Suffolk Chess

This is the first posting of the new season.   From now on, readers can expect a new article every day.

I welcome news from the clubs in Suffolk.   Please send anything of interest to .

The fixtures for the Leagues and Cups have been published for all to see on Dave Wild's website - here.

There is a total of 22 teams playing in the three divisions this season, an increase of one from 2015/16.

Over the next few days there will be a catch-up of events that have taken place over the summer.   We will also look forward to the first meeting of the re-formed Ipswich Junior Chess Club, taking place on Saturday 10 September.

The British Chess Championships were held this year in Bournemouth, between 23 July and 6 August.   Several local players entered in various sections, with mixed success.

Top of the pile was former Woodbridge School pupil Justin Tan (pictured left), seeded 11th, finishing equal 3rd in the Championship behind the eventual winner, Michael Adams and the runner-up, David Howell, respectively the first and second seeds.   19-year old Justin achieved his second GM norm and should see a substantial rise in his Elo rating, currently at 2435.

Two Bury St Edmunds club members entered the Major Open.   John Peters came equal 4th on 6½/11, with a +70 rating performance.   Jon Collins scored 4½ points.

The seven-round Seniors Over 50 section was won by Manningtree's Andy Lewis, unbeaten on 6½ points.   Andy was top seed, but nevertheless his performance was exceptional.

Other scores were:

Seniors Over 65:    John Feavyour (Saxmundham & Bury St Edmunds)   3/7
Seniors Over 65 u150:    Vivian Woodward (Sudbury)   2½/5
Under 180:    John Peters   3½/5;   Jon Collins 3/5
Week 1 AM Open:    Rob Sanders (Sudbury)   2/5
Week 2 AM Open:    Jon Collins   3/5
Rapidplay Open:    John Peters and Jon Collins both scored 4½/11
Blitz:    Justin Tan   8/11 (5th=)
Under 9:    Rowan Kent (Woodbridge School)   3½/6
Under 8:    Rowan Kent   3/6

Rowan was the only Suffolk junior to participate, but at just seven years old, he has a bright future ahead of him.

Back in 1988, Tim Kiddell was one of Suffolk's most promising junior players.   After leaving school, he continued to play some chess.   But according to the grading database, he last played competitively in 2008.

Around that time, he started working at No.10 Downing Street for the then PM, Gordon Brown as his speechwriter.   He continued to work there for David Cameron and when he left office recently, Tim was awarded a CBE in the Prime Minister's resignation honours list.   Read all about it here.

This was Tim 28 years ago, in August 1988, aged eight, pictured in the East Anglian Daily Times:

Bury St Edmunds' Mark Le-Vine (right) is one of just eight English players competing in the World Amateur Championships, in Kos, Greece.   This nine-round tournament is divided into seven rated sections; Mark is playing in Group C, for players rated between 1800 and 2000 Elo.   Mark doesn't have an official Elo rating, so he is top seed at e2000.

Today is a rest day, but after six rounds Mark shares the lead on 5/6.   He has already played the other two opponents on five points, beating one and drawing with the other.   The remaining three rounds will be played Saturday, Sunday and Monday.   Mark is the only English player in his section (56 players).

To see Mark's results click here.

This is Mark's sixth round win, a crazy Budapest Gambit, well worth playing through:

The Suffolk Megafinal took place at Woodbridge School on Sunday.   This is the second stage of the Delancey Schools UK Chess Challenge, in which over 60,000 children participate each year.

Qualifiers from local rounds, at schools or clubs, compete in the Megafinal for a place in the Gigafinal, the penultimate stage of the competition.   Two Gigafinals are held and Suffolk is deemed to be a 'northern' county, so qualifiers need to travel to Manchester in July.

Players from Woodbridge School and the Bury Knights (BKJCC) just about swept the board.   Top boy in each age-group is awarded the title 'Supremo', whilst the top girl becomes a 'Suprema':

Under 7   -   Rowan Kent (Woodbridge and BKJCC) - Supremo on 6/6; Edison Lorejo (BKJCC) 5/6; Tania Roy (BKJCC) 4/6.
Under 8   -   Tia Martin (BKJCC) - Suprema on 5½/6; Amy John (BKJCC) 5; Harry Young (BKJCC) - Supremo on 4/6.
Under 9   -   Marina Pommier (Woodbridge) - Suprema on 6/6; Toby Martin (BKJCC) - Supremo on 5/6.
Under 10   -   Adam John (BKJCC) - Supremo on 6/6.
Under 11   -   Jaden Jermy (BKJCC) - Supremo on 4½/6; Tom Roy (BKJCC) 4/6.
Under 13   -   Alan John (BKJCC) - Supremo on 5½/6; Mario Saenz de Villaverde (BKJCC) 5/6; Ralph Martin (BKJCC) 4/6.

