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Note for surfers using Firefox, Opera, Safari and Navigator. Please click here. Draw for ECF stages of the Counties Competitions Over 100 Enter Nottingham Rapidplay MCCU players win at Bolton Rapidplay Four MCCU Clubs Seek National Honours (24 Nov) Warks win the u180 competition beating Notts. (2 Nov) Staffs shoot to top of u140 competition. (23 Oct) Birmingham & District Rapid Play, Quinborne, Birmingham held 13 Oct. Gregg Dyett (Worcs) was first and Jeremy Fallowfield (Stourbridge) placed 2nd-3rd in the Open. Summary results are on the ECF website. (23 Oct) HE Atkins Memorial Tournament, Leicester In the Open, IM Richard Tozer was undisputed first with 4½ from 5. Martin Burrows (Leics) shared 2nd-3rd on 4 points. Junior Brandon Clarke (Leics) was just out of the prize list on 3½, but with a tournament performance above his grading. In the Major, Steve Foster was placed 3-6th on 3½ showing his move to Nottinghamshire suits him. Over a hundred players took part on the weekend of 2-4 Oct. Full results are available here. MCCU Members Change in ECF Elections(20 Oct, report from Ray Collett) At a well attended Finance Council Meeting of the English Chess Federation held in London, Lawrence Cooper (Staffs) is the new Director for International Chess, but Cyril Johnson was ousted by Adam Raoof for the Home Chess position and Sean Hewitt failed in his attempt to become a Non-Executive Director. Other MCCU members continuing to hold key roles at national level include: Andrew Farthing (Worcs); Julie Johnson (Leics); David Thomas (Birmingham); and Bob Veitch (Leics). David Anderton (Staffs) remains a trustee of the John Robinson and the Youth Trust Funds. In the contested positions CJ de Mooi is the new ECF President and could bring a higher profile for the game in the broadcast media. GM Nigel Short narrowly beat Gerry Walsh to become the ECF delegate to the World Chess Federation and the European Chess Union. Nigel's world class play and robust comments about the international scene are sure to create waves. The other news from the meeting was mixed. On the positive side, the first genuine truck load of 1000 chess sets from Holloid Plastics has been delivered to schools in East Sussex. On the negative side is the poor financial state of the ECF. The deficit from the 2008 British Championships held in Liverpool has turned out worse than expected. This loss and other budget over-runs mean that ECF reserves are now so low that they will have to be topped up from invested funds. Adding to these difficulties, the Department of Culture Media and Sports (DCMS) has suspended payment of the grant that is equivalent to over half the income the Federation receives from game and membership fees. DCMS require a viable financial recovery programme to be in place before further public funds are given for chess. In spite of these problems it must be stressed that the ECF is far from broke because there are reserves that could sustain both the current year's deficit and loss of public funding for several years. A former member of the Board stated that the threatened loss of public funding was not new and the organisation should not panic. Nevertheless, the position is serious and the Federation will have to appoint a Director of Finance, a currently vacant post. Already the likely out-turn of the 2009 British Championships at Torquay is near break even so the 2008-9 deficit will be significantly less than for the accounting year 2007-8. The report to DCMS will be able to point to significant improvements even if nothing else were done. The DCMS requirement may be the wake-up call the English chess community needs. All players and organisers need to work together and avoid the bickering that has plagued the organisation of the game in England. Among those attending, there was recognition of this fact and the meeting warmly thanked outgoing directors for their immense contributions to English chess. (19 Oct) First result in the u120 Championship an exciting draw. (12 Oct) First results in the Open Championship see Staffs head the table after a win against Warks. Away wins in first MCCU stage matches. Shrops U-140 come a cropper to Warks, and Lincs fall to Staffs in first o-t-b county matches. Warks lead the U-140 league table. Junior players win at Leamington Rapidplay(5 Oct) Junior player Brandon Clarke (Littlethorpe) scooped up the U210 section prize leading Don Mason, MCCU's nomination last year for the British. Colin Eckloff (Coventry) made a clean sweep, 6 out of 6, in the U175 and teenager Dani Malik (S Birmingham) was second eqaul. Thomas Robinson (Redditch) was first in the U150. Twelve-year-old Leo Tsoi (Boldmere St Michael) won a U135 grading prize. Sharing second in the U120 tournament, was the young Philomena Lip (Solihull Checkmates). (based on report in Sep/Oct ChessMoves). Over 150 players took part. For more information click here. Cheddleton players foremost at Leek Congress(2 Oct) A successful Leek congress saw 87 players take part. Local players dominated in this "stars-barred" congress. In the main tournament for players graded under 210, sponsored by Alton Towers, Robert Shaw (Cheddleton, Staffs) and Gavin Cooper (Newport, Shrops) shared first place. Vlade Luzajic (Cheddleton, Staffs) and Steve Jones (Warrington) shared first in the Intermediate, sponsored by AH Brooks & Co (Solicitors). In the Minor, sponsored by Moorlands Housing, Dean Madden (Spondon, Derbys) ran out sole winner. (Based on an illustrated fuller report on the ECF website) News Archive For earlier items, please click here. Web Updates For details, click here or the news button on the left hand side. |