News archive – 2005–06 season

This is an archive of the news from the NCA’s 2005–06 season. For more recent news, visit the home page.

Items on this page are in reverse chronological order (i.e. the most recent items are at the top).

Back issues of Notts News are available for download.

Minutes of the League Management Committee:

NCA AGM: brief report (12 July; updated 22 July)

The minutes of the AGM (held on 11 July) will appear in due course; here’s a brief round-up of the decisions made and the new officers.

The proposal to reconstitute the Finance Committee as an Executive Committee to run NCA affairs was approved. The Executive Committee will consist of the President, Secretary, Treasurer, LMC Representative (not necessarily League Secretary, as originally reported; the LMC will choose its representative) and Congress Director, along with other members co-opted to specific meetings to deal with individual activities, as necessary.

Consideration of a proposal to adopt a membership scheme similar to that of the recently trialled Northern Membership Scheme, which would replace the existing Game Fee system and result in NCA members also becoming members of the ECF, was deferred to a Special General Meeting to be held in September.

Trophies were presented to the Divisional champions, the County Champion (Michael Barnes) and the Winner of the Best Game prize (Robert Richmond). You can play through the game (with notes by Robert) or download it.

Various officers stood down from their posts, and the President, Michael Barnes, had come to the end of his three-year term, requiring new officers to be elected. Unusually, there were two candidates for the latter post, Maurice Hill (Nomads) and David Levens (West Nottingham). David Levens was elected by 17 votes to 4. All other posts attracted either a single candidate or remain vacant. The full list of new officers and vacancies is (from my notes, and subject to confirmation):

The full list of officers is given on the Information page.

British Land UK Chess Challenge Gigafinal results (12 July)

The Notts qualifiers from the Trent Megafinal competed in the penultimate stage of the UK Chess Challenge – the Gigafinal – in Manchester on 8 and 9 July. Several qualified for the last stage (the Terafinal), as follows (*indicates section winner):

There were many other good performances and several near misses. Full results are available for both the Saturday and Sunday competitions.

Forthcoming Event: Lincoln Rapidplay (11 July)

Just a short note from Kevin McCarthy, Nigel Birtwistle and Nick Payne, formerly of Grantham infamy.

We have attempted the impossible in taking on the task of developing Lincolnshire Chess at 4NCL, County and Junior levels by forming our own 4NCL team/club and we are running the first of three rapidplay tournaments this upcoming season.

All Notts players are cordially invited to come and pinch our prize money and have a good day of chess. Please shamelessly plug this link for us and pass it on to all your members: http://www.PandorasBoxChessClub.org.uk/, which has a load of background plus details and entry form for the rapidplay.

Hard copies of the brochure are available from KMCCARTHYZ@aol.com if required.

Look forward to locking horns again at 4NCL.

County Championship Finals (11 July)

The finals of the various County Championship events were held on 1 July. The U150 title was won by Yorkshire, beating Notts’ semi-final conquerors Cambridgeshire 10–6. In the U125 event, Bedfordshire, who beat Notts in the quarter-final, went on to win, beating Warwickshire 8½–7½ in the final. Finally, the U100 championship was won 6½–5½ by Kent, who beat Norfolk (winners over Notts in the semi-final).

More details of these and the other events can be found at the link above.

National Club Championship (11 July)

Neil Graham

Although Newark’s interest in the National Minor ended in June (see previous report), they will not have far to deliver the Plate Trophy won last year after Ashfield beat Westcliff (of Southend) by 2½–1½ in the Final.

This was played today at Syston and the Ashfield scores were:

Stan Cranmer ½
Phil Morgan 0
Bob Taylor 1
Malc Jackson 1

Ashfield had beaten Wycombe and Hazlemere by a similar score in the semi-final when the winning side was Richard Webster, Bob Taylor, Malc Jackson and Paul Todd.

At one time all players had to be graded Under 125 for this event; nowadays the rules state that the average grade of the team needs to be less than 125.

AGM and RRM minutes (4 July)

The minutes of the 2005 Annual General Meeting and 2006 Rules Revision Meeting are now available and were also distributed with issue 39 of Notts News. Don’t forget that the AGM is on 11 July at Gambit Chess Club, 7:30 p.m.

Dates for the Diary: 2006/07 Season (4 July)

Robert Richmond

The Finance Committee recently fixed the dates for next year’s County Championship, Rapidplay and Congress. Provisional dates for County matches are on the new MCCU website (only readable to 27 January).

2006

23/24 Sept: 4NCL Div 4 (Birmingham)
7 Oct: U125
14 Oct: U150, U100
21/22 Oct: Notts County Championship (new date TBA)
28 Oct: U125
25 Nov: U100
2 Dec: U125
2/3 Dec: 4NCL Div 4 (West Bromwich)

2007

13 Jan: U150, U100
27 Jan: U125 Semi-final
10/11 Feb: 4NCL Div 4 (Sunningdale, Surrey)
17 Feb: 18th Notts Rapidplay
3/4 Mar: 4NCL Div 4 (Nottingham)
21/22 April: 32nd Notts Congess
26/28: 4NCL Div 4 (Sunningdale, Surrey)

[These dates will appear on the 2006–07 Calendar page of this site when the site is updated prior to the new season – Ed.]

