This year's Jamboree was hosted by Grimsby Chess Club at St James' School in Grimsby. Louth A won the Jamboree with 13 points, ahead of Grimsby A who came second with 12½ points. The competition was well attended, with 8 teams in total. This was despite Grantham and Scunthorpe being unable to raise a team. Full Results
The Lincolnshire County Championship will be taking place on Sat 14th - Sun 15th July at the excellent venue of The Atrium, Lindum Business Park in Lincoln. An entry form for the competition is now available to download. If anyone has access to electronic clocks and would be able to lend them for this event then please contact Kevin McCarthy.
The quickplay was won by Harry Russell, Samuel Milson and Joe Kilshaw, each scoring 5/6 and rceiving £60 prize money. Harry and Joe win the Alf Newman shield jointly on SOPS. Full results
Lincolnshire lost 8½-7½ in a close match against Essex at the ECF quarter final stage in the Minor Championship. Essex were leading most of the way but Lincolnshire fought back. A win in the last game would have seen the team through but unfortunately the game was drawn and they are knocked out of this year's county championship. Full results
The active lincolnshire players list has been updated with the latest grades (Jan 2012). You can now sort the list by player name, standard grade, rapid grade, number of games played etc. Any comments or suggestions on improving this list can be sent to the webmaster.
Grantham Chess Club have won division 1 of the Notts Chess league for the third season in a row with a game to spare. The members of the winning team this year were Nigel Birtwistle, Claudio Mangione, Paul Cumbers, Nick Payne, Ivan David, Kevin McCarthy, Steven Prior and Jason Dilley. View the last 3 seasons results: 2011-12, 2010-11, 2009-10.
The Jamboree will be hosted by Grimsby this year and held at St James's School in Grimsby on Saturday 16th June. This is a team competition with 4 players on each team. There are 4 rounds with each player having 25 minutes on the clock. If you need any spare players to make up a team then please contact Paul Chaplin. Further details are available to download here.
The U120 team got their first win of the season by beating Warwickshire 7-5. It was a close match with both teams locked at 4½-4½. In the final game the captain John Grasham needed a draw to clinch the match but with a 2 pawn advantage he played on to win both the game and the match. Full results
This is a 5 round quickplay tournament taking place at the PSL Club in Peterborough on Sunday 29th Apr. Players will each get 30 mins on the clock. If you are interested in taking part then an entry form is available to download. For further information please contact Paul Kemp.
This is a 6 round quickplay tournament being held at Louth Chess Club on Saturday 26th May. Each player will have 25 mins on the clock. There are lots of prizes to be won. The winner of the tournament will receive the Alf Newman memorial shield and at least £50 prize money. Early entry is advised as the venue has limited capacity. An entry form is available to download.
Lincolnshire beat Worcestershire 10½-5½ to qualify for the quarter final stages of the Minor Counties Competition. The team finish 2nd place in the MCCU Minor County Championship, behind Leicestershire who win the Championship due to beating Lincolnshire in the individual encounter. Full results
David Coates (Lincoln) scored 2½/5 in the Open and finished mid table. Bill Egan (Scunthorpe) played in the U145 section and also scored 2½/5.
Paul Cumbers (Grantham) scored 3½/5 in the Open section and won £20 for coming equal 3rd. In the intermediate section Robert Stokes (Scunthorpe) won a grading prize of £16.66. Here are a list of all the Lincs players who took part:
Lincolnshire lost 8-4 to Staffordshire in their most recent county match. With a strengthened team it was not such a heavy defeat as in previous matches. Their final match is against Warwickshire on 17th March where the team are hoping to win their first match of the season. Full results
Bill Egan (Scunthorpe) came equal 2nd place in the minor section with a score of 4/5 and won prize money of £37.50.
Bill Egan (Scunthorpe) played in the minor section and finished clear 1st on 4½/5, receiving £100 in prize money.
Lincolnshire have an impressive 14-2 win over Shropshire to go top of the table. The results and report for the match are now up on the web site. Full results
The rapidplay competition is taking place on Sunday 19th Feb at the Wellfield Business and Enterprise College in Leyland which is where the August congresses have been held for the past few years. An entry form is available to download for those interested in taking part.
