Stamford Chess Club meet up on Tuesday evenings from 7:30pm to 10:00pm at the Arts Centre in Stamford. For further details contact David Lees on 07887 882388.
A picture gallery has been created for the recent quickplay tournament that took place earlier this month. Thanks to John Grasham for providing the photos.
Lincolnshire lost 8½-7½ to Hertfordshire and go out at the ECF semi final stage for the second year running. It was a close match where we were leading most of the way until the final few games turned against us. The results and match report are now up on the web site.
Harry Russell (Louth) won the quickplay tournament with a perfect score of 6/6. Full results
There were 3 Lincs players competing in this 7 round competition over the May bank holiday weekend. David Coates (Lincoln) scored 4/7 and Ivan David (Grantham) scored 2/7 in the Open section. Stephen Prior (Spalding) scored 4/7 in the Major section.
An entry form is now available for the Lincolnshire County Championships 2011 which will be held at the excellent Lindum Atrium building, the same venue that was used last year. An added feature of this year's event is a simultaneous exhibition by English International Grandmaster Gawain Jones. Please give the event your fullest support.
Due to unforseen circumstances the venue has changed for the semi final match against Herfordshire on Saturday 11th June. The address of the new venue is:
St.Guthlacs Parish Church Hall,
The Green School,
30,Church Street,
Market Deeping,
Lincolnshire.
PE6 8DA.
The new venue is 10 miles north of Peterborough and is therefore nearer for most players than the previous venue. There is limited car parking at the venue but there are plenty of other places available nearby. The £4.00 match fee for each player will now be paid for by the Lincs Chess Association. If there are any problems with the change of venue then please let Nigel Birtwistle know at once.
In previous meetings Lincolnshire have not faired well against Norfolk but given our current good form (4 wins out of 4 matches) this had to change. There were several early draws and it looked like the score might be close but then the team scored 4 quick wins and this effectively clinched the match. Lincolnshire ended up beating Norfolk by 10½-5½ and are through to the ECF minor semi finals where they meet defending champions Hertfordshire. Full report.
Grantham's first team in division 1 of the Notts League won this year by a record margin of 9 points. Out of 14 matches they had 12 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. The only loss was against University when they arrived a player short.
Chris Dorrington played very well in the 4NCL this season and achieved an IM norm with a score of 8/11 and a rating performance of 2473. His best win was against GM Simon Williams in Round 2.
The Chess Jamboree will take place at the Mason's Arms in the Cornmarket in the centre of Louth on 26th June. There will be an entrance fee this year of £5 per person (£20 per team) this is to cover the cost of the buffet lunch.
The timings will be:
1pm - First Round
2pm - Second Round
3pm - Buffet Lunch
3:30pm - Third Round
4:30pm - Fourth Round
Please note that to make this event viable there will have to be at least 8 teams participating. I will also need to know if you are entering at least one week before the event so the correct amount of food can be prepared. Please make all cheques out to LOUTH CHESS CLUB and post them to 2 Kidgate Court, Louth, LN1 9BF.
Message from John Grasham
William Egan (Scunthorpe) came equal second in the intermediate section with a score of 4/5 and won £37.50 plus the senior prize of £20. In the Open Ivan David (Grantham) won the U170 grading prize of £50 with a score of 3½/5 and an impressive performance rating of 207. Neil Milson (Louth) shared the U120 grading prize in the intermediate section and won £10. The full results for all Lincs players are as follows:
The Bolton Congress takes place over the Easter weekend from Friday 22nd - Sunday 24th April. This is a 5 round ECF graded competition and is part of the Midlands Grand Prix. An entry form is available to download.
The Alf Newman Memorial Quickplay Tournament will be held on Saturday 4th June at the Louth Chess Club. Six rounds are played with each player getting 25 mins on the clock. The entry fee is £8 per adult and £4 per child. An entry form is available to download.
Amy Milson (Louth) won a grading prize of £33.33 and a ladies prize of £50 in the intermediate section with a score of 3/5. In the open Harry Russell (Louth) won the veterans prize of £50 with a score of 2½/5. Here are the results for all the Lincs players that took part (all scores out of 5):
An entry form is now available to download for the Louth Junior Quickplay event. This event is for players under 18 and the entry fee is £5 per competitor. Entries will be accepted on the day. The time limit is 25 mins for each player. For further information contact John Grasham.
William Egan (Scunthorpe) was equal first in the minor section with a score of 4½/5 and won £166.66 prize money. A couple of grading prizes were won by Lincs players including Amy Milson (Louth) for the U130 in the intermediate section and Robert Stokes (Scunthorpe) for the U120 in the minor section. Both received £25. Here are all the results for the Lincs players that took part (all scores out of 5):
The 55th Southend Easter Chess Congress will be held over the Easter weekend from Friday 22nd - Monday 25th April. The Open is a 7 round swiss tournament and is FIDE rated. All other sections are 5 rounds and ECF rated. An entry form is available to download. Further details can be found on the Southend Chess Club web site.
The dates for the Lincolnshire chess events running this year are as follows:
Further details and entry forms will follow later.
