Christmas

We are closed on Christmas Day and Saturday 27th. We are open on New Year's Day, although anyone at a loose end may well be at Hastings instead.

Technically brilliant!

As most of you will know by now Sina Krause won her title match in October to become the Women's National Chessboxing Champion. Known in the ring as Zena the Technician, Sina joined us in the summer for the chess practice. You can hear her talking about the other side of things on Saturday Live on 15th November - listen from 37 to 43 minutes to hear the chessboxing piece. We are enormously proud to have her as one of only three women we currently have in the club. For more see LONDON CHESSBOXING.

Victorious first outing for knock-out team

There are ten teams playing in the MSCL knock-out handicap this season and the first time Brighton and Hove have entered a team. For finish-on-the-night three hour game enthusiasts this is essentially the one to join - no adjournments to alien computers or adjudications by ingenious experts, and no post-match negotiations before you lose on time in ten days rather than ten seconds. No - it's easy-peasy done and dusted, and captains can sleep in their beds, happy in the knowledge that a nightmare of neglected admin. won't wake them sweating in the night.

Tea and biscuits are for sissies in Staplefield where 'refreshments' are taken seriously. A merry time was had by all as our four-person team defeated theirs by 2½-1½ (with a default on board 5). The dreaded QPF wasn't needed by Rob who was first to win. The other three boards, on digital clocks, tried all moves in 60 minutes with a 30 second increment from move one. This seemed to work well, in spite of the automatic additions being somewhat baffling for an Arg. not used to digital. I was keen to try this, or, as it turned out, observe this and the Args. only needed the clocks to gamely give it a go.

		Argumentatives	KO 1		Brighton	KO 1
	Grade	Player	Result		Player	Grade
1.	159	Graham, Jim	1/2	1/2	Jones, Robin	163
2.	154	Kington, Paul	1	0	Cain, Michael	125
3.	105	Collard, Dennis	0	1	Brown, Terry	113
4.	102	Garson, Mike	0	1	Counsell, Robert	112

Hard-earned win for first team at Lewes

Last Tuesday our first team travelled to Lewes for a Mid-Sussex League match. Our hosts were without their first three nominated players including Dominic Lawson, the new ECF president. However, the match was very close and most of our players struggled to make an impact. In the end we scraped through 3-2. Wins were obtained by John, Simon and me while Paul and Geoffrey lost. A difficult match was followed by a difficult journey back. When we reached the outskirts of Lewes, we found that the road to Brighton was blocked. This meant that we had to take a long detour and we travelled north of the Downs through Ditchling. Normally there would have been some nice scenery to observe, but it was dark and the roads were wet. However, as we climbed over Ditchling Beacon there was a good view of the lights of the AMEX stadium in the distance.

World Chess Championship 2014 - watch games live !!!!

Hi Brighton Chess Club,

Carlson Vs Anand

You can watch the World Chess Championship rematch LIVE!!!!  using there either of these 2 links;

1. Offical Site:

World Chess Championship 2014 Calson Vs Anand Live

OR (better)

2. Chess Network Commentry;

chessnetwork

Enjoy

Thanks

Michael 

Dominic Lawson - Across The Board

Watch & Listen to Series 2 of Five games played by Dominic Lawson

including Magnus Carlson.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mb80d#programme-broadcasts

Also Dont forget Calson is Playing Anand on Saturday in the start of the World Chess Champ rematch.

Come on Vishy...   ;-) 

Enjoy

Thanks

Michael

Wednesday club nights

So we don't waste our Wednesday nights, which are paid for to the end of March, there will be at least one or two committee members there for the next few weeks for anyone who'd like to come on Wednesday for an ordinary club night. Some home matches are scheduled (12th and 26th November) and other matches or just casual play are welcome. This guarantee extends from 7:00 to 8:00 pm. We're trying the extra night because of the lack of space on match nights last season - so this is a test to see whether we can sustain three meetings a week - at least in winter. Brian Denman also runs a junior class on Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:00 which could still take one or two more younger players. So, if you prefer your fireworks over the chess board....... take refuge on Wednesday.

Club Tournaments 2014-15

The Club Championship, Plummer Knight and Tasker Tankard are now online.

There will be no Denman Cup this year, but a standard play Mega Open on the noticeboard at the club and the Rapidplay Ladder which will remain open to regular players and new members. These will allow the more casual player to play graded games against a wide range of graded and ungraded opponents. This is slightly experimental so we shall see if copes better with the comings and goings at the club. Join them if you're unsure how many graded games you want to play.

Don't forget you can now arrange with your opponent to play matches on a Wednesday night until the end of March. This should suit those who want to be sure of a table and a quiet room to play their match. But this is also experimental and won't be repeated unless it proves worthwhile, so - use it or lose it - like the corner shop.

Good start to the season for Brighton 1

Last night we won 3.5 to 1.5 in our home fixture against Crowborough 1. The visitors were without county president, Robert Elliston, but we are still missing our normal top board player, Luke Rutherford, through illness. We welcomed to the side a strong player in Simon Wilks. Wins were obtained by Geoffrey James and Paul Batchelor, and John Henshaw, Simon Wilks and I drew our games. This was a good start to the season, but many hard matches lie ahead.

First match of the season

On WEDNESDAY 22nd October we have our first match of the season when Robin's team - 2nd - are at home to Jan's - 3rd. This is also our first Wednesday match night! Please come and watch if you like and there should be space to play as well. We need to make use of Wednesday nights if we want to keep them.

The following day the first team are playing Crowborough 1.

Club Tournaments 2014 -15

We are proposing to run three all-play-all tournaments this year with an Open Tournament in addition.

