A Life in Check

A nice short and true story about a chess-obssessive in Manhattan.  A warning to us all :-)


Merry Christmas all!

Christmas Cheer

We will be closed on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, but fear not there are all these events to go to to get you through the bleak midwinter:

Coulsdon Christmas Longplay Congress
Hastings Chess Club Christmas Party
Hastings International Chess Congress

Hastings Christmas Party

Hastings are inviting Brighton and Hove players plus guests to their
Christmas Party on 20th December. 

New and improved Events Calendar

I've changed the Events Calendar to a calendar format and included MSCL matches to the end of January, complete with links to MSCL website and venue maps. Will captains please let me know of any date changes for this to function reliably - and anyone else for anything else exciting you'd like added!

PS Now with added e2e4 Gatwick Congresses in February and May 2016!

Knock Out match against the Args.

I thought we were goners arriving at Wednesday night's Knock Out match when it transpired Mikolaj had played in the first division as well as the third, meaning our grading average suddenly shot up by 30 points*. We were still the same underdogs but now minus the grading handicap. Ouch! However Robin overcame his 27 point difference and beat Peter Farr on top board. Paul Selby and I drew and Andrew won against roughly equal competition. Mikolaj was battling on against his 150 opponent on board three - both offering and declining draws - until finally Paul Kington's knight proved superior to Mikolaj's bishop in an equal pawn ending. Still, a good performance and we had beaten the Args. 3-2 with plenty of downtime in the Jolly Tanners (no speculative argy-bargy over unfinished games :-)). We now face Horsham at home in the quarter-finals.

* Ungraded players are estimated according to the highest division they have played in.

First match of the season and first win of the season.

 A confident win in the first match of the season sets us up nicely for the remainder of the season. The score was 4-1. Let's hope we are in the mix as the season draws to a close.

Open Rapidplay

New Open Rapidplay launched which should be of particular interest to new and ungraded members. See Open Rapidplay under Tournaments tab.

Sussex Chess News 2015

Finally I have managed to put the Sussex Chess News file onto the website. You can download it from the pdf file on the Links page.

Digital clocks and time controls

Just a reminder that instructions for setting the digital clocks for league and tournament games are provided under Setting Clocks on the website. In particular the newly introduced alternative for league games, if both players wish it, of the incremental time control (Fischer) - 80 minutes for all moves + 10 second increment per move - is covered. Do ask if you need a demo (e.g. Michael, myself, Rob).

Also, it’s been pointed out that the chess magazines in the library are a valuable resource for the club. Some are in poor condition. To try to preserve these magazines please could you find an alternative to resting on them when recording games. Thank you.

Club Tournaments launched

The club tournaments are now up and running with paper charts up at the club, and online charts on the website so you can see who you have to play and what colour. There's also still the link on the Tournaments page for players to contact their opponents. You can enter your results on the paper charts but they won't be online as it's fiddly to do and more useful to use the online charts as a playing guide. (Anyone missing them should probably get out more or pop down to the club more often :-).) As you can see there are still places left in all three and these will be allocated first come first served. The Club Championship is open to applications from higher graded or aspiring players up to a maximum of nine. The Plummer Knight and Tasker Tankard will close at twelve. Anyone still wanting to play graded games after that will have to put their names down for a possible Open in the New Year, or join the Ladder.

Club Tournaments 2015-16

Thanks to everyone who's renewed their membership this season and put their names down on the tournament list. The tournaments are looking like this at present:

Club Championship: (probably playing both colours)
Julien Carron, Geoff, Callum B., Simon

U140 Plummer Knight:
Terry, Calum S., Jan, Mikolaj, Peter, Alaa 

U120 Tasker Tankard:
Rob, Joe, Sue, Andrew C., Andrew S., James Alvarez, Andrew Wallis 

There are still places left in all three but remember to renew club and ECF membership first (if you've paid recently online I won't know until Geoff's back). See the tournament controller, Andrew Caswill, or me if you have any issues.We hope to have the charts up and running in the club next week.