H. E. Atkins Memorial Congress (4 July)

This event will take place on 15–17 September 2006 at Wyggeston College, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RJ. For more details, including entry form/online entry, see http://www.leicesterchess.co.uk/.

All England Girls Gold Final (25 June)

The final of the All England Girls Championships was held at Bramcote Hills Sports & Community College on 24 June. The Nottinghamshire contenders put up a good showing, but couldn’t quite manage to capture one of the titles. Lateefah Messam-Sparks (West Nottingham) came closest, scoring 4½/5 and missing out on retaining her U14 title on tie-break. Anjali Lakhani (Long Eaton) took 3rd place in the U18 with 3/5; Fatimah Ali scored 1½/5 in the U12 competition; and Ella Macleod (West Nottingham) scored 3/5 in the U10.

A full list of winners and results should appear on the ECF Women and Girls web site shortly.

County Championship Semi-Finals (12 June)

The luck ran out for both of the Notts semi-finalists in their semi-finals on 11 June. The U100 side slipped behind early on and were convincingly beaten 8–4 by Norfolk (details), but the U150 team, despite the absence of several key players, pushed hard against Cambridgeshire before eventually losing 9–7 ( report by Neil Graham).

NCA AGM (8 June)

As the provisional date for the NCA AGM clashed with a football World Cup match (which could possibly involve England), the Rules Revision Meeting voted to put the AGM back by a week. So the AGM will be on Tuesday 11 July, at 7:30 p.m. at Gambit Chess Club. Provisionally, the agenda will be:

  1. Courtesies – apologies/minutes
  2. Officers’ reports
  3. Presentation of prizes
  4. Election of officers
  5. Any other business

Any items for the agenda that do not fall within the above should be notified to me as soon as possible and in any case no later than Tuesday 20 June.

Dr A. N. Walker
Hon Sec, NCA

Congress roundup (3 June)

Dave Dunne (Fiveways) scored 4/5 to share 3rd place in the Minor section of the Huddersfield Congress, held on 12–14 May; Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads) shared 3rd place in the Rotherham Rapidplay in April, scoring 4/6; and David Levens (West Nottingham) finished equal 2nd in the Rhyl Open, scoring 3½/5.

Ankush also scored a notable first at the Ilford Congress, held on 27–29 May, with his first win over an International Master: Simon Williams (rating 2478 ELO; approximately 235 ECF).

Update: Ankush capitalised on his victory over Simon Williams by going on to win the tournament with a score of 5½/6, a clear point ahead of IM Philip Morris (220 ECF) and Robert Eames (200).

National Club Championship (3 June)

Graham Ladds

In the last three years Newark have won the Minor competition trophy twice and the Plate last year. However, we shall not be bring any silverware home this time.

Unfortunately, we lost in the semi-final to Maidstone (played at Whittlesford near Cambridge) 2½–1½. With Daniel Wells unavailable, David Coates played on top board and drew. I won on board 2, but Ian Burridge and Marcus Fox both lost.

4NCL – final weekend (30 May)

Both Notts teams registered a win, a draw and a defeat in the final three rounds of 4NCL matches, played over the Bank Holiday weekend. Nottinghamshire 1 finished 6th in Division 4, two places and 2½ points away from promotion.

County Championship Quarter-Finals (21 May)

Notts despatched all three of its quarter-final teams to Milton Keynes on 20 May, following a massive effort by Neil Graham in particular, with the help of Michael Barnes, to find enough players. With three matches to be played simultaneously, substitutes weren’t readily available, but Neil finally found his last player at 10:30 p.m. on the night before the matches.

When the dust cleared, two of our three teams were left standing. The U150 team drew 8–8 with Sussex, but reached the semi-final on board count; the U125 team faded from a strong position and were knocked out 9–7 by Bedfordshire; and the U100s advanced to the semi-final with a 6–6 draw and another win on board count over Essex. The latter report includes a cautionary tale about the dangers of mobile phones...

EPSCA Under 11 Inter-Association Championship (16 May)

Nottinghamshire’s Under 11 team finished 6th in the national final, held on 13 May at Hampton School. This represents a big improvement on last year, when Nottinghamshire failed to qualify for the final. Perhaps more significant is the fact that this was a young team – most of the players will still be eligible next year.

Special mention should be made of the three players on Boards 1–3 – Brandon Clarke, Srikar Varadaraj and Andrew Garside – who scored 8/9 against the best that the rest of the country could offer.

The tournament was a three-round jamboree over 20 boards. Results:

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Wey Valley (Surrey) 16½ 16 17½ 50
2 Sussex 14½ 15 15½ 45
3 Yorkshire 12 15½ 14 41½
4= Richmond 14 12 14½ 40½
Hertfordshire 13 12 15½ 40½
6 Nottinghamshire 11½ 13½ 12 37
7 Kent 11 10½ 12½ 34
8 Barnet 11 13 9 33
9 Oxfordshire 11 8 8 27
10 Berkshire 9 7½ 7½ 24
11 Wiltshire 7½ 10 5 22½
12= Manchester 6 8 8 22
Lincolnshire 9 6 7 22
14 Staffordshire 6½ 8½ 6 21
15 Somerset 8 5 6½ 19½
16 Oldham 5 5 5½ 15½
17 Cheshire & North Wales 4½ 4½ 6 15

The Nottinghamshire squad is coached by John Crawley, Trevor Williams, Bob Simpson, David Levens and Ian Kingston.