Good luck to all the above qualifiers!

This website will be offline for three weeks from next Thursday.   In the meantime, there's the Suffolk Megafinal at Woodbridge School on Sunday, with about 100 juniors expected to play.

Apart from the County First Team National Quarter-Final match against Somerset on 21 May and the Suffolk Cup Final between Ipswich B and Manningtree A on 24 May, the only other match still to be played is the Norfolk & Suffolk Cup Final, between Broadland and Bury St Edmunds.   The date has not yet been fixed, but it is likely to be on Wednesday 25 May.

Articles will now be limited to occasional reports, so if you want to be reminded that a new article has been published, make sure you sign up for alerts.   To do this, enter your email address in the box at the bottom right of the screen 'FOLLOW BY EMAIL'.

A total of 19 Suffolk-based players travelled last weekend to Birmingham and Telford for the final three rounds of this season's 4NCL, as reported here.

Top scorers were: Ed Player, Ian Wallis and John Feavyour, all on 2½ points.   Scoring two points were Justin Tan (unbeaten) and Steve Lovell.   Alan Merry scored 1½ points, having played three GMs - Jones (0), Williams (1) and Emms (½).   This brings his 'live' rating to 2390, just ten points short of the level required for his long-awaited IM title.

Other scores were:
Paul Botham   1½ (unbeaten)
David Brown   1½ (unbeaten)
Dominic Carter   1½
John Peters   1½
Silas Peck   1
David Spence   1
Laurie Pott   1 (played 1)
Dagne Ciuksyte   ½
Steve Gregory   ½
Alex Sheerin   ½ (played 1)
Martin Fogg   0
Graham Moore   0 (played 1)
Tim Lunn   0 (played 1)

Next season, teams will use three different venues. Divisions 1 and 2 start the season on 19 November at Wokefield Park, Reading, with Divisions 3 and 4 playing at the same venue one week later.   Divs 1 and 2 visit Northampton for the next four rounds, with the final five rounds being played at Telford.   Divs 3 and 4 stay at Wokefield Park for all rounds except 5 and 6, which take place at Telford.

The Final of the Plate competition took place this evening, with Ipswich F whitewashing Bury St Edmunds D 4 - 0.   This was sweet revenge for the Ipswich team, who were pipped for promotion from Division 3 by just half a point by Bury.

Congratulations to the Ipswich F team: Alex Sheerin, Andy Molloy, Mike Spalding and Adam Wilson.

The other Final - the Suffolk Cup, between Ipswich B and Manningtree A - is due to be played on 24 May.

Two locally-based teams have won promotion in the final rounds of this season's 4NCL, played over the last three days.

Anglian Avengers 1 finished second in the promotion pool of Division 2 to earn the right to compete with the elite of Division 1 next season.   Most of their team are pictured below:

(left to right: Team Captain Paul Talsma [ex Norfolk, now living in Kent], Ian Wallis, David Spence, Steve Gregory, Ed Player, Andrew Mayhew [Kent], Jim Bayford [Kent])

The other successful team was Iceni 1, captained by John Feavyour, which finished second in the new Division 4.   This was a necessary promotion, enabling the two Iceni teams to play in different divisions next season.

More on the 4NCL results tomorrow.

The Great Yarmouth Congress took place last weekend, with 96 entrants across four sections.   13 players travelled from various Suffolk locations, including Saxmundham, Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Manningtree.

The top seed in the Open section was GM Keith Arkell, who shared first place with FM Paul Cooksey.   In equal third place, on 3½ points, were Steve Gregory, Alan Merry and David Spence.   Graham Moore was close behind on 3 points.   Other Suffolk scores were David Mabbs (Saxmundham) 2, and Martin Fogg 1½.

The Under 170 section was won jointly by Andrew Donnelly (Sudbury/Bury St Edmunds) and Phil Hutchings (Manningtree), both on 3½ points.   There were a lot of draws in this section - in the final round there was only one game that was not drawn!   Malcolm Lightfoot scored 3 points and Alex Sheerin 2.

The only Suffolk entrant in the Under 145s was 11-year old junior Jaden Jermy, who plays for Bury St Edmunds.   Graded only 94, it was brave of him to 'play up', but he scored 2/5 with a grading performance of 114.

The Under 120 section was won by Graeme Jones, who has played once this season for Manningtree, but hails from Hadleigh.   Graham was the only player in the tournament to win all five games.   Also in this section, Roger Smith scored 1½.