Saturday, 11 March 2017

Rowan plays for Essex

Ten years have passed since Suffolk was able to send a team to the Zone Finals of the EPSCA inter-Association Under 9s.   Way back (1990?) Suffolk actually won the National title, but we did have a pair of rather good twins as well as several other strong players.

This year it was no different, with only two or three players considered strong enough to represent their county.   So Essex requested to 'borrow' 7-year old Rowan Kent (Woodbridge School and Bury Knights), as they are allowed to do since Suffolk is a 'neighbouring county' (so say the rules).

Rowan (right) played on Board 2 and won all three games.   For the record, Essex scored 23 points out of a possible 36 and qualify for the National Finals, to be held on 22 April.


Friday, 10 March 2017

SCCA Committee meets on Monday

The Committee of the Suffolk County Chess Association will be meeting on Monday.   Agenda items include reviewing some of the competition rules as well as the nomination (and re-nomination) system.   Members will also discuss the possible introduction of incremental (Fischer) timing as the default option.

If any member of a club affiliated to the SCCA wishes to stand for office next season (2017/18), will they please contact the Secretary, , to register their interest.

Officers of the SCCA include: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Competitions Secretary, Results Officer, County Team captains (First, u160, u120 and Correspondence), Junior Chess and Women's Chess representatives.


Thursday, 9 March 2017

u145 Cup is completed

Congratulations to Manningtree Chess Club, who have won the Under 145 Cup for this season!   They accumulated 8 points from their three matches, narrowly leading runners-up Bury St Edmunds, who scored 7½ points.

Manningtree's top scorer was Dave Welsh, on 2/3, with John McAllister on 1½ (three draws) and Jim Buis, 1½/2.   Manningtree used a total of six players across the three matches.

Other team scores were Ipswich - 5½ and Felixstowe - 3.

The 145 Cup was first competed for in 1999, when it was won by Ipswich.   The trophy has been won four times by Ipswich, three times by Bury Cannons, Hadleigh and Adastral Park (all three clubs no longer exist!); twice by Saxmundham and once by Woodbridge School.


Wednesday, 8 March 2017

Woodbridge (x 2)

First of all, Adam Hunt has today postponed the Suffolk Junior Open, due to be held this Sunday.   He has written to all entrants:   "Unfortunately I have had to postpone the Suffolk Junior Open, due to take place this Sunday until Sunday 25 June.   Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience caused by this and let me know what you would like me to do with your entry fee, whether you would like me to return/destroy the cheque or keep it as payment for the tournament next term.   If you could also let me know that you have received this e-mail that would be much appreciated."

Whilst no reason for this postponement has been given, it may be because the number of entrants is too low.   Its timing, just one week after the Bury St Edmunds Junior Congress, is perhaps a little unfortunate.

On a happier note, the new Woodbridge Chess Club continues to thrive.   Organiser Blake Gifford reports that "...things seem to be going fairly well over here at Woodbridge.   We are slowly but surely developing a regular crowd.   We have been getting promotional support from local schools and we have had interest from quite a few juniors.   Due to this we have decided to adjust the club times to 19:00 - 21:00 (instead of 19:30) with the idea that we might encourage a few more."

I will be visiting the Club on 27 March in my capacity as President of the SCCA.


Tuesday, 7 March 2017

Bury Junior Congress in detail

Amongst the 92 entrants to Sunday's tournament, there were 23 girls - exactly 25%.   And they did very well, with several finishing in the prize money.

Amy John (Bury Knights) won the Under 9 section, despite losing her final game.   She was awarded the Under 9 trophy, as well as the Bury Area Chess League Trophy (pictured right).

Other prize-winning girls included Lettie Ganyushin (London) - joint winner of the Under 9s, Hettie Symes (slow starter Under 18s), and Tania Roy (slow starter Under 9s).   The 'Top Girl' prize was shared by five girls, each of whom scored four points: Tia Martin (Bury Knights), Oren Pilowsky-Bankirer, Mabel Symes, Julia Volovich and Claudia Bazyk (all Cambridge).

The Team prize for the best school entry was won by King's College, Ely.   Their three players (William and Dylan Stoeber, Robert Reed) scored a total of 14 points, beating St Edmunds RC Primary, Bury St Edmunds (Adam John, Tia Martin, Kirsten Taylor - 12 points).   There were 11 teams entered.

The Under 18 section was won by top seed Karthik Saravanan (photo left) from Great Yarmouth, with Suffolk players Tom Roy, Jaden Jermy and Alan John all sharing third place on four points.

The only Suffolk player to win a prize in the Under 11 section was Adam John, who scored 4½ points to finish in fourth place.

The 'My First Tournament' section attracted only 10 entrants, but the winner, Ben Palmer from Ipswich, was the only player in the whole tournament to win all six games.

The youngest entrant was six-year old Mae Catabay, from Colchester (pictured right).   Not only did she play well, scoring 2½ points, but she recorded all her games in her own scorebook!

Overall, the entry from Suffolk was rather disappointing.   Players from Cambridgeshire outnumbered Suffolk entrants (by 48 to 34).

The total Prize Fund amounted to £680.   The tournament organisers, Bury Knights Junior Chess Club, greatly appreciated the support of the Moreton Hall Community Association, who for the third year running provided their excellent facilities free of charge.