New season news

Jan has resigned as third team captain due to new work commitments which, together with a slight drop in numbers, means we are only entering four teams and a KO team in the MSCL this season. Paul and Robin will have a team each in the first division and Michael and Andrew, with help from Alaa, a team each in the third. All team matches will be back to Thursday evenings, unless rescheduled for a Saturday. Thanks to Jan for all his time and effort with the third team.

We are planning to follow a Callum-inspired idea with the tournaments this season which should result in a greater variety of opponents and an option to play in two tournaments over the year - think World Cup with two qualifying group tournaments for the championship. If you want to enter please put your name on the list at the club or let Andrew Caswill know before the end of the month. The precise plan will depend on numbers and entering later may not be an option. We will also have a casual Open for both the super-keen and the less committed.

Last year's members remember to renew your membership of the club before 8th October to qualify for the £5 discount (amounts and bank transfer details are on the FAQs page, question 4) and renew your ECF membership if you want to play in anything other than friendlies at the club.

There is a strong rapidplay congress at Crowborough tomorrow for anyone interested, see link on Events Calendar page. 

Vacancy for a team captain

It looks likely we will only have captains for four teams this season unless we have a volunteer. The snag is you either need transport or the support of someone else willing to drive. Please let me know if you're interested or thinking about it as we need to let Julie know fairly soon. Doesn't matter what your grade is, we'll fit you in accordingly.

Dieppe v Brighton 2015

And gentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not there... etc. that played not in Dieppe against the French.

In the simul on Saturday Callum Brewer, Paul Selby, Julian Clark and Michael Cain got draws against Marie Sebag GM, at 2496 the top female player in France and eighteenth in the world, playing thirty boards in two and a half hours, with only one other draw and 25 wins at lightening speed. Our match against the Dieppe team on Sunday was lost 7/5 but as usual we faced a very strong home team so not at all a bad result. I have put the individual results on the Dieppe page of the website as the blog is resistant to forms. This is Michael's video with more pictures to follow:



A really excellent weekend with much food and drink, and fun and games.

Website trimmings and less stress chess

Now the new grades are out I've made some minor changes to the website which include taking members' grades off altogether. They can be easily accessed via the ECF website and I'm concerned we may be discouraging some newer players from becoming, or remaining, members - when I first joined I'm sure there were more casual players and nothing was online. Also it's quite a faff to transpose grids and they often don't behave as they should. I'm thinking of leaving off the  fixtures as well as they're a particular nightmare to get on the page and it's hard to keep them  up-to-date and reliable. Would anybody miss them? The charts might even be in for the chop too as without the chequered grid - which we've been unable to re-produce on the new website - they're both more tricky and less use. Plus I've made the page background darker to make it all easier to read. Let me know if you've any other comments or things you might use the website for, e.g. check out the Dieppe page and the cool Events Calendar we didn't have before. Otherwise - whatever the new grade - relax, wash, purr and enjoy.

Tournaments

The following have been successful in this years tournaments.
  1)   Club Championship.
             1st    Brian Denman     2nd   Geoffrey James    3rd  Callum Brewer
 2)   Plummer Knight
             1st    Julian Clark         2nd   Oli Weiss              3rd  Jan Ten Sythoff
 3)  Tasker Tankard
             1st    Terry Brown        2nd   Rob Counsell        3rd  Alaa Albadin
 4)  Open Tournament.
             Winner:  Chris Lowe
                                   Congratulations.

Sussex Chess News

Items for Sussex Chess News are needed by the deadline of 17th July - send to Mick Plumb, or to me if you have anything you would like including in the B&H report.

Last year's News can be downloaded from here.

MSCL AGM Tuesday 23rd June

Mid-Sussex Chess League AGM tomorrow night at 7:45 at St Mary's Supporters Club, Christie Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1PL. All members of the club are welcome to attend. We have five votes and so far I only know of three people going. At any rate it's a chance to let the voters know your views.

Tournament deadline

Due to last minute requests I have decided to allow the tournament deadline to be extended until Saturday 4th July.

