Suffolk Chess

The first division in the Suffolk League to complete all its fixtures is Division 1.   And the Champions, by just a single point, are Ipswich C.

Their squad consists of Ian Wallis (190), Mike Cook (189), Silas Peck (176) and Ted Matthewson (capt.) (166).   Both Mike and Silas played in all 12 matches.   In all, only three substitutions were needed, when Ted Matthewson (twice) and Ian Wallis (once) were unable to play.   Indeed, this has been an outstanding feature of the Ipswich C team: their ability to field a regular team.   They were unbeaten throughout the season, winning nine and drawing three matches.

Individual playing records were:

Silas Peck   8½ / 12   (71%)
Ted Matthewson   7 / 10   (70%)
Ian Wallis   7 / 11   (64%)
Mike Cook   6 / 12   (50%)

Runners-up, by just one point, were Manningtree A, who were only able to field their strongest team (including Adam Taylor and Andy Lewis) on four occasions.

To view the final league table, click here.

The above event is taking place this coming Sunday (3rd April) at the Turner Hall, Newmarket.   There are four graded sections: Open, 600, 500 and 400 (total grade of teams).

If any Suffolk player is interested in playing, please let know as soon as possible.   Whilst the Championships are primarily for teams from the same club, it may be possible to 'mix and match', with two from one club and two from another, for example.

There will be two games, one starting at 10.00 and the second at 14.30.   County timings will be used, which includes 15 seconds increment from the first move.   Individuals will need to pay £5.00 each to cover the team entry fee of £20.

By beating nearest rival Fabiano Caruana yesterday in the 14th and final round of the FIDE World Candidates Tournament, 25-year old Sergey Karjakin (right) from Russia has qualified to challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen.   The World Championship match will be held in New York, over twelve rounds, from 11 - 30 November.

World #13 Karjakin (2760) is 10½ months older than 25-year old Carlsen (2851).   Most commentators seem to feel that the result is a foregone conclusion, but Karjakin has several months to prepare and will certainly put up a fight.

Karjakin finished the Candidates Tournament on 8½/14, a full point ahead of nearest challengers Caruana and Vishy Anand.

All 56 games from the event can be viewed here.

The Southend Easter Congress, held at the Adult Education College (right), ended today.

On 4½/6, Alan Merry lost to GM Simon Williams in the final round today and finished the event in 8th place.   Alan still needs another 34 rating points to claim the International Master title.   Andy Lewis also lost today; his 4½ points earned him 12th place, but he lost 12 rating points in the process, taking his 'live' rating to 2276.

David Spence, seeded 17th, finished in 10th place, also on 4½ points and a gain of 17 rating points.   David has improved his rating by over 70 points in the past month.

Ed Player faded after a splendid start to finish on 3½ points, losing the last two rounds to lower-rated opponents.   Steve Gregory also finished on 3½ points (50%).

If any of the Suffolk players had an interesting game or position, please send it to !

Seven Suffolk players have travelled to Southend for their annual Easter Congress.   Five of these are playing in the seven-round four-day FIDE Open, alongside four GMs, three IMs and seven FMs.

After five rounds, Alan Merry and Andy Lewis are doing well on 3½ points, with David Spence and Ed Player close behind on three points.   Steve Gregory has 1½ points.   Ed Player was joint leader after three rounds, but then faced the two top seeds, both GMs, in Rounds 4 and 5.

Keith Woodcock finished on 3/5 in the weekend u145 event, whilst Roger Smith scored 2½/5 in the u120 section.

Full results will be published here tomorrow.

The FIDE World Candidates Tournament, currently taking place in Moscow, is reaching an exciting conclusion.   After 12 of the scheduled 14 rounds, at least six of the eight competitors are in with a chance of winning the event and thus gaining the honour of challenging World Champion Magnus Carlsen.   The 12-game World Championship will take place next November in New York, where the two contestants will be competing for a prize fund of at least a million euros.