EPSCA All-England U11 Girls Match (14 May)

Two NCA players represented the East of England in the EPSCA All-England U11 Girls Match held at St Albans High School for Girls on 1 May. Ella Macleod (West Nottingham) scored 1 point (out of 2) on Board 8, while Sarah McKeating (also West Nottingham) made the same score on Board 12. The East beat the West 28–16.

Letchworth & Hitchin One-Day Congress (14 May)

Ankush Khandelwal scored 3½/5 to finish 3rd in the Letchworth & Hitchin One-Day Congress on 30 April. He also picked up the Under 175 Grading Prize.

British Land UK Chess Challenge (9 May)

Notts juniors took most of the top prizes at the Trent Megafinal of the British Land UK Chess Challenge, held at Foremarke Hall School, Derbyshire, on 6 May. The competition is a national tournament for schoolchildren, of which the Megafinal is the second stage. Successful players qualify for one of two Gigafinals, which leads to the national Terafinal. A total of 343 players competed in the Trent Megafinal.

Winners from NCA clubs were:

(Update: Nigel Wright was omitted from the original version of this list. Please let me know if I’ve overlooked anyone else.)

Many more Nottinghamshire players scored 4 points or better to qualify for the Gigafinal – too many to list here. The tournament web site has a full list of results.

County Championship Quarter-finals (9 May)

All three quarter-final matches (U100, U125 and U150) will be held at the Open University, Milton Keynes, on 20 May. Play starts at 2:00 p.m. Anyone interested in playing who hasn’t been contacted by either Neil Graham (01623 483731) or Michael Barnes (0115 987 2706) should telephone one or the other as soon as possible.

The Weakest Link (7 May)

Alan Morrey

Through my connection with Ashfield Chess Club, I have been contacted by the BBC with a view to getting entrants from Nottinghamshire, or near areas, for the above programme.

I have a very small number of application forms to hand, although if necessary further applications may be obtained.

Applications will be dealt with on a strictly first come, first served basis and I suggest that anyone interested phone me on 01623 453077. If they wish they may also contact me at alanmorrey98@bigfoot.com, although since a major computer crash two months ago the latter is not wholly reliable.

Information and an application form may also be obtained by email to weakestlink@bbc.co.uk.

NCA Blitz Championship (3 May)

The 2006 NCA Blitz Championship was held at Gambit Chess Club on 2 May. Michael Barnes won the title for the third year running; for the other results, read John Swain’s report.

County Championship: Notts U125 A – Sussex U125 (3 May)

It’s never easy getting a team together for a match on a Bank Holiday weekend, and the phone calls were flying around on the Friday before the U125 team’s national preliminary round match on Saturday. Eventually a full team was assembled to go to Milton Keynes and Notts made it to the quarter-finals on board count after an 8–8 tie. Derek Cronshaw reports.

Derek adds: ‘Please note that the next match will be on Saturday 20 May vs. Bedfordshire and that I shall be in Cyprus until 15 May. Be ready for a quick call-up’.

Gambit’s Olympiad competitor (3 May)

Abigail Cast (Gambit) writes to say: ‘I just wanted to let you know that whilst I am not actively playing chess in Notts, I will be representing the Welsh women’s team on Board 1 in the forthcoming Chess Olympiad in Turin, starting on 20 May. The Welsh women’s team is quite interesting this year as it includes on Board 4 the current British Under 11 champion, Megan Owens, possibly the youngest player ever to represent any of the home countries in this event.

‘People can follow the fortunes of all teams competing in both the Men’s and Women’s Olympiads on the official website.

31st Nottingham Congress (23 April)

GM Mark Hebden won the open section of this year’s Nottingham Congress, scoring 4½ points to finish just ahead of IM Andrew Greet. Donny Muter won the Major; Anjali Lakhani and Arturo Gonzales shared first in the Minor. Full list of prizewinners

LMC minutes (21 April)

The minutes of the LMC meeting on 7 February 2006 are now available.

Gambit 1 win the league championship (12 April)

Subject to official confirmation, Gambit 1 are this year’s league champions. They won their critical home match against Mansfield 1, and can no longer be caught.

NCA Blitz Championship (7 April)

This year’s NCA Blitz Championship will be held at Gambit Chess Club on 2 May. There are individual, junior and team prizes: full details.

4th Leicester Rapidplay (4 April)

The latest Leicester Rapidplay on 2 April unfortunately clashed with the Notts County Championship, held on the same weekend. Several Notts players opted to go to Leicester:

EPSCA Under 9 Inter-Association Championships (4 April)

Nottinghamshire’s Under 9s scored 20½/36 to finish in a creditable 7th place (of 18 teams) in the national final, held on 1 April in Rotherham. The title was won by Wey Valley (Surrey), who scored 33 points.

Nottinghamshire County Championships (3 April)

Neil Graham has sent the results of the County Championship held on 1–2 April. Championship: 1–2 Michael Barnes, Kishan Lakhani 4½/5; 3 Maurice Hill 3/5. Under 125: 1–3 Chen Ze, Daniel Lin, Graham Gibson 4/5. Neil Graham reports.

Handicap Knockout: Final (29 March)

The Handicap Knockout has been won by Bigmat Yobs, who beat The League Champions 5½–3½ in the final on 28 March. According to Michael Barnes, the crucial game was probably Tony Wright hanging on in a worse position against Jon Tait and winning on time. This gave Bigmat a slight edge which they kept to the end.