Monday, 6 March 2017

4NCL results

At the weekend, Anglian Avengers 1 played at Telford in Rounds 7 and 8 of the 4NCL Division 1.

After six consecutive defeats, Saturday's Round 7 was Avengers' final opportunity to win a match in the round-robin part of the tournament.   They were drawn against the strong Wood Green team, whose average rating exceeded Avengers' by more than 160 points.   Predictably, Avengers lost heavily (1 - 7 ), but the best individual result was on top board, where Adam Taylor managed to draw against GM Jonathan Speelman in what appears to be a heavily prepared game (correct me if I'm wrong!)

Round 8 on Sunday was the first of four matches in the 'Demotion Pool', to decide which two teams are to be relegated at the end of the season.   Unfortunately Avengers lost narrowly by 3½-4½, with a win for Ed Player and a draw for Adam Taylor (against GM Gormally in just eight moves).   David Spence recorded his second draw of the weekend.

All is not lost for the Avengers, but they will probably need to win at least two of their remaining three matches over the May Bank Holiday weekend.


Sunday, 5 March 2017

Bury Junior Congress

A total of 92 children played in the Bury St Edmunds Junior Chess Congress today.

There were four sections: Under 18, Under 11, Under 9 and 'My First Tournament'.   The latter section was an innovation, designed to attract children who otherwise might be afraid to play in an age-group section, where there are usually some strong players.

The following won trophies and are pictured below:

Under 9   -   Amy John (Bury Knights)
Under 11   -   Arnav Srivastava (Cambridge)
Under 14   -   Gavith Dharmasena (Cambridge) - best u14 in the u18 section
Under 18   -   Karthik Saravanan (Gt Yarmouth)
My First Tournament -   - Ben Palmer (Ipswich Junior)

A more detailed report will follow in a couple of days' time.


Saturday, 4 March 2017

Home-grown talent

Recently, Alan Merry's International Master title (at the age of 19) was great news for Suffolk Chess, as a 'home-grown' talent.   But a generation ago, it was the Pert twins, Nicholas and Richard, who were the first local players to achieve FIDE titles.   Nick has since gone on to become the county's first Grandmaster (at the age of 20).   There are 27 years between these two photos - can you tell who is who?   The Perts are now aged 36.

But have I got them the right way round??


Friday, 3 March 2017

Suffolk Under 11s - 27 years ago

This was the Suffolk Under 11 team that travelled to Newton Abbot in 1990 and finished runners-up (by half a point) to the eventual winners of the National Under 11 Inter-County Finals.   How many players can you name?

Clue 1: There's a GM and an IM (and they're related).
Clue 2: Only one person is currently playing regularly in Suffolk.   Which one?


Answers in Comments please.


Thursday, 2 March 2017

Grade comparison 1991 - 2017

There are 35 currently active Suffolk players who feature in the 1991 grading list.   See the table below to compare their grading progress over the years:
>
Name Current Club Grade 1991 Grade 2017 +/-
Franceys Allen Stowmarket 111 106 +10
Vicky Allen Stowmarket 96 90 -21
Paul Botham Iceni 4NCL 185 171 -14
Dennis Brown Clacton 67 35 -32
Hugo Brown Saxmundham 92 92 =
Jim Buis Manningtree 160 147 -13
Kenn Butcher Sudburyt 148 139 -9
Michael Clapham Ipswich 121 162 +41
Richard Doyle Felixstowe 93 107 +14
John Feavyour Saxmundham/Bury St Eds 159 164 +5
Gordon Fisher Felixstowe 60 46 -14
Kevin Greenacre Ipswich 146 151 +5
Chris Hargan (nee Forsdyke) Stowmarket 59 94 +35
Adam Harvey Bury St Edmunds 140 140 =
Gary Hemsworth Felixstowe 129 117 -12
Roger Holt Ipswich 155 148 -7
Bob Jones Bury St Edmunds 128 143 +15
Les Jones Ipswich 152 136 -16
Ken Lunn Ipswich 123 113 -10
Tim Lunn Ipswich/Bury St Edmunds 149 165 +16
Shaun Munson Ipswich/Bury St Edmunds 157 193 +36
Alonso Paez Ipswich 124 130 +6
Andrew Paige Saxmundham 115 104 -11
John Peters Bury St Edmunds 123 175 +52
Laurie Pott Bury St Edmunds 144 153 +9
Dave Robertson Felixstowe 88 107 +19
Andrew Salmon Clacton 139 158 +19
Rob Sanders Sudbury 163 192 +29
Adrian Sanderson Manningtree 136 116 -20
Roger Smith Ipswich 116 96 -20
Mike Spalding Ipswich 115 118 +3
David Spence (Unattached) 111 203 +92
Scott Taylor Bury St Edmunds 149 104 -45
Ian Wallis Ipswich/Bury St Edmunds 178 188 +10
Alan Watkins Bury St Edmunds 122 158 +36

David Spence has the greatest improvement (92 points) but he was a little lad in shorts back then.   Second is John Peters with +52 (also a Junior in 1991).   The best improvement by an adult is Michael Clapham (+41).

Congratulations to Hugo Brown and Adam Harvey, whose grades are exactly the same!   19 players have improved, whilst 14 have declined.   The average change across all 35 players is +6 points.

Apologies if anyone has been inadvertently omitted.


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