Warwickshire Open Chess Tournament

The Warwickshire Open Chess Tournament is coming back to Coventry in 2017

The 2016 Tournament was extremely successful and they are looking to build on the success from the last Tournament. 

We had a number of entries from Coventry players last time, so if you are interested in playing again then the details and entry form are here:- 

http://www.congress.warwickshirechess.org/

If you have any queries about this Tournament see Ed Goodwin who is the Tournament Director.

There are 4 sections, so plenty of opportunity for everyone to take part, no matter what your grade.

Sections
Open
Under 170
Under 145
Under 120

If there is only one Tournament you are going to play next year then make it this one and help support Chess in Coventry! 

KO Cup Draw

The draw for the first round of the  KO Cup has been made and the pairings are as follows:-

Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Winner
by Dec 6	by	by	by
Rugby C Nuneaton D
Chelmsley Wood Kenilworth
Coventry A Coventry D
Nuneaton E Rugby B
Nuneaton C Rugby A
Coventry E Coventry C
Coventry F Nuneaton B
Coventry B  Newdigate

Matches played on Tuesday December 6th.

I am also pleased to report three Coventry players have taken part in National Tournaments and achieved some good results. 

Dragomir came 2nd in the Intermediate group at the Birmingham Rapid play tournament. He also missed the first round due to travel problems -  so it makes it an even more impressive result.

Dave Ireland and John Harris also took part in Isle of Man International Tournament. Dave was the outright winner of the Major Tournament winning £1000.00, and John Harris also won some prize money.

EGM Update & Results Service

 EGM

On Tuesday (14th September) The League held an EGM to update the Coventry & District Chess League  Rules as they had not been revised for many years and it was felt they were not current - for example, there is no mention of digital clocks.

Here are some point that all players need to be aware of, but I hope to get the full set of rules uploaded onto the site once Mike Johnson has finished proof reading on what was agreed at the EGM.

Primarily, there is not much difference to the previous rules, time control is to be kept the same, start time as previous and the time when you can claim a default. (8pm)

However, there was a lot of discussion around teams maintaining constant Board order over the Season and in future if a team wishes to change their Board Order, they need to apply to the Records secretary, at least 24 hours before a match, with a reason as to why they wish to change Board order. Also, they need to advise the opposition that they are changing Board order. The ten point grading rule remains as before.

Eligibilty rules for the KO Cup were clarified and also once a player has played 4 times on Board 1, they are tied to that team and they are not allowed to play for a lower team.

The question regarding mobile phones and their use was discussed, however no specific rule for the Coventry League is to be used, we simply defer to the ECF rules. Basically, if your mobile rings during a game, then you are defaulted.

RESULTS WEBSITE

The Results service has now been improved even further and you can now see all the fixtures for a team over the whole season. Take a look at the screenshot below for League fixtures over the new season for the C team. Very handy if you do not have your fixture card with you!

Daily Puzzle: 9/3/2016 - Exposed And Shamed

Daily Puzzle: 9/3/2016 - Exposed And Shamed: Drag the pieces to solve! Want more chess puzzles? Want a tactics rating? Check out the Tactics Trainer and 10,000+ tactical puzzles!

Facebook Page

For those players that are signed upto Facebook, we now have a Facebook Page here:

Coventry Chess Club Facebook Page

If you join, it would be great if you could just post a few words, even just to say "Hi"  so we can get a bit of activity on the page.

Facebook provides a very easy way of keeping in touch with what is happening - it is well worth taking a look. And of course it is FREE!

Pictures

A bit late I know - but just come across these pictures from last years Summer Cup presentation

Winner - Joshua Pink - where is he now !
 Runner Up - Dave Ireland

New Season

Well now the holiday season is over it is time to break out those New Openings we have all been practicing over the Summer and unleash them on our unsuspecting opponents!

Next Tuesday (6th September) I will be collecting subs for the New Season.

Cost is as follows £35.00 including Bronze membership to the ECF or if you have paid the ECF Online £20.00.

We also intend to hold the AGM after subs have been collected.

Approximate time is 7.30pm for subs and then start AGM about 8pm followed by some Chess playing . . .

If you are unable to attend next Tuesday could you let your Captain know as we are also starting to select the Teams for the New Season.

Look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday

Simon

Coventry Chess Academy

Some members maybe aware that Paul Lam runs and organises chess training for young children and they have produced some excellent players with really good results in competitions.

The academy meets every Saturday - see here
https://coventrychessacademy.wordpress.com/


Unfortunately some of the players struggle to get to the top Tournaments due to finance and Paul has set up crowdfunding page to help these players attend Tournaments.