National Club Championship (29 March)

Graham Ladds

Newark experienced mixed fortunes in the quarter finals of the Minor competition (for teams with an average grade below 125). Newark A won 2½–1½ at Bishop Stortford with wins from Daniel Wells and myself and a draw from Ian Burridge. However, the other Newark team were beaten at Lancaster 3–1 – Newark’s point came from draws by Alex Combie and Richard Myers.

EPSCA Under 11 Girls Inter-Association Championships (29 March)

Nottinghamshire’s Under 11 Girls team finished 9th of 13 teams at this year’s national finals, scoring 17/36 points in a three-round jamboree tournament played over 12 boards. Oxfordshire took first place with 30 points.

4NCL – Fourth weekend (22 March)

Rounds 7 and 8 of the 4NCL were played on 18 and 19 March. Good results for Notts 1; not so good for Notts 2. Richard Truman reports.

County U100 Championship: MCCU final (21 March)

Notts just failed to take the MCCU title, losing 7–5 to Shropshire. Michael Barnes reports.

Handicap Knockout: date set for final (21 March)

The Handicap Knockout final between Bigmat Yobs and The League Champions will be played at Gambit on 28 March.

EPSCA Under 11 Midlands Zonal (19 March)

Following the success of the Under 9s last week, the Under 11s cruised effortlessly to first place in their zonal, held in Scunthorpe on 18 March. At more or less full strength with the return of the High School contingent (unavailable for the previous tournament), Notts were barely tested by the other two counties who took part.

The competition was a jamboree, played over 20 boards. Final scores:

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Nottinghamshire 16 16 17 49
2 Lincolnshire 8½ 11 7 26½
3 Northamptonshire 5½ 3 6 14½

County Championship: Staffordshire U150 – Nottinghamshire U150 (19 March)

Notts beat Staffordshire 9½–6½ on 18 March in the last round of the Midlands U150 championship – a good result in itself, but with an implausible outcome. Read how Notts surprisingly retained the Midlands title in Neil Graham’s detailed report.

EPSCA Under 9 Midlands Zonal (17 March)

Nottinghamshire hosted the English Primary Schools Chess Association Under 9 Midlands Zonal at Dovecote Primary School on 11 March. Five counties competed over 12 boards in a jamboree format, with the top three teams qualifying for the national final.

Nottinghamshire’s steady performance in the first two rounds was followed by a storming 10/12 in the final round, which took them six points clear of the field to take first place very comfortably. Lincolnshire looked like they would be the main opposition after Round 1, but they faded badly.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Nottinghamshire 8½ 8 10 26½
2 Cambridgeshire 5½ 7 8 20½
3 Lincolnshire 8½ 6 4½ 19
4 Northamptonshire 5½ 6½ 6 18
5 Staffordshire 2 2½ 1½ 6

Nottingham Rapidplay (12 March)

A quick summary of the prizewinners is available on the Rapidplay page; full details will follow in due course. Local winners in all three sections!

Handicap Knockout: Semi-finals (7 March)

It’s semi-final time in the KO. The League Champions beat West Nottingham Nightmare 5½–3½, while Fiveways suffered the competition’s first whitewash at the hands of Bigmat Yobs (but 6–3 would have been a fairer result according to Michael Barnes).

County Championship: Nottinghamshire U125 A – Warwickshire U125 (5 March)

Nottinghamshire fell at the final hurdle, losing 10–6 in the final of the MCCU U125 Championship. Match details

County Championship: Worcestershire U100 A – Nottinghamshire U100 (16 February)

The U100 team wins a place in the MCCU final with a comfortable. Len Darby reports

4NCL: Rounds 5 and 6 (16 February)

Three wins from four matches for the two Nottinghamshire teams. Richard Truman reports

Executive Committee Proposal (12 February)

Andrew Walker

The NCA AGM asked the President, Treasurer and Secretary to consider the constitutional implications of moving towards an ‘executive committee’ structure, and to report back. We have met both informally and as an extension to a Finance Committee meeting, and propose as follows:

The next meeting of the FC is scheduled for 23 March. If you have any views on the above, please let me know; and if you have proposals or matters that you think an EC should consider at that meeting, please submit them to any member of the FC or to the President ASAP.

National Club Championship (12 February)

Graham Ladds

Both Newark teams are through to the last eight of the National Club Minor (average grade under 125). Newark B defeated Syston 3–1 with wins from Ross Blake, Alex Combie and Richard Myers.

Littlethorpe B (from Leicester) conceded the match against Newark A as they were unable to raise a team.

Handicap Knockout semi-final fixtures (12 February)

Subject to confirmation by the respective captains, both semi-finals will be played on Monday 6 March. Fiveways will host Bigmat Yobs, while West Nottingham Nightmare will be at home to The League Champions.

Derby & District League Cup and Plate competitions (12 February)

The finals of the Derby & District League Cup and Plate competitions were held on 7 February. Breadsall A won the Cup, beating Belper A 2½–1½. Notts League players Steve Burke (Ashfield) and Derek Jarvis (West Nottingham) were on the winning team. The Plate (for the less strong teams) was won by West Nottingham B, who drew 2–2 with Rolls Royce A but won on board count. Maurice Hill (Nomads) was part of the Rolls Royce team.

