News – 2006–07

Items on this page are in reverse chronological order (i.e. the most recent items are at the top). For the very latest news, visit the home page.

Back issues of Notts News are available for download.

Executive Committee Minutes (1 July)

Minutes of the 10 May Executive Committee meeting are now available.

Handicap Knockout – Final (26 June)

Mansfield convincingly won the Handicap Knockout, beating West Nottingham Nightmare 7–2 in the final, held at Gambit on 26 June. Details.

BAG III (23 June)

This year’s BAG Challenge was held on 19 June. Gambit won for the third year running; Drag Sudar reports.

South Lakes Congress (16 June)

Paul Todd (Ashfield) writes: I won a share of third prize at the South Lakes Congress Minor 2 Tournament over the weekend 1–3 June (score 4/5). This came as something of a relief after my dreadful performance at the Notts Congress!

Maurice Hill also took part, scoring 3/5 in the Major and just missing out on the grading prize.

Executive Committee Minutes (16 June)

With apologies for the delay (mea culpa), minutes of the Executive Committee meetings of 18 January and29 March are now available.

Leicester Congress (15 June)

This year’s Leicester Congress will take place on 21–23 September at The Great Hall, Wyggeston College, Leicester. Five sections: Open, U150, U125, U100 and U80. Details at http://www.leicesterchess.co.uk/Atkins/congressdetails.htm.

The same organisers have also announced a 10 player FIDE-rated all-play-all event to be held over two weekends (10–12 and 18–19 August) which will provide an opportunity for players to gain a full FIDE rating. There will be six rated and four unrated players. Details at http://www.leicesterchess.co.uk/FIDE/congressdetails.htm.

AGM announcement (10 June)

The Annual General Meeting of the NCA will be held on Monday 2 July at West Nottingham CC, starting at 7:30 p.m. The main purpose of the meeting is to receive and discuss reports from officers and committees, and to elect those for next season. There will be a special issue of Notts News containing the reports. Officers of the Association are asked to submit their reports, if possible, to the Editor no later than 21 June, preferably by email to Ian Kingston (nottsnews@nottschess.org). Any other items for the agenda should be submitted to me no later than 18th June, preferably by email to Andy Walker (secretary@nottschess.org).

Inter-County U150 Championship (9 June)

Nottinghamshire failed by the narrowest of margins to reach the final – the match against a slightly stronger Hertfordshire side was tied 8–8, but Hertfordshire won on board count. Details and report.

Neil Graham writes:

Nottinghamshire Under 150 won the Midlands Championship for the fourth time in five years and progressed to the National semi-finals for the fifth successive year. However, once again the win that would have seen us through to the finals eluded the team and an 8–8 draw with Hertfordshire meant we were eliminated on board count.

I would like to thank all the players who have once again supported the team in a successful campaign and especially the 20 players who have formed the squad on a regular basis, all of whom have played in at least 50% of the matches. A special thank you to those who have played 100% of the games, those who have provided transport and to Bob Taylor who has stood in as captain in my absence.

Our continued success means that our Midlands rivals will be keen to deprive us of our title next year and I look forward to welcoming back most of our squad for the 2007/8. Fortunately (?) it’s likely that my grading will keep me in the relevant section for next year and I intend to offer myself for re-election though if anyone wishes to take over as captain I’m more than happy to step aside. Finally I know that some team members will have moved on to higher things (i.e. being graded over 150) whilst equally others may have dropped to below 125.

To the former I hope that you can maintain your grading for the future and to the latter please hurry back to rejoin the team.

I will be in touch with everyone graded 125–149 as soon as the new gradings are announced. In the meantime enjoy your summer and let’s hope that next year we can again qualify and take that final step into the national finals.

NCA Blitz (5 June)

Michael Barnes (Gambit) won the NCA Blitz Championship (held at West Nottingham Chess Club on 4 June) for the fourth successive year. Report and details, including a very fine endgame tactic.

4NCL Final Weekend (29 May)

The two Notts teams travelled to Sunningdale to play the last three rounds of the 4NCL season, with Notts 1 looking to secure promotion to Division 3 and Notts 2 trying to put the last two poor weekends behind them.

Results were mixed, and unfortunately the first team just missed out on promotion – an extra half point in either the first or third matches would have been enough. Notts 2 won two and lost one to finish 22nd.

Match details and reports

County U150 Quarter-Final: Nottinghamshire – Cumbria (20 May)

Nottinghamshire scored an unimpressive 8½–7½ win over Cumbria to reach the semi-final. Report and details.

Handicap KO Final Line-up (18 May)

This year’s KO final will be a rematch of one of last year’s semi-finals. Mansfield beat West Nottingham Daydream 5½–3½ (updated score, following clarification of one result) on 17 May and will face West Nottingham Nightmare, who they beat on the way to last year’s final. The date and venue are to be decided.

Rules Revision Meeting (13 May)

There being nothing on the agenda, the Rules Revision meeting, scheduled for 4 June, will not take place this year. Cross that one off your list of things to do, but don’t make any alternative arrangements for that evening – see the next item.

NCA Blitz Championship (13 May)

The 2007 NCA Blitz Championship will take place at West Nottingham Chess Club on Monday 4 June. More details soon.

EPSCA Inter-Association Under 11 Final (13 May)

Nottinghamshire hosted the climax of the English Primary Schools Chess Association’s season at the Trinity School in Apsley on 12 May. Seventeen teams of 20 competed, along with a number of reserves, bringing the total number of players to well over 350.

Nottinghamshire improved by one place to fifth on last year’s showing, but will probably feel that they should have done better, given home advantage – not to mention the fact that they were leading at the end of Round 1. However, the result was still good enough to secure third place in the Audio Chess Grand Prix, which means that, collectively, the NPSCA juniors are among the best in the country.

