffolk players, Andrew Donnelly and Martin Tomes won both games, whilst those on 1½ points included Phil Hutchings, Alan Watkins and Bob Jones.

Martin Tomes (White) reached the following position after 20 moves in his afternoon game.   Black has just played d5, forking bishop and knight.   In fact White is winning easily and there are a number of good moves.   But Martin found the most spectacular move, causing Black to resign immediately:

21. Rf5!! (with Qh6 to follow)

The long-awaited London Chess Classic commenced yesterday at the Kensington Olympia.   The main event is the final tournament in the Chess Grand Tour, which features many of the world's top players.   Michael Adams, England's number 1, has been added to the nine who have played in the previous events.   After two rounds, there have been nine hard-fought draws out of the ten games played, with only Anish Giri beating Veselin Topalov in the first round.   With two draws, Adams is in equal second place, alongside eight others!

Also being played is the Final of the British Knockout Championship.   Initial rounds saw many of Britain's top players being knocked out, leaving just David Howell and former Suffolk boy Nick Pert through to the six-game final.   Nick has done very well, especially considering he was a last-minute replacement for the unavailable Nigel Short.   After a draw in the first round of the final, Nick eventually lost a rook and pawn ending in round 2, which lasted nearly five hours.   The match continues until Wednesday, with one game each day.

The third major event taking place is the FIDE Open, which has a massive entry of 246 players (including 28 Grandmasters).   After three rounds there are still 11 players on a maximum score.   Bury St Edmunds' Ed Player has two points, whilst former Suffolk girl Anna York-Andersen, now studying at Cambridge University, has lost two and drawn one.

Alongside these premier tournaments are several other events.   These include the Weekend Classic in four graded sections.   In the 63-player Open, Adam Taylor (Manningtree) is third seed and after taking a first round bye, is well-placed on 2½ points.   In the Under 2000 section (71 entrants), fifth seed John Peters (Bury St Edmunds) is joint leader (of two) on 3 points.   In the Under 1800 section (83 entrants), Stephen Pride (Bury and Cambridge) is on 2½ points.

Live games and latest results can be viewed on the London Chess Classic website.

Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks are now called Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.   Anyone involved on a weekly basis teaching chess to children, helping out at a school or club, or transporting children to tournaments, needs to undertake a DBS check.

Such checks can be arranged online through the Government website, but an Enhanced Check there costs £44.   Instead, an scheme has been set up between the Suffolk County Chess Association and Community Action Suffolk, whereby checks can be undertaken, also online, at a cost of only £15.

Anyone who teaches chess to children at a school or club, or coaches children at home, should apply for a DBS check. As the administrator of this scheme, contact if you need to undergo a check.

Forks, pins, skewers, as well as discovered checks, double checks, zwischenzug and deflection.   These are all tactics that are often seen in chess.   But a rarely-seen tactic is interference.   This is when a piece is sacrificially interposed so that an opposing piece is left isolated and vulnerable to capture.

An excellent example occurred on Tuesday this week, when David Green (White) faced Stephen Lewis in the second round of the Stowmarket Club Championship.   This was the critical position after 27 moves of a Budapest Defence:

Here, David found the remarkable 28. Be5!   It won him the exchange, but not the game, which petered out to a draw.   David has another opportunity to prove that he's a good chess player as well as an excellent Competitions Secretary when he plays for Suffolk Under 160s on Sunday.

The informal Tuesday afternoon chess club at the Apex in Bury St Edmunds continues to flourish.   Today there were 13 'members' attending.

In fact, there's no membership requirement; you just turn up at 3.30 pm with nothing to pay (and the nearby car park is free too on Tuesday afternoons).

If you're interested and would like to know more, please contact (Bob).