News – 2007–08

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.

News items posted after 2 July 2007 will appear on this page when they leave the home page.

News archive

News from previous seasons:

Leicester FIDE-rated all-play-all tournaments (30 June)

Sean Hewitt is once again organising FIDE-rated all-play-all tournaments over two weekends (23–25 August and 6–7 September). This is an opportunity for unrated players to gain a FIDE rating. Enter via the link above.

Inter-County Under 150 semi-final (15 June)

The U150 side missed out on the national final, losing 9–7 to Yorkshire. Neil Graham and Drag Sudar report.

NAG Challenge IV (14 June)

Drag Sudar reports on this year’s triangular challenge between Navigation, Ashfield and Gambit, held on 20 May. Ashfield finally broke Gambit’s stranglehold on the invisible trophy.

Mark Radford’s Chess Material blog (14 June)

Navigation’s Mark Radford has set up a blog in which he analyses his own games in public. You can find it at:

http://www.chessmaterial.com/

This looks like an excellent idea. Take a look and see what you can contribute.

Dave Brown (12 June)

Geoff Gibson sends the sad news that Long Eaton’s Dave Brown died of a suspected heart attack at his home on Monday 9 June. There will be no funeral, but a wake will be held in his honour – details to be advised. He also requested that a beech tree be planted in his memory.

Handicap KO final (12 June)

Mansfield beat Gambit Boys 7–2 on 10 June to retain the Handicap KO title. Full details.

Inter-County Under 100 semi-final (12 June)

Nottinghamshire beat Surrey 6½–5½ in the U100 semi-final on 7 June, although confirmation had to wait an ECF Arbiter’s ruling on one game. Neil Graham reports.

Notts will face Hertfordshire in the final, scheduled for 5 July 2008 at Moat Community College, Leicestershire.

County Championship semi-final dates (26 May)

Neil Graham advises that the following dates have been set: for the semi-final matches:

Squad members should keep the dates free if at all possible.

County Under 100 Championship – Quarter-Final (18 May)

The U100 side matched the U150 team’s success last week, beating Lancashire 8–4 to reach the national semi-final. Neil Graham reports. The semi-final is away against Surrey on 14 June.

County Under 13 and Under 18 Championships (18 May)

Thanks to Ashfield’s Sally McIntosh a successful tournament was held at Heanor Gate Science College on 10 May. Nottinghamshire entered two teams in the Under 13 event, with the stronger of the two taking third place, as well as a team in the Under 18 Minor, finishing second despite missing two players. Penny Mackay organised the Nottinghamshire teams.

County Under 150 Championship – Quarter-Final (11 May)

Nottinghamshire swept into the National U150 semi-final with a 10½–5½ win over Essex in a match that was almost perfectly balanced on paper. Drag Sudar reports. The semi-final is away against Yorkshire on 14 June.

EPSCA Under 11 Championships (11 May)

The Nottinghamshire Under 11 team took third place in the national final, missing out on the silver medals only on tie-break. Even better – the result was good enough to take shared first place (with Wey Valley) in the Audio Chess Grand Prix for the overall performances of the Under 9, Under 11 and Girls teams. Nottinghamshire’s primary school chess players are thus officially the best in England!

Illness deprived the Notts team of their intended Board 3, so the coaches found an imaginative solution – rather than simply bumping everyone up a place, they decided to take a chance and promote eight-year-old Mark Kenyon from the lower order straight into the number 3 slot. Mark is a seriously talented player – he beat Ashfield’s Richard Dyce in his first game in the Notts League recently and his playing strength was not in doubt – but the worry was that he might not be able to handle the pressure. The gamble (if that’s what it was) worked – he picked up 1½/3 (nearly winning his last game) and allowed the rest of the team to demonstrate their strength in depth.

Unfortunately, this inspiration was offset by yet another instance of the Mobile Phone Gambit in Round 1, despite the players all being told to turn off their phones. Despite this shock, the team kept themselves in the running with a spectacular second round of 15½/20. The extremely consistent Kent team were nevertheless able to keep all their rivals at a comfortable distance while Nottinghamshire and Wey Valley held their own private battle for second place. In the end, Wey Valley stole ahead when the tie-break – elimination of bottom board – was applied.

Despite that disappointment, this was a significant advance on last year’s fifth place – we are now competing on more or less level terms with the powerful southern counties, who have far more opportunities to play and access to many more coaches. A large number of the current team will still be eligible next year, so the outlook is very promising.

Returning to the Audio Chess Grand Prix – last year Nottinghamshire finished third, so shared first place represents another big improvement. There must be a real chance of taking the prize outright next year.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Kent 14½ 14 14½ 43
2 Wey Valley 13½ 12½ 13½ 39½
3 Nottinghamshire 11 15½ 13 39½
4 Richmond 13 12 11½ 36½
5 Sussex 10 13½ 12½ 36
6 Yorkshire 12 13 10½ 35½
7 Barnet 12½ 12 10½ 35
8 Berkshire 12 8 10½ 30½
9 Essex 9½ 10 9½ 29
10 Lancashire 9½ 8 9 26½
11 Oxfordshire 6½ 7 11 24½
12 Oldham 8 6 10 24
13 Manchester 8 8½ 3½ 20
14 Somerset 5 6½ 4 15½
15 Liverpool 5 3½ 6½ 15

UK Chess Challenge Trent Megafinal (11 May)

The second stage of the UK Chess Challenge was once again held at Foremarke Hall school in Derbyshire, organised by Paul Martin. It will come as no surprise that the Nottinghamshire juniors dominated the event, winning several sections and qualifying in large numbers for the Gigafinal stage.

A list of Nottinghamshire’s section winners follows; full results are at the UKCC web site.

Handicap KO (9 May)

The second semi-final, help up by the university vacation, was played on 6 May, resulting in a win for Mansfield. The final, against Gambit Boys, is to be arranged.

ECF in turmoil (29 April)

4NCL final weekend (5 May)

Notts 1 finished well over the Bank Holiday weekend to claim sixth place in Division 4 of the 4NCL. The second team had a harder time, but came good on the last day. Report and details.

Four members of the ECF Board, including the Chief Executive, Martin Regan, resigned at the weekend. There is a brief statement on the ECF website and discussion of the situation on the ECF Forum.