There are more details in Notts News No. 40. The final table:

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Wey Valley (Surrey) 15 15 16 46
2 Sussex 14½ 15½ 15 45
3 Barnet 13 17½ 14½ 45
4 Hertfordshire 12½ 12 14½ 39
5 Nottinghamshire 15½ 9 10 34½
6 Berkshire 10½ 11 12 33½
7 Kent 11 9 13 33
8 Richmond 11 12½ 9 32½
9 Yorkshire 9½ 11 10 30½
10 Oxfordshire 8½ 12 9 29½
11 Oldham 9½ 6 9½ 25
12 Devon 7 8½ 9 24½
13 Cheshire & North Wales 10 7 6½ 23½
14 Manchester 4½ 6 8½ 19
15 Wiltshire 6½ 5½ 6½ 18½
16 Essex 4½ 8 3½ 16
17 Liverpool 7 4½ 3½ 15

Sussex take second place after elimination of bottom board.

Nottinghamshire won the reserve team tournament.

The organisation of an event on this scale is a significant logistical feat. John Crawley did a fantastic job of putting it all together to produce a tournament that ran like clockwork.

British Land UK Chess Challenge (7 May)

Notts juniors, as usual, performed well at the Trent Megafinal of the British Land UK Chess Challenge, held once again at Foremarke Hall School, Derbyshire, on 5 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 348 players competed in the Trent Megafinal.

Qualifiers from NCA clubs were (section winners in bold type):

There may be some that I’ve missed – please let me know if I have.

In addition to these qualifiers, the Under 9, Under 10 and Under 11 sections (boys and girls) were dominated by members of the NPSCA squads (14 of the 19 qualifiers from the Under 10 Boys, for example).

Braille Chess Association Championship (6 May)

Steve Thacker (West Nottingham) competed in the Braille Chess Association Championship, held in Bournemouth from 4–11 April. He finished 7th with a score of 3½/7.

EPSCA U9 Championship (6 May)

The NPSCA team travelled to Gloucestershire on 28 April for the EPSCA Under 9 Championship, having qualified by winning the Midlands title. They improved by one place on last year’s performance finishing 6th with 21 points (maximum 36). Barnet ran away with the event (31 points), but the next five teams were separated by just 2½ points.

World School Championship (6 May)

Lateefah Messam-Sparks (West Nottingham) represented England in the Girls Under 15 section of the World School Championship, held in Halkidiki, Greece, from 27 April–6 May. After rocketing away to a 3/3 start, she went through a rough spell, losing to the two highest rated players. However, a strong finish took her to a final score of 6/9 and third place – an excellent result. Round-by-round reports by Matthew Hunt, one of the England squad’s coaches.

Spondon Summer Open Championship (6 May)

Spondon Chess Club is holding its annual Summer Open Championship during June and July. The event will be an 8-round Swiss; best six results to count. Entries (£8.00 adults; £4.00 juniors; free to Spondon members) by 5 June (the date of the first round) to Bert Loomes (01332 736276, 07751113583, 5 Ullswater Drive, Spondon DE21 7JY, Bert27@talktalk.net), from whom further details can be obtained.

National Club Championship (6 May)

Bob Taylor reports that Ashfield’s progress in the Minor Section was ended by Bedford in the quarter-finals on 15 April. Both teams were a player short, and although the match ended in a 1½–1½ draw, Ashfield were eliminated on board count.

Great Yarmouth Congress (6 May)

Bob Taylor (busy man) also reports from the Great Yarmouth Congress (28–29 April), played at ‘the venue for the up-coming British championships – Great Yarmouth College. I played in the Major and only scored 2½ from 5. While playing I found that Ross Blake (Newark) was also playing. He scored 3 from 5 in the same section, only losing in the last round. I found that the accommodation is a fair walk from the venue. I didn’t find any accommodation near the venue, but don’t let that put you off entering the British’.

Southend Congress (6 May)

Richard Webster and Ray Sayer (both Ashfield) played in the Open at the Southend Congress from 6–9 April, scoring 3½ and 2 out of 7 respectively.

Final league tables (2 May)

All league matches are now finished and the final tables are complete. Congratulations to the successful teams; commiserations to those who had rough season.

University 2 win the league (25 April)

University 2 are the new league champions following their 2½–2½ draw in the deciding match against Ashfield 1. Both teams can be proud of their excellent performances this season. Details and match reports.

Handicap Knockout semi-finals (16 April)

West Nottingham Nightmare are the first team through to the final after defeating Ashfield Astra 5–4 on 16 April. Details.

ECF forum opens (7 April)

The ECF has just opened an official discussion forum on which chess-related matters can be discussed. You need to register to be able to post messages, but anyone can read the various discussions.

This looks like a very good development. One of the biggest problems in English chess is the apparent remoteness of the ECF, so the opportunity to discuss issues online must be welcomed.

Trophies (7 April)

Holders of all NCA trophies (League Championship, Division Championships, Handicap KO and County Individual Championships) are requested to return their trophies to a member of the Executive Committee on or before Monday 4 June (the day of the Rules Revision Meeting) to allow time for engraving.

Championship showdown (7 April)

Ashfield 1’s narrow victory over West Bridgford 1 this week means that the League Championship will be decided by the match between the two contenders, University 2 and Ashfield 1, on 24 April. However, University 2’s points difference advantage means that Ashfield 1 have to win 5–0 to tie for first place. They would then win the title by virtue of a superior performance in the matches between the two teams.

Rules Revision Meeting (30 March)

Andrew Walker

The Rules Revision Meeting of the NCA will be held on Monday 4 June, at 7:30 p.m. at West Nottingham Chess Club. Proposals for changes to the League Rules should reach me no later than 30 April, and should be made in accordance with Rule A5 (see http://nottschess.org/info.html#rules). The NCA accepts e-mails (to secretary@nottschess.org) as ‘writing’.

