auction

hi all. just a quick reminder about the auction this saturday, 2.30pm. maybe people would like to bring along any donated items this thursday, giving potential bidders a chance to view the wares before the big day. this is completely optional of course, and we will be delighted to offer up anything that is brought along on the day. also, just a reminder that you are more than welcome to set a reserve price on anything you bring along.

Sunningdale

Great result Mustapha, well done!   Anthony, you are too modest, 3/5 is a good score, I suspect your tournament rating would be above your grade.

Tournaments ( 2011-2012 )

Members ( graded > 150 ) have another month to enter the Club Championship Tournament. The format of this tournament has yet to be decided.
The other tournaments will be displayed in the club after the auction on Saturday 1st October. Players will then be able to arrange their matches.

First place for Mustapha Othman in the Sunningdale Major

A fine performance by Mustapha who took equal first place with 4.5 points. Games from the Open and Major sections of e2e4 congresses can be viewed online (e.g. http://e2e4.org.uk/sunningdale/Sept2011/index.htm, then scroll to bottom of page) – fortunately not from the Minor section, sparing my regular embarrassment.

2011-12 MSCL Fixtures

The new fixtures list is now up on the Fixtures page. As you can see we have just five teams this year to make sure we can get to all our away matches easily - last year proved to be a bit of a struggle at times with six teams. (If you think we should have six teams to give more players a chance of playing for the league, it's drivers we're short of not players. Another regular driver is all we need to revert to six teams next year. Volunteer if you can.)

Please will captains let me know of any re-arrangements as they happen so the list is always bang up to date. It's also useful to know which teams will be playing at home on any particular date. Thanks.

New Clocks !

I will be at the Club this Saturday to explain how the New Chess Clocks work and how to set them up for match play.Any Captains,Team players, or Internal Tournament players welcome.These are the six new clocks purchased from Club Funds. Endorsed by Vladimir Kramnik.Come along if intersteted and i will do my best to help you understand how to operate these clocks.

Auction appetite whetter

I've got some chess items to go under the hammer (assuming I can find them) one of which is a Mephisto Advanced Travel Chess Computer (click for link) and comes in the original box.  As I now have rather a lot of computer gadgets that can play chess this has seen little use but it may be of interest if you don't have a computer or like to get away from screens for a while! It was rated 160BCF which I think is the old grading so it may be rated a bit higher, I will probably put a small reserve on this.

I would just like to add my thanks to Luke for his amazing performance on Saturday, I felt like I was being blitzed!

Luke's simul last Saturday

We had a very enjoyable simul with Luke on Saturday with eighteen people taking part. Luke whizzed round faster than a lot of us could think and still managed to win all but two: Chris Lowe won his game and Peter Benson managed a draw. Congrats and thanks again to Luke.

Tournaments

Entry for the tournaments will close on Saturday 24th September. The tournament charts will then be displayed in the club at the end of the auction on Saturday 1st October. Members should then be able to arrange their matches.
If any member is unable to be at the club and would like to enter a tournament please contact myself before Saturday 24th either via email or message on my answer phone ( 01273 699335)

auction

hi all. the auction is now to be held on sat october 1st at 2.30pm. please bring along anything you think others may be interested in, chess items especially welcome. you are more than welcome to set a reserve price on anything you donate. the money raised will be going towards a heavy curtain and rail to help with sound-proofing between the chess rooms. please come along and help make this event a success, have some fun, and pick up a bargain.

The view from across the water translated (quickly)

Olivier (italics are mine):

We quickly gained the first points with Marc and Jean-Pierre and we had two good positions with our young guns Guillaume and Arnaud but their attacks were stopped and they missed out on the points (NDLR: Dieppe wash-up showed how myself and Kevin dealt with the fast-playing tactic-totin' youngsters).

It was all to redo and fortunately Adrien and Jean-Charles drew slightly inferior positions.

