Suffolk Chess

The County Under 160 team faced Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire at the Turner Hall in Newmarket today.   Finding a team of 16 had proved very difficult, with no fewer than 36 potential players being contacted.   The eventual team was considerably lower-graded than usual.

The morning match was against Cambridgeshire, who outgraded Suffolk on every board!   But there were some excellent performances from some of our so-called 'weaker' players, with draws on the bottom four boards.   With just one game (mine) remaining, Cambridgeshire led 8 - 7, but my opponent eventually gave up the struggle when three pawns down.   This drawn match is Cambridgeshire's only flaw this season, having won all the other three matches they have played (they beat Norfolk 9 - 7 in the afternoon).   They head the league table with seven points.   Herts have 5, Suffolk 3 and Norfolk 1 point.

In the afternoon, Hertfordshire also outgraded us, this time on boards 3 to 16.   Unfortunately, Suffolk lost (again), having lost to them back in December.   The score this time was a convincing 5½-10½.

Stephen Lewis (Board 4) won both games, whilst Alan Watkins (Board 1) and John Barratt (Board 13) scored 1½ points.   Six other players scored one point.

John Lambert won an entertaining sacrificial game against Hertfordshire's Michael Flatt, reproduced below:

Eight children from the Bury Knights Junior Chess club are playing this weekend in the above tournament at Yateley Manor in Surrey.   It is one of the qualifying events for the National Junior Squad.

They are playing in the following age-group sections:

Alan John (117)   -   u13
Ralph Martin (72)   -   u13
Adam John (116)   -   u11
Tom Roy (87)   -   u11
Toby Martin (30R)   -   u9
Amy John (42R)   -   u8
Tia Martin (23R)   -   u8
Tania Roy (-)   -   u7 & u8

The results can be found on the Tournament Director website (not yet fully updated).   The Under 7 event was played today, whilst the Under 8 section is tomorrow.   The other sections are played over the two days.

Former BKJCC member Alex Sheerin is also playing, in the Under 14 section.

The 13-round all-plays-all Tata Steel Masters reaches its conclusion on Sunday, with World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a clear lead on 8 points out of 11.   Fabiana Caruana is second, a point behind, whilst Diren Ling is third on 6½ points.   Carlsen still has to play Ling, as well as Wesley So, over this weekend.

At the other end of the table, England's Michael Adams is propping up the table on 4 points.   In Round 9 he was beaten by Carlsen in a 66-move marathon.

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Meanwhile, over in Gibraltar, Suffolk's David Spence is enjoying the Tradewise Masters, having scored 2/4 against four GMs (+1, =2, -1). Provided he doesn't inbibe too much (don't look at the photograph - reproduced courtesy of Sophie Triay), he must be in with a chance of an IM norm.   His rating performance so far is 2447, just three points short of the required level (over 9 or 10 rounds).

IM Justin Tan is on 2½/4 and needs a few good wins if he is to acquire the sought-after GM norm.

The other Suffolk player in Gib is David Brown, who played in the Challengers A event which ended today.   He scored 1½/5, but lost 31 rating points.

The Tradewise Gibraltar Masters has reached the third round, which was played today.   The sensation of Round 1, as far as Suffolk is concerned, was David Spence's win against a 2506-rated female Chinese GM.   David (2140) is seeded 187 out of the 255 entrants.   You can play through the game, and read John Saunders' amusing police-related puns here.   For his efforts, he had to face another 2500 GM in Round 2 (which he lost) and a third GM in Round 3, which he drew.   He now faces yet another GM in Round 4, having gained 22 rating points so far.

Justin Tan had a default win in Round 1 (did his opponent fail to turn up?) but lost to a highly-rated GM in Round 2.   He beat a lower-rated opponent in Round 3 and now faces a WGM in Round 4.

Live games and commentary are available daily from 14.00 GMT.

The new January 2016 ECF grades were published this morning.   Suffolk Grader Dave Wild has worked his usual miracle: he has updated his website already to show all the new grades.   You can view them here.   To check out the full ECF grading database, click here.

The top grades (over 200 ECF) of those who either play in the Suffolk League or who represent Suffolk are:

Name	Club	July 2015	Jan 2016	+ / -
Justin Tan	(Suffolk)	238	235	-3
Adam Hunt	(Suffolk)	229	229	=
Alan Merry	(Suffolk)	221	226	+5
Dagne Ciuksyte	(Suffolk)	216	223	+7
Adam Taylor	Manningtree	214	217	+3
Andrew Lewis	Manningtree	215	216	+1
David Spence	(Suffolk)	216	215	-1
Francisco Garcia-Mendoza	Bury St Edmunds	e200	204	(+4)
Mike Harris	Bury St Edmunds	201	203	+2
Graham Moore	Ipswich	200	201	+1

There are few surprises, although the following lists show those players who have either improved (or declined) by ten points or more (Juniors = J):

Name	Club	July 2015	Jan 2016	+
Alan Watkins	Bury St Edmunds	e141	165	(+24)
Adam John (J)	Bury St Edmunds	93	116	+23
Ralph Martin (J)	Bury St Edmunds	50	72	+22
Richard Dickinson	Bury St Edmunds	85	105	+20
Tom Roy (J)	Bury St Edmunds	67	87	+20
William Moody (J)	Bury St Edmunds	96	111	+15
Martin Tomes	Ipswich	139	153	+14
Fraser Fallows (J)	Bury St Edmunds	68	79	+11
Bob Stephens	Manningtree	135	146	+11

Name	Club	July 2015	Jan 2016	-
Nathan Barnes	Clacton	158	146	-12
Ed Kirkham	Felixstowe	164	152	-12
Colin Roberts	Bury St Edmunds	135	124	-11
Hugo Brown	Saxmundham	107	97	-10
Ray Firman	Stowmarket	84	74	-10

In addition, there are a number of players who have their first-ever standard-play grade:

Name	Club	Jan 2016
Adam Leigh	Bury St Edmunds	141
Jaden Jermy (J)	Bury St Edmunds	94
Trevor Wright	Felixstowe	63
Michael Schalit	Ipswich	43

If you spot any errors or omissions, please let know.