The RRM is also a General Meeting of the NCA; any other items for the agenda should reach me no later than 14 May. The NCA Constitution (http://nottschess.org/info.html#const, or immediately following the League Rules) details who may attend and vote at the meeting.

The NCA Annual General Meeting is provisionally set for the week beginning 2 July; date and venue to be announced.

Please note the change of venue. The Executive Committee intends to rotate general meetings around various venues in the future to encourage wider participation in NCA affairs.

4NCL – Fourth Weekend (28 March)

Rounds 7 and 8 of Division 4 of the 4NCL were held at the Park Inn Hotel in Nottingham on 24–25 March. Nottinghamshire 1 took advantage of the home fixtures to win one and draw one, and remain on course for Division 3. Nottinghamshire 2, on the other hand, will want to forget their weekend – two defeats against weaker opponents. David Levens reports

EPSCA Girls Under 11 Championship (28 March)

After the success of the Under 9 and Under 11 teams in winning their English Primary Schools Chess Association zonals, it was the Nottinghamshire girls’ turn to show what they can do. There are no zonal championships for the girls, so it was straight into the final.

The powerful Wey Valley (Surrey) team shot straight into the lead, scoring 11/12 in Round 1. Astonishingly, they improved on that in Round 2, when it became clear that the chasing pack – Devon, Sussex, Nottinghamshire and Oxford – would be fighting for second place. Nottinghamshire narrowly led this group by half a point going into Round 3, but a strong finish by Oxford took them into clear second place. In a nail-biting finish, Notts held on to take the bronze medals by half a point – a big improvement on last year’s 9th place.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Wey Valley 11 11½ 8 30½
2 Oxford 8½ 8½ 10½ 27½
3 Nottinghamshire 8½ 9 7 24½
4= Devon 9 8 7 24
Sussex 9½ 6 8½ 24
6 Liverpool 7 4½ 6½ 18
7 Berkshire 7 4 6 17
8 Barnet 5 7 4½ 16½
9 Kent 3½ 5 6½ 15
10 Yorkshire 4 5½ 5 14½
11 Essex 2½ 5 4½ 12
12 Hertfordshire 3½ 2 5½ 11
13 Northamptonshire 3 4 3 10
14 Manchester 2 4 1½ 7½

In the Audio Chess Grand Prix, which awards points to each county depending on results in EPSCA’s zonal and national events, Nottinghamshire are now tied for first place with Wey Valley. With home advantage in the the U11 finals, there is a real chance for Nottinghamshire to win the Grand Prix.

Inter-County U125 Championship (25 March)

The Under 125 team finished the season with a narrow 7½–8½ defeat against Shropshire. Neil Graham took charge for this final match. Report by Neil Graham.

National Schools Championship Quarter-Finals (22 March)

John Swain

Nottingham High School repeated last year’s feat of having two teams in the National Quarter-Finals (last year, this was a first for the competition). This year, the two teams were not paired together, so both had a chance to qualify for the semi-finals/finals at Uppingham School, 5–6 July.

The results were:

NHS ‘A’ travelled to and defeated Norwich School 4–2 (the team was Ankush Khandelwal (Ashfield); Kishan Lakhani (Long Eaton); Michael Keetley (West Nottingham); Oliver Exton (Nomads); Jonathan Day (West Nottingham); Daniel Lin (West Nottingham).

NHS ‘B’, requiring 2½ points under the age handicap rules, fell half a point short and lost at home 2–4 to Manchester Grammar School ‘A’ (the team was Toby Thurgood (Nomads); Edwin Justice (Ashfield); Hamzah Ali (Gambit); Henry Pynegar (Nomads); Eamonn Lim (West Nottingham); Michael Zhang (West Nottingham).

The ‘A’ team therefore will have a chance to defend its national title, won in 2005 and 2006.

EPSCA Under 11 Zonal (21 March)

Nottinghamshire’s Under 11s matched the Under 9s’ success by winning their English Primary Schools Chess Association Under 11 Zonal tournament, held in Manchester on 17 March. This was achieved despite the absence of two of their top five players, including the top board.

The strength in depth of the Nottinghamshire team can be seen from the fact that the bottom eight boards (of 20) dropped just 3 points from a maximum of 24. The eight reserves, playing in a separate competition, conceded 2½ points from 24.

The top six teams qualified for the national final, to be hosted by Nottinghamshire on 12 May.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Nottinghamshire 14 16 14 44
2 Yorkshire 13 11½ 16½ 41
3 Manchester 11½ 14½ 13 39
4 Oldham 12 11 13 36
5 Cheshire 11½ 14½ 8 34
6 Liverpool 10½ 8 11 29½
7 Tameside 10 10 8½ 28½
8 Lancashire 10 7½ 6½ 24
9 Staffordshire 6½ 7 8½ 22
10 Shropshire 1 0 1 2

Inter-County U150 Championship (17 March)

Nottinghamshire beat Leicestershire 11½–4½ in the final Midlands U150 zonal match to clinch the MCCU Championship again and qualify for the national stage. The entire Notts side went undefeated! Reports and details. See also Alex Combie’s fascinating draw from this match.

Inter-County U125 Championship (17 March)

The match between Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire scheduled for 10 March was defaulted by Nottinghamshire after not enough players could be found to raise a team. Subsequently, Hyacinth Messam (the de facto captain) has resigned.

British Championship 2007 (17 March)

The entry form for this year’s British Championship, to be held at Great Yarmouth College, Great Yarmouth, from 29 July to 11 August, is now available for download: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/events/bc2007/.

There are numerous events for adults and juniors of all standards, including the British Graded Championships (U175/U150/U125/U100), British Junior Championships, British Senior Championship and other non-Championship events. Most events require ECF membership.

EPSCA Under 9 Midlands Zonal (11 March)

Nottinghamshire hosted the English Primary Schools Chess Association Under 9 Midlands Zonal tournament at Dovecote School on 10 March. After a surprise late entry, necessitating a quick dash across town to obtain replacement jamboree pairings for six teams instead of five, the competition got under way only 15 minutes behind schedule.