The Open Tournament is open to all and there is no requirement to play all your games as there may be up to 24 entrants. The tournament chart is already on the notice board and will not be online. This will remain open to new entrants and is for new and ungraded members, members who can't commit to play 10/11 games and members who want to play more than 10/11 games.

Open Tournament Rules: To make this work all entrants must respond to challenges - you can't be picky about your opponents. You can, however, drop out at any time. Also you are under no obligation to set up matches and can just wait to be asked if you prefer. Contact details of entrants are on the noticeboard by the chart.

So far: 14 entrants. This competition is already underway.

All-Play-Alls These are more serious tournaments open to graded players committed to playing  a maximum of 10/11 matches before the end of June. Withdrawal is only permitted under exceptional circumstances (so as not to spoil the competition for the others).

Club Championship: over 160 with a maximum of five players playing each other twice.

So far: Brian, Mustapha, Callum, Geoff

Plummer Knight: 120-160 with a maximum of six players playing each other twice.

So far: Oli W., Julian, Jan, Peter, Kevin, Neil

Tasker Tankard: under 120 with a maximum of twelve players playing each other once.

So far: Rob, Andrew C., Oli L., Alaa, Andrew S., Sue, Bob, Terry, Grant

All entrants to all internal tournaments must be current members of both the club and the ECF. All the above are standard play and will be graded.

Please contact Andrew, see post below, or me for any issues or late entries.

Tournaments

  The OT is now running. Members (with ECF membership) can join at anytime throughout the year.
  The other tournaments will soon be running. Entry to these is limited. Members are expected to play all their games in these tournaments. If you have not signed up at the club and you wish to enter you can contact me via email or phone 01273 699335. You need to be a member of the ECF and please contact me asap (as soon as possible).

Thursday 2nd October at 7:45 pm: Talk on Chess Problems

On Thursday 2nd October we are privileged to be welcoming Michael Lipton who has very kindly offered to give us a talk on chess problems. He is a past president of the British Chess Problem Society and a FIDE IM of chess problem composition. He is a retired Sussex University professor who is hoping for a game or two after his talk so I hope we will have some talent to take him on. The talk is free to members so please come along to this quite unique event. Please come in time for a 7:45 start.

My name is Chris Donlan and I write for Eurogamer, a games website based in Brighton. I was wondering if anybody attached to the club would like to spend an hour in our offices at some point playing a PC game called Chess 2, which expands on chess in some interesting ways. Ideally, I'd like to interview someone who really knows about chess to find out what they make of the game.

Please contact christian.donlan@eurogamer.net if interested.

IMPORTANT SUBSCRIPTION NOTICE FOR RETURNING MEMBERS

Subscriptions for returning members are still £50 ( £30 concessions) at the moment until 7th October, after which it will rise to the new rate or £55 ( £35 concessions).  Please pay promptly to get the discount.  You can pay any committee member ( if cash ask for a receipt), or by cheque payable to the club, or by bank transfer - see details on the application form under Membership on the website.

Geoff

Tuition classes for juniors

I am planning to start free tuition classes for juniors from about the ages of 7-14 at the Avenue Bridge Club on Wednesday 1st October from 6-7 p.m. It is hoped that these classes will then continue on a weekly basis until March next year. The classes are intended for young players, who have had some experience of playing friends at home or at school or have entered competitions in connection with the Sussex Junior Chess organisation. It is not necessary for juniors to be brilliant players and I am expecting a wide range of ability. However, I am afraid that it would be difficult to integrate anyone into the group who does not know the rules. Although the classes will almost certainly start on 1st October, I have to obtain the usual CRB clearance first.

Enquiries can be made using the box at the bottom of the Membership page of the club website. Please give name, age and chess experience of child.  Sue

News from Glastonbury

Carl has made an impressive start to a new chess career with the South Bristol Chess Club. Forget Star Baker, check out their Player of the Week!

Sinquefield Cup

Well 'Fabulous' Fabian Caruana finally slumped to a draw against Magnus Carlsen last night, leaving him with a paltry 7.5/8 in the strongest field ever assembled :-)

Seriously, this is an historic performance; apparently they've now calculated his current TPR (tournament performance rating)  around 3150. Caruana has already won the competition on +7 score with two rounds to go. At the start of the tournament the average rating of the field was 2801; Caruana has now taken his live rating to 2836, the third highest of all time and putting him in second place to Carlsen.

Of what I've watched last nights game against Carlsen was astonishing, and their earlier encounter was great viewing too, as Sue says, this is probably the most professional chess coverage ever, really good.

If you don't watch anything else, I'd recommend the interview with Carlsen after round 7, it isn't very long and it get's really funny at about 2'45" , had me laughing out loud :-)

http://new.livestream.com/chess24/sinquefieldcup

http://www.2700chess.com

Cheers, Kevin.

The strongest tournament ever held

Hope you are all following the 2014 Sinquefield Cup where Caruana is on 7/7 against 5 of the world's top nine. Statisticians are pinching themselves and the commentators are going dizzy with incredulity. He's playing Carlsen again tonight as white. The live video is also much better than any I've seen before - starts at 8:00 pm GMT.

AGM of the Sussex Chess Association

The Annual General Meeting of the Sussex Chess Association will be held at the Lewes CC, St Mary's Supporters Club, Christie Road, Lewes, at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday 9th September.

The organisation started in 1882 and is responsible for arranging county fixtures and competitions. It also produces a magazine once a year, which coordinates chess within the county.

You do not have to be of county standard or even a strong player to attend. Anyone who is a club member is welcome at the meeting.