Saturday, 30 April 2016

Coaching at the Bury Knights

Although the Bury Knights Junior Chess Club doesn't normally meet during the Summer Term, a number of special coaching sessions have been arranged so as to keep the members involved before the club starts up again in September.

Yesterday, the first coaching evening was held with 21 members attending.   The top group benefited from the experience and knowledge of 19-year old IM Justin Tan (pictured right), who was staying with Ed Player prior to travelling to the 4NCL.   Other coaches included Laurie Pott and Adam Leigh.

The Bury Knights' top four members are Alan John (117), Adam John (116), Jaden Jermy (94) and Tom Roy (87).   These players are under-graded and should all see an improvement when the new grades are published in July.

The next coaching evening will be on 10 June.


Friday, 29 April 2016

Bury win the Suffolk Final

Last evening. Bury St Edmunds Chess Club beat Ipswich Chess Club by four points to two in the Suffolk Final of the Norfolk & Suffolk Cup.   The team is pictured below:

(Left to right: Chris Davison (1), John Peters (1), Mike Harris (1), Ed Player (1), Mark Le-Vine (0), Alan Watkins (0))

After 2½ hours play the match was level at 2 - 2, with just the two top boards remaining.   On Board 2 Ed Player was a couple of pawns down to Ian Wallis and was hanging on for dear life.   Earlier he had performed one of his many time-trouble miracles, making moves 25 to 30 inside the last 16 seconds of the first time control.   Move 30 was completed with one second remaining.   Meanwhile, on top board, Mike Harris sacrificed his knight on f7 to open up Shaun Munson's black king.   Shaun's major pieces were over on the queenside and struggled to get back to defend.   After an almost forced sequence of moves, Mike eventually prevailed.   This gave Bury the match win, since the tie-break rules would mean that the bottom board, won by Silas Peck of Ipswich, would be discounted in the event of a 3 - 3 draw.

Almost at the same moment, Ian Wallis blundered in a completely winning position, allowing Ed a snap mate.

Here is Bury's Board 4 John Peters' 23-move win, with Black, against Ipswich Club Champion Mike Cook:

This was the position after White's 21st move (Qg2-f2).   See if you can work out what John played.


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It will not have escaped your notice that this website has enjoyed a week's holiday whilst the author has been a) busy re-tiling his bathroom, and b) cataloguing thousands of books from Peter Keffler's vast stock.   Over 400 new titles have been added on Amazon, which can be viewed (and purchased) here.

This website will now resume on its usual daily basis, as there will be plenty of topics to cover, including the 4NCL, county match against Somerset, the Roger Goldsmith Cup in the Bury Area League and various other junior matters.


Friday, 22 April 2016

Players of the Season

All matches have now been completed in the three divisions of the Suffolk League.

The following are 'Players of the Season' and will each be awarded a trophy at the forthcoming AGM:

Division 1   -   Andrew Lewis (Manningtree A)   -   9½/10
Division 2   -   Phil Hopkins (Felixstowe A)   -   9½/12
Division 3   -   Phil Mortonson (Ipswich E)   -   9/9 (including one default) and Michael Spalding (Ipswich F)   -   9/10.

The trophies are awarded for the highest score, not the best percentage.   If the latter method applied, Rob Sanders would have won Division 2 with a 100% score, having won all eight games played.


Thursday, 21 April 2016

Division 3 promotion decided

This evening Bury St Edmunds 'D' beat their 'E' team 3 - 1.   This result was the minimum needed to win Division 3, just half a point ahead of Ipswich F, who missed their opportunity for promotion on Tuesday when they only gained 2½ points from their final match.

The result between the two Bury teams was much closer than it seems.   On Board 2, Bury E's 11-year old Tom Roy (87) beat seasoned campaigner Dick Myhill (116), but the other three juniors, Jaden Jermy, Ralph Martin and Alwin Jose, eventually succumbed to Adam Leigh, Zac Vane and Richard Dickinson respectively.

Only 1½ points separates the top three teams - see final table here.



Wednesday, 20 April 2016

SCCA Committee

The SCCA Committee met this evening.   The Committee welcomed two new members - Leon Burnett and Kevin Greenacre - who will be formally recognised as Vice-President and County Secretary respectively at the forthcoming AGM on 7 June.