Nottinghamshire jumped into an early lead which they never relinquished. In the race for the other two qualification places, Hertfordshire always held a narrow edge over Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire; Northamptonshire eventually took third place.

Nottinghamshire thus won the EPSCA Under 9 Midlands Championship for the fifth successive year.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Nottinghamshire 10 9 7 26
2 Hertfordshire 7½ 6½ 5½ 19½
3 Northamptonshire 7½ 4½ 6½ 18½
4 Lincolnshire 6½ 5 6 17½
5 Cambridgeshire 2 5 8 15
6 Staffordshire 2½ 6 3 11½

Six-monthly grading list proposed (11 March)

The ECF is considering whether or not to publish new standard play grades every six months instead of annually (see http://www.englishchess.org.uk/grading/2007/six-monthly-gl_mar07.htm).

4NCL Rapidplay (11 March)

Tony Wright

The 4NCL management have put together a rapidplay tournament on the weekend of 30 June and 1 July (see http://www.4ncl.co.uk/rapidplay.htm). It will be played over 10 rounds (five rounds per day) using a Fischer time control (20 minutes + 10 seconds per move). It will be held at one of the De Veres hotels, near Newport Pagnell.

Each match will require four players per team, but a squad of six may rotate through the rounds. The teams and players do not have to be existing 4NCL registered, but 4NCL rules will apply. I expect this will be a strong event with the top teams fielding GMs. The cost of entry will be £40 per team (then add for the travel, accommodation, food etc.).

If anyone is interested please let me know.

Warwickshire Congress (11 March)

At the Warwickshire Congress (17–18 March), Lateefah Messam-Sparks (West Nottingham) scored 4½/5 to share first place in the U130 section. Roger Walker (Mansfield) took a share of third place with 3½.

E-petition (3 March)

There is a new e-petition at the Downing Street web site, asking for all Mind Sports (including chess) to be placed on the same footing as physical sports, in order to provide easier access to funding. To sign the petition, go to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Mindsports/.

ECF Junior Magazine (3 March)

The ECF this week launched a new free junior magazine, called The Right Move. You can download the first issue directly from http://chessuk.com/therightmove.pdf, or read more about it at http://www.englishchess.org.uk/junior/right-move_mar07.htm. To subscribe, send an email to director.juniorchess@englishchess.org.uk, with ‘The Right Move’ as the subject line.

Inter-County U125 – Derbyshire–Nottinghamshire (2 March)

Despite fielding a strong side, Nottinghamshire lost to Derbyshire and are now struggling. Details

Doncaster Congress (28 February)

Richard Webster (Ashfield) scored a success in the Doncaster Congress (23–25 February), gaining a three-way share of first place in the Major (160) section. Nigel Wright (Ashfield) adds a few more details about the Minor: Nigel scored 3/5 and Tony Pacitto (Ashfield) scored 1/5. Dave Dunne (Fiveways) also played in the Minor and Alex Combie (Newark) in the Major (scores unknown). Nigel adds that the congress might be held at a different venue next year due to the school changing its desks to sloping ones.

British Universities Rapidplay Championship (25 February)

John Emanuel

On Saturday 17 February, the Nottingham University Chess Club sent a team to play in the inter-university tournament at Warwick University. It was a good tournament and the team was hard done by to finish second due to an inferior countback score to that of Sheffield University.

The team was seeded fourth and that led to an easy first match against Warwick 4, with a convincing 4–0 win. We were rewarded in the next round with a tough match against Warwick 1, where unfortunately after two good wins by Sida and Alejandro we could only draw 2–2 after I was too greedy in the opening and paid the price. In the next round we faced the Warwick 3 team and managed a 3–1 win. Next up were the eventual winners, Sheffield, where a solid game from Alex and a very strong attack from myself resulted in a 2–2 draw.

The next round would turn out to be the most exciting. In a tense match with Imperial, all four games went into the last ten minutes and unfortunately Sida blundered in time trouble. But with two time scrambles on Boards 1 and 2 we were able to save the game with seconds to spare for a 2–2 draw.

Even though the top four teams were evenly matched, there was the inevitable problem in the last round, where all the leading teams were drawn against significantly weaker sides. We were given the harder of those games and against a reasonable Warwick 2 team, with an average grade of 142, were able to produce a good result, winning 4–0. But unfortunately that was not enough, as Sheffield had managed to beat Birmingham 3–1. This meant that there was a three-way tie on 17 points between Sheffield, Warwick and ourselves, but due to the draw in Round 2 (when Sheffield had won 4–0) we came second due to a lower sum of progressive scores. Nevertheless, this was a good result for a team that was outgraded in three of the matches. Hopefully next year we can go one better.

Individual scores
1 2 3 4 5 6 Total
Alex Posazhennikov 1 0 1 1 1 1 5
John Emanuel 1 0 1 1 1 1 5
Alejandro Satz 1 1 1 0 0 1 4
Sida Zhou 1 1 0 0 0 1 3

Final standings
1 Sheffield 17
2 Nottingham 17
3 Warwick 17
4 Imperial 16½
5 Birmingham 1 13½
6 Imperial 2 13
7 Warwick 2 13
(12 teams)

Inter-County U150 – Nottinghamshire–Staffordshire (14 February)

With two players away on 4NCL duty, Notts lost narrowly to Staffordshire: 8½–7½. Stand-in captain Bob Taylor reports.

4NCL – third weekend (14 February)

Not such a great weekend for the Notts teams, with three defeats and one draw from the four matches. Nevertheless, Notts 1 remain in the promotion places. Full details and reports.

4th Cleveland Weekend Congress (9 February)

Three Notts League players competed in the Minor section of the Cleveland Congress, held on 19–21 January. Ray Sayer (Ashfield) scored 3½/5 to finish =4th, Ben Hobson (Gambit) scored 3 and Roger Walker (Mansfield) 2½.

