News – 2017–18

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.

GDPR (26th May)

Pending work related to this, all contacts for officers and clubs have been temporarily removed. If you need to contact the NCA, please use secretary@nottschess.org for the time being.

Letter to primary school leavers (20th May)

The Junior Committee of the Nottinghamshire Chess Association is sending letters to Year 6s and their parents to advise them on how they can continue playing chess when they move to secondary school. The letter is available to download.

News for juniors (20th May)

Issue 8 (May 2018) of the newsletter is now available. Please go to the news page for all the issues of the newsletter.

General Meeting Supporting Documents (20th May)

The General Meeting of the Notts Chess Association (inc RRM) will take place on Tuesday 29th May at the West Nottingham CC venue. A number of supporting documents are being circulated in advance of the meeting. These are as follows:

Nottingham Congress (29th Apr)

Alan Merry (International Master) wins the OPEN, in a field including 3 Grandmasters and one other International Master. First ever wins against Grandmasters for Jonah Willow (West Nottingham) and Shyam Modi (Leicester). Other section winners - MAJOR Robert Clegg (Huddersfield) & David Lees (Stamford) , INTERMEDIATE Patrick Reid (Braunstone) , MINOR Joseph Wright (University) Full Results

Best Games and Best Swindle Prizes (22nd Apr)

I invite you to send me your best games played under NCA auspices this season (since the end of May 2017). This means any game played in the Notts League, the County Championship, the Nottingham Congress or Rapidplay, or for a County Team. (Given that computer assistance is allowed, correspondence games are excluded. Although, if you’ve played a good one, I’d be happy to publish it with the other entries).

As usual, there is an open prize and an U140 prize. We are also reviving a Best Swindle prize, which is open to all. The prize for each is £15.

Please email entries to me by the end of May, preferably in PGN or ChessBase format, but photocopied score-sheets or typed up games are acceptable too. You can include comments and/or analysis if you wish.

Steve Burke

Executive Committee meeting minutes (22nd Apr)

The minutes for the Executive Committee meeting held on 13th April are now available to view on the website.

News for juniors (15th Apr)

Issue 7 (April 2018) of the newsletter is now available. Please go to the news page for all the issues of the newsletter.

Congress Announcement (4th Apr)

Free entry to GM's, IM's, WGM's and WIM's.

Message from Robert Richmond, Congress Director

News for juniors (18th Mar)

A regular newsletter is being published to keep you up-to-date with all the latest local events suitable for juniors. Issue 6 (March 2018) of the newsletter is now available. Please look at the news page for all the issues of the newsletter.

Notts Correspondence Chess (11th Mar)

Nottinghamshire have raised a team this season to play in division 3 of the County & District Correspondence Chess Championship (C & DCCC). Phil Morgan looks at the progress of the team so far. Full Report

University 4 withdrawn from Division 5 (25th Feb)

University have withdrawn their 4th team from Division 5 due to a lack of players. All of their results will stand, and their remaining fixtures will be recorded as 4-0 losses.

General Meeting of the Notts Chess Association (incl RRM) on Tuesday 29th May (11th Feb)

The meeting will be held at 7:30 pm, in the main hall at Bramcote Memorial Hall (West Nottingham CC Venue), Church Street, Bramcote, Nottingham NG9 3HD.

The main business is expected to concern the League Rules, but this is not exclusive of other matters.

In order that I can produce and issue the agenda ahead of the meeting (in accordance with the constitution) please submit any proposed alterations to the constitution, committee standing orders or league rules, or any other proposals or items for discussion, to me by the end of April.

Steve Burke, Secretary

Executive Committee meeting minutes (11th Feb)

The minutes for the Executive Committee meeting held on 19th January is now available to view on the website.

Experience Versus Youth (3rd Feb)

Phil Morgan reflects on the recent Nottingham Rapidplay and how junior players faired against older and more experienced opponents in the major section. Full Article

Nottingham Rapidplay (3rd Feb)

Mark Hebden (Syston) won the open section with a score of 5½/6. Drag Sudar (Gambit) and Armaan Gogia (West Nottingham) were joint winners of the major section with a score of 5½/6. The intermediate section was won by Peter Damms (Louth) with a score of 5½/6. Joseph Wright (University) and Joseph Ward-Langham (Market Harborough) won the minor section with a score of 5/6. Full Results

Stan Cranmer (4/10/30 – 20/1/18) (27th Jan)

Sadly Stan passed away recently after a short illness. I’m sure many of you will have good memories of meeting him across the board or as a teammate. He will certainly be missed at our club. Read full obituary.

His funeral is at 1.00pm on Friday, February 9, at the Mansfield Crematorium if you would like to attend. Afterwards there will be a wake at a local pub. If you would like to go there too, please could you contact Trevor Lewis, who is collating information for the family on our behalf.

Ashfield Chess Club

Midland Open Rapid & Blitz (7th Jan)

The Midland Open Rapid & Blitz will be held on 17-18 February at Holiday Inn Birmingham Walsall, 20 Wolverhampton Road, Walsall, WS2 0BS. There will be four 9-round Rapid sections and a 9-round Blitz tournament. The prize fund for the tournament is £2,680.

For full details, including the online entry form and a downloadable entry form, please visit the MCCU website.

Inter-County Matches Roundup (7th Jan)

Nottinghamshire played Leicestershire in the U100 Championship and Minor Championship last month but unfortunately they lost both matches.