Members analysis session by FM Ezra Kirk, 4th June

Jan has kindly offered to sponsor an analysis session for club members on 4th June. It will be given by Ezra who will be looking at any games people bring. The session will be free to members and will run from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Don't forget to bring your most interesting/confusing games!

McArthur cup final 2015

Hastings & St Leonards were to host Brighton & Hove for the 2015 final. Geoffrey James was to renew a rivalry that stretched back to 1969 when he faced John Sugden. Their opening was a Caro-Kann defence. Geoffrey won an exchange and soon after the game. Brighton & Hove took the lead. Brian Denman was paired with Howard Tebbs. Their game was a Slav defence. This was to end in a draw. Simon Wilks was to play Sussex County Chess Association president Robert Elliston. The game was a Catalan with Simon playing the black side. This ended peacefully in a draw. Julien Carron making his debut for the club was to face Francis Rayner, who has represented Wales apparently. The opening was an Open Sicilian. At the end of a joint time scramble it became apparent Francis had made one move to few. The game was won by the Brighton & Hove player. My game finished next. It had been a Bird's opening. My opponent offered the draw and i accepted. Brighton & Hove now had 3.5 points and could not be caught. Callum Brewer, a promising young player, was playing Rasa Norinkeviciute who has a WFM title. The opening had been a Sicilian defence. Callum won a pawn and with seconds to spare on Callum's clock, Rasa resigned, although mate was inevitable. So the final score was Hastings & St Leonards 1.5 Brighton & Hove 4.5. Brighton & Hove had won the match and retain the McArthur cup.

Hastings 1st Weekend Chess Tournament

Hastings&St Leonards Chess Club are hosting their first weekend chess tournament 30/31st May.
At the the moment four members of the club are hoping to attend.
Full details can be found from their web-site or from our link.

Tournaments

Please can all tournament players ( apart from OT ) arrange to play their remaining games as soon as possible so that all games are completed by 30th June 2015. Many thanks.

Brighton &Hove 1 v Eastbourne 1 and League report

Our last match of the season was against Eastbourne 1. John Henshaw was the first to finish, winning against the Semi-Slav. I drew against John Herbert. Callum Brewer drew a game which had transposed to an Old Indian line. Geoffrey James was next to finish, winning as black against an English set up. Last to finish was Brian Denman drawing in a Sicilian against Oliver Froom. We won this match by 3.5 points to 1.5 points.
  This last match victory enabled us to finish as runners up in Division one. Our overall performance was only slightly worse than previous years.Which was not totally disappointing. Luke Rutherford, a key player was unable to play any part in the season's campaign. We faced formidable opposition this season in a strengthened Worthing team. Both Michael Nicholas and Donald Macfarlane were to prove useful recruits to the Worthing club. Looking at the positives the club gained a strong new player in Simon Wilks. His results this season were very encouraging. On paper we were perhaps a little weaker than last season, but we still threatened for first place. In previous years, this season's
performance from the club, might have clinched the title. This season however it proved to be not quite enough. A strong Worthing side ran out winners and i think justly deserve their title.

Brighton and Hove win Knock Out final

A grading difference of 62 meant we needed 2½ to win the match (a drawn outcome is not possible in the KO, any more than unfinished games). Knock out matches usually go to the stronger team, in spite of the grading handicap - this year's results bear this out with only one upset in seven games. So 62 grading points - we were expecting more - was still enough to wipe us out. Most of the difference was on board one where Callum took on Feliks as black with a board difference of 43. Feliks was already struggling and two pawns down when the snatch of a particularly poisoned pawn led him into a trap and his queen was cornered. Robin narrowly lost a tricky and time-pressured ending on board two with a 20 point difference. Paul S. drew on board three, Michael H. lost on four and Jan won on five. We had 2½. A great result for Callum who is fast becoming one of our strongest players.