National Club Championship (5 February)

Bob Taylor has provided an updated on Ashfield’s progress in the National Club Championship: on 28 January, Ashfield beat Lancaster 2½–1½, thereby joining Newark in the quarter-finals.

18th Nottingham Rapidplay

The 18th Nottingham Rapidplay took place at Nottingham High School on Sunday 18 February. GM Mark Hebden of Leicester won the Open. Complete scores from all three events are now available.

Midlands Inter-Association Primary Schools Championship (4 February)

Nottinghamshire’s primary school teams dominated the Midlands Championships, held at Bramcote Hills Sports and Community College on 3 February, winning all three titles. In the Under 11 competition, Notts fielded two teams, splitting their strength roughly evenly. Even so, both teams were a class above the rest of the opposition.

Notts also entered two teams in the Girls and Under 9 sections, but this time as conventional first and second teams. Nevertheless, only an adverse tie-break in the Under 9 competition prevented a clean sweep of the top places.

Under 11 (20 boards, 5 teams)

  1. Nottinghamshire Hawks 43½
  2. Nottinghamshire Eagles 39
  3. Lincolnshire 30½
  4. Northamptonshire 29
  5. Shropshire 8

Under 9 (12 boards, 4 teams)

  1. Nottinghamshire Panthers 27½
  2. Northamptonshire 16
  3. Nottinghamshire Leopards 16
  4. Lincolnshire 12½

Girls (12 boards, 4 teams)

  1. Nottinghamshire Bishops 32
  2. Nottinghamshire Rooks 23
  3. Lincolnshire 11
  4. Northamptonshire 6

National Club Championship (4 February)

Ashfield matched Newark’s success by winning their first round match in the Minor section of the National Club Championship. They travelled to Barton-on-Humber and won 3–1. In Round 2, Ashfield face Lancaster at home; Newark have a bye.

Half-year Rapidplay Grades (26 January)

The ECF has just published a half-year rapidplay grading list, which supersedes the 2006 rapidplay grades. It includes results to the end of November 2006. At the same time (I think – I haven’t previously noticed it), the ECF has added a grade history table to players’ individual records. This shows rapid and standard grades going back to 1994.

MCCU web site (21 January)

The MCCU web site has moved to http://www.mccu.org.uk/.

Inter-County U100 Championship (21 January)

Nottinghamshire U100 lost their final Midlands Stage match against Warwickshire, ending up third in their group. Details

Executive Committee minutes (12 January)

Minutes of the EC meetings on 15 September and 16 November are now available. Apologies for the delay in posting the former.

The next meeting of the EC will be on 18 January. Items for discussion should be sent to the Secretary, Andrew Walker.

Handicap Knockout – Round 2 (6 January)

The second round is now under way, with West Nottingham Nightmare becoming the first team to claim a semi-final place. The match went to the last game, with both players’ flags hanging in a complex and unclear position. Examination of the clock afterwards showed that West Nottingham won the game by barely two seconds.

Update: West Nottingham Nightmare followed their clubmates into the semi-final, beating Ashfield Academicals; Ashfield Astra avenged the Academicals defeat by beating West Nottingham Fantasy; and Mansfield completed the semi-final line-up with a narrow win over University Wiseheads.

Hastings International (29 December)

Three NCA players competed in this year’sHastings Masters, which ran from 28 December to 1 January. All three put in good performances: Richard Webster (Ashfield) 3½/9; Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham) 2/6; Lateefah Messam-Sparks (West Nottingham) 3/9. Lateefah also competed in the New Year Morning B tournament, winning the event with a perfect 4/4.

Site additions (28 December)

I’ve started to add some pages of archive material to the site, mostly based on data supplied by Drag Sudar and John Crawley. Initially, this will be league tables for past seasons, but as time goes by I intend to add a list of Nottinghamshire County Champions and any other information I can lay my hands on.

Neil Graham has supplied some more league tables, which now extend back to 1972–73. There are some significant gaps which still need to be filled, and any older records will be most welcome.

Update: Thanks to Neil (again) and Brian Hayward, the league table archive now extends back to 1968–69, although there are still many gaps.

Ashfield – change of venue (10 December 2006)

Ashfield have decided to change their venue in the New Year, which will mean some changes to the fixture list. It’s a little complex, but here are the details:

An updated fixture list will be sent to all club secretaries and is available for download in Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice.org format. The revised dates for Ashfield 2 and 5 are listed below:

Ashfield 2
10 January: Ashfield 3
21 February: Long Eaton
18 April: Gambit 2

Ashfield 5
24 January: Ashfield 4
31 January: Gambit 4
28 February: Radcliffe & Bingham 2
28 March: Nomads 3
25 April: University 3

Derbyshire Chess Association web site (10 December)

The Derbyshire Chess Association has a new web site, which will be of interest to the many Notts players who also compete in the Derby & District League. The address is http://www.derbyshirechess.btik.com/ and the webmaster is Sally McIntosh.

National Club Championship (10 December)

Graham Ladds

Newark won their first round tie in the National Club Minor (average grade under 125) against West Leeds (away) last Sunday 3½–½. Wins came from myself, Alex Combie and Grenville Wollerton, and a draw from George Harper. We outgraded our opponents on the top three boards, but George conceded several grading points and so we were pleased with his draw.

NPSCA quadrangular tournament (10 December)

The NPSCA hosted a quadrangular training tournament at Trinity R. C. School on 2 December for its Under 11, Under 9 and Girls teams. The opposition came from Liverpool and Yorkshire.

