London Chess Classic, 8-15 December 2009

"The London Chess Classic 2009 will be the highest level tournament in London for 25 years and will be the first in a series of events designed to reinvigorate UK chess and promote the game and its undoubted educational benefits in schools and communities."

I shall certainly be going along to watch, but this is not just a spectator event. There are many tournaments taking place in the spacious surroundings of Olympia Conference Centre for all club players, with the added bonus that entry into most events gives you access to the London Classic auditorium itself to watch Kramnik, Carlsen, Nakamura, Short et al!

• a Weekend Tournament 12+13 Dec
  
• Sunday Rapidplay 13 Dec
  
• Blitz tournaments every evening from 7.30pm forming a Grand Prix
  
• as well as the 9-round FIDE rated Open there is the option of two byes in the Open, to cater for all those pesky work and family commitments. Just state which days and rounds you wish to take byes with your entry (not the final round as it may affect prizes).

Full details at http://www.londonchessclassic.com/

If you would like to receive information about chess events that then join the Topica mailing list - to join send a BLANK email to adamraoof-subscribe@topica.com - and just follow the simple instructions. It is completely opt-in, and you can unsubscribe any time. If you know someone who might be interested in receiving occasional mailings just pass this to them.

Final Fixtures for 2009 - 10

Thanks to a lot of hard work by Malcolm, the fixtures list is now available in pretty much its final form.

THE FOURTH GERALD DUNCUMB MEMORIAL OPEN 2009

THE FOURTH GERALD DUNCUMB MEMORIAL OPEN 2009

WILL TAKE PLACE ON MONDAY 9th NOVEMBER AT 'THE CROWN & GREYHOUND PUB' IN DULWICH VILLAGE (IN THE BIG HALL UPSTAIRS)

Venue: http://www.dulwichchessclub.org.uk/clubvenue.php

A FIVE/SIX ROUND SWISS TOURNAMENT WILL BE PLAYED EACH ROUND LASTING 20 MINUTES.

LAST YEAR'S WINNER OF THE THIRD GD MEMORIAL WAS CALLUM KILPATRICK.

CATEGORIES:

TIME HANDICAPS WILL BE APPLIED ACCORDING TO GRADE (DETAILS IDC)

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

DULWICH CHESS MEMBERS (INCLUDING NEW MEMBERS) AND MEMBERS OF OTHER CLUBS ARE ALL WELCOME
SO PLEASE LET THEM KNOW BY PASSING THIS EMAIL ON OR SPREADING THE WORD!

START: 7.45 SHARP (signing in 7.15 onwards; no need to book in advance; it is possible to enter the tournament in the second round - half a point will be added)

ENTRY FEE: £5/£2.50 CONC.

FIRST PRIZE: GERALD DUNCUMB MEMORIAL TROPHY plus a cash prize related to profits taken on the night

County, Lewis & Croydon League Fixtures

County Cup

8 October – Home to Lewisham

26 November – Home to Maidstone

28 November – Away to Maidstone

3 December – Home to Charlton

10 February – Away to Lewisham

16 February – Away to Charlton

Lewis Cup

19 October – Away to Tunbridge Wells

19 November – Away to Dartford

10 December – Home to Phoenix

4 February – Home to Rainham

13 February – Away to Maidstone 2

25 February – Home to Lewisham 2

Croydon League

13 October – away to Streatham

12 November – home to Castles

25 November – away to Castles

30 November – away to Crystal Palace

18 February – home to Crystal Palace

11 March – home to Streatham

2009/10 Internal League Tournament

There are two major changes to the rules from last year:

1. You can now earn a half game point for playing a game if you lose - this is to encourage participants to play all their games.
   
   
2. There will be a play off between the winners of divisions 2 & 3 for the Challenge Cup. This is because the winner of division 1 will be presented with one cup and the other cup will be presented to the play off winner.

Click to get a full set of rules (not that big!) and the fixtures.

Mail Howard with any enquiries, and good luck!

Beckenham - Charlton Friendly, by Ian Snape

Beckenham played a friendly match against Charlton on 28 July using the Kent Quickplay Handicap rules. The result was a 10½-5½ victory for Beckenham (see attached) and an enjoyable evening. Thanks go to Alan Hanreck for arranging it.

Click here for the detailed results

Beckenham played a friendly match against Charlton on 28 July using the Kent Quickplay Handicap rules. The result was a 10½-5½ victory for Beckenham (see below) and an enjoyable evening. Thanks go to Alan Hanreck for arranging it

Junior Quickplay Tournament Results

On Thursday 25th June, we held a Junior Quickplay Tournament. The competition was specially arranged in acknowledgement of the healthy number of juniors the club now has.

Four junior members attended. All the players played each other twice. The winner was Duncan Bell with an impressive score of 5½ out of a possible 6. Alex Selway, as runner up, was close behind with a score of 4.

Duncan was presented with a prize for winning the competition generously donated by Fred Wellings, Club Chairman

Howard Walden

Handicap Quickplay Competition

On Thursday 18th June, we held our 10th annual Quickplay Handicap competition. 16 members attended. After 2 rounds there was a tie for first place between Ian Snape and John Duggan. The tie-breaker was eventually won by John Duggan.

Just to let you know how exciting it is to play chess, here are some pictures.

The players were divided into two groups of 8 for the first round -and here they are. What a handsome bunch!!!

The whole gang

These six went through to the final round. The winner

[and our chairman stealing into the picture as well]

Annual Handicap Quickplay competition

On Thursday 18th June, we held our 10th annual Quickplay Handicap competition. 16 members attended. After 2 rounds there was a tie for first place between Ian Snape and John Duggan. The tie-breaker was eventually won by John Duggan.