Ouf (untranslatable outtake of breath), we regained the advantage with Richard who had to defend against an opponent keen to sac material (!). His attack was not sufficient. The games left were those of Yvain and Olivier which were not obvious how to play, Alain had an extra pawn in a better position and Gaetan had a positional advantage in a complex game and Cyril who was standing in for Yann had a crushing position and he won. Bravo.

Things were going well, we still needed a point and after more than 3 hours of playing, Gaetan blundered and Alain accepted a draw from his opponent. The score at this point: 4:3 in our favour.

At this moment in the match, Yvain and Olivier, suffering from fatigue, both had positions which were not easy to manage. We had some doubts, Yvain swapped queens and some pieces and reached an endgame with rook and opposite coloured bishop. My feelings were that the game was heading towards a draw.

So there I was on my own with an opponent who had managed a draw yesterday against Grandmaster Wirig. I could not afford to lose. I offered the exchange of queens and rook f4, a move I had not anticipated and I took several minutes and I ascertained it was not the correct move and I took advantage in a tactical position, the exchange up, a rook at first and zeitnot (each?) with 2 minutes less for my opponent and I knew he was fallen.

Victory fell on us and cheers to our English friends who accepted battle until the very end.

And see Echiquier Dieppois for a view from the other side.

Michael's Dieppe photos

More of Michael's photo collection, featuring the classic car rally and life beyond the matches.......  

Dieppe pictures

Susan has posted what she feels are the best of the pictures she took over the weekend, you can view them by clicking on the link below.  If anyone would rather have their picture removed just let me know, likewise if anyone would like a copy we are happy to oblige.

http://flickr.com/gp/dylanthedog/55sFx4/

PS There is a button to the right of the titles that will run a slideshow, and the last picture is actually a video of the closing speech by Olivier (I think).

(Actually the new president of Dieppe, Gaetan. ed.)
Oops, sorry Gaetan!  Fast work Sue, I just came back to add the label.

The Dieppe Trip 2011

A fantastic weekend was had by all in Dieppe. Thanks to the French for their generous hospitality and wonderful good-humour over the weekend. Thanks also to John Smuts for numerous phone calls to the hotel in advance of the trip and for helping us all with translations throughout the visit.

On Saturday we played French GM Anthony Wirig 2499 who was playing on 24 boards. He won on all but two, drawing with Paul Batchelor and a young French player, Paul reaching a position that looked a lock-down of immovable pawns and frustrated bishops. Rob Counsell held out the longest before getting outmanoeuvred in the one-to-one, an exciting finish that was applauded by the mass of spectators.

On Sunday afternoon we played a twelve board match at which we were heavily outgraded. We were not hopeful and fearful of a whitewash. However determined play produced a very close match. The results are below. Particular congratulations are due to those who overcame a large grading difference to achieve their result.

We shall be going over some of the games on the analysis board this Thursday for everyone who would like to see them, hopefully with some analysis from Geoff.

EXCITING STUFF - COME AND WATCH!

DIEPPE			BRIGHTON
YVAIN BOIZANTE	2165	½-½	GEOFF JAMES	2210
OLIVIER DELABARRE	2018	1-0	PAUL BATCHELOR	2000
ADRIEN CECCALDI	1900	½-½	MICHAEL CAIN	1688
RICHARD LEFEBVRE	1932	1-0	ARTHUR DE SILVER	1608
ARNAUD PLESSIS	1930	0-1	JOHN SMUTS	1608
JEAN-PIERRE GUILLAUMAT	1898	1-0	GRANT MINSHULL	1592
ALAIN MELIOT	1862	½-½	CARL RABEY	1536
GUILLAUME LEHANRANGER	1797	0-1	KEVIN GEE	1536
GAETAN DEREGNAUCOURT	1631	0-1	BOB DAVIES	1512
MARC ROUSSELIN	1629	1-0	ROB COUNSELL	1464
JEAN-CHARLES LANNAUD	1541	½-½	SUE CHADWICK	1456
CYRIL LEHARANGER	1450	1-0	ANDREW CASWILL	1448
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