Play Online Chess

[Event "KO Final"]
[Site "BHCC"]
[Date "14.5.15."]
[Round ""]
[White "Feliks Kwiatkowski"]
[Black "Callum Brewer"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "209"]
[BlackELO "166"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Bc4 Ngf6 6. Ng5 e6 7. Qe2 Nb6 8.
Bd3 Be7 9. N1f3 O-O 10. O-O h6 11. Ne4 Nbd5 12. Nxf6+ Nxf6 13. c3 b6 14. Bf4
Bb7 15. Rad1 Qc8 16. c4 Rd8 17. Bb1 Ba6 18. b3 c5 19. Be5 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Qc5
21. Rfe1 Rac8 22. Qc2 g6 23. a4 Bb7 24. f3 Rd7 25. Kh1 Rcd8 26. Bxf6 Bxf6 27.
Nb5 Qe5 28. Rf1 Rxd1 29. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 30. Qxd1 a6 31. Na3 Qb2 32. Nc2 Qxb3 33.
Qf1 Bc6 34. h3 Bxa4 35. Kh2 Bc6 36. Qc1 Qxc4 37. Qxh6 Be5+ 38. Kg1 Bf4 0-1

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who's played in the KO this year. As well as last night's team that's Michael C., Terry, Rob, Mustapha and Seb (and me).

*    *    *    *    *

PS The results posted below from the MSCL website use last year's grades which makes the grading difference 74 (with 49 on board one), whereas the results form is preset using the January grades. Rule changes to clarify this are apparently being sought at the MSCL AGM.

14 May		Brighton				Haywards_Heath
1	163	Brewer, Callum D	1	-	0	Kwiatkowski, Feliks J	212
2	163	Jones, Robin A	0	-	1	Boardman, Jeffrey	180
3	161	Selby, Paul R	½	-	½	Cole, Vivian J	169
4	152	Hamilton, Michael J	0	-	1	Faulkner, Martin J	161
5	129	Ten Sythoff, Jan	1	-	0	Fitzgerald, Neil A	120
grade diff:	-74		2.5		2.5
		Required to win:	2.5		3

MSCL results and final game of the season

The end of the season is nigh and results are in. Paul's first team came second to Worthing this year, due in part to a couple of Knoll Knights having trotted over to support Worthing when their team disbanded last year. Robin's second team won division two by three game points so will be facing tough opposition in division one next season. Jan's third team looks like slipping back into the third division, where they will be joined next season by Michael's fourth team coming up, having won the fourth division with ease winning every match bar one. Andrew's fifth team held a respectable centre position in the fourth division on four out of eight. So particular congratulations to the second and fourth teams who are this year's winners in the see-saw fortunes of the Mid-Sussex League.

Meanwhile the keenly-awaited final of the Knock Out Competition - the absolute last match of the season - will be held at Brighton and Hove this evening as we take on last year's winners and KO favourites, Haywards Heath. An exciting match is anticipated where our rising talent take on the heavyweights of Mid-Sussex - all games to be finished on the night by quickplay.

NEW WEBSITE COMING SOON - watch this space!

Kevin AWOL

Hello fellow members,

It's a shame I haven't seen much of you all lately but life has been busy (in a good way) with a newish job and moving house . I won't be available for chess matches until mid-May, so I'll schedule my remaining PK matches between then and the end of June.

NB For the moment my landline number is suspended, I am hoping to get the same number when I move house but that's not certain yet. In the meantime, my e-mail address and mobile number are still correct as per the club contact list.

Cheers, Kevin.

1st Weekend Hastings Chess Tournament

Dear Chess Players,

This link will provide you with the details of a new venture by the Hastings Club to provide regular weekend chess tournaments for local players (and anyone else of course), provided there is interest from chess players in the region.

The ambiance of our renowned chess club, using chess sets for the most part with over a hundred years of history (still in good condition!), the relative ease of access to the club and reasonable cost of entry may be something that local chess players will be able to take advantage of. We do hope that players from all over Sussex, and elsewhere, will be able to have an enjoyable weekend of chess at our club on a fairly regular basis.