In a completely unrelated development, David Welch has had to resign from his post as Manager of Congress Chess due to ill health.

University 1 win league title (17 April)

Ashfield 1 beat Gambit 1 in a tense match last night in which both relegation (for the former) and the league championship (for the latter) were at stake. Ashfield’s win secured safety for them, whereas Gambit, who needed just a draw to take the title, had to settle for second place behind University 1.

University 1 therefore capture the title following a solid and consistent season. Gambit 1, in contrast, had the proverbial season of two halves: seven straight wins to start the season, followed by a second half that saw them take just four points.

Maurice Brown Memorial Rapidplay, Hull (13 April)

Steve Burke (Ashfield) shared 1st place in the Hull Rapidplay’s Major section (6 April) with 4½/6. Steve’s full report appears in Notts News No. 34.

East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix (13 April)

A record 125 entrants competed in the third and final leg of this event, which took place at Dovecote Primary School, West Bridgford, on 13 April. The winners of the third leg were:

The overall Grand Prix titles went to:

Full details, including the other prizewinners, will appear shortly on the tournament web site.

Inter-County Championships quarter-final draw (13 April)

Our teams have both been drawn away in the quarter-finals: the U150 side faces Essex, while the U100 team go to Lancashire. Both matches are scheduled for 17 May, so put that date in your diary.

Inter-County Under 100 Championship (6 April)

The U100 side was unable to claim the MCCU title going down 7–5 to Warwickshire on 5 April. They nevertheless proceed to the national stage.Sally McIntosh reports.

Inter-County Under 150 Championship (30 March)

‘Warwickshire beat Manchester by 9½–6½ yesterday, but quite unbelievably Staffordshire beat Leicestershire 8½–7½, thus giving Notts the runners-up spot in the Midlands zone.

‘So once again, onward and upwards to the National stages. Details to follow in due course!’

This is how the teams finished:

P W D L Pts
1 Warwickshire 4 3 1 0 7
2 Nottinghamshire 4 2 1 1 5
3 Leicestershire 4 1 2 1 4
4 Greater Manchester 4 1 0 3 2
5 Staffordshire 4 1 0 3 2

One minor piece of housekeeping: in the match against Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire’s claim for a draw on Board 8 under the two-minute rule (unable to win by normal means) was rejected, making the final result 12–4 to Notts.

EPSCA Audio Chess Grand Prix (29 March)

With the Under 9 and Under 11 finals still to be played, Nottinghamshire currently lead the Audio Chess Grand Prix with 31 points, just ahead of Oxfordshire (29) and Wey Valley (28). Points in the Grand Prix are awarded according to placings in the Under 9 and Under 11 zonals and finals, and the Girls final. Last season, Nottinghamshire finished 3rd overall.

Southend Congress (29 March)

Richard Webster (Ashfield) and Alex Combie (Newark) played in the Open at the Southend Easter Congress (21–24 March). Richard scored 3½/7; Alex 3/7.

Rules Revision Meeting (23 March)

As announced provisionally in Notts News No. 29, there will be a General Meeting of the Association at West Bridgford CC on Tuesday 3 June, starting at 7:30 p.m. This will be the Rules Revision Meeting. Proposals for changes to the League Rules should reach me no later than Tuesday 29 April; proposers and seconders must be from different clubs. Any other items for the agenda should reach the Secretary, Andrew Walker, no later than Tuesday 13 May.

The AGM will also be at West Bridgford CC, on Tuesday 8 July, starting at 7:30 p.m.

4NCL – Fourth weekend (16 March)

Nottinghamshire 1 did well to hold two strong opponents, including the runaway leaders Brown Jack, to 3–3 draws. The second team fared less well, losing both matches. Report and details.

Inter-County Under 100 Championship (11 March)

The Under 100 side reached the Midlands final following a win on board count against Staffordshire after drawing 6–6. Nottinghamshire’s success was all the more remarkable given that they were outgraded on every board. Neil Graham reports.

Blackpool Congress (11 March)

Several Notts players made the trip to the Blackpool Congress, held from 7–9 March. Results (all out of five points unless stated):

EPSCA Under 9 Zonal (11 March)

The Nottinghamshire Under 9 team qualified for the national finals with a comfortable win in the Under 9 Zonal competition. The team talk after the lacklustre second round effort clearly had the desired effect.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Nottinghamshire 10½ 6½ 11½ 28½
2 Hertfordshire 9½ 8 7½ 25
3 Essex 8 7 7½ 22½
4 Staffordshire 7 9 5½ 21½
5 Cambridgeshire 4 6 7 17
6 Northamptonshire 3½ 6½ 4½ 14½
7 Lincolnshire 3½ 5 4 12½
8 Leicestershire 2 0 ½ 2½

EPSCA Girls Under 11 Championship (5 March)

Nottinghamshire’s girls just missed out on a medal in this year’s EPSCA Girls Under 11 Championship, held in Oxford on 1 March. The competition was extremely tight at the top, and the Nottinghamshire girls actually improved by a point on last year’s score, which was good enough for bronze on that occasion. In the end, the home side took first place, but the table shows just how close the competition was, with just four points separating the top five teams.

Team R1 R2 R3 Total
1 Oxford 9 10 9 28
2 Sussex 9½ 9 9 27½
3 Wey Valley 10 7½ 9 26½
4 Nottinghamshire 9 8 8½ 25½
5 Barnet 9½ 7 7½ 24
6 Essex 6 8½ 7 21½
7 Kent 6½ 6½ 8 21
8 Oldham 6 6 4 16
9 Liverpool 3 3½ 5½ 12
10= Manchester 4 3½ 4 11½
Northamptonshire 3½ 4½ 3½ 11½
Berkshire 4 4 3½ 11½
13 Hertfordshire 4 5 2 11
14 Hampshire 0 1 3½ 4½

Doncaster Congress (1 March)

Nottinghamshire players took a few prizes at the Doncaster Congress (22–24 February): Kevin McCarthy (Grantham) shared first place in the Major with 4/5, while half a point behind in a share of third was Richard Webster (Ashfield). Daniel Broughton won the U109 Grading Prize in the Intermediate section.