Midlands Inter-Association Primary Schools Championship (5 February)

Nottinghamshire’s teams built on their success in the friendly quadrangular tournament in January to win two of the three Midlands championships. What’s more, because of a clash with a rearranged schools competition, all of the boys’ High School players were unavailable – 18 players in all.

The Under 11 competition was a straightforward contest between Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire which swung back and forth throughout the day. Lincolnshire ultimately prevailed, but it was still a strong performance by the Nottinghamshire players.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Lincolnshire 17 14½ 16½ 48
2 Nottinghamshire 15 16½ 14 45½
3 Northamptonshire 8 9 10 27
4 Cambridgeshire 8 4 3½ 15½
5 Shropshire 1 5 5 11

The same five counties contested the Under 9 title, and the same two counties came to the fore. This time Nottinghamshire took an early lead and never looked like losing.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Nottinghamshire 10 9 7 26
2 Lincolnshire 7½ 7 7 21½
3 Cambridgeshire 4 8½ 5 17½
4 Northamptonshire 5 1½ 7 13½
5 Shropshire 3½ 4 4 11½

Only Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire (two teams) took part in the Girls championship. The Nottinghamshire Knights (our first team) took the title, but not before giving their coaches an almighty scare, seeing their apparently invincible 7½ point lead diminish to just a single point at one stage in Round 3. Fortunately a few late wins put them back on course.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Nottinghamshire Knights 11 9 5½ 25½
2 Lincolnshire 4 8½ 10 22½
3 Nottinghamshire Rooks 3 ½ 2½ 6

John Robinson (3 February)

Neil Graham

The English Chess Federation has announced the death of John Robinson of Northamptonshire, who died peacefully in his sleep on 1 February after being taken seriously ill before Christmas.

John has acted as Chief Arbiter at the Nottingham Congress over a number of years and his other numerous duties have included British Championship Secretary and Events Director of the MCCU.

He was also one of the three chief arbiters of the 4NCL and his death follows that of the other chief arbiters Richard Furness in 2004 and Steve Boniface in October 2005.

County Championship: Nottinghamshire U125 A – Staffordshire (1 February)

Notts won the Midlands semi-final on 28 January by a score of 9–7, despite being outgraded on almost every board. Derek Cronshaw reports.

Nottinghamshire County Championship (1 February)

The County Championship will be held at The Summit Centre, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, on 1–2 April. More details to follow.

Cleveland Congress (1 February)

Ray Sayer (Ashfield) finished 2= in the Minor Section of the Cleveland Congress (20–22 January) with 4/5.

Handicap Knockout: Round 2 (31 January)

The League takes a week off to make way for the second round of theHandicap KO. Semi-final line-up: Fiveways–Bigmat Yobs and West Nottingham Nightmare–The League Champions.

Gibtelecom Chess Festival, Gibraltar (29 January)

Neil Graham writes to say that Bob Taylor (Ashfield) and Darran Ince (Nomads) have forsaken the English winter temporarily to compete at the Gibtelecom Chess Festival in Gibraltar. Both played in the Challengers Week One competition, Darran scoring 3/5 and Bob 2/5. Neil comments: ‘Both live in Mansfield so they must have been pretty fed up to find themselves paired together in the last round!’

If you hunt around the site (which has an intriguing black text on a black background feature in Firefox, so you’ll probably need to use Internet Explorer), you’ll find detailed results and games for download.

Nottingham Rapidplay and Congress (24 January)

Entry forms are now available for the Nottingham Rapidplay (12 March) (rapidplay entry form – link deleted – event over) and the Nottingham Congress (22–23 April) (congress entry form – link deleted –event over). Both events take place at a new venue: Bramcote Hills Sport and Community College, Moor Lane, Bramcote, Nottingham NG9 3GA (Map).

Inter-Association Primary Schools Quadrangular Tournament (24 January)

The Notts Primary Schools Chess Association hosted a friendly quadrangular tournament on 14 January as preparation for the Midlands Championship on 4 February. Teams from Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire competed in three sections: Under 11, Under 9 and Girls.

The Under 11 competition saw Yorkshire win a very close race against Nottinghamshire. The former were two players short of a full team of 20 players; Nottinghamshire, in contrast, used the opportunity to give every member of their 29 player squad at least two games.

Roughly half of the Nottinghamshire squad will still be young enough for the Under 11 team next season, which suggests that the future is very promising.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Yorkshire 13 13½ 16 42½
2 Nottinghamshire 15½ 13 13½ 42
3 Lincolnshire 6 6½ 8 20½
4 Northamptonshire 5½ 7 2½ 14½

In the Under 9 section, Nottinghamshire fielded two teams of nominally equal strength. This allowed Yorkshire a more comfortable victory, but by finishing 2nd and 3rd the Nottinghamshire teams underlined their strength in depth.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Yorkshire 9½ 8½ 7 25
2 Nottinghamshire Knights 8 8 7 23
3 Nottinghamshire Bishops 4 4 8½ 16½
4 Lincolnshire 4½ 6 2½ 13
5 Northamptonshire 4 3½ 5 12½

Yorkshire were absent from the Girls competition, leaving the way clear for a convincing win by one of Nottinghamshire’s two teams.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Nottinghamshire Knights 7 8 8 23
2 Lincolnshire 7 8 6½ 21½
3 Northamptonshire 7 4½ 5½ 17
4 Nottinghamshire Rooks 3 3½ 4 10½

County Championship: Notts U150 – Greater Manchester (22 January)

The U150 team are caught in the final three games, drawing 8–8. Neil Graham reports.