If you go to this page, Crowd Funding for Coventry Chess Academy

Paul explains it all in more detail and how you can help support chess - even just a pound all helps them reach their target.

Summer Holidays & Upcoming Dates

Just a reminder to all club members and anyone who would like to join Coventry Chess Club, we are open over the Summer for Friendly matches on a Tuesday.

Last week we had many members playing along with a number of potential new players so there are plenty of friendly games to be played. - All good practice for the New Season.

Here are some dates for your diary over the next few weeks: -

September 6th - AGM & Summer Cup Presentation - plus Membership fees due.

September 13th -  EGM for League. New Constitution to be approved. 

September 27th - First matches of the season.(Divisional Cup)

Keep Fit in Chess & Football!

We all know chess can involve sitting down for long periods of time and one thing we do tend to overlook is the physical side of actually keeping fit.

There is actually a very good article here on the benefits of physical exercise Keeping Fit in Chess

 There is a "Walking Football" session starting in Kenilworth later in the year, so this maybe an opportunity for those of us who do no exercise to finally start!

Details below:

New Grades

The Grades for the New Season have now been issued:

Check your grade here :  Grades 


These are the Grades that will be used throughout the 2016/2017 Season.

AGM & Summer Cup Presentations

Due to a number of members being away on holiday the Club AGM and the presentation of the Summer Cup trophies will now take place later than normal. The date we have set is :

September 6th Tuesday 7.30-8pm.

All members welcome and if you would like anything added to the Agenda please let Mike Johnson, Daver Filer or Simon Weaver know.

It is anticipated the AGM and presentations will last "about an hour"

On other news, it is with great sadness that I have to report that another member of the club has passed away  . . . Gerald Reason. Gerald had only recently rejoined the club having taking a long break from chess, so some of the older members may have known him when he originally played.
 
The club is  still open for friendlies on Tuesday.

Summer Cup - Round 6 Results

The final round of the Summer Cup was completed yesterday evening and Congratulations must go to Andy Ward who has won the Summer Cup with an impressive 5.5/6

The Runner up is Dave Ireland on 4.5/6. The Winner of the inaugral Gordon Cornell U120 trophy is Howard Jones with 4/6.

A special mention must go to Dragomir who on his first Summer Cup tournament was challenging for the top spot right from the start and only falling at the last hurdle to Andy Ward the eventual winner. Dragomir tied in third place on 3.5 points with Ed Goodwin and Bava.

Ed Goodwin again had a good tournament finishing in the top 3 spot. Bava also had an excellent tournament and could easily have secured the runners up position if he had won against Dave Ireland. But Dave won and Bava just missed out again on finishing in the top two positions.

The Gordon Cornell trophy has given added incentive to players graded U120 and seems to have been very successful, with a number of players potentially able to win the trophy on the last round.

However, Howard Jones was the eventual winner, with 4 points out of 6 and was undefeated through the tournament with a solid 4 draws and two wins. Paul Sweatman continued his steady improvement and finished with a draw against Pete Smith. Gordon Cornell finished on three points and nearly won the Gordon Cornell trophy !

A number of players finished on the target that a lot of players have ... 3 points - Pete Smith, Stan Whitmore, Dave Filer, Bob Holmes, Paul Sweatman, David Adams and Gordon Cornell - a good steady tournament performance. David Adams also finished strongly in his first Summer Cup tournament on 3 points - very encouraging for the new season.

The trophies for the winners will be presented at the AGM - date to be announced.

I would like to say Thank you to all the players who took part and made it an enjoyable inter club tournament and hope everyone who played, enjoyed the Tournament and found it a good way to finish playing competitve chess until the start of next season.

Hope everyone has a good summer break and if we do not see you at the AGM we will see you at the start of the new season - which is only 16 weeks away !

The results from last night are below with the final positions:-


Results from 10/5/2016

 A.Ward 1 0 Dragomir
 D.Ireland 1 0 Bava
H.Jones 1 0 C.Blackburn
E.Goodwin 1 0 D.Adams
P.Smith .5 .5 P.Sweatman
S.Whitmore 1 0 I.Evans
J.Loughane 1 0 T.White
N.Weaver 0 1 G.Cornell
J.Conway 1 0 T.Gazee
A.Franklin 0 N.Morris

  FINAL RESULTS
A.Ward       5.5  - Winner of John Evans Summer Cup
D.Ireland     4.5 - Runner Up
Dragomir    4
H.Jones       4 U120 - Winner of Gordon Cornell trophy
Bava            3.5
Ed Goodwin 3.5
D.Filer        3
Bob Holmes 3
C.Blackburn 3 U120
D.Adams     3  U120
P.Sweatman 3 U120
P.Smith       3 U120
S.Whitmore 3 U120
G.Cornell    3   U120
J.Loughnane 2.5 U120
S.Weaver     2 U120
W.Beeston   2 U120
A.Franklin   2  U120
M.Johnson  1.5
I.Evans        1.5    U120
T.White       1    U120
T.Gazee       0   U120
N.Weaver     0 UI20


Finally, I have mentioned over the last few weeks how the stronger players are winning the end games - have a look at this  it may help !