With my best wishes,

Jeremy H

No more Wednesdays and NB Saturdays

Please note that our Wednesday evenings have come to an end and we are back to just Thursdays and Saturdays.

Also if you are still at the club after 6:00 on a Saturday please check there is a keyholder present - if not you run a slight risk of being locked in until Monday. (Current keyholders are Andrew, Geoff, Rob and Sue. At least one keyholder is normally present and will warn you if they are leaving.)

Weekend activities

There're still plenty of internal club tournament games left to play but, if you fancy going further afield, there's a

Time Handicap Tournament at Hastings this weekend

and an Easter Long Play Congress at Coulsden next weekend.

Tough match for first team against Worthing 1

Last Thursday we entertained a strong Worthing side in the Mid-Sussex League. The Worthing juggernaut had been mowing down all the opposition this season sometimes by a large margin and we knew that we would face a stern test. Worthing were without Donald Macfarlane for the match, but they had a good substitute in Peter Larwood.

Geoffrey James was our best player on the night and he won a positional game against Chris Jones. The other game to finish that evening saw Paul Batchelor lose against Peter Larwood.

That left three unfinished games which all ended in draws. David Graham missed a win against me and Mike Nicholas appeared to be much better at one time against Simon Wilks. John Henshaw's game against Keith Homeyard was the last to be declared drawn. The two players had previously only played each other once and that was as long as 39 years ago!

The match was therefore drawn, though we would have to admit that, if Worthing had taken their chances, we would have lost. We have now 6.5 points out of 8, while Worthing have the same number of points from 7 games. Our last match is against Eastbourne, but, even if we run out winners, we are unlikely to win the league.

First team win against Horsham 1

Last Tuesday we gained an excellent 3.5 to 1.5 win against Horsham first team. Horsham has a vibrant club, which can always be relied upon to provide stern opposition. Wins were obtained by Paul and me, while Simon, Geoffrey and John drew their games. This means that we have now won five and drawn two of our seven games. Although this is a good sequence of results, it has been eclipsed by the performances of the strong Worthing team, who have won every match so far. We play Worthing next week which match could decide the league. However, unfortunately it is likely that matters are not entirely within our hands and, even if we were to win our last two matches, we might still miss out on retaining our title.

Brighton players win at Bexhill

Six of us had a really fun time in Bexhill at the weekend - the results of three winners can be seen here. The event, at 39, was one entrant short of break-even, but more will follow - perhaps with hot dinners - and is worth supporting if we want local tournaments to happen post-e2e4. Congrats to Mustapha, Simon and Seb who - apart from the 13 year old girl who won it - took the top spots.

Bexhill chess last call

Well it's never the last call actually but just a reminder about the five round tournament coming up this weekend.
Three sections U2200, U1900 and U120 ECF.
Juniors can play for £20 and there is £5 off for local club members.
Thirty entries so far so a decent attendance will ensure some worthwhile and fun chess.
Entries at
http://www.sussexweekendchess.blogspot.co.uk/p/latest-entries.html

Ne le manquez pas!
Jeremy Hudson

End of the junior tuition classes

Attendances at the junior tuition classes have dwindled since Christmas and for the last two sessions there were more organisers present than students. I have therefore decided reluctantly to end the classes about a month earlier than originally intended. I should like to thank Sue, Andrew and Robin for the help that they have given me.

NB Wednesdays are still available to adult members but there will no longer be a guaranteed presence for anyone just turning up. Still useful for arranging your tournament games though and still some league matches to be played.  Sue

Wednesday rooms

This Wednesday 18th there will be a meeting in the through room (not ours) and any tournament players should use the poker room. There aren't any team matches being played.

Next Wednesday 25th is the KO semi-final which will be held in the match room - i.e. the back room, now set up with our match tables - and any tournament games can be played at the front. The poker room will be being used by overflow bridge players.

In both cases the library can be used as the analysis/friendly room.