The 15th Mind Sports Olympiad will take place in August 20-28. This year's venue is the University of London Union (ULU) in Central London WC1E 7HY. There are many chess events taking place over the week including Chess Rapid 20m, Chess Exchange, Chess 960 20m, Chess Evening 40m. You can preregister online or complete an entry form. For further details visit the Mind Sports Olympiad official web site.
"Lincolnshire have been drawn against the 2nd placed East Anglian team in the Minor Counties Quarter Final which means that we will play against either Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire or Norfolk next. There is still one round of matches to go in the East Anglian section, but at this stage Norfolk look like being our opposition. The date is Saturday 21st May or possibly 22nd May. If we manage to get through then we will play the winners of Herts/Essex v Leics in the Semi Final on 11th June. I will let you know more when the remaining unions complete their fixtures."
Message from Nigel Birtwistle, Lincolnshire county captain.
The county team beat Worcestershire 10½-5½ to make it 4 wins out of 4 games and win the MCCU Minor Championship for the second year running. They now progress to the ECF quarter final stage which takes place on Saturday 21st May 2011. Full Results
Sam Milson (Louth) played very well in the Open section by coming equal 2nd place on 4½/6 and winning £37.50 prize money. In the last round he beat the number 3 seed with a rapid grade of 200. Here are the results for all the Lincs players that took part (all scores out of 6):
David Coates (Lincoln) competed in the Hastings Masters this year and scored 4/9. He gained a few points on his FIDE rating.
I apologise to everyone for the web site being down recently. The reason for this is that the bills haven't been paid with the web hosting provider and therefore the account has been suspended. It has been frustrating because I do not have access to the account login details to arrange payment. The only solution was to move the web site to another domain name - from lincschess.co.uk to lincschess.org. Now that I have full control over the web site this problem should not happen again. Message from the webmaster.
Lincolnshire had a comfortable 10-6 win over Derbyshire to make it three wins out of three and top the table in the Minor Counties competition. This should ensure qualification for the knockout stages and a chance to win the MCCU minor counties championship for the second year running. The next match is against Worcestershire on 29th Jan.
Shropshire were unable to raise a team for the county match scheduled for Sat 13th Nov and therefore conceded the match. This puts Lincolnshire top of the table on 2 wins out of 2. A short report is available with further details. The next match is against Derbyshire on Sat 11th Dec.
A number of Lincs players travelled up to Halifax to compete in the British Rapidplay. It was slightly disappointing as nobody won any prize money. Here are the results (all scores out of 11):
Claudio Mangione (Lincoln) scored 3/5 in the Open and won a £50 grading prize. Other Lincs players that took part were David Coates (Lincoln) scoring 2½/5 in the Open and William Egan (Scunthorpe) scoring 3/5 in the Minor.
There was a good representation of Lincs players in the Scarborough Congress in every section. A number of grading prizes were won. Sam Milson (Louth) won a grading prize of £12.50 and the best junior prize of £50 in the Open. Allan Marshall (Boston) won a grading prize of £10 and Jan Van Gemeren (Spalding) won a grading prize of £12.50 in the Intermediate. In the Foundation Ian Palmer (Lincolnshire) won the Ungraded prize of £25. Here is a summary of the Lincs players that took part (all scores out of 5):
Sam Milson (Louth) came equal 2nd place in the Open with a score of 3½/5 and won £50 prize money. Here is a summary of all the Lincs players that took part (all scores out of 5):
There are 3 remaining matches to play this season and the dates are as follows:
If we qualify the dates for the knockout stages are as follows:
This competition is an opportunity for any chess club to play against different players to those they would meet in their local league. Matches are usually played at weekends and are well spaced out throughout the season. The entry fee is between £20-£25 and the teams range from 4-6 players depending on which tournament you choose to enter in (Open, Major, Minor). The deadline for entries is 30th Oct. An entry form is available to download.
David Coates (Lincoln) and Claudio Mangione (Lincoln) shared 3rd place (with 5 others) in the Open section with a score of 3½/5. Claudio shared the prize money for 3rd place (£50 split 6 ways) and David won the over 2000 grading prize of £50 with a performance rating of 2278, some 200 points higher than his actual rating of 2068. Other Lincs players who took part were Ivan David (Grantham), scoring 2½/5 in the Open section and William Egan (Scunthorpe), scoring 3/5 in the Minor section.
William Egan (Scunthorpe) came equal 2nd place in the Minor section with a score of 3½/5 and won £50 prize money. David Coates (Lincoln) came equal 6th place in the Open section with a score of 3/5.
The League Secretary would like all team captains to use the new score card for league matches and email this to John Grasham within 1 week of the match.
Unfortunately due to a lack of interest there will not be a Lincolnshire team entered in this competition. Nigel would like to thank everyone who initially agreed to play.
There are four matches to play this season and the dates are as follows:
If you are interested in playing then please contact Nigel Birtwistle who is the open team captain.
Sam Milson (Louth) came equal 2nd place in the final stage of the Chess Challenge and won £335. His sister Amy finished in equal 15th place and won £65 prize money.
The English Counties Chess Federation are holding their rapidplay championship on Saturday 18th September. The venue is at Wanstead in Essex with a start time of 1:30pm. It will be a 4 round swiss event, 30 minutes each player. 12 players are needed in a team. If you are interested in playing then contact Nigel Birtwistle.
Back issues of Chess Notes (in pdf format) can be downloaded here.