Isle Of Man Chess International

From the 10th-21st October 2019, some of the very best players from planet Earth made their way to the Isle of Man to compete in a FIDE qualifier for the world chess championships. Having a spare week or two available, I also decided to tag along, and played in the Major, a side event running alongside the Masters event.
Whilst the main event featured a brutally strong field, with players from all corners of the globe competing; the Major, (my section), featured a very international looking line up to. Players from England, Wales, Russia, Georgia, Australia, Portugal, Isle of Man, Sweden, Germany, USA, Netherlands and Romania all played alongside myself in the Major. Two of the competitors were FIDE Masters, albeit relatively speaking, very low rated ones.
If we include the Minor section, further players from Israel, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, France and India also competed. That's quite an array of nations represented, and that's not even including the Masters line up!
The tournament was very enjoyable, with complimentary daily refreshments available; (tea, coffee, water and fizzy drinks), for competitors to enjoy. There are very few tournaments where these are provided free of charge. In fact, this is the only one I know of that does this, at least for chess players of mortal status anyway!
In addition, there were a couple of complimentary magazines for each competitor, and a free buffet, and beverage of choice from the bar, were provided on the final night. Add to this the excellent prize money on offer, and this makes for a great annual event.
A highlight for me was a win against Russian FM, Aleksandr Bujakevich, (it sounds quite Russain, doesn't it!) I tried a gambit line which I like to play from time to time, and I managed to win quite a nice game in the end.
Anyway, after 7 days, I managed to finish joint first in my section when the dust had settled, and I had the bonus of being declared the winner on tiebreak. Apparently, the sum of my opponent's progressive scores was greater than those of my co-winners opponent's progressive scores. Or something along those lines! In any case, I enjoyed the event, and managed to gain a few rating points along the way!
One feature of the tournament was that a free bus service was provided from Douglas to the host venue; the Comis Hotel and Golf Resort, which, by the way, was a very nice venue to play in. Anyway, as many of the top players were staying in Douglas, I got to share the same bus as them. As well as some of the best women players in the world, stars like Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen also shared the same bus as myself' and my co competitors, to the venue.
Well, it's not every day you get to share a bus with the world's elite chess players, is it?

John Loughnane Obituary

I know this will come as a shock. I have to report with deep regret that John Loughnane has tragically died in a motorbike accident in June of this Year.

I have spoken to Myton Hospice today, who John worked for, and they confirmed what we suspected last night, that John has been killed.

Apparently one of John's aspirations was to own a motorbike and go touring around Ireland so he recently purchased a motorbike and was on a trip down to Portsmouth, to try out his new purchase, where he unfortunately lost control and was hit by another vehicle. Here is a newspaper cutting from the Coventry Telegraph recording the accident John Loughnane 

John was an extremely popular member of the Club and had been a member for many years. He loved playing chess and was always enthusiastic about his games that he played. John had a great sense of humour and and I know it is a cliche, but he really was "a gentle giant" 

Many of you will have played John over the Years either in League or friendly matches and he always played hard but fair and he just loved playing Chess whenever he could. His kindness and generosity also extended to his workplace where he was very highly regarded and well liked. 

I know he will be sorely missed by us all and the Club will be poorer without John. 

Sadly, his funeral was held a few weeks ago which as a Club we were unaware of, therefore no-one from the Club attended.The details are here Funeral . 

Finally, I have attached a few photo's which I think nicely reflect John's personality and sense of fun.

Simon

Club Secretary

RIP John Loughnane

Coventry v Leamington Match

 The Coventry and District Chess League marks its 100th anniversary this year. After a successful Season and Centenary Tournament, the League continues to celebrate - this time, challenging the Leamington League (LDCL) for an inter-league match.

Spearheaded by, Chairman Colin Green leading the Coventry & District side, and Ben Graff (LDCL Chairman) leading the Leamington side - two teams of fourteen players each, came together to celebrate the occasion.

This eventful match was held at Sprinkles Gelato on Hales Street, who very generously provided an excellent venue for all the players - supporting local chess.

From Coventry & District, the players represented clubs of Coventry, the city's two universities (Coventry, and Warwick), and the surrounding towns of Nuneaton, Rugby, and Kenilworth - which has formed the backbone of this League for the last 100 years.