East of England Girls Championships (19 February)

Bramcote Hills School hosted the East of England Girls Championships on 16 February. The winners in the various age groups were: U18 – Lateefah Messam-Sparks; U14 – Evie Hollingsworth; U12 – Amy Milson; U11 – Emma Bentley; U10 – Rhiya Sood; U8 – Lauren Smith. Several local players also qualified (along with the winners) for the national finals.

Four Nations Chess Challenge (19 February)

Amisha Parmar’s debut for England in the Four Nations Chess Challenge was not as successful as she would have liked – she scored ½/3, but against three stronger opponents. England finished second in the four-nation event, behind Sweden but ahead of Latvia and Norway.

4NCL – third weekend (10 February)

The third weekend of the 4NCL went reasonably well for the two Nottinghamshire teams, with a win and a draw for the first team and a win and a narrow defeat for the second team. Notts 1 now lie in third place in Division 4. Report and details

Inter-County U150 Championship: Leicestershire 8–8 Nottinghamshire (7 February)

Nottinghamshire’s hopes of reaching the national stage hang by a thread after a draw with Leicestershire. Neil Graham reports.

Handicap Knockout – semi-final draw (7 February)

The four semi-finalists in the Handicap Knockout competition are Mansfield, University Wiseheads, Gambit Boys and Radcliffe Rapscallions. University Wiseheads will be at home in the semi-final against Mansfield; Gambit Boys will play host to Radcliffe Rapscallions. Dates to be determined.

English Senior Championship (5 February)

The inaugural English Senior Championship was held at the Izaak Walton Hotel, Dovedale, from 28 January to 1 February. Several local players competed in the two events, with some success. The main event was won by IM Andrew Whiteley with 4½/5, with University’s Andrew Walker sharing the U160 Grading prize. The supporting Dovedale Open was won by Ashfield’s Bob Taylor with 4/5, with his club mate Stan Cranmer sharing second place. Neil Graham was the arbiter, and Steve Burke assisted.

Midlands Inter-Association Primary Schools Championship (3 February)

Nottinghamshire’s primary school teams repeated last year’s clean sweep of the Midlands Championships, held at Trinity Lower School on 2 February.

All three A teams were convincing winners of their events, and the B and C teams also performed well. The Under 11 A team scored a remarkable 56/60, which included an unprecedented perfect 20 in the final round.

Under 11 (20 boards, 5 teams)

  1. Nottinghamshire A 56
  2. Lincolnshire 31
  3. Nottinghamshire B 25½
  4. Northamptonshire 24
  5. Leicestershire 14½

Under 9 (12 boards, 6 teams)

  1. Nottinghamshire A 29½
  2. Lincolnshire 25
  3. Northamptonshire 19
  4. Nottinghamshire B 17
  5. Nottinghamshire C 11½
  6. Leicestershire 6

Girls (12 boards, 3 teams)

  1. Nottinghamshire A 28
  2. Northamptonshire 14
  3. Nottinghamshire B 12

20 Seconds Chess (3 February)

The first 20 Seconds Chess tournament was held on 19 January. The ECF’s ChessMoves notes that GM David Howell beat GM Keith Arkell in the final. Ankush Khandelwal (Ashfield) was among those who reached the knockout stage, but further details have yet to appear.

Gibtelecom Masters (1 February)

The annual Gibtelecom Masters took place in Gibraltar from 22–31 January. Ashfield’s Richard Webster was there, enjoying the warmer weather and facing some very strong opponents in the GM-laden 200-player field. Richard ended up with 3½/10. The event was won by the USA’s Hikaru Nakamuru after a play-off against Bu Xiangzhi of China.

Amisha Parmar selected for England (23 January)

The ECF has announced that West Nottingham’s Amisha Parmar will play as a member of the full England team for the first time in the Nordic Challenge from 15–17 February. Teams of five men and five women from England, Norway, Sweden and Latvia will compete in the event, to be held in the Norwegian capital Oslo.

Ashfield’s new web site (23 January)

Ashfield have a spiffy new web site at http://www.ashfieldchessclub.org.uk/. Update your bookmarks/favourites/links.

January rapidplay grades (22 January)

The six-monthly ECF rapidplay grading list was published today. Check your grade at http://grading.bcfservices.org.uk/

Nottingham Rapidplay (20 January)

GM Mark Hebden won the 2008 Nottingham Rapidplay with a perfect 6/6. full results.

National Club Championship (13 January)

Bob Taylor

Ashfield Chess Club played in the first round of the Minor championship on 6 January. We had home advantage against Bedford and came out the victors, 3–1, with wins for Bob Taylor, Stan Cranmer and Phil Morgan; sadly Neil Graham lost.

We only won the match because my opponent left his mobile switched on; another Mobile Phone Gambit to add to the list.

Inter-County U100 Championship: Nottinghamshire 5½–6½ Warwickshire (13 January)

The U100 team fared better than the U150s against the West Midlanders, but missed out just the same. Details and report.

Inter-County U150 Championship: Nottinghamshire 6–10 Warwickshire (13 January)

The tremendous form of the opening two matches deserted the team against a strong Warwickshire side. Neil Graham reports.

London Junior Championships (9 January)

Saaras Mehan (West Nottingham) scored 4½/7 in the Under 10 Minor and Arun Maini (West Nottingham) 5/9 in the Under 12 section at the London Junior Championships (12–28 December). Former NPSCA top board Brandon Clarke won the Under 12 title with a score of 8/9.

York Congress (9 January)

Alex Combie (Newark) scored 4/5 in the Major (U161) at the York Congress (4–6 January), winning £50.

Hastings International (6 January)

There was just one NCA player in this year’s Hastings International – David Coates (Newark) scored 4/10 and should gain a few rating points.

Derbyshire Rapidplay (15 December)

Nottinghamshire players staged a successful cross-border raid at this year’s Derbyshire Rapidplay, held on 2 December. Local prizewinners were: Major – Janos Wagenbach (grading prize); Intermediate – Bob Taylor (=1st), Dave Griffiths (=3rd), Michael Zhang (grading prize); Minor – Hamzah Ali (1st), John Crawley (2nd). Full details.