Under 11 (20 boards, 4 teams)

  1. Nottinghamshire Tigers 47
  2. Yorkshire 28½
  3. Nottinghamshire Lions 26
  4. Liverpool 18½

Under 9 (12 boards, 4 teams)

  1. Nottinghamshire Knights 26½
  2. Yorkshire 20½
  3. Nottinghamshire Bishops 15
  4. Liverpool 11

Girls (11 boards, 3 teams)

  1. Liverpool 23
  2. Nottinghamshire Rooks 14½
  3. Nottinghamshire Queens 13½

4NCL – Second weekend (7 December)

The two Nottinghamshire teams had a fine weekend in West Bromwich on 2–3 December, the first team winning both matches and the second team drawing the first and winning the second. Nottinghamshire 1 have won all of their first four matches and lead Division 4. Nottinghamshire 2 are in 8th place (35 teams). Full results now available.

Handicap Knockout – second round draw (30 November)

Following Mansfield’s win against Radcliffe Rockets, the second round draw of the Handicap KO is now complete. Captains should note that they have an extra week to complete Round 2.

Inter-County U100 Championship (30 November)

Deprived of the junior contingent by a rapidplay event in Birmingham, the U100 side struggled against Leicestershire A. Terry Norris-Hunt reports.

Torbay League Congress (29 November)

Richard Webster (Ashfield) made the long trek to Torbay for the Torbay League Congress on 24–26 November. He scored 3/5 in the Open section to win the U163 (sic) grading prize.

East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix (26 November)

The second leg of the 2006–07 East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix took place on 25 November at Dovecote Primary School, West Bridgford.

Despite competition from other events, 91 players competed, compared with 66 at the same stage last year.

For more details, including the overall standings, see the tournament web site.

Sheffield Congress (17 November)

Two Notts players are listed among the prizewinners at the Sheffield Congress (4–5 November). In the Major (U165), Derek Jarvis (Ashfield) scored 4½/5 to finish in first place, while Ben Hobson (Gambit) scored 3/5 in the Challengers (U100).

British Rapidplay Championships (12 November)

The British Rapidplay Championships were held in Halifax on 4–5 November. A good number of Nottinghamshire players took part. (Please let me know if I’ve omitted anyone from the list.)

David Levens was present as an arbiter and as an England Junior selector.

Inter-County U150 Championship (12 November)

The U150 team followed up their opening win with a second victory, beating Greater Manchester 9½–6½. Neil Graham reports.

Nottinghamshire Under 11 Championships (12 November)

The NPSCA organised this event, held at Larkfields School on 14 October. A total of 114 children took part. The prizewinners are listed below. Scores are from a maximum of 6 points, except in the Under 11 section (5 points).

Under 11 (16 players)
1st: Simon Bennett (Abbey Road) 4½
2nd: Ella McLeod (Aston-on-Trent) 4
3rd: Timothy Venkathesan (NBHS) 3½
Best girl: Ella McLeod

Under 10 (32 players)
1st: Sanat Kulkhani (NBHS) 5½
2nd: Will Stevens (Roundhill) 5
3rd: Graham Garside (NBHS) 5
Best girl: Destinee Needham (Rufford) 4

Under 9 (42 players)
1st: Russell O’Brien (Roundhill) 5½
2nd: Edward Huang (Foremarke Hall) 5
3rd: James Baxter (NBHS) 5
Best girl: Imogen Allen (Jesse Gray) 4

Under 8 (24 players)
1st: Mark Kenyon (Ravenshead) 5½
2nd: Harry Walton (Roundhill) 5
3rd: Daniel Thurgood (NBHS) 5
Best girl: Catherine Archer (Jesse Gray) 4

Inter-County U100 and U125 Championships (1 November)

Differing experiences for two debutant captains: Terry Norris-Hunt’s U100 side piled up a big victory over Leicestershire U100 B, but Lateefah Messam-Sparks’s U125 team had an off day against the same county.

Guernsey Festival (1 November)

Bob Taylor (Ashfield) reports from the Guernsey Festival (21–27 October) that he scored 3/7 in the Open. Darran Ince (Nomads) scored 3½/7 in the Holiday section.

Handicap Knockout – first results (1 November)

The first three results from Round 1 of the Handicap KO are in. Two West Nottingham teams and one Ashfield team have reached Round 2.

Update 1: two more results. The holders, Bigmat Yobs, fell at the first hurdle (Newark B go through), while Ashfield Academicals edged out Bingham Bombers.

Update 2: University Wiseheads beat Newark A.

Update 3: West Nottingham Daydream beat Fiveways.

All-England Girls Championships, Eastern region (28 October)

The All-England Girls Championships, Eastern region take place on Sunday 19 November at Bramcote Hills Sports and Community College, Moor Lane, Beeston NG9 3GE.

Registration 10:00 a.m. Prize-giving 5:00 p.m.

Under 18, Under 14, Under 12, Under 10 and Under 8 sections

Details and entry forms from http://www.chessuk.com/

Executive Committee meeting (28 October)

The next Executive Committee meeting takes place on Thursday 16 November. If there is anything that you would like the EC to discuss, please contact the Secretary, secretary@nottschess.org.

Scarborough Congress 2006 (28 October)

Drag Sudar

Scarborough is held on the same weekend in October every year and this year attracted approximately 280 players. For many years it has been a very popular event for Nottinghamshire players. I imagine the large prize money (£1000 in each of the five sections) attracts many players. However, for me, having never scored higher than 2½ in six previous visits, the attraction is that it’s by the sea. We had great weather on Friday and Saturday, and I especially enjoyed Saturday evening relaxing in a bar with Mike, Graham, Dot and players from all over the country with us sampling the odd real ale (or brandy) or two.

In the Open section David Coates scored 2 points and Michael Barnes received a grading prize for scoring 3 out of 5, losing only to GM D. Gormally.

In the Major (U156) Alex Combie recovered from a slow start to finish on 3. I was joint 1st in the Intermediate (U136) with 4½ points. I forgot to record James Thomson’s final score – sorry James.