Results
Minor Leicestershire 9½-5½ Nottinghamshire Full Results
U100 Leicestershire 7½-4½ Nottinghamshire Full Results

Nottinghamshire County Championship (20th Dec)

The 2017/18 County Champion is Jim Burnett (Mansfield) with a score of 4½/5. Full Results

Grantham Train De-Railed (5th Dec)

Phil Morgan takes a look at the latest results in the league. The Grantham teams have faltered in their recent matches which has allowed the other teams to catch them up. Full Article

Inter-County Matches Roundup (17th Nov)

The minor team beat Warwickshire by a score of 10-6 in their opening match of the season. The U160 team also had a good start to the season with a 9-7 victory against Greater Manchester. The U140 team narrowly beat Derbyshire by a score of 8½-7½. The U120 team lost to Warwickshire by a score of 6½-5½.

Results
Minor Nottinghamshire 10-6 Warwickshire Full Results
U160 Nottinghamshire 9-7 Greater Manchester Full Results
U140 Nottinghamshire 8½-7½ Derbyshire Full Results
U120 Nottinghamshire 5½-6½ Warwickshire Full Results

Advantage Mansfield (5th Nov)

Phil Morgan looks at the results from recent fixtures in the top division of the Notts League. Grantham have won the league for the past 8 seasons but with their recent defeat to Mansfield the title race has been thrown open. Full Article

Executive Committee meeting minutes (5th Nov)

The minutes for the Executive Committee meeting held on 13th October is now available to view on the website.

Scarborough Congress (5th Nov)

A number of Notts players took part in the Scarborough Congress this year. Mike Barnes (Gambit) and Jonah Willow (West Notts) both scored 3½/5 in the open section. Jonah won £50 for being the joint best junior. Kevin Simpson (Mansfield) scored 3½/5 in the major section. Here is a list of all the Notts players for this competition (all scores out of 5):

Nottinghamshire Competitions (8th Oct)

The online entry forms are now available to use for the County Championship, Rapidplay and Congress competitions. You can also download pdf versions of the entry forms if you prefer to enter by post.

Competition Date Paper Entry Form Online Entry Form
County Championship 2-3 Dec 2017 Download Entry Form Enter Online
Nottingham Rapidplay 28 Jan 2018 Download Entry Form Enter Online
Nottingham Congress 21-22 Apr 2018 Download Entry Form Enter Online

If you have any problems with the online entry forms please contact the webmaster. For any general enquiries about the competitions please contact the organiser.

Executive Committee Meeting to be held 13th October (7th Oct)

If anyone has NCA matters to raise with the EC, or would like to attend, please let me know as soon as possible.

Steve Burke

2020 Chess Midlands Qualifier (7th Oct)

The upcoming 2020 Chess Midlands Qualifier takes place at Birmingham University on Sunday 22nd October. This is a 5 round team rapid-play. Each team consists of four players. The entry fee is £5 for students/under 18 and £10 per adult. There are plenty of prizes up for grabs. For more details please go to the 2020 chess website.

Plus ca change (7th Oct)

Phil Morgan looks at the results from the opening fixtures of the season and writes about the strength and depth of teams. Full Article

Staffordshire Congress (30th Sep)

The Staffordshire Congress took place on 16-17th September. Jonah Willow (West Notts) came equal first in the open section with a score of 3½/5 and won £112.50 in prize money. Hambel Willow (West Notts) scored 1½/5 in the major section and Joseph Hurst (West Notts) scored 3/5 in the minor section.

MCCU Congress (30th Sep)

The MCCU Congress took place on 11-13th August. Chris Fraser (West Bridgford) won the minor section with a perfect score of 5/5 and received £250 in prize money. Armaan Gogia (West Notts) scored 1½/5 in the major section. In the minor section Vidura Mendis (West Notts) scored 2½/5 and Arjuna Mendis (West Notts) scored 1/5.

British Championships (30th Sep)

This year the British Championships was held at Llandudno, a coastal town in North Wales. The competition took place between 28th July and 6th August. Chris Fraser (West Bridgford) won the U120 Championship with a score of 4½/5 and received £240 in prize money. Armaan Gogia (West Notts) scored 5/7 in the Under 14 Championship and received £20 in prize money. He also won a grading prize in the U140 Championship. Here are the results for all the Notts players who took part in the competition:

New Season (20th Aug)

Phil Morgan looks ahead at the new season. He discusses a new club joining the league, the reshuffle of existing club teams in the various divisions and some player transfers. Full Article

Fantasy Football (8th Aug)

Message from Neil Graham

Neymar might be worth £200 million but luckily he's not available for this year's Fantasy Football. If you're a budding Klopp or Koeman it's time to join the Premier Chess Fantasy Football League. Joining code for this year is 1506967-360799. Just one rule - all managers must give their correct name - no pseudonyms please!

The Big Hitters (6th Aug)

With the new grading list coming out in July Phil Morgan looks at the highest graded players in the Notts League and speculates what could happen in the forthcoming season. Full Article

CWANG 2017 (6th Aug)

The annual CWANG event was held in July at the usual venue. Mansfield emerged as the winners on 29½ points. Full Report

Best Game Prizes 2016-17 (6th Aug)

The winners were Michael Milford for the U140 section and Paul Cumbers for the Open. A report is available on the website. The report inclues all the games that were entered, with analysis and comments.

League Management Committee Meeting (6th Aug)

Following the AGM, the new LMC met to decide various aspects of preparation for the new season. The minutes (including the divisional structure for the new season) are now available on the website.

Annual General Meeting 2017 (6th Aug)

The meeting was held on 17th July and the minutes are now available on the website.

Triple Attack (6th Aug)

Marcel Taylor had a good win in the recent U140 county match final. The following article looks at a key position from the game and discusses the winning move. Full Article

Inter-County Finals (9th Jul)

Only one Nottinghamshire team made it through to the finals stage of the County Championships. The U140 team played against Lancashire in the final and lost 9-7. The match was decided on the middle boards. Full Results

News for juniors

2017–18