Inter-County U100 Championship: Nottinghamshire 7–5 Leicestershire A (10 December)

The U100 team followed up their easy win over Leicestershire B with a much harder fought victory over Leicestershire A. I think (after trying to decode the somewhat cryptic information on the MCCU site) that this means qualification for the MCCU semi-final has already been achieved. The remaining group fixture (against Warwickshire on 12 January) will decide who wins the qualifying group. Terry Norris-Hunt reports.

Preston Congress (9 December)

Paul Todd writes that he and Ray Sayer (both Ashfield) played in this year’s Preston Congress (23–25 November). Both scored 2½/5; Ray in the Minor (U125), Paul in the Standard (U100).

East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix (9 December)

The second leg of the 2007–08 East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix was held at Dovecote School on 8 December. The winners of this leg were:

Full details and overall standings can be found at the competition’s web site.

Commonwealth Championship (5 December)

The 2007 Commonwealth Championship started in New Delhi on 2 December and runs until 10 December. The ECF has sent a junior squad to take part, including Danny Wells (University) as the Under 18 representative. The event is a large open Swiss over 10 rounds, and Danny received a particularly tough first round draw: GM Tejas Bakre (India; 2459). Not surprisingly, he lost that one, but bounced back with two wins and went on to finish with 4½/10, gaining 3 rating points.

ECF Announcements (3 December)

Two new announcements from the ECF. The first is the launch of the ECF Online Chess Club, in partnership with ChessCube.com. You can see what’s on offer at http://ecfclub.chesscube.com/.

The second is something rather different: 20 Seconds Chess. This is a new format in which each player starts with 20 seconds on the clock. When the clocks are started, White’s time decreases and Black’s time increases. When White moves and presses the clock, the reverse happens. This is being launched with a one-day tournament, sponsored by Lexmark, on 19 January. An entry form can be downloaded from the link above.

A few West Nottingham players tried out the format on Monday night. Digital clocks are needed (obviously). Keeping a reasonable amount of time on your clock turns out to be very important – once you drift down to less than 5 seconds it can be hard to get back to something more reasonable. It’s extremely entertaining for spectators, as apart from the chess there’s the constant prospect of an instant loss on time.

NPSCA Quadrangular tournament (2 December)

In a bid to provide some stronger competition for the county’s primary school teams, John Crawley invited teams from Oldham, Yorkshire and Hertfordshire to this season’s quadrangular team tournament. It made little difference, as the local teams dominated as usual. With our depth in numbers, we were able to split our teams into roughly equal squads; the A, B, C designations have no other meaning.

Inter-County U150 Championship: Staffordshire 3–12 Nottinghamshire (2 December)

Yet another crushing win for the U150 team – and once again with no one suffering a defeat. One game remains outstanding – a claim by Notts for a draw under the two-minute rule. Neil Graham reports.

U150 date change (30 November)

The U150 county match against Leicestershire has been moved from 19 January to 2 February, avoiding the need to play on consecutive weekends.

Handicap KO (28 November)

Round 1 of the Handicap KO was completed just about on time, with Newark B, Mansfield, University Wiseheads, Navigation Knockouts, Gambit Boys and Radcliffe Rapscallions joining the two teams with byes (West Nottingham Fantasy and Newark A) in Round 2. See the link above for the second round draw – ties to be played by 8 February.

4NCL – Second weekend (26 November)

Despite the struggle to get a full set of players for the weekend, we did finally find 12. Saturday turned out well: Notts 1 scored a 4–2 win over Littlethorpe 2 (wins for Rob Richmond, Tom Day, Richard Truman and Ian Kingston), while Notts 2 upset FCA Solutions 2 with a 3½–2½ victory (Bob Taylor and new boy Richard Myers scoring the full points). The other newbie, Eggheads’ CJ de Mooi, picked up a very creditable draw in his first game for four years.

Sunday: not so good. Only Rob (4/4 this season in 4NCL) was able to win as the first team went down 4–2 to Gloucestershire Gambits, while Notts 2 lost 3½–2½ against Oxford 3 (Brian Thompson and Neil Graham were the winners). Report and details.

British Rapidplay Championships (22 November)

The British Rapidplay Championships were held in Halifax on 17–18 November. Full details aren’t yet available, but the ECF has a list of prizewinners. GM Peter Wells won the title; local prizewinners include grading prizes for Danny Wells (University) and Alex Combie (Newark) in the Major; second place for Brandon Clarke (formerly NPSCA) in the Intermediate; and a grading prize for Toby Thurgood (Nomads) in the Intermediate.

Inter-County U100 Championship: Leicestershire B 2–10 Nottinghamshire (20 November)

A crushing win against the Leicestershire’s second string. Terry Norris-Hunt reports.

World Youth Championships (21 November)

The World Youth Championships were held in Antalya, Turkey, from 17 November to 29 November. Ankush Khandelwal (Ashfield) and Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham) represented England in the Under 16 boys and girls events, scoring 5½ and 5 points, respectively.

Nottinghamshire County Championship

The 2007 County Champion is Maurice Hill of Nomads, who took the title in a tight three-cornered battle between the early leader, George Murfet (Radcliffe & Bingham) and David Levens (West Nottingham). Full details.

Inter-County U150 Championship: Nottinghamshire 12½–3½ Greater Manchester (4 November)

The U150 team kicked off the season with a thumping win, matching last year’s no-defeats win against Leicestershire and surpassing the overall score. Neil Graham reports.

Scarborough Congress (4 November)

There was a substantial turnout of Notts players at the Scarborough Congress (20–21 October). Drag Sudar sends details of their scores, including outright victory in the Major for Alex Combie (all scores out of five points):

Roger Walker (Mansfield) also played; no score available. The ECF web site has a full list of prizewinners.

4NCL – first weekend (27 October)

Partial results from the first round (Saturday): Nottinghamshire 1 lead Celtic Tigers 2 by 3–1 (wins for Andy Walker, Richard Truman and Ian Kingston), with a probable two wins to come; Nottinghamshire 2 level at 2½–2½ against Conquistadors 1 (wins for Bob Taylor and Neil Graham; draw for Kishan Lakhani) with a probable draw in the remaining game. More after Sunday’s games, including the identity of the victim of the Mobile Phone Gambit.

