Suffolk Chess

In 1976, the captain of the County First Team was (a much younger) Jim Buis.   In his report to the AGM, he advised that Suffolk were now playing in the Amboyne League, which was the equivalent of Division 3 of the Southern Counties Championship.

Suffolk played seven matches during the season, over 20 boards.   They beat Essex III, Surrey IV, Middlesex III, Kent III and Sussex III.   They lost to Surrey III in the last match of the season, and finished second in the table.   Suffolk also played Norfolk in a 21 board friendly, which ended all square.

Amongst the 44 players who represented Suffolk in one or more matches, included were Ian Wallis (scoring 5/8), Steve Gregory, Jim Buis, Roger Holt and Una Bartlett.   Still around in 2017, but not currently playing, were Chris Chambers, Chris Green and Sandy Peters (4½/6).

Playing in the 4NCL Division 1 on Sunday, Alan Merry was easily beating fellow IM Richard Bates when the following position was reached (Richard had just played ...e4, attacking the rook.)

Alan played the obvious Rd6+ and Richard replied Ke5??

Alan's next move is very obvious too, but it's a pleasing checkmate anyway.

For the first time in many, many years, there are more than two clubs competing in this season's Norfolk & Suffolk Cup (Suffolk section).   Manningtree have joined in the fray, and will play both Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds.

To date, only one match has been played, when Bury St Edmunds and Manningtree drew 3 - 3, with the former club winning on board count.

Ipswich entertain Manningtree next week, on 24 January, whilst Bury St Edmunds will play Ipswich at home on 16 February.

Bury St Edmunds have won the Suffolk section for the past three years and have faced Norfolk Champions Broadland each time.   Bury won in 2014 and 2016, whilst Broadland triumphed in 2015.

Last week's match between Manningtree A and Bury St Edmunds B completed the first half of the season in Division 1, with all teams having played six matches.

Manningtree are the clear league leaders, with a four-point margin over second-placed Ipswich C.   The current league table can be viewed here.

Phil Hutchings, Manningtree's Board 4, is leading the individual statistics, with 5½ points from his six games.   Shaun Munson (Ipswich A) is close behind on five points.

A total of 23 Suffolk players travelled to Northampton (Divisions 1 & 2) and Reading (Divisions 3 & 4) over the weekend to take part in Rounds 3 and 4 of this season's Four Nations Chess League (4NCL).

Four players won both their games:

Alan Merry (Division 1) - playing for Barbican 1
Silas Peck (Division 3)
John Feavyour (Division 3)
Adam John (Division 4)

Suffolk-based team scores were as follows:

Anglian Avengers 1 (Division 1):   1½-6½ and 2½-5½
Anglian Avengers 2 (Division 3):   3½-2½ and 4 - 2
Iceni 1 (Division 3):   2½-3½ and 2 - 4
Anglian Avengers 3 (Division 4)   2½-2½ and 2 - 4
Iceni 2 (Division 4)   4 - 2 and ½-5½

Other individual scores (out of two):

Division 1
Andy Lewis   ½
Ed Player   ½
Adam Taylor   0
Shaun Munson   1

Division 2
Dagne Ciuksyte   ½ (1 game) - playing for Guildford 3

Division 3
Graham Moore   ½
Ian Wallis   1½
Steve Gregory   1
Leon Burnett   1½
Paul Botham   0
Steve Lovell   ½ (1 game)
Laurie Pott   ½ (1 game)

Division 4
Bob Jones   ½
Laurie Pott   1 (1 game)
Steve Lovell   0 (1 game)
Mike Usher   0
Dominic Carter   1
Tim Lunn   1½
Alex Sheerin   0
Keith Woodcock   1
Amy John   0 (1 game)

Team scores (out of a possible eight points from four rounds):

Anglian Avengers 1 (Division 1)   -   0
Anglian Avengers 2 (Division 3)   -   8 (2nd place)
Iceni 1 (Division 3)   -   0
Iceni 2 (Division 4)   -   4
Anglian Avengers 3 (Division 4)   -   3

12-year old Jaden Jermy, who plays league chess for Bury St Edmunds and is a member of the Bury Knights Junior Chess Club, has received great publicity over the past couple of days.

The Marketing Manager at his school, Thetford Grammar, managed to persuade Eastern Daily Press to come to the school to interview Jaden.   The result was the article pictured right.