County Championship: Leics U100 A – Notts U100 (22 January)

A good away win for the U100 team. Match details.

York Congress (22 January)

Toby Thurgood (West Nottingham) and Anjali Lakhani (Long Eaton) both competed in the 19th Fulprint York Congress on 6–8 January. Both played in the Intermediate Section (130), scoring 3½ and 3 points out of five, respectively.

Demonstration board (14 January)

Derek Cronshaw writes: The NCA has a demonstration board which Nomads has been using to coach at a local junior school. Unfortunately, the coaching has had to stop because of staffing problems. The board is therefore available to interested parties. It is located in the NCA cupboard at Gambit CC. Contact Drag Sudar for help.

London Junior Chess Championships (14 January)

Several Notts juniors took part in the London Junior Chess Championships in December:

Congratulations to Eamonn Lim, who finished clear first in his event.

English Chess Federation website (6 January)

Following the ECF’s change of name, the website has also moved. The new address is http://www.englishchess.org.uk/. The old address still works, but now would be a good time to update any links or favorites/bookmarks.

Hastings Congress (6 January)

Dave Dunne (see below) was also in action at Hastings during the week after Christmas. In the Christmas Morning C tournament, he scored 2½/5, while in the Christmas Afternoon C he finished in clear second place with 4/5.

Two other Notts League players braved the snowy weather to get to Hastings. Richard Webster (Ashfield) competed in the Masters, scoring 3½/10, while Ian Kingston (West Nottingham) scored 3½/5 in the Christmas Morning B and 3/5 in the Christmas Afternoon A, winning the U155 grading prize in the latter event. Full details of the various Hastings tournaments are at http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/, and there is further coverage at http://www.monroi.com/wdc/Hastings/indexHastings.php. (Anyone who can spot the Notts News editor in the picture gallery at the latter site has disturbingly keen powers of observation, but I’m definitely there in one of the photos.)

An innovation in the Masters was the use of Monroi Personal Chess Managers (see http://www.monroi.com/) to record the games. These small devices connect wirelessly to the Internet to provide live game coverage. They also ensure that accurate game scores are instantly available. The downside is their expense – at €299 each (around £200), they’re expensive gadgets.

Bury Rapidplay (6 January)

At the Bury Rapidplay, held on 11 December, Janos Wagenbach (Mansfield) scored 1½ points in the Major (U150) and Dave Dunne (Fiveways) scored 4 points in the Minor (U100).

National Club Championship (17 December)

West Nottingham and Newark have entered the Major and Minor sections respectively of the National Club Championship this year. West Nottingham were beaten 4–1 in the first round by Rose Forgrove of Leeds, but will continue in the Plate. Newark’s two teams fared better: one beat Barton on Humber 4–0, while the other drew 2–2 with Alwoodley but won on tie-break.

County Championship: Notts U125 B – Leicestershire (10 December)

The U125 B team missed out on a semi-final place, losing their final match against Leicestershire. Neil Graham reports.

Herts Congress (9 December)

Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads) shared 1st place with IM Andrew Greet at the Herts Open, held in Hitchin on 3–4 December. Ankush scored 4½/5, for a reported 225 grading performance.

In the Challengers Section, Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham) scored 3½ points to finish 4th.

East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix (6 December)

The third and final leg took place on 3 December at Dovecote Primary School, Clifton, Nottingham. Notts juniors did well, both in this final leg and in the overall standings, with Reece Needham winning the Under 12 section and Lateefah Messam-Sparks taking the Under 16 title.

Full details may be found on the tournament web site.

County Championship: Notts U125 A – Derbyshire (6 December)

The U125 A team moved into the semi-finals with a comfortable win against Derbyshire. Derek Cronshaw reports.

4NCL: Rounds 3 and 4 (6 December)

A good week for Nottinghamshire 1, with two wins. Not so good for Nottinghamshire 2: two defeats. Richard Truman reports.

County Championship: Leicestershire U100 B – Notts U100 (1 December)

Nottinghamshire registered a convincing 8½–3½ win over Leicestershire B at Syston on 26 November. Match details.

Handicap Knockout Round 2 draw (1 December)

The draw for home and away venues for Round 2 has now been made and can be seen on the Handicap KO page. Matches are to be played in the week beginning 30 January.

County Championship: Notts U150 – Warwickshire U150 (23 November)

The U150 team failed for once in a tight match. Neil Graham reports.

County Championship: Notts U100 – Warwickshire U100 (23 November)

The U100 team also missed out in a very close contest. Match details.

East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix 2nd leg (20 November)

The second of three legs took place on 19 November at Dovecote Primary School, Clifton, Nottingham. There were 64 competitors in three sections. The prizewinners were (all scores out of 6 points):

Under 10 Under 12 Under 16
1st Srikar Varadaraj 5½ Reece Needham 6 Eric Williamson 5½
2nd Brandon Clarke 5 Michael Zhang 5 Lateefah Messam-Sparks 5
3rd Neel Kothari 5 Keval Rughani 4½ Kush Bajaria 4½
Best girl Ella Macleod 4 Heather Garside 3 Lateefah Messam-Sparks 5
Best game Brandon Clarke –
Srikar Varadaraj		 Reece Needham –
Keshav Nehra		 Lateefah Messam-Sparks –
Eric Williamson

Additional prizes were awarded to Daniel Thurgood (Best Under 8) and Sanat Kulkarni (Best Under 9).