After 12 rounds the joint leaders in the Candidates are Fabiano Caruana and Sergey Karjakin, on seven points.   They are closely followed by Vishy Anand (6½ points) and Anish Giri, Peter Svidler and Lev Aronian, all on six points.

Round 13 takes place tomorrow, Sunday with Round 14 on Monday.   The final round pairs Caruana and Karjakin, and this could be the match that decides who the 'challenger' will be.

The official site is here.   Live games can be watched on a number of chess websites, including ChessBomb.   Games start at midday UK time.

A number of experienced local chess-players are involved with coaching in Suffolk schools.   These include Steve Gregory (Whitton Primary), Andrew Shephard (Ipswich Prep), Paula Allen and Alex Sheerin (The Meadows Montessori) and Bill Mackintosh (Creeting St Mary and Bosmere Primaries).   David Green and John Barratt assist Bill Mackintosh on occasions.

But perhaps the most active is Saxmundham's Mike Usher (pictured right) who receives some funding from Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC) to coach at two Ipswich schools, Ranelagh Primary and The Oaks, as well as two schools in Norfolk.

As SCCA President I am particularly keen to see more involvement with schools in the county.   Many schools will be willing to form chess clubs, provided an experienced adult can be found to run the club.   It's also worth checking out the CSC website, to see if any Suffolk school has requested assistance.

Apologies for anyone not mentioned above.

Easter usually heralds the end of the league season in the Suffolk League.   But because Easter comes so early this year, there are several matches still to be played.

In Division 1, the final matches take place next week.   Unbeaten Ipswich C need 2½ points from their match on Tuesday against Saxmundham A, who in turn need two points to avoid relegation.   All to play for!

Division 2 won't be concluded until late April.   Ipswich D look favourites for promotion, needing 3½ points from their last two matches.   At the other end of the table, Manningtree B will almost certainly be relegated.

Division 3 is the closest division, with three teams in with a chance of promotion.   Ipswich E are leading Ipswich F by two points and Bury St Edmunds D by three points, but have only one match remaining.   The other two teams both have two matches to play.

Go here to see the latest league tables.

The finalists for the Cup & Plate competitions are now known.

Cup   -   Ipswich B v Manningtree A
Plate   -   Ipswich F v Bury St Edmunds D

Both matches will be played at the Ipswich club on Tuesday 3 May.

The Suffolk Under 11 team (pictured above) travelled to Twickenham (Middlesex) on Saturday to play in the EPSCA East Zone Finals.   This was an extremely strong event, with teams such as Barnet, Richmond and Kent competing for honours.   Nine teams entered, with the top six due to qualify for the National Finals.

Suffolk's team reflected the parlous state of junior chess in the county: only one player had a grade of 100+ and two team members were as young as six and seven (perhaps that's a promising sign for the future!)   Despite 'borrowing' four players from Norfolk, Suffolk finished in last place, scoring only 10½ points out of a possible 60.   The winners were the usual suspects Barnet, who scored 50 points.

Unfortunately, traffic problems meant that only 18 players turned up, making a difficult situation even worse.

Most of the team came from either Woodbridge School (eight) or Bury Knights JCC (seven).   The top three boards were Bury Knights' members, and between them they scored 4½ points, with Board 2 Jaden Jermy unbeaten on two points.   They faced very tough opposition, with Board 1 Adam John losing to a grade 143.   Probably the best results were Jaden's draw against a 144 and Board 3 Tom Roy's draw against a 136.   Three Woodbridge School players chalked up excellent wins: six-year old Rowan Kent beat a 111 grade in the first round; Marina Pommier beat a grade 72; and Juliet Porter scored 2/3 including a win against an 88-graded player - from Barnet!

Our thanks goes to Team Manager Boby Sebastian (Adam John's Dad) for organising the team and transport.   Also to Paula Allen who stepped in at the last moment to act as a board steward.