Sunday: the outstanding games went as predicted: wins for Rob Richmond and Pete Mercs giving Notts 1 a 5–1 win, and a long (six hours plus) draw by Richard Webster earning Notts 2 an excellent 3–3 draw against much stronger opposition. In Sunday’s matches, Notts 1 let slip a good chance by only drawing with Cheddleton (wins for Rob Richmond and Ian Kingston, draws for David Levens and Pete Mercs) after a good start (notwithstanding a cataclysmic early blunder by Tony Wright that cost two pieces). Notts 2 also started brightly against Littlethorpe 2, but in the end only Neil Graham could win, resulting in a 4–2 defeat.

The Mobile Phone Gambit on Saturday claimed David Levens. Full details and reports

ECF Grand Prix leader board (27 October)

The first ECF Grand Prix leader board of the season has been posted. Three local players feature: Ian Kingston (West Nottingham) is 6th in the 174–150 section, Alex Combie (Newark) is 10th in the 149–125 section and Roger Walker (Mansfield) leads the 124–100 section.

League guide to the Laws of chess (20 October)

Neil Graham has drawn up a guide to the common problems with the Laws of chess that tend to cause disputes. Please read it! I can’t imagine that the LMC will take too kindly to having to deal with a dispute that could have been avoided or resolved with reference to this guidance.

Handicap Knockout draw (20 October)

The draw for Round 1 is now available. Matches to be played by 23 November.

Leicester FIDE-Rated Tournaments (12 October)

The second half of the B group of this event, in which Mike Barnes and Pete Mercs competed, has now been completed. You may recall (from Notts News No. 4) that Mike was in the lead with 4½ points after five rounds, with Pete just half a point behind. Pete made up the half-point gap over the last four rounds, both players finishing on 7/9. However, both were pushed back into a tie for second place by Martin Burrows, who scored 7½.

Full details at the tournament web site. The organisers are planning a second event (in which unrated players can obtain a FIDE rating) in February.

Len Darby (7 October)

Derek Cronshaw sends the very sad news that Len Darby, one of the stalwarts of Nottinghamshire chess and Nomads chess club, died yesterday. I’m sure that everyone within the NCA will join in expressing their sympathy to Len’s family.

Len Darby 1939–2007: An Appreciation

Derek Cronshaw and Maurice Hill

Nomads and Notts chess have suffered a bitter loss in the unexpected death of Len Darby on 1 October after a short cancer illness.

Len was the heartbeat of Nomads. He did everything in the club, from making boards and a box for the clocks, to filling every office, playing for every team, and even arranging and presenting the quiz for our Christmas Party. He created friendliness around him and was on good terms with everyone. He treated juniors as equals who appreciated his warmth and humour, especially his quick-witted jokes and outrageous puns. Totally reliable and dependable, you could always count on him for action and support, whether it was providing last-minute transport or covering an unexpected player shortage.

As a player he was an expert on the Elephant Gambit and destroyed any number of opponents with it. A very skilful rapidplay competitor, he won the Senior Prize in an NCA competition and was part of the Nomads winning rapidplay team with Ankush Khandelwal and Maurice Hill.

Notts chess benefited from his enthusiasm and dynamism as player and captain of county teams over a number of years. He served on the League Management Committee and, along with his wife Angela, edited Notts News where his sense of humour was evident in his choice of jokes and cartoons. Never one for petty club rivalry, he was liked and respected by all Notts clubs. He was a major mover in organising the County Championship at Nomads and the chess publicity day in the Broadmarsh Centre.

Len contributed selflessly of his time and energy to his other hobbies; in particular a Railway Society and the Chrysler Car Club. The railway system that ran round his garden was far more than a model railway and a marvel for other enthusiasts.

A man of generous spirit, he was totally without malice or meanness. Think of your ten best character adjectives and Len exemplified them in his endearing personality. It was a privilege to know him and an honour to be his friend.

Our most sincere sympathies to his wife and family; we understand something of your loss.

Nottinghamshire Primary School Championships (7 October)

Paignton Congress (7 October)

Alex Combie (Newark) scored 4/5 in the 5-Round Morning Under 170 tournament at this year’s Paignton Congress, winning £50 for a four-way share of second place. A selection of games, including a win by Alex.

The Nottinghamshire Primary School Championships were held at Dovecote Primary School on 29 September. Prizewinners:

Under 11
1st: David Somers (Jesse Gray) 5½
2nd: Emma Bentley (Chesterfield) 5
3rd: Greg Akerman (NJHS) 5
Best girl: Mathilda Pynegar (NGHS) 4½

Under 10
1st: Sophie Hudspeth (Winthorpe) 5
2nd: Thomas Croghan (Foremarke Hall) 5
3rd: Ron Eliyahoo (Abbey Road) 5
Best girl: Zoe Fernie (Abbey Road) 4

Under 9
1st: Tobias Schroder (NJHS) 6
2nd: Daniel Thurgood (NJHS) 5½
3rd: Harry Walton (Roundhill) 5
Best girl: Sadia Zaman (NGHS) 4

Under 8
1st: Mark Kenyon (Ravenshead) 5
2nd: Rohan Chauhan (NJHS) 5
3rd: Nikhil Sahdev (NJHS) 5
Best girl: Annette Bespalova (Abbey Road) 3½

East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix (7 October)

The first leg of this season’s event was held at Dovecote Primary School, Clifton on 7 October. There were 82 players in three sections contesting five age groups. Winners:

Myles Webster was the surprise package of the day – playing in his first ever tournament, he brushed aside his first five opponents before tiring in the final round.

Full details of all prizewinners.

U150 date change (3 October)

The U150 match against Warwickshire has been moved from 5 January to 12 January. Neil Graham is still working on shifting the 19 January match against Leicestershire to a new date.

European Youth Championships (24 September)

Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham) and Anjali Lakhani (Long Eaton) represented England in the Girls Under 16 and Under 14 events, respectively, at the European Youth Championships held in Croatia from 13–24 September. Amisha scored 5½/9 and finished in a tie for 15th place, while Anjali scored 3½ and finished =51st. Both performed better than their initial ranking. It’s interesting to note that only one western European finished ahead of Amisha – all the rest came from countries with state support for chess.