These scores (and those of all the other competitors) count towards the overall Grand Prix championships. The second leg is on 19 November and the third on 3 December.

British Rapidplay Championships (14 November)

The British Rapidplay Championships were held in Halifax on 12–13 November. Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham) finished second in the Intermediate section with 8½/11, and Lateefah Messam-Sparks (also West Nottingham) won the Under 16 title with 5½/6. Another West Nottingham junior, Eric Williamson, finished third in the same section.

Ankush Khandelwal featured in The Times (11 November)

Ankush’s win against James Peet at the Ampleforth Junior Masters was featured in Ray Keene’s column in The Times on 11 November. The game has notes by GM Matthew Turner.

Scarborough Congress (9 November)

Two Ashfield members played in the Scarborough Congress on 21–23 October. In the Major, Phil Morgan scored 2½/5, while Ray Sayer scored 3½/5 in the Minor. Several other players from Notts were also there; sadly none threatened the prize list.

4NCL: Rounds 1 and 2 (8 November)

The 4NCL teams played their first matches on 5–6 November. Full details of the matches are on the 4NCL page, with a summary by Richard Truman and a detailed account by David Levens.

LMC Minutes (4 November)

The minutes of the LMC meeting on 19 July 2005 are now available.

Handicap Knockout Round 1 (4 November)

The first results from Round 1 are coming in. So far, Gambit Boys, Bigmat Yobs, West Nottingham Nightmare, Fiveways, The League Champions and Ashfield Astra are through to Round 2. More details...

County Championship: Leicestershire U125 – Notts U125 A (31 October)

The U125 A team scored a narrow 8½–7½ victory over a strong Leicester side on 29 October. Derek Cronshaw reports.

County Championship: Derbyshire U125 – Notts U125 B (31 October)

The U125 B team matched the A team’s performance with an 8½–7½ win of their own against Derbyshire. Neil Graham reports.

Ampleforth Junior Masters (29 October)

The Ampleforth Junior Masters included eight Notts Juniors among the 95 competitors. The event was a six-round Swiss. The final scores of the Notts players were: Ankush Khandelwal 5; Kishan Lakhani and Amisha Parmar 3½; Michael Keetley 3; Toby Thurgood 2½; Anjali Lakhani and Peter Keetley 2; Jyoti Parmar 1. Amisha won the Game of the Round prize in Round 4.

BCF becomes ECF (28 October)

The British Chess Federation has completed its transformation into the English Chess Federation, so we’ll all have to get used to talking about the ECF instead of the BCF. The web site remains at the same address (http://www.bcf.org.uk/) as before – the various ecf.org alternatives are already taken. [Update: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/ is the new address.]

East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix 1st leg (16 October)

The first of three legs took place on 15 October at Dovecote Primary School, Clifton, Nottingham. There were 70 competitors in three sections. The prizewinners were (all scores out of 6 points):

Under 10 Under 12 Under 16
1st Brandon Clarke 6 Keshav Nehra 6 Eric Williamson 6
2nd Hari Patel 5 Lloyd Clarke 5 Lateefah Messam-Sparks 5
3rd Andrew Garside 5 Reece Needham 5 Nigel Wright 4
Best girl Ella Macleod 4 Sarah McKeating 2½ Lateefah Messam-Sparks 5
Best game Brandon Clarke –
Hari Patel		 Keshav Nehra –
Lloyd Clarke		 Eric Williamson –
Lateefah Messam-Sparks

These scores (and those of all the other competitors) count towards the overall Grand Prix championships. The second leg is on 19 November and the third on 3 December.

Handicap Knockout: preliminary round (12 October)

The two preliminary round matches have been played, resulting in Bingham Bombers and University Wise Heads advancing to the first round.

Round 1 is to be played in the week beginning 31 October.

All England Girls Championship, Eastern Region (9 October)

This event was held at Bramcote Community College, Nottingham, on 2 October. Not surprisingly, Notts players were well represented; full details can be found at the tournament site. Amisha Parmar and Lateefah Messam-Sparks (both West Nottingham) took the Under 18 and Under 14 titles, respectively.

County Championship: Notts U125 B – Notts U125 A (9 October)

The county’s two U125 teams fought each other to a standstill in the opening match of the season, resulting in a 7½–7½ tie. Derek Cronshaw reports.

Changes to the Laws of chess (30 September)

Neil Graham writes:

The Laws of Chess were revised from July following the FIDE Congress.

The new updated laws can be found on http://www.englishchess.org.uk/organisation/fide/laws-of-chess2005.doc with a summary by David Welch, the BCF Chief Arbiter, of all the amendments on http://www.englishchess.org.uk/organisation/fide/changes-fide-laws_apr05.htm.

The key amendment is in Article 8.1, which now says ‘It is forbidden to write the moves in advance, unless the player is claiming a draw according to Article 9.2 or 9.3’. Articles 9.2 and 9.3 relate to claiming draws by three-fold repetition and the 50 move rule. Players in the League should be advised that they may not write their moves in advance. I’m still trying to cope with this having adopted this practice for the last 40 years.

