Corona Virus

As you are all aware the current Coronavirus situation has been escalating for some time and now the ECF has issued guidance for all chess clubs as follows:

 

"The ECF has been considering the operation of evening league chess during the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
It is for individual leagues to decide on their own policy and the ECF cannot make decisions for those organisations. Our suggestion is that play is suspended for a period. A sensible period to allow for the progress of the virus to be monitored and reviewed in line with developments in Government policy might be for the next three weeks, with the policy being reconsidered at the end of that period."

Suspensions are now occurring across the sporting world, in chess and way beyond, to the point where keeping going increasingly appears anomalous and unwanted.

As we operate under the auspices of the ECF we have no choice but to close Coventry Chess Club for the foreseeable future. However, we will keep a close eye on the situation and as soon as there is any change in the guidance I will get back in contact. 

This does mean that the Summer Cup and the Club AGM will be postponed as well.

Whilst we are reluctant to close the club we feel in order to protect all our members this is the right course of action.

Kind Regards,

Simon & Dave

Coventry Chess Club Rapid Play

Happy New Year to everyone!

I am delighted to say that Coventry Chess will be holding a Rapid Play Tournament on Sunday January 26th.

We look forward to welcoming all players as we are sure you will find a Section suitable for your playing strength

Due to the size of the venue places are strictly limited so please apply now!

There are more details here along with an application form :- 

Coventry Chess Rapid Play

Leamington League Venue For Home Matches

We have managed to secure a new venue for our Home Leamington League Matches. Of course, if anyone is in the area when we are playing you are welcome to call in!

The venue details are :-

Lime Tree Social Club

Templar Avenue

Coventry

CV4 9BQ

https://www.limetreepark.org.uk/

02476 466366

As you go into the club, the room where we are located is on the ground floor on the left hand side - (it is called the committee room.)

Plenty of Free Secure Parking available

There are the usual facilities available that you would expect at a Social Club, so we would ask players to respect not bringing their own food or drinks into the venue. Thank You

Leamington League Matches Fixture List:-

Leamington League Fixture List

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