Beckenham v Bromley match

26 members turned up for the annual Beckenham V. Bromley match on 28th May. This was won by Bromley [again] with a score of 8.5 to 4.5. It was great to see so many club members at the venue at the same time. We barely had enough working clocks!

Malcolm M

Handicap Quickplay, Thursday June 18th

From Malcolm: This is just a reminder to say that the annual handicapped quickplay tournament for the Rosebowl will be played this Thursday [June 18^th].

For those who have not played before, the format is quite simple and involves 2 or 3 groups of players playing each other and then the top two from each group going on to play each other in the final round. The winner is the one who scores the most number of points in the final round and he receives a cup for a year.

Because it is a handicapped tournament, everyone stands a chance.

All members are welcome - junior, senior, strong or weak. It would be helpful if you could ensure that you arrive between 7.15 and 7.30 as the groups are drawn up using the players who actually turn up.

I hope you can make it

Internal Tournament Results

Howard Walden reports that two internal tournaments have been completed, with wins for Peter Thomas in Division 2 and Howard himself in Division 3. Division 1 wasn't played this year.

Congratulations to both, and I presume cups and applause will be awarded at the AGM.

The organisers of the Beckenham v Bromley match are Howard Walden [Tournament Controller], Fred Wellings [Beckenham team captain] and John Lewin [Bromley team captain].

Forthcoming Events Before Year's End

• Thursday 28th May will be the annual Beckenham v Bromley match at the club starting at 7.30 pm. More to come from the organisers (Malcolm Mourant, I think. Ed.)
  
  
• Thursday 18th June will be the annual handicap quickplay tournament for the Rosebowl. Registration will be at 7.15pm with a view to play starting at 7.30 pm. All club members, including juniors welcome. [This is a changed date from the normal date due to an additional event below].
  
  
• Thursday 25th June. We hope to hold a new event for juniors only [under 16]. We have been fortunate this year to see an influx of juniors and we want to provide them with a fun evening. This will be a handicap 5 minute tournament with a small prize for the winner. The last club evening of the year has been chosen because it is hoped that all exam pressures will be over by then. This will be in addition to a normal club evening for adults.

More Results From the Team Secretary

As reported before, we had a near miss in Division 2 of the London League; but we also play in the Minor Division and came third out of 7 – the same as last year.

Kent League

The first two teams in each division qualify for a semi-final match against teams from Mid and East Kent. As can be seen in the detailed report , we qualified in 3 divisions. Unfortunately, we lost in each semi-final and so do not have a chance to play in Finals Day on 10th May.

Croydon League

For the first time in many years, we entered a team in Division 1 – and we won it winning all our matches.

We also have 2 teams in Division 3. Our A team came 2nd and our B team came 7th, out of 8.

More information on this can be found on www.croydonchessleague.org.uk.

The Verney Cup

Every year the club awards a cup to the player who has obtained the most number of points in games played for the club against external opposition. This year, the cup goes to Fred Wellings.

Almost Promoted

For the second year running, our London League team - run jointly with our friends in Charlton - didn't quite make promotion from Division Two of the London League. The deciding match had been postponed because of the snow earlier in the year, and now become the "crunch" fixture. Played on Monday against Athenaeum, their comfortable victory carried them upwards.

Athenaeum are a strong central London club with plenty of strength in depth; and they'll need all their talent to survive in the hothouse of the premier division of what must be the strongest evening chess league in the UK (at least).

Division 2 winners were Ilford. They arrived in Division 2 by way of relegation last season, but this year they won every one of their matches by at least +2; and in our case by +6 (that's 8-2).

Try again next year!

Kent Individual Rapidplay

This event will be held on Saturday 18th July as part of the 2nd Snodland Rapidplay Congress.

The event will be held at the Wolfe Centre, Holmesdale School, Snodland, Kent, ME6 5HS. There is a guaranteed prize fund of over £700, including 8 cash grading prizes and junior prizes.

Further details to follow by the end of April.

International Chess Tournament, December 2009

I hear word of an international chess tournament to be played in London in December 2009. A "private sponsor" has put up EUR 100,000 to attract foreign and British grandmasters to an event that will be organised by the London Chess Centre

More details here.

Jon Barnes Send his Best Wishes to Everyone at Beckenham

Old Beckenham players will remember Jon Barnes as the London League captain that took the club into Division One for the first team in (at least) playing memory.

Jon moved to Hitchin a few years ago and we haven't seen him in these parts for a while; but he is playing county chess for Hertfordshire and I had the pleasure of bumping into him at Dartford yesterday. Better still, he sat down opposite me and we played this game.

Jon would like to be remembered to all his old friends at the club.

Sacrificial Attack at Golden Lane

Having sac'd a piece a while back, Beckenham & Charlton player Samuel Le played only four more moves before forcing his opponent's resignation.

It's white to move.

Play through the full game here.

The Bielski Cup

On Thursday 26 February at 7.45 pm at South Norwood Chess Club, West Thornton Community Centre, London Rd, the Bielski Cup will be played. It's a 5 minute Lightning Team Championship. 4 Board Teams with a 700 ECF grade limit for the four boards.

Entry Fee £5 a team.

If anyone fancies this, have a word with John Lewin or Howard Walden.

Kidlington Congress, 7 - 8 February

The Kidlington Congress is on the 7th and 8th of February and is now in its 32nd year.

From its early beginnings as a small local event, the Kidlington Congress has grown to become the 6th largest tournament in the UK. It is known and enjoyed by players from around the country and in recent years has attracted in the region of 200 participants of all ages.

With a seasoned team of controllers and ECF arbiters, pleasant and comfortable surroundings ensure an enjoyable atmosphere for all. A strong contingent of veterans support our U125 section.

I played in this myself (AH) a few years ago and it was very well run.