One further useful clarification is in Article 4.4d: ‘If a player promotes a pawn, the choice of the piece is finalised, when the piece has touched the square of promotion’.

Handicap Knockout Draw (26 September)

The draw for this year’s Handicap KO tournament has just been emailed to the teams who entered. If you entered a team but haven’t received the details, contact Mike Barnes.

The format for this year’s competition is different from last year: teams of three will play three rapidplay games each, one against each member of the opposing team, with the clock times adjusted to reflect the grading difference between the players. Thus each match consists of nine games. Full details are on the Handicap page.

European Youth Championships: results (23 September)

The final round took place on Friday, and the three Notts juniors finished as follows:

Ankush performed well ahead of expectations – he was ranked 47th of the participants in his section. Amisha was ranked 18th, so she performed as expected. As an unrated player, Anjali also did well.

Bunkers: change of venue (22 September)

Bunkers have been forced to move again, following the refusal of the Rose of England to allow juniors anywhere on the premises.

The new venue is the Navigation public house: 6 Wilford Street, Nottingham NG2 1AA (Map) (tel: 0115 941 7139). This is near the Evening Post building, next to the canal. Parking is available on Castle Boulevard (free after 6:00 p.m.) and Castle Road.

Notts grading list

Brian Hayward has compiled a complete list of the grades of players who played in the Notts League last season and who appear in the current BCF grading list. The list is in Microsoft Excel format, but just about any spreadsheet program should be able to open it. You can download the file from the Information section of the NCA web site. The file contains two versions of the list: one sorted alphabetically by name, and the other sorted by club.

European Youth Championships

Three Notts juniors are representing England at the European Youth Championships in Herceg Novi, Serbia and Montenegro, from 13–28 September. Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads) is playing in the Boys Under 14 event, Anjali Lakhani (Long Eaton) is in the Girls Under 12, and Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham) is in the Girls Under 14 competition. You can follow their progress at the tournament web site.

First league results

The first results of the new season are in: see the results page. Note that all results and tables posted are provisional until they have been checked by the Records Officer.

Handbook updates

Some contact details have changed since the NCA Handbook was printed:

Fixtures published

The NCA fixtures handbooks have been sent out to all club secretaries. The first league matches are in the week beginning 12 September.

If you have not received your club’s handbooks by the end of this week (Friday 2 September), contact Drag Sudar (0115 978 6124).

Grading list updated

The BCF’s online grading database has been updated with corrections. Check your grade to see if it’s been altered.

There are some new special searches that have been added and which feature Nottinghamshire players. The list of most active players includes Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads, 128 games), Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham, 121), Kishan Lakhani (Long Eaton, 112), Anjali Lakhani (Long Eaton, 103), Daniel Wells (Newark, 93) and Lateefah Messam-Sparks (West Nottingham, 89). The most improved players include Amisha Parmar (up 22 points).

BCF Congress

Several NCA members competed in the BCF Congress in Douglas, Isle of Man, during August. Here’s a brief summary; more details can be found on the BCF’s web site.

Event Player Score Position
British Championship Paul Cumbers (Grantham) 5½/11 =21st (46 entrants)
Major Open Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads) 3½/11 =33rd (35)
Under 16
 		 Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads)
Daniel Wells (Newark)		 4/7
4/7		 =9th (27)
 
Under 14
 		 Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads)
Lateefah Messam-Sparks (West Nottingham)		 5/7
3½/7		 =1st (13)
=2nd (Girls)
Under 13 Lateefah Messam-Sparks (West Nottingham) 4/7 =2nd (Girls)
Under 150 grade Marcel Taylor (Radcliffe & Bingham) 3/5 =7th (25)
5 Day Week 1 Marcel Taylor (Radcliffe & Bingham) 2½/5 =6th (14)
Harry Baines Week 2 Ian Kingston (West Nottingham) 5½/9 3rd (6)
Rapidplay (31 July) Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads) 4/6 =6th (38)
Rapidplay (7 August) Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads) 4/6 =5th (33)
 

Congratulations to Ankush Khandelwal: joint British Under 14 Champion!

National Club Championship

Newark won the National Club Championship Minor Plate competition in July.

Entry forms for the 2006 competitions were sent out by the BCF via email in early August. If your club didn’t receive an entry form, you should visit http://www.englishchess.org.uk/events/bcfnatteam/club2006/ to obtain one.

Bunkers jamboree

Bunkers have moved to a new venue, and to mark this the club organised a jamboree tournament against Gambit and Ashfield. Final scores: Gambit 13; Ashfield 9; Bunkers 8. More details...

Nottinghamshire wins Under 150 County Championship

The county’s Under 150 team, captained by Neil Graham, won the 2005 County Championship in a nail-bitingly tense final against Norfolk. More details...

Polish visitors at West Nottingham

West Nottingham acted as host to two Polish WIMs, Agnieszka Matras and Katarzyna Toma, during July. A number of events were organised; details can be found on the West Nottingham site.

Web sites

There’s been a certain amount of web site activity over the summer:

With reference to the last item on the list: this site will be constantly updated with news throughout the season, with up-to-date results and league tables always available. The site will work in parallel with the new-look Notts News newsletter, which will appear weekly throughout the season.

Notts News

Back issues of Notts News (Acrobat PDF files) can be downloaded here.

2005–06