Summer Cup - Round 5 Results

Round up of matches for the 5th Round :-

Andy Ward won against Dave Ireland in a very tight end game - Andy is becoming a bit of an end game specialist - winning many of his games through the end game - maybe time for us all to try and learn a bit more about the end game?

Dave Filer eventually lost to Dragomir after a long hard battle - Dragomir is now on 4 points and in second place for the competition.

Bava won against Ed Goodwin - a good win for Bava. Clive Blackburn ended Paul Sweatman's good run in the competition.

So next week will be the decider between Andy Ward and Dragomir - nice to see two relatively new club members do well in the competition.
 
Howard Jones is well positioned to win the Gordon Cornell U120 trophy being on 3 points and not yet having lost a game. He is closely followed by Clive Blackburn, David Adams all on 3 points all Pete Smith and Paul Sweatman on 2.5 all who have a chance of winning - should be exciting next week!

The final round will be held next week 10th May. 7.30pm

Results

D.Ireland 0  1 A.Ward
D.Filer    0  1 Dragomir
H.Jones .5 .5 R.Holmes
E.Goodwin 0 1 Bava
P.Sweatman 0 1 C.Blackburn
W.Beeston .5 .5 P.Smith
G.Cornell 1 0 T.White
J.Conway 0 1 A.Franklin
J.Loughnane .5 .5 I.Evans
N.Weaver 0 1 T.Gazee


 Overall Scores:
A.Ward       4.5
Dragomir    4
D.Ireland     3.5
Bava            3.5
D.Filer        3
Bob Holmes 3
H.Jones       3 U120
C.Blackburn 3 U120
D.Adams     3  U120
P.Sweatman 2.5 U120
Ed Goodwin 2.5
P.Smith       2.5 U120
S.Whitmore 2 U120
S.Weaver     2 U120
W.Beeston   2 U120
M.Johnson  1.5
G.Cornell    2   U120
T.White       1    U120
I.Evans        1.5    U120
A.Franklin   2  U120
J.Loughnane  1.5 U120
T.Gazee       0   U120
N.Weaver     0 UI20

Summer Cup - Round 4 Results

Round 4 of the Summer Cup was held last night. Here are some of the highlights!

Dave Ireland and Andy Ward both won their matches, meaning that they are both now on 3.5 points. So, this means next week week they will play each other to see who can potentially become the outright leader.

The Gordon Gornell U120 is closely contested with Howard Jones and Paul Sweatman both on 2.5 points.

Howard Jones played well to get a draw against Ed Goodwin and Dragomir continued his good run winning against Stan Whitmore.

Paul Sweatman again continued his impressive run in the Tournament with a good win over Alan Franklin to now give Paul a total of 2.5 points for the Tournament.

Bob Holmes beat Wesley Beeston, however Bob did admit afterwards he was one move away from resigning if Wesley had moved his bishop to attack Bob's queen.

David Adams  completed another good win to give him two points for the competition.

Round 5 next week 3rd May. Start time 7.30pm.

Full list of results 

D. Filer  0  1 D.Ireland
A.Ward  1  0 P.Smith
E.Goodwin .5 .5 H.Jones
Dragomir 1  0 S.Whitmore
C.Blackburn 0 1 Bava
R.Holmes 1 0 W.Beeston
P.Sweatman 1 0 A.Franklin
G.Cornell 0 1 J.Conway
D.Adams 1 0 I.Evans
J.Loughnane 1 0 N.Weaver
S.Weaver .5 .5 M.Johnson

Overall Scores:

D.Ireland     3.5
A.Ward        3.5
D.Filer        3
Dragomir    3
P.Sweatman 2.5 U120
Ed Goodwin 2.5
Bava            2.5
Bob Holmes 2.5
H.Jones       2.5 U120
C.Blackburn 2 U120
S.Whitmore 2 U120
P.Smith       2 U120
S.Weaver     2 U120
D.Adams     2  U120
W.Beeston   1.5 U120
M.Johnson  1.5
G.Cornell    1   U120
T.White       1    U120
I.Evans        1    U120
A.Franklin   1   U120
J.Loughnane  1 U120
T.Gazee       0   U120
N.Weaver     0 UI20