In the Minor (U116) Ray Sayer and Ben Hobson each scored 2 points, and Graham Gibson scored 2½ playing swashbuckling chess (I promised not to mention that he missed a mate in one – oops). In the Foundation (U96) Dot scored 2 points.

Seven of those nine played in last April’s county championship (CC) and four of those seven played in the September 2004 CC. At least five people who played at Scarborough in 2005 played at the CC this year. Others wanted to play at Scarborough but settled for the CC. Therefore both events lost out on potential entries and income, and many players are disappointed at not being able to play in both events. I hope the Executive Committee supports Nottinghamshire players’ desires to play in both events by ensuring that next year’s CC does not clash with Scarborough.

Executive Committee minutes (19 October)

The minutes of the first Executive committee meeting (held on 27 July) are now available. Apologies for the delay.

Michael Adams held by Steve Hunter (17 October)

England’s No. 1 player, Michael Adams gave a simultaneous display after the North of England Rapidplay in Sheffield on 1 October. Among those taking on the World No. 9 was Gambit’s Steve Hunter, who was one of five players to take a draw from the Grandmaster – a terrific result. (Thanks to Brian Hayward for passing on the news.)

Alex Combie (Newark) writes to say that he scored 5/6 to take second prize (£100) in the rapidplay. He lost to Michael Adams in the simultaneous display, but only after nearly three hours play.

Update: Steve’s game is now online. His fightback after dropping a pawn is well worth looking at.

Change of captain: Gambit 5 (10 October)

Ken Heath is taking over the captaincy of Gambit 5. His contact details are:

Home address: 122 Rossington Road, Sneinton, Nottingham NG2 4HY
Home phone: 0115 911 7763

East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix (9 October)

The first leg of the 2006–07 East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix took place on 7 October at Dovecote Primary School, West Bridgford.

Entries continued to rise, with 93 players aged from 7 to 18 taking part, compared with 67 in the equivalent competition last year. The winners were:

For more details, see the tournament web site.

Inter-County U150 Championship: Warwickshire 7½–8½ Nottinghamshire (15 October)

Nottinghamshire opened the season with a narrow win away from home. Neil Graham reports.

MCCU Membership Scheme (8 October)

The issue of membership of the ECF is not one that is going to go away. The Midland Counties Chess Union (MCCU) has set up its own scheme which offers membership of the ECF for just £10 (compared with the lowest fee of £16 if you join the ECF as a Direct Member). The benefits (in the MCCU’s own words) are:

‘All your games will be graded free of ECF game fee; you will be entitled to reduced entry fees in Congresses that chose [sic] to offer discounts to ECF members; you will be entitled to the ECF magazine Chessmoves free of charge; and you will receive a detailed print out of how your grading has been calculated. You will get a membership number & a membership card which you can use to claim game fee discounts.

Downloads: An FAQ describing the scheme (Word document) and an accompanying poster (PDF) which you can display at your club or school.

County U125 captain (8 October)

It’s taken a while, but we do at last have a County U125 captain – Lateefah Messam-Sparks. Please give her your full support.

Paignton/Cork (30 September)

Steve Thacker (West Nottingham) went on two lengthy trips in September. At the beginning of the month he played in the U130 section of the Paignton Congress, scoring 4½/7 and winning the prize for the best score by a disabled player. Shortly afterwards he played in the Irish Visually Impaired Congress, held in Cork, scoring 3/6.

Ashfield: change of venue (28 September)

Ashfield CC have informed the League Secretary that: ‘Owing to noise problems at East Kirkby Miners Welfare (Kara-oke), Ashfield 2 and 3 will immediately transfer all home games to Sherwood House Inn. A decision is awaited on Ashfield 5, who may follow suit. Match dates are unaffected.’

Update: Ashfield 5 have also decided to play at Sherwood House Inn. Again, the dates remain the same – only the venue has changed.

Please make sure that all of your team captains and drivers are aware of the change of venue.

This information is also being sent direct to club secretaries.

Handicap Knockout draw (27 September)

The draw for the first round of the Handicap Knockout has been made; matches to be played before Friday 10 November.

4NCL – First weekend (26 September)

The NCA teams had a good opening weekend, with the first team winning both matches and the second team winning one and losing one. Nottinghamshire 1 are one of eight teams with maximum points in Division 4 and stand third in the table. Match details; report to follow.

H. E. Atkins Memorial Congress, Leicester (21 September)

Gambit’s Michael Barnes led the Nottinghamshire contingent at the Atkins Memorial, held on 15–17 September, scoring 4/5 to share first place in the Premier (Under 220) event.

All Notts scores:

Brandon Clarke, who plays for the Nottinghamshire Under 11 team, scored 3/5 in the Intermediate section, sharing the U110 grading prize.

Special General meeting (20 September)

The Special General Meeting held on 19 September to consider the proposed membership scheme was well attended. Opinions about the scheme were split approximately equally. After lengthy debate, the scheme was rejected.

It was announced that Terry Norris-Hunt has agreed to be captain of the County Under 100 team, and the meeting approved this. No captain has been found for the Under 125 team, which means that there will almost certainly be no Nottinghamshire team in that competition this year.

One other vacancy has been filled since the AGM: Dave Griffiths is a reserve LMC member.

Leek Congress (17 September)

Maurice Hill (Nomads) won his section in the Leek Congress, held from 8–10 September, scoring 4/5.

European Youth Championships (12 September)

The European Youth Championships took place in Herceg Novi, Montenegro, from 9–20 September. Ankush Khandelwal and Amisha Parmar represented England in the Boys Under 16 and Girls Under 14 tournaments respectively.

