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.

Change of result

I recently reported on Brighton 1's game against Hastings 2 and gave the result as 3-2 to the Brighton team. After the match it was discovered that Hastings had accidentally fielded an ineligible player in their team. As a result Brighton's win has now been changed to the score of 3.5 to 1.5.

Open on Saturday 20th but ....

We are closed all Christmas week
and open again the evening of New Year's Day.

Robin Jones Vs GM David Howell

Robin Jones against (GM) David Howell from the London Chess Classic 2014.

Click on this link to view the live game; (Time control = 3 mins each)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQH4SXxEMIk

Thanks

Michael

Narrow win for Brighton 1 against Hastings 2

Last Thursday our first team was involved in a close match against a resolute Hastings second team. Four of the games ended up as draws and it was left to Simon Wilks to gain the all important win against a very experienced opponent. Like our last match against Lewes we scraped a 3-2 win. This means that we have won our first three matches, but it would appear that we must generally play better than this, if we are to stand a chance of retaining our title.

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).