As well as agreeing the format for the AGM (to be held at Ipswich Chess Club), the Committee agreed a final format for the revised SCCA Constitution, which will be put to the AGM for ratification.   A couple of changes were also proposed, concerning substitution rules.

Any proposals from clubs must be received by the Secretary, , by Monday 2 May.   The AGM Agenda will then be distributed to clubs on 4 May and will include any proposals from clubs and the Committee.


Tuesday, 19 April 2016

Ipswich D gain promotion to Division 1

This evening saw Ipswich D beat Stowmarket 2½-1½ to be certain of being Division 2 Champions.   Two members of their regular team (Andrew Shephard and Les Jones) were unavailable, but replacements Kevin Greenacre and Roger Holt both drew their games, as did Martin Tomes.   Captain Alonso Paez was the only winner on Board 4.

This means that next season there will be four Ipswich teams in Division 1, alongside two from Bury St Edmunds and one from Manningtree.   Relegated Saxmundham A will play in Division 2.

Division 3 is still not decided, as Ipswich F failed to gain the four points they needed this evening.   Bury St Edmunds D now need three points from their final match on Thursday to win the division.


Players of the Season

(This is Monday's article - it was written but didn't get published!)

The 'Player of the Season' is awarded in each division to the person who has scored the greatest number of game points for one team in that division.   It is not awarded on percentage score (as shown on Dave Wild's website).

The POTS for Divisions 1 and 2 have been decided.   In Division 1, Andrew Lewis (Manningtree A) scored an amazing 9½/10, drawing only with Bury's Mike Harris.   In Division 2, Phil Hopkins (Felixstowe A) scored 9½/12 to finish well ahead of the field.

Division 3's POTS will be decided this week, when the final matches are being played.   Ipswich E's Phil Mortonson has won all eight games played, plus won one more by default.   But he can be caught by Mike Spalding and Andrew Molloy (both Ipswich F), currently on 8/9 and 8/11 respectively but with one game still to play (tomorrow).


Saturday, 16 April 2016

Last Chance Saloon

16 players entered the 'Last Chance Saloon' today, a tournament organised to allow those who have not previously qualified, to have an opportunity to reach the Megafinal stage of the Delancey UK Schools Chess Challenge.

The event was held at the Meadows Montessori School in Ipswich.

Eight entrants were from Suffolk, whilst the remainder came from further afield - Cambridgeshire, Essex and Northamptonshire.

Due mainly to the wide range of ages represented, 14 of the 16 entrants managed to qualify for their county's Megafinal.   Of the Suffolk players, seven will be heading to Woodbridge for the Suffolk Megafinal on Sunday 8 May.

The age range threw up some odd pairings, including (right) the oldest, 17-year old Yousuf Rahman (Wisbech) against 8-year old Tia Martin (Bury St Edmunds).   The top Suffolk scorers were Jenni Rochford (Debenham) and Tia Martin, both on 14 points (out of a possible 21).

In the UK Schools Chess Challenge it is possible to qualify for the Megafinal even if you lose every game (as one girl did).   This can happen provided you are the only entrant in your age-group.


Friday, 15 April 2016

The treble for Linton

Linton Chess Club, who play in the Bury Area Chess League, have triumphed in all three divisions.   Their first team, Linton A, won Division 1 with nine wins and a draw from their ten matches.   Only five players were needed, with Kevin Clark leading scorer on 8½/10.   Other scores were: David Coleman 6½/9; Ashley Stewart 6½/10; Paul Kemp 4½/5; and Liam Varnam 4½/6.

In Division 2, Linton Blacks won all ten matches, although half of them were by the narrowest of margins.   Top scorer was Martin Pinner, on 6½/8.

Linton Whites won Division 3, although they drew three matches and lost one.   That was the only loss by any Linton team this season (in 30 matches!)


Thursday, 14 April 2016

Adam is English Youth Grand Prix Champion - again

Manningtree's Adam Taylor has won the English Youth Grand Prix for the second successive year.   Last year he was Under 17 Champion; this year he has won the Under 18 title.

The rules for the Youth Grand Prix are somewhat complicated, and are different for the various age-groups.   For 17 and 18-year olds, it is based on the three best tournament performance grades from any ECF graded standard-play tournament which starts between 1 March 2015 and 29 February 2016.

Click here to read the rules in full.


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