Round Ankush Result Total Amisha Result Total
1 R. Hovhannisyan (ARM) 2285 ½ ½ Z. Edes (SVK) – 1 1
2 D. Recuero Guerra (ESP) 2396 1 1½ D. Nesic (BIH) – ½ 1½
3 D. Benidze (GEO) 2281 ½ 2 K. Kulon (POL) 2109 ½ 2
4 F. Remoli Sargues (ESP) 2255 0 2 S. Vombek (SLO) 1822 ½ 2½
5 A. Panocki (POL) 2246 0 2 D. Batkovskyte (LTU) 1897 1 3½
6 P. Pachta (AUT) 2331 0 2 M. Butuc (MDA) 2008 0 3½
7 J. Mehovic (MNE) – 1 3 E. Kaya (TUR) 1933 ½ 4
8 A. Gutenev (RUS) 2157 0 3 G. Hitter (HUN) 1836 0 4
9 T. Pym (ENG) 2114 1 4 S. Kolaric (SLO) 1836 ½ 4½

Fixture updates (11 September)

There are three alterations to the fixture list published in the handbook:

A spreadsheet containing all of the fixtures can be downloaded in either Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org format.

Lincoln Rapidplay (29 August)

Two NCA players made the prize list at the Lincoln Rapidplay, held on 28 August. Both were in the Open section: Alex Posazhennikov (Nottingham University) and Michael Barnes (Gambit) finished =2nd with 4/6.

ECF Grand Prix (28 August)

The ECF Grand Prix, run by Neil Graham, ended at the British Championship in August. Several NCA players appear among the leading scorers. Ankush Khandelwal won the Junior Prix; Amisha Parmar was 4th in the Female Prix; Darran Ince was 9th in the 124–100 graded section; and Dave Dunne was 4th in the Under 100 section.

British Land UK Chess Challenge Terafinal results (26 August)

This year’s UK Chess Challenge reached its conclusion in Sheffield on 19–20 August with around 180 competitors – the survivors of over 70,000 who started the competition. As expected, the Nottinghamshire qualifiers featured strongly, although none was able to carry off a title.

All age groups mix together in the Terafinal and Challengers events, so a player’s score should be taken in conjunction with the player’s age in assessing the result. The Challengers A and B competitions are of roughly equal strength. The Notts results (converted from the UK Chess Challenge scoring system to the usual 1/½/0 system) were:

Terafinal (56 competitors)
Name Score (max. 6) Place Age
Ankush Khandelwal 5 =3rd 15
Kishan Lakhani 4½ =6th 14
Lateefah Messam-Sparks 3½ =15th 14
Anjali Lakhani 3 =22nd 13
Brandon Clarke 3 =22nd 10

Challengers A (60 competitors)
Name Score Place Age
Daniel Lin 4½ =6th 13
Andrew Garside 3 =25th 10
Nigel Wright 3 =25th 17
Thomas Wild 2 =43rd 10

Challengers B (61 competitors)
Name Score Place Age
Billy Grewal 5 =3rd 18
Toby Thurgood 4 =7th 12
Neel Kothari 2½ =39th 10
Ella Macleod 2½ =39th 10

British Championship (20 August)

The British Championship and associated events took place in Swansea from 6–19 August. Several NCA players took part, and two of them achieved notable successes. Ankush Khandelwal, making his debut in the main event, was ranked 61st of the 62 competitors, and I’m pretty certain he was the youngest as well. His final score of 5½/11 (sharing 28th place) was therefore a spectacular result, which will see him gain 56 rating points.

Lateefah Messam-Sparks may not be as highly rated, but she came away from Swansea as a double British Champion. In the first week she took the Girls Under 16 title outright, while in the second week she won a crucial last round game to share the Girls Under 14 championship.

The rest of the county’s players had varying degrees of success. Dave Dunne was in contention for the U100 Championship, but could only draw in the last round. Brandon Clarke, a leading member of the Notts Under 11 team, was a strong contender for the Under 10 Championship, but slipped up in the final two rounds. Final scores for the Notts players:

England Juniors (10 August)

Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads) and Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham) have been selected to represent England at the European Youth Championships, which take place in Herceg Novi, Montenegro, from 9–20 September.

2006 Nottinghamshire County Championship (9 August)

This year’s County Championship, which is being organised by the members of West Nottingham Chess Club, is now taking shape. It will take place on 21–22 October at the Beeston Youth and Community Centre, West End, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1GL (Map). For more details, visit the competition’s page.

There will be some innovations this year. Put the date in your diary now!

Special General Meeting (9 August)

There will be a General Meeting on Tuesday 19 September at Gambit Chess Club, starting at 7:30 p.m. The primary purpose will be to discuss the proposed membership scheme, which has implications for all clubs.

Any other items for the agenda should be notified to the Secretary, secretary@nottschess.org, as soon as possible.

BAG Challenge II (3 August)

The second Bunkers/Ashfield/Gambit rapidplay challenge was held on 25 July. Gambit and Ashfield tied on 11½ points each while Bunkers scored 7. Gambit won the competition in a five-minute playoff. Report by Drag Sudar.

NCJS Young Masters (24 July)

The National Chess Junior Squad Young Masters tournament was held at Millfield College, Somerset, from 18–23 July. Although the results aren’t yet available on the competition’s web site, news has reached me that Ankush Khandelwal (Nomads) won the event, despite a loss to Billy Grewal (West Nottingham) in the last round. Billy finished fourth. More details: Ankush scored 7½/10; Billy 6½; Kishan Lakhani 5; and Anjali Lakhani 4 (best unrated player).

ECF Grading List 2006 (24 July)

The new grading list is now online. Time to check how last season really went for you!

ECF National Schools Championship (20 July)

Nottingham High School retained the National Schools Championship on 7 July, beating Dulwich College 5–1. The winning team members were the same as last year: Ankush Khandelwal, Billy Grewal, Kishan Lakhani, Michael Keetley, Ian Harris and Dominic Heining.

News archive

News from previous seasons:

Minutes of the Executive Committee

Notts News

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

2006–07

2005–06

Go to list of 2005–06 issues