Leicester Congress (24 September)

Ankush Khandelwal (Ashfield) shared first place in the Open section of the Leicester Atkins Congress, despite losing to IM Jovanka Houska in Round 4. Both players scored 4/5. There was a sizeable Nottinghamshire contingent, and results are summarised below (all scores out of five points):

U125 date change (15 September)

The U125 match against Leicestershire has a change of date because Leicestershire’s venue is unavailable on 6 October. The provisional new date is 13 October.

Leamington Rapidplay (15 September)

Kishan Lakhani (Long Eaton) scored 3½/6 to won the Best Junior prize in the U200 section of the Leamington Rapidplay, held on 9 September. Oliver Exton (Nomads) scored 2½ in the U160 section.

Paignton Congress (15 September)

Richard Webster (Ashfield) and Steve Thacker (West Nottingham) played in the Paignton Congress from 2–8 September. Richard scored 3½/7 in the Premier, while Steve scored 4½/7 in the U130 section, also winning the prize for best disabled player.

Club Championships (15 September)

Neil Graham writes with details of the Ashfield club championship. Twelve members competed for the championship on Sunday 9 September, with Glenn Halfpenny retaining his title with 4½/5. Phil Morgan was 2nd with 3½/5 and Nigel Wright, Phil Richards, Neil Graham and Bob Taylor were 3rd= with 3/5, the first two of these sharing the slow starters prize.

West Nottingham’s championship was won by Ian Kingston, who beat Jonathan Day in the final following a rapidplay qualifying tournament. Jonathan took the Under 16 title, while Andrew Garside won the Under 13 championship. Details are on the West Nottingham web site.

World Championship starts today (13 September)

The World Championship tournament starts today in Mexico City. Competing for the title are reigning champion Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand (No. 1 in the rating list), Peter Leko, Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Alexander Morozevich, Boris Gelfand and Levon Aronian.

Games start at 2:00 p.m. local time, which means 8:00 p.m. in the UK. The official site for live games is at http://partidas.chessmexico.com/, which stood up well to the demand during the first round. ICC, Playchess.com and FICS are all providing coverage, although the former two will require payment if you don’t already subscribe. There’s a list of other sites providing coverage at http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2007/09/world-championship-coverage-information.html.

Pre-Season Jamboree (12 September)

Forty people squeezed into Navigation’s club room for the pre-season jamboree tournament on 11 September. In an extremely close contest, which had the leading five of the ten teams separated by just two points going into the final round, West Bridgford emerged as the winners with 14½ points. Will Place and Brian Thompson were the stars, both scoring a perfect 5/5. Mansfield’s late run saw them leap from 5th to second (14 points), with Ashfield A and Gambit finishing a further half point back in joint 3rd.

Final standings:

Place Team R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 Total
1 West Bridgford 2 3 4 3 2½ 14½
2 Mansfield 3 3 2 2 4 14
3= Gambit 4 2½ 1½ 3½ 2 13½
3= Ashfield A 2½ 2½ 3 3 2½ 13½
5 West Nottingham 2 4 3 2½ 1 12½
6 Navigation 1 1 1 3 1½ 4 10½
7 Radcliffe & Bingham 2 1½ 1 ½ 1 6
8 Ashfield C ½ 1½ 1 2 ½ 5½
9 Ashfield B 2 1 ½ 1 ½ 5
10 Navigation 2 0 0 0 0 0 0

Lincoln Rapidplay (12 September)

Bob Taylor has kindly sent results for the local players at the 2nd Lincoln Rapidplay, held on 2 September. The Open was won by Andrew Ledger, with Pete Mercs the highest placed Notts player. The U140 was won outright by Newark’s Ross Blake, closely followed by Janos Wagenbach (Mansfield). Several other local players picked up grading prizes. More details, as well as photos, can be found at the tournament webs site.

Contact Updates (12 September)

People have been (inconveniently!) moving house and changing their phone numbers since the League Handbook went to press. Please note the following new numbers:

Thanet Congress (12 September)

Roger Walker (Mansfield) won the U110 grading prize in the U125 section at the Thanet Congress, held from 17–19 August.

MCCU Inter-county match dates (5 September)

The dates of this season’s U150, U125 and U100 MCCU inter-county matches are now available. These dates are not yet set in stone, but please pencil them in anyway.

Handicap Knockout – time to enter (4 September)

The rules for this season’s Handicap Knockout are now available, and all clubs are invited to enter. Entry is now free, and the time handicap now makes things trickier for the strongest teams.

Please get your club’s entries to Ian Kingston no later than 21 September.

Fixture corrections (3 September)

There is one correction to the fixture list as published: Ashfield 3–West Nottingham 3 should be on Tuesday 9 October, not Wednesday 10 October. The downloadable copies of the handbook and fixtures have been updated.

Updated Grading List (30 August)

The ECF published a revised version of the grading list on 22 August, which will be the list that is issued in printed form in September. The updated Nottinghamshire grades can be downloaded as Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org spreadsheets.

Best Game Prize entries (28 August)

Fourteen of the entries for this year’s Best Game Prize have reached me in electronic format. Rather than wait for the rest, I’ve put these online for viewing. The rest will be added when I get hold of them.

UK Chess Challenge Terafinal (22 August)

The Terafinal – the final stage of the UK Chess Challenge – was held in Leamington Spa on 18–19 August. The Nottinghamshire qualifiers put up a strong performance, as usual.

In the Terafinal itself, Ankush Khandelwal finished 4th with 5/6 (all scores converted from the UKCC’s scoring scheme), winning £200. Lateefah Messam-Sparks finished =9th overall with 4/6 and shared the Girls prize, taking home £500. Oliver Exton finished on the same score and won £80.

There were more good results in the two Challengers events (which are evenly spilt according to playing strength).

Fixtures and Handbook (19 August)

The fixtures have been compiled and are now on the web site in Excel and OpenOffice.org formats. Meanwhile, the League Handbook is with the printer, but you can download a PDF copy.

Nomads – New Web Site (19 August)

Nomads have a new web site.

