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June to August 2011
Are you up for Gold or Bronze?
23 Aug: ECF publishes latest proposals to fund English Chess. Three categories of memberrship are proposed starting in September 2012 with "Bronze" membership covering club, league and county chess games at £12 annually. To see the proposals in full, visit the funding paper posted on the ECF website. Please make sure that your county secretary, representatives and delegates are aware of your opinions before the September ECF meeting when decisions will be made.
Micky Adams beats Short in title playoff, Jovanka Houska Women's Champion, David Anderton Senior Champion.
6 Aug: The former world champion contenders Adams and Short tied on 8½/11 to share first place in the standard play games, but Micky won the rapidplay games 1½-½ to take the title. Housaka is first lady on 7/11. The Midland players were led by Stephen Gordon and GM Mark Hebden on 7 followed by Don Mason 6, Ali Jaunooby 4½, Mike Surtees and Nigel Birtwistle 4, David Coates 3½, and Steve Mellor 3 points. David Anderton (Staffs) stormed the British Senior title with 6½/7 and was followed by Jim Nicolson on 3½ points. Midland GM Keith Arkell was placed 2-3rd on 5/6 and GM Mark Hebden 4-7th on 4½ in the Rapidplay. John Sugden (SCCU) and Arne Hagesaether (Norway) were joint first in the Major Open with 7/11. Top Midlander was Paul Cumbers (Lincs) on 7 followed by Mitchell Burke on 5½. In the graded tournaments Tom Robinson (Worcs) was placed 3-5th on 4/5 in the under-160; Alex Holowczak (Worcs/Warks) 7-11th on 3½/5 in the under-140; Peter Brace (Derbys) 2-5th on 4/5 in the under-120. In the weekend Soanes tournament (under-150) Alan Ruffle (Derbys) and Andrew Wiggins (Worcs) were placed 7-21st on 3/5. Top Midland juniors were: in the under-14 tournament was Joseph McPhillips (Greater Manchester) placed 2-3rd on 5/7; in the under-11s Mark Kenyon (Notts) was 3-5th on 5 points with Ashwin Kalyana (Warks) 6-11th on 4½/7 and and Taylor Pearson (Notts) on 3 placed 20-29th.
Stephen Gordon on 6 behind leader Adams on 7½ at British
3 Aug: At the end of round 9, Stephen Gordon (Greater Manchester) was nearest to the leaders in the British. Mark Hebden (Leics) was on 5½ followed by Khandelwal on 5, Jaunoobi 4½, Birtwistle 4, Surtees 3½, Coates 2½ and Steve Mellor 2.
GM Mark Hebden chasing for the British
2 Aug: At the halfway stage, Leicester GM Mark Hebden was highest placed of Midlanders with Stephen Gordon (Greater Manchester) in the British at Sheffield with 4½/7. GMs Nigel Short and Michael Adams lead on 6/7. Other Midlanders playing are: Nigel Birtwistle (Lincs), Ankush Khandelwall (Notts) and Ali Jaunooby (Greater Manchester) 3½, Donald Mason (Warks) 3; David Coates (Lincs) and Mike Surtees (Greater Manchester) 2½; and Steve Mellor (Worcs) on 2 points. For latest coverage visit the British Championships at Sheffield.
Midlanders in graded tournaments at the British
1 Aug: Paul Cawley (Greater Manchester) 3½/5 placed 3-4th and Alan Agnew (Warks) 3/5 placed 5-11th were near the top of the u180. Mitchell Burke, GM's Open captain also played in the u180 scoring 2½. Alex Holowczak (Worcs/Warks) and Matthew R Wilson (Leics) had 4/5 and were placed 3-6th in the u140.
Craig Whitfield leads Midland juniors at the British
31 Jul: Craig Whitfield (Staffs) was first in the under-16 followed by Jamie Horton (Greater Manchester) 4/6 placed 6-10th. In the Under-9s Samir Samadov (Greater Manchester), and John Croasdale (Notts) were placed 4-9th with 5/7 in followed by Sam Smith-McGloin with 4½ placed 10-14th, Samuel Teanby (Notts) and Jonah Willow on 4 points placed 15-23rd. Three Midlanders were near the top in the under 13s: Andrew Horton (Greater Manchester) and Leo Tsoi (Warks) ended on 5/7 and placed 2-4th followed by Daniel Abbas (Greater Manchester) with 4/7 placed 7-10th. In the youngest section, the under 8s, Max Miller (Northants) finished on 4/6 and was placed 6-8th.