Other media soon caught on, and he (and his Mum Michelle) was interviewed on Good Morning Britain and Anglia TV.   There's also a good article in Friday's Bury Free Press.

Jaden has enjoyed a successful season so far and is hoping to obtain commercial sponsorship to enable him to receive high-level coaching.

Jaden, who had his 12th birthday on 1 January (a great day to have a birthday as he will be an Under 12 as far as FIDE is concerned for 2017), has a current ECF grade of 110 but is hoping for a substantial improvement when the new grades are published at the end of this month.

The Suffolk First Team played last Sunday in the EACU Championships against Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

Captain John Peters has promised a more detailed report, but in the meantime, here are the results:

Suffolk beat Cambridgeshire   8½-7½
Norfolk beat Suffolk   9 - 7

Individually, there were two wins for Steve Gregory, whilst Silas Peck and Alan Watkins both scored 1½ points.

After four rounds, Norfolk lead the table on 7 points, with Suffolk in second place on 5 points.   Cambridgeshire are on 4 points, whilst Bedfordshire have yet to gain a point.

The second session of the London Junior Championships took place durnng the week after Christmas.   Three Suffolk children played in two tournaments: the Under 8s and the Under 12s.

7-year old Rowan Kent, who attends Woodbridge School, had a brilliant event in the Under 8 tournament, finishing joint second (out of 80 entrants) with 6 points from his seven games.   The winner, and top seed, won all seven games.

In the Under 12 Major tournament, Jaden Jermy, a few days short of his 12th birthday, scored an impressive 6/9 to finish joint 5th out of 85 entrants.   His grading performance was 137.   Also in this section, 10-year old Adam John finished on 5½/9.   But he will have another year at this level.

These three players, all members of the Bury Knights Junior Chess Club, will be playing in the Junior 4NCL next weekend (21/22 January), when the club will be fielding two teams.

The annual Hastings International Chess Congress finished last Thursday.   Local entrants Ed Player and Adam Taylor enjoyed varying degrees of success.

The entrants included 11 GMs and 12 IMs, so Ed Player's score of 5½/9 and joint 13th place was an excellent performance.   He lost in the first round to the eventual runner-up (Ed says he should have won that game), but then remained unbeaten for the rest of the event (three wins and five draws).   He drew with both GM Keith Arkell and GM Mark Kebden.   Ed will gain 20 rating points from his performance, taking his 'live' rating to 2259.

Adam finished on 4½ points and will gain 11 rating points.   He was unlucky to be drawn against former Suffolk player Justin Tan (who scored 6 points and finished joint seventh) in Round 8.   Adam's best result was a draw against GM Danny Gormally.

Ed has annotated some of his games and they will appear on this website later this week.

Six entries were received for the puzzles.   Four were from local active players, one from a London player and the other from a former player (who now focuses on Bridge!).   They are (in alphabetical order):

Chris Chambers
Kevin Greenacre
Steve Lovell
Bill Mackintosh
Richard Saunders (London)
Andrew Shephard

Answers:

Part 1
1   ,,,Ke4, e8(B)   d5, Bg6#
2   ...Kc6, e8(R)   d5, Re6#

Part 2
1   Bc3.   If ...e2, then Bd2#.   If gxh2, then either Bxe5#
2   Bxg4+   Kxg4,   Bxe2+   If Kf5 then Be6#.   If Kh3 then Be6#
There is an alternative answer to this puzzle (which the setter did not see).   Two people found this:   Bxg2+   Kxg2, Bxe2   If ...Kh1 then Bxe4#.   If ...Kh3 then Bf1#

Part 3
1a)   h1
1b)   a8
1c)   g7 (or b2)
2.   White retracts the move fxg8(N), capturing a bishop.   Instead plays f8(N)#
3a)   Black retracts K(f7)xg6
3b)   Replace a White knight on g6
3c)   Black plays Bxf6+
3d)   White plays Ne5#

Two entrants had perfect sets of solutions: Andrew Shephard and Richard Saunders.   Both will receive a new chess book.

Both Chris and Kevin omitted to mention that in 2-2, either bishop can mate by taking on e5.   Kevin made a typo in his answer to 1-1.   Sorry, but I had to be tough!

Steve's answers were basically correct, but he made three typos.   Bill didn't manage to complete all his answers.

Normal daily blogs will re-commence on Tuesday, as I'm away for the next two days.