ECF Seniors Survey (19 August)

The ECF wants the opinions of Senior players about the forthcoming English Senior Championship and Seniors chess in general. A questionnaire was circulated during the British Senior Championship in Great Yarmouth, which you can download and complete if you want your views to be heard.

The inaugural English Senior Championship takes place from 28 January – 1 February 2008 at the Izaak Walton Hotel, Dovedale, Ashbourne, Derbyshire DE6 2AY and is a five-round FIDE-rated tournament for players aged over 60 on 1 September 2007. There is also a supporting event for over-50s graded under 140.

Junior Travels (19 August)

A trio of Notts juniors who might have been expected to be playing at the British Championships were instead representing England in two major international events. Ankush Khandelwal (Ashfield) and Amisha Parmar (West Nottingham) played Boards 1 and 4 respectively for England at the Under 16 Olympiad, held in Singapore from 4–12 August. Bulletins and results are available. England, seeded 9th, finished in a tie for 9th and 10th places. India won the gold medal. Ankush scored 4½/8; Amisha 5½/8.

Meanwhile, Brandon Clarke (NPSCA) was in Mureck, Austria, competing in the EU Under 12 Championship. Brandon scored 4/9, while his compatriot, Daniel Hunt, scored 7/9 to win the title. Round-by-round reports.

MCCU News (19 August)

There have been a couple of interesting announcements on the MCCU web site. First, the MCCU has set up a discussion forum (similar to the ECF’s). There’s very little there at the moment, but no doubt there will be as soon as a hot issue arises.

Second, the MCCU has announced how it will allocate its British Championship places for next year. These will go to the Leicester, Warwickshire and Nottingham congresses. In addition, these three congresses will form the basis of a grand prix for the Midlands Individual Championship, which will be awarded to the MCCU player with the highest aggregate score in the Open sections of these events. On top of that, there will be a fourth British Championship place for the highest placed MCCU player in the grand prix not already qualified for the British Championship.

Corporation Tax (19 August)

NCA Treasurer and ECF Finance Director Robert Richmond has written an item for the ECF web site about the potential liability of chess clubs to pay corporation tax following the abolition of the nil rate of corporation tax.

British Championships (18 August)

The British Championships began on Sunday 29 July with the first Rapidplay tournament. The main event and many subsidiary competitions began on Monday 30 July. A summary of the 19 local players’ results appears below.

Marcel Taylor missed out on the U125 title after drawing in the last round. According to Richard Webster, Marcel dropped a pawn, and didn’t have much option when the draw offer came. Marcel nevertheless finished clear second with a 143 performance.

Lateefah Messam-Sparks wrapped up the Girls Under 15 title with a comfortable last round win in the Under 16 competition (Under 15 and Under 16 competitions were combined). And there was a birthday cake on Monday, as well as an all West Nottingham clash against David Levens in the afternoon. In fact, afternoon became evening, as a fluctuating no-quarter battle finally ended in a draw at around half-past eight.

Oliver Exton finished third in the junior blitz tournament held on Tuesday evening (week 2)

Ian Kingston adopted an intentionally aggressive approach to try to win the U150 title in the last round, but failed to achieve anything like equality from the opening and fell to defeat. In the afternoon open, a more measured effort fell just short of tying for first place, an extra pawn being insufficient to win in an opposite-coloured bishops endgame, and leading to a six-way tie for second place.

In the other last-round games, Billy Grewal might have qualified for next year’s Championship with a last-round win, but instead he slipped to defeat. The leading NCA player in the Major Open was thus David Coates of Newark. Lateefah Messam-Sparks found herself in another all-Notts pairing, this time against Richard Webster. Richard dominated the game, but a late blunder handed the point to Lateefah.

A selection of games (some with light notes) is now available for replay.

Some photos (all from Bob Taylor except the first one):

Great Yarmouth College
The venue: Great Yarmouth College

Some Nottinghamshire players
Some of the Nottinghamshire players in the second week. L to R: Bob Taylor, Ian Kingston, Dorothy Blampied, Oliver Exton, Richard Webster, Ray Sayer. (Thanks to Jack Rudd for doing the honours)

David Levens and Ian Kingston
David Levens and Ian Kingston

Richard Webster
Richard Webster prepares for his last round game against...

Lateefah Messam-Sparks
...Lateefah Messam-Sparks

Alex Posazhennikov
Alex Posazhennikov

Billy Grewal
Billy Grewal

Ray Sayer
Ray Sayer

David Coates
David Coates

Summary

Here’s how the NCA players finished. Events are listed in the same order as on the ECF web site.

Faber Cup (1 August)

Lateefah Messam-Sparks (West Nottingham) represented England in this year’s Faber Cup, the annual international girls team tournament, which runs alongside the Glorney Cup for boys. Both events were held in Dublin. England finished second in the Faber Cup (just behind Scotland on tie-break). Lateefah also finished second in the separate girls’ tournament held during the event. Brandon Clarke, the NPSCA’s top board, played in the winning England team in the Under 12 Four Nations Championship, held at the same time.

League Secretary (28 July)

The Executive Committee has been informally considering the problem of the vacancy for League Secretary and has agreed some rearrangement of responsibilities. Robert Richmond has agreed to take on the job of League Secretary, with immediate effect, an appointment that will be formally ratified at the next EC meeting. The next EC will further consider the arrangements for the Rapidplay and Congress, with a view to reducing the workload on Robert.

East Midlands Congress List (28 July)

Robert Richmond

I have agreed with the organisers of the Lincoln Rapidplay (2 September) and Leicester Congress (21–23 September) to create an East Midlands congress list. This will take a year or two to obtain the necessary permission to share addresses. In the meantime many of you will have received entry forms for Lincoln and Leicester in the post. I have addressed these from envelopes supplied by Leicester. Lincoln and Leicester will return the favour for the Rapidplay and Congress.

NCA Best Game Prize (28 July)

Last year’s winner, Robert Richmond, has announced this year’s prize:

All entries were anonymised to ensure that the judging was as fair as possible. The winning game is in this week’s Notts News, and eventually all of the entries will be published on the web site.