Ezra's coaching sessions

Ezra gave eight of us an enjoyable free analysis session on Wednesday. He plans to start a regular group session in about a month if there is enough interest. The cost per person will depend on the numbers interested but it will be drop-in each time - Wednesdays in March, reverting to Thursdays after Easter. He will also be available for individual coaching @ £20 an hour. If you are interested in either or both please email Ezra directly. (The group coaching is for club members only - join for £25 after Easter.)

1st team wins against Horsham 2

Yesterday we won our Mid-Sussex League fixture against Horsham 2 by the score of 3.5 to 1.5. 14 year old Callum Brewer made his debut for the first team and gained an impressive win. John and Paul also did well to win. I drew my game and Geoffrey lost. This means that we have now won four and drawn two of our six games. To stand a chance of retaining our league title we would probably have to win all three of our remaining matches and this involves playing against some very strong opposition.

Brighton reach the final of the McArthur Cup

Yesterday we travelled to Haywards Heath to play our game in the semi-final of the McArthur Cup. Last week we had drawn with our opponents in the Mid-Sussex League, but this time we recorded a 4-2 win in the six board competition. Wins were obtained by Simon, Geoffrey and Paul. John and I drew our games while Chris lost. We now play the winners of Horsham and Hastings in the final.

Tournaments

Hopefully members can arrange some tournament games over the next few weeks. It is best we do not leave too many to play at the last minute.
I would recommend members aim to have all games completed by the end of May. This prevents any last minute problems occurring near the deadline of 30th June..
This does not apply to the OT tournament which runs until the end of August.

Places to go in February

Two local tournaments coming up this month:

7th Portsmouth Congress  20th - 22nd February

Bexhill Weekend Chess Tournament  28th February - 1st March

and, for new members, you only need five results now to get an ECF grade in August - either of these would do.

A draw for the first team against Haywards Heath 1

Just as in our match at Hastings last weekend we struggled to make an impression against Haywards Heath first team. Wins were obtained by John and Paul and losses by Simon and Geoffrey. My own game ended in a draw. This means that we have four points out of five in the league, but we need to improve rapidly to stand a chance of winning the competition. We do it all again against Haywards Heath in the McArthur Cup next week, when the match will be played over six boards.

Free Group Lesson with FM Ezra Kirk, 2330 elo

Ezra is going to hold a free group coaching session next Wednesday 4th February at 7:45 pm. The session will last about two hours and is open to members only. You may bring interesting games for analysis and Ezra will bring some of his. Content will depend on numbers attending but if you have any suggestions please email Ezra.

January grades

New grades are out, see updated Members page of the club website.

Off the mark for 3rd team

Finally half a point scored for the third team last night vs Lewes 2, following four straight losses (the last three were close though at 2-3!)

A draw for first team against Hastings 1

Last Saturday we travelled down to Hastings for a Mid-Sussex League match against old rivals Hastings. Like last season the match ended in a draw. Hastings were without Bernard Cafferty who is ill. I myself played against Francis Rayner, a Welsh international, and declined an offer of a draw after about twenty moves, when I was pressing for an advantage. After the match I greatly regretted that I had not accepted the offer as a horrendous move of mine about ten moves later completely compromised my position after which my opponent won efficiently. Simon fell victim to the experienced Howard Tebbs, who played a fine game. Howard's London System has given him a lot of success against strong players in particular. On board three Geoffrey played what was probably his best game this season as he won against promising junior Ollie Willson after establishing a strong bind on the position from the opening. Paul came up against the experienced John Sugden and at the end of the game had a slightly worse position, though the blocked nature of the pieces resulted in a draw. John Henshaw won against Paul Kelly in a game in which one side of the board was completely blocked for a while. I was dreading that the other side of the board might also be blocked (!), but John did well to turn his extra space into a win. This means that we have so far recorded three wins and a draw in our four matches.

Winter Wednesdays

Just a reminder we are still open on Wednesdays from 7:00 pm until 25th March (in addition to Thursdays and Saturdays). Next Wednesday the second team are playing Lewes 2 and the fourth team are playing Woodpushers 2. All welcome.