Provisional grades for 2011-12 published
25 Jul: Richard Haddrell and the ECF grading team has put together results for the 2010-11 season to produce the provisional list for 2011-12. A few results are late and to be added and ECF members have been invited to check the gaders' records of their games. The corrected list is expected to be published end of August and will be updated in January 2012. County team captains please note that the August 2011 list is the one to use for the whole of the 2011-12 MCCU stages of the county team competitions. Any queries about player eligibility for grade-limited teams please contact the MCCU county controller.
Pavel Besedin wins Worcestershire Open title.
24 Jul: In the Open, Pavel Besedin (Daugavpils, Latvia) beat Tomasz Sygnowski (West Bromwich) in the blitz tie-btreaker. Brendan O'Gorman ((DHSS), Richard Desmedt (Wombwell) and Dean Hartley (Amber Valley) shared first place in the Major. The Intermediate was shared by brother juniors James and Joseph Friar from Hagley, Worcs. Matthew Trigg (Solihull) won the Minor. Pictures and further results on the Worcestershire Congress page.
Tie for PC Gibbs 2010-11 correspondence tournament
22 Jul: Bob Veitch reports that Keith Mclaughlin (Leics) and Trevor Brotherton (Shrops) tied for first place on 5 points.
Manchester Annual meeting
22 Jul: Mick Norris reports that Bert Thomas is new general secretary of the Manchester Chess Federation. The federation decided to enter two MCCU teams for the 2011-12 season: Minor Open captn Mitchell Burke, and u160 captn Jon Lonsdale.
Midlands juniors scoop prizes at Derby
17,18 Jul: Midlands winners were well-represented in the penultimate stage of UK Chess Challenge, the world's largest junior chess tournament at Derby University. Coming first in their age sections were: Adam Bennett (Boys' under-7, Bramcote Hills, Notts); Victoria Holland (Girls' Under-7, Cheddleton, Staffs); Jonah Willows (Boys' under-8, West Nottingham); Ibraheem Malik (Boys' Under-10, Blue Coat, Warks); Michael Fletcher (Boys' Under-11, Nottingham Jun HS, Notts); Joseph Friar (Boys' Under-12, Worcs Junior Chess Academy); Joseph McPhillips (Boys' Under-13, Turton, Greater Manchester); Brandon Clarke (Boys' Under-15, Wellington, Leics); Michael Weaving (Boys' Under-17, Warwick); and Stephen Jones (Boys' Under-18, Grappenhall, Greater Manchester). These winners and other Midlands qualifiers will be invited to play in the Terafinal later this summer for a first prize of £2000. For full details of scores visit UK Chess Challenge.
Two Staffs clubs win national trophies
10 Jul: Two Wolverhampton-based clubs won national trophies in different sections of the National Club Championship. In the Intermediate Plate competition Rushall whitewashed Cosham, the Hampshire club. In the Minor club championship, Bushbury beat Hackney on board count. Click here for details of national club finals.
Manchester Grammar wins schools' tournament
8 Jul: Manchester Grammar defeated Reading School 4 - 2 in England's premier school championship at Yateley Manor, Hampshire. Other Midlands teams qualifying for the national stages were: King Edward VI School, Birmingham - knocked out by the Mancunians in the quarter finals - and Nottingham High School. For more details see the Yateley Manor School Competition website.
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Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire win National Championships
2 Jul: The Nottingham u180 team beat Devon and Warwickshire u120 beat Lancashire in their finals. In the new u100 competition, Essex proved superior to Warwickshire. For details visit "County Matches" and then use the left hand menu to visit the "National stages" pages.
Annual Meeting of Midland Counties Chess Union
25 Jun: At a well-attended meeting at Lichfield and against national trends, MCCU delegates voted to offer a rebate to counties paying the levy. Current officers were re-elected. David Levens, Junior Director, was asked to devise initiatives to enhance junior chess activity within MCCU counties. Proposed changes to rules were debated and remitted for further study and decisions next year. Full unconfirmed minutes are likely to be published before August. For pictures of the meeting click here. For a summary of the meeting click here.
Two Warks teams and Notts u180 through to finals!
12 Jun: Both Warks u120 and the u120 sides are through to the national finals. Use the "County Matches" menu button above and then the "National" left menu button on the county match page for scores and links to match details.
Eva Ressel, Northamptonshire wins under-12 National Girls Championship
12 June: Midlander Eva stormed her way to the Midland Girls' title at Derby in this Chevannes Chess Academy event.
Middle Game 30
7 Jun: The latest issue summarises results from the Midlands' winter chess leagues. To see it, click here.