UK Chess Challenge Gigafinal (25 July)

As usual, there was a substantial Nottinghamshire presence in the northern Gigafinal of the UK Chess Challenge, held in Manchester on 14–15 July. The complete list of performances is far too long to include here, but the following players qualified for the Terafinal (* = section winner):

There were many near misses as well, and the vast majority of Nottinghamshire’s competitors scored 50% or better.

ECF Club of the Year award for West Nottingham (25 July)

I’m delighted to be able to report that West Nottingham Chess Club has won the 2007 ECF Club of the Year Award. This comes just four years after the club (then known as Stapleford) won the Small Club of the Year prize.

2007 ECF Grading List (21 July)

The new grading list was published today. I’ve extracted the NCA grades and put them in a spreadsheet: choose between Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice.org formats.

Update (28 July): The misgrading of the 2007 Nottingham Rapidplay as a standard play tournament has been corrected with commendable speed by the ECF; Carl Hibbard posted a corrected version on 28 July. Those corrections have not been transferred to the spreadsheets above.

Change of name for Bunkers (15 July)

Bunkers have decided on a change of name to reflect their present home. From now on, they’ll be known as the Navigation Chess Club.

ECF National Schools Championships (7 July)

John Swain

The semi-finals and final were held at Uppingham School on 5–6 July. The semi-finalists were Magdalen College School Oxford, Manchester Grammar School, Nottingham High School and Royal Grammar School Guildford. The tournament has a unique age-handicap feature, but the average age of all four teams this year was within a year of each other and therefore this did not come into operation (unlike last year, when we had to beat Dulwich College at least 4½–1½).

The semi-final against Manchester GS was a very close affair. Maybe we expected an easier time, since NHS’s B team had taken two points off them in the quarter-final. The final score was a nail-biting 3½–2½, after some particularly impressive play from Ankush Khandelwal, Kishan Lakhani and Jonathan Day, with a draw from Daniel Lin. This put us through to the final, where we faced RGS Guildford, who had demolished Magdalen 5½–½. We quickly went one up thanks to an impressive attack by Daniel, and another fine tactical win for Ankush counterbalanced a loss for Kishan. However, the three remaining boards continued play into the final fourth hour of the match. Michael Keetley’s draw and Oliver Exton’s loss made the score level and, after a promising early stage to the game, Jonathan had dropped a piece and had R + B vs. R + N + B, and also a pawn minus to boot. Even if he were to manage a draw, we would lose on board count. All appeared lost, but a back rank mate saved the day (joke intended) and enabled us to collect the trophy for the third year running, equalling the record held jointly by Manchester GS and St Paul’s.

The team in board order was: Ankush Khandelwal (Ashfield), Kishan Lakhani (Long Eaton), Michael Keetley (West Nottingham), Oliver Exton (Nomads), Jonathan Day and Daniel Lin (both West Nottingham).

EPSCA National Schools Championship (7 July)

David Levens

On 9 June, two Nottingham schools (the Junior High School and Jesse Gray) along with Foremarke Hall, Derby, journeyed to Prestatyn in Wales to compete in the semi-finals of the EPSCA National Schools Championship. I mention Foremarke, not just because I coach there, but also because a few of the school’s youngsters also play for Nottinghamshire’s county juniors.

This was nothing new for the High School, as their Under 11s have not failed to reach the finals any time in the last eight years, while their Under 9s have won the title on three occasions, but it was a brand new experience for the other two local sides. After six tense rounds the High School A team tied for first place with Garden Suburb; their B team finished equal third, failing to qualify for the finals by the narrowest of margins, along with Foremarke Hall. Not only that, but Jesse Gray, with a team comprised almost entirely of year 5s finished 12th out of 26. The big disappointment, unfortunately, was the fact that the High School under 9s, coached by NPSCA’s Trevor Williams, also finished equal third in their section, which was just not enough to get them in the final again.

The successful Under 11 side comprised: Andrew Garside (West Nottingham), Matthew James, Hari Patel, Arun Maini (West Nottingham), Neel Kothari and Tom Wild (West Nottingham).

Postscript: the finals were held at Brean Sands, Somerset, on 28–29 June. The High School team tied for first place with two other teams; more details when available.

Hawick Congress (7 July)

Drag Sudar

In June Austen Carlton, Mick Harper, Steve Hunter and I went to the Hawick Congress (see also http://www.chess.scotland.co.uk/). The congress is efficiently run and has a relaxed friendly atmosphere. The organisers have always made us feel very welcome (it was the fifth time in six years for Austen and me). Steve and I scored 3/5 and 2½/5 respectively in the U162 (or 1900). Mick was joint first with 4/5 in the U125 (or 1600) in which Austen scored 3/5.

AGM Report (7 July)

This report is based on notes taken by Ian Kingston. It is only a summary of the main decisions and should not be taken as representative of the minutes, which were taken separately. Errors and omissions are possible and will be corrected.

The President reported that progress is being made towards obtaining permanent premises for the NCA. It is possible that the City Council might donate a building that is surplus to requirements.

From the discussion of Robert Richmond’s report as ECF Representative, it was suggested that Notts News could publish more information about ECF activities – see Notts News 2007–08 No. 1 for more about this.

A proposal from Michael Barnes to reduce League fees in view of the NCA’s surplus of £759 was defeated.

The proposed changes to the Constitution were discussed and rejected by the meeting. A detailed discussion of the EC’s Standing Orders also took place, with the meeting in the end opting for some slight modifications to those under which the EC has been operating during its first year of existence.

Moving on to the election of officers: the information page has the details, which mostly show some minor shuffling of responsibilities. However, there were two contested elections. Andrew Walker defeated Michael Barnes in a close vote for Secretary, while Robert Richmond retained the Congress Director’s job following a challenge by Geoff Gibson. The holders of the three main jobs (President, Secretary, Treasurer) are all unchanged. Michael Barnes stepped down as controller of the Handicap KO, which will now be handled under the Special Events portfolio. Ian Kingston stepped down as League Secretary, but no one stepped forward to take on the job. Ian will produce fixtures and the League Handbook on behalf of the LMC, but these may appear later than usual.

Any other business was rushed through in some haste because of the length of the meeting. I don’t recall anything of significance being decided; my notes are non-existent.

Notts News

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

2007–08

Earlier years

2006–07 issues

2005–06 issues