There were two rounds played - every player with 30 minutes each. Round 1 saw the Leamington League take a significant lead with 9-5. This was enough for Coventry & District to manage expectations about chances of winning. Never-the-less, the players came back in earnest for Round 2 - would there be a huge upset, or would Leamington prevail?

As win came after win, it was clear that every point mattered, as the Coventry side started to take a Round 2 lead. In a turn of events, the CDCL settled on 9-5, equalizing the scores, to bring the result to a complete tie. From blundering queens to back-rank mate, the games saw the full range of tactics on display!

Both Leagues thank all the players for competing, as well as, every player and local Club organiser for keeping local chess vibrant across Coventry & District, and last but not least, to Sprinkles Gelato for their generous support.

Results

COVENTRY & DISTRICT LEAGUE    14-14  LEAMINGTON
Open
1  Philip Briggs    Nuneaton   1-1   Mark Page

2  Bob Wildig       Rugby      0-2   Mike Donnelly

3  David Ireland    Coventry   2-0   Neil Staples
4  Bernard Charnley Kenilworth 2-0   Tom Darling

5  Tony Green       Nuneaton   1-1   Ben Graff
Under 150
6  Sam Cotterill    Coventry 0.5-1.5 Dave Thomas
7  John Conway      Coventry   1-1   Dave Shurrock
8  David Riley      Rugby      0-2   Jude Shearsby
Under 120
9  John Hall    Rugby      0-2  Peter Stiff
10 John Rayner  Nuneaton   1-1  Algirdas Toleikis
11 James March  WarwickUni 1-1  Alexandros Kagkalis
Under 90
12 Paul Sweatman    Coventry 0.5-1.5 Jimmy Blair
13 Hok Chiu         WarwickUni 2-0   Jonathan Male
14 Chun Chiu        WarwickUni 2-0   Bruce Holland

New Season 2019 / 2020

The new Chess Season starts this September / October so David Adams will be collecting Club Fees and ECF membership fees on Tuesday 3rd September from 7.30pm.

Club Fees £25.00. ECF Bronze Membership fee £18.00.

We have a number of events planned over the next few Months which all club members are welcome to join by either participating or watching. 

Junior Chess Tournament. Sunday 15th September. Venue: Massey Ferguson Social Club. Organiser: Ed Goodwin.

Wednesday 18th September. COVENTRY LEAGUE V LEAMINGTON LEAGUE 

Sprinkles Gelato, The Old Fire Station, Hales Street, Coventry, CV1 1JA. Captain: Colin Green.

The venue is an ice cream parlour/coffee shop.  We will have an area of
the shop for our match.  The shop will remain open to the public and for
business. 

Rapid Play - January 26th. Venue Massey Ferguson Social Club. More details to follow. Organiser: Ed Goodwin

For the first time, this Season we have entered a Coventry Chess team into the Leamington League. Captain: Simon Weaver. 

IMPORTANT!

Just a reminder to all players, a proposal was made by Simon Weaver, that the default time for all League matches should be 90 minutes to complete all your moves. In other words, we drop the "put the clocks back 15 minutes after 1 hour 15 minutes when 30 moves have been made" This proposal was passed by the AGM and takes effect this Season. 

Coventry Chess Club 2nd Junior Open Rapidplay

After the success of last years Junior Tournament we have decided to organise another Tournament this year.

The details are as follows: -

Date: Sunday 15th September 2019

Start time: 11am

For players under 18 on 31st August 2019.

Open and Under 120 sections.

All moves in 15 minutes plus 10 second increment per move.

5 Rounds.

Venue: Massey Ferguson Social Club, Broad Lane Coventry.

contact: edhgoodwin@gmail.com

Entry Fee: £3.00

New Grades & British Championships

The new grades for this Year have been issued by the ECF.

To find your new grade :- go here:-

http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/new/menu.php


We also had a number of players in The British Championships. This year it was held at Torquay. Congratulations to all Club members who took part as it is nice to see Coventry Chess represented at such an event.

Here are their results:-


In the Seniors Over 65

13= Ed Goodwin 4/7

23= Bernard Charnley 3.5/7

Major open

58= Josh Pink 3.5/9

AM open

15= Josh Pink 2/5

Under 120

10= Nigel Morris 3/5

For a full set of results go here:-

https://www.britishchesschampionships.co.uk/results-pairings-2019/