Suffolk-based IM Justin Tan is hoping to gain some GM norms during his 'gap' year, before he starts university in September.

Back in September 2015 he played in the Illinois Open, in the USA.   After four rounds, Justin stood on 3½ points and in Round 5 faced Bulgarian GM Vladimir Georgiev (2541), now representing Macedonia.   He had won his three previous rounds (plus a bye in Round 4).

Justin won the game in 33 moves and followed up with a draw in the final round, to finish equal first on 5 points. He won $649 for his efforts.

For ease of viewing, the game has been uploaded to the Bury St Edmunds club's website.   You can play through the game here and see Justin's detailed annotations.

The FIDE Chess in Schools Commission (chaired by former Suffolk player Kevin O'Connell - right) is offering free Student Membership to all junior players.   When Kevin lived in Ipswich in the 1990s he played an important part in the success of Suffolk Junior Chess, which included national titles for the County at a number of age-groups for both boys and girls.   Kevin still writes a weekly chess column for the East Anglian Daily Times.

Student membership comes at two levels - Basic and Premium.   The latter only costs 10 euros a year.   Apparently, most of this fee goes back to the English Chess Federation (assuming you're English!).

Click here and then go to 'Registration'.

If you don't have a FIDE number (most juniors don't) then you will need to go for Basic membership first.   You will then be given a number which you can then use to upgrade to Premium membership.

There are several benefits available for both types of membership.   At the Basic level, you get a monthly newsletter and a membership card.   At Premium level you get a 'Student' rating, a weekly newsletter, a free gift (?) and access to a website which has various training resources.

I will be interested to hear if any Suffolk juniors take up this offer.

Divisions 1 and 2 of the 4NCL played this weekend at the Holiday Inn, Birmingham Airport.

In Division 1, FM Alan Merry scored 1½/2, playing on Board 4 for Barbican 1.   IM Justin Tan also scored 1½/2 on Board 2 for Oxford 1 and IM Dagne Ciuksyte scored ½/2 on Board 8 for Guildford 1.

Meanwhile, the Anglian Avengers team, in Division 2, included five Suffolk players:

Andy Lewis   -   2
Ed Player   -   1½
Graham Moore   -   ½
Steve Gregory   -   ½
Alex Sheerin   -   1

This was Alex's first outing for the Anglian Avengers first team, and he didn't disappoint, beating an 1890-rated player in the second game today.

Anglian Avengers won both their matches: 4½-3½ against Hackney 1, and 6½-1½ against CSC Dragons.   They now lead Pool B with seven match points (out of a possible 8).   They still have to play the third and fourth-placed teams, who stand just behind on 6 points.

The Bury Knights Junior Chess Club entertained 24 members of the Norwich Junior Chess Club today, at Horringer Court Middle School, the 'home' of the Bury Knights.

This is the Norwich team, together with coach Stephen Orton hiding at the rear and parent Liam Dolder (right):

The Norwich players were, on average, considerably older that Bury's, with many of them of secondary school age.   They also had strength in depth, whilst most of Bury's lower boards were very young and inexperienced.   Three of Bury Knights' bottom boards (Tania Roy, Dylan Rajayogan and Harry Butterworth) were only six years old.

The final score was 62 - 34 to Norwich.   However, over the top 15 boards, Bury would have won narrowly by 30½ to 29½!   Bury only scored 3½ points out of a possible 36 on the lower nine boards, but won 8 - 4 on the top six boards.

Bury players scoring the maximum 4 points were Alan John (Board 1), Jaden Jermy (Board 3), Tom Roy (Board 4) and Mario Saenz de Villaverde (Board 7).   Adam John (Board 3) scored 3 points, whilst his sister Amy, still only 7, scored 2½ points.

Two Bury members scored 2 points: Aaron Saenz de Villaverde (Board 8) and Aidan Myerscough (Board 12),

The top six boards played two games each with 40 minutes on the clocks, whilst the remaining 18 boards played four games each with 20 minutes on the clocks.   The top six boards scored double (a win = 2 points etc).

Norwich JCC have invited the Bury Knights to a return (revenge?) match on a Saturday in the summer term.

There are a number of events coming up in the next few months within easy reach.

Sunday 7 February   -   Norfolk Rapidplay

Sunday 6 March   -   Bury St Edmunds Junior Congress

Fri/Mon 25 - 28 March   -   Southend Easter Congress

Sat/Sun 9 - 10 April   -   34th St Albans Congress

Sat/Sun 23 - 24 April   -   Great Yarmouth Congress

Details and entry forms for all the above can be found on the ECF Calendar.