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Friday, 24 April 2015

Ian Snape wins the Beckenham FIDE rated championship

Ian takes the crown by winning a thrilling rapidplay play off against John Duggan!

Unfortunately Michael had to default his last 2 games due to health issues, which took him out of the running.
John had to win his final game against yours truly last night to force a playoff against Ian and have a chance at regaining his title.
Unfortunately for Ian, I played an absolutely shocking game and John took full advantage.
Ian and John decided to play the deciding rapidplay games immediately after and played 2 very complex games. Ian managed to win his game with white and draw his game with black, taking the title from John 1½-½.
Final standings:
  1. Ian Snape, John Duggan 5½
  2. Michael Prizant 4
  3. Nick Briggs and Richard Selway 3½
  4. Andrew Ponting and yours truly 2½
  5. Graeme Plato 1

Sunday, 12 April 2015

First team wins Beamont Cup in Surrey League!

Promotion to Surrey Trophy division gained


Congratulations to our first team: In its first year in the Surrey League, the team has managed to win the Beamont Cup (division 2), winning an impressive 6 matches and thus has gained promotion to the first division, called the Surrey Trophy.
A great achievement!

Final division standings:


Individual scores of the team in the Surrey League:
Player Score # of games %
Briggs, John Nicholas 5.5 7 79%
Newman, Joel 4 4 100%
Snape, Ian L 4 5 80%
Prizant, Michael 4 5 80%
Plato, Graeme 4 7 57%
Vleeshhouwer, Douglas 3 4 75%
Foster, James C 2.5 6 42%
Gregory, Philip J 2 3 67%
Ponting, Andrew 2 4 50%
Selway, Richard P 1.5 4 38%
Sands, Alan VH 1 2 50%
Duggan, John E 1 3 33%

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Dates for the diary:

Beckenham versus Bromley match: 18th June 2015 


This is a match between members living in Beckenham or closer to Beckenham than Bromley and a team of members living in Bromley or closer to Bromley than to Beckenham.
However, to make make sure we have two teams that are roughly equal in strength, we usually ask some people to play for the other team.
It is an informal, friendly event and all B&B club members are invited to participate.
Start time is 7:30pm.
I'll email everyone nearer the time to get numbers (and postcodes) so I can start putting the teams together in advance.


Rosebowl Tournament: 25th June 2015


The other annual event taking place at the end of our season is our internal quickplay tournament called the Rosebowl tournament.
This is a handicapped event, meaning that lower graded players will get more time than higher graded players.
Again, this is an informal friendly event, usually with quite a bit of banter. All club members are welcome!
Please arrive at 7:15pm for registration, to allow for a prompt start at 7:30pm.

Friday, 23 January 2015

Friday, 16 January 2015

Casual Chess - London's New Chess Cafe

Some bright young things have very laudably put some money and effort into starting off a new drop-in chess club in Central London.   Its first event is an opening "party" starting 6pm on 26th January at the BFI lobby, 21 Stephen St, off Tottenham Court Rd, W1T 1LN.  Or if you're on Facebook, click here.

More details at www.casualchess.org (You might need to page to the bottom of the screen).


Every woodpusher in town is invited, along with some others who have graduated beyond that self-deprecatory accolade.  I hope it succeeds.
Maybe see you on the 26th?

Andy H

Saturday, 20 December 2014

Christmas break - time for another update

Things are heating up for the Verney Cup!


As you can see in the table below, Ian has been doing rather well; with 6 wins out of 7 matches he is catching me fast and is surely going to overtake me in the New Year. Alan Fraser has unfortunately lost his unbeaten status but is still in a good position to challenge for the cup. 2 members yet to lose a game are:
  • Joel Newman, who joined us this year, is doing rather well so far, with 3 wins and 1 draw, and
  • Andrew Ponting, with 3 wins and 2 draws.
Laurie also deserves a special mention. He currently boasts an impressive 75% (3 wins and 1 loss). Lastly, Artem, another new member, is doing rather well too, scoring 4 points out of 6 matches so far!

Douglas Vleeshhouwer 7½/12 63%
Alan Fraser 6½/10 65%
Ian Snape 6/7 86%
Graeme Plato 5½/8 69%
John Lewin 5½/10 55%
Howard Walden 5½/10 55%
Nick Briggs 5½/11 50%
Alan Sands 5/8 63%
Andrew Ponting 4/5 80%
Artem Naumenko 4/6 67%
Joel Newman 3½/4 88%
Stephen Roberts 3½/5 70%
Laurie Roberts 3/4 75%
Malcolm Mourant 3/5 60%
Richard Selway 3/5 60%

Team competitions


Now let's look at how our teams are doing in the competitions.
Our Surrey League team have so far scored 2 wins and 1 draw plus have 1 match that stands at 4.0 - 3.0 with 1 adjournment that we should at least draw, giving us another match win and putting us on top of the leaderboard.

Our London League team have got 2 wins and 2 losses, plus 1 match undecided. However, we're 4.0 - 5.0 down with my game adjourned with a drawn ending.

In the Kent league, our first team followed their initial loss with 3 strong wins, one of which resounding 5.5 - 0.5 victory over Dartford!
Our second team managed to get 2 hard fought draws from of their 2nd and 3rd matches.
The Tom Fuller team lost their 3rd match and managed to draw their 4th. That first match win will surely come in the New Year!
Last but certainly least, Stephen Roberts' Intro team, which followed their 3 wins with a draw against Petts Wood.
Standings:
  • County & Lewis: 3/4
  • En Passant: 1/3
  • Tom Fuller: 1½/4
  • Intro: 3½/4

In the Croydon League our Martin Cath and Dave Luckin A team doing well. The standings are as follows:
  • Croydon Shield: First match scheduled for 5th Feb 2015
  • Martin Cath: 2½/3.
  • Dave Luckin A team: 1½/2.
  • Dave Luckin B team: 0/3.

Club Championships

In the non-FIDE rated championship, on 4.5 points, the current leaders are: John Lewin and Malcolm Mourant.

In the FIDE rated tournament Michael tops the leaderboard, with an unbeaten record of 3 wins out of 3:
  • Michael Prizant 3/3.
  • Ian Snape 3/4.
  • John Duggan 2/3.
  • Richard Selway and Andrew Ponting 2/4.
  • Nick Briggs and Douglas Vleeshhouwer 1½/4.
  • Graeme Plato 0/4.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!