Another tough match for the U120 team saw them lose 9½-2½ to Nottinghamshire. The score could have been closer if it wasn't for mistakes and slip ups from the Lincolnshire side. The final score and a report are now up on the web site. Full results
Bill Egan (Scunthorpe) finished joint 1st in the minor section with a score of 4½/6 and won £82 prize money.
The Preston Congress took place at the start of November. Bill Egan (Scunthorpe) competed in the minor section and scored 3/5.
Another close encounter with Leicestershire saw the team narrowly lose by 8½-7½. This is the team's first loss in the group stages in 10 matches. Lincolnshire currently stand in 2nd place in the league table so there is still everything to play for. Full results
Sam Milson (Louth) improved on his performance last year by scoring 5½/11 in the Open section. In the intermediate section Mike Kelly (Grimsby) scored 5½/11 and Amy Milson (Louth) scored 4½/11. In the minor section Neil Milson (Louth) scored 6½/11.
The Brighton Congress was held in the last weekend of November. Stephen Prior (Spalding) scored 3½/5 in the major section and Bill Egan (Scunthorpe) scored 2½/5 in the minor section.
Stephen Prior (Spalding) came 1st place in the Major section with a score of 7½/9 and won £450 prize money. His tournament performance rating was 2055, nearly 100 points higher than his actual rating of 1976.
Lincolnshire lost 9½-2½ to Worcestershire but the score doesn't accurately reflect how tight the match was on most of the boards. A report and full results are now up on the web site. Full results
Lincolnshire beat Greater Manchester 10-6 to go top of the table with 2 wins out of 2. It was a solid team performance which resulted in a good hard fought win. The next county match is against Leicestershire on Sat 3rd Dec. Full results
Allan Marshall (Boston) came equal second place in the intermediate section with a score of 4/5 and won £60 prize money. Jan Van Gemeren (Spalding) won a grading prize of £20 in the same section with a score of 3½/5. John Grasham (Louth) won a grading prize of £25 in the foundation section with a score of 3/5. Here are the results of all the Lincs players taking part in the competition:
In the Open section Sam Milson (Louth) scored 3/5. In the intermediate section both Jan Van Gemeren (Spalding) and Neil Milson (Louth) also scored 3/5. Here are the results for all the Lincolnshire players taking part:
The dates, times and venues for the U120 county matches this season have been confirmed by the relevant county captains and are as follows:
This season Lincolnshire have entered a team in the U120 Championship for the first time. Their first match was against Staffordshire Bulldogs where they narrowly lost 7-5. Despite the loss it was good experience for a number of young junior players. Full results
Lincolnshire start the season with a convincing victory over Derbyshire by 10½-5½. The team went in to the match as strong favourites based on grades but still had to win the match. Full results
Sam Milson (Louth) scored 3/5 in the Open section with a performance rating of 2208. In the Major his sister Amy scored 2/5 and his dad Neil also scored 2/5 in the Minor. Also playing in the Minor section was Bill Egan (Scunthorpe) who finished with a score of 2½/5.
After receiving only 8 entries to the simultaneous event on the 25th October the organisers are not able to meet the costs and have no choice but to cancel the event. Message from John Grasham.
The organisers of this event have been able to reduce the price to £30 to play Nigel Short (£20 for under 18s) and the cost to play CJ de Mooi in the junior simultaneous remains at £10. Please support the event, we may never get an opportunity like this in Lincolnshire again. New entry form
The fixtures for the 2011-12 season are now available on the web site for all divisions. If there are any errors or omissions then please notify the webmaster.
Lincolnshire have entered a county team in the MCCU U120 Championship. The dates for the fixtures are as follows:
John Grasham is the contact for the team. Please email him for further details.
After consultation at the Lincolnshire AGM on Saturday we are able to lower the price to enter the simultaneous from £50 to £45. However payment must be received by cheque BY THE 10TH OCTOBER. I hope you will support this once in a lifetime opportunity for Lincolnshire Chess. Message from John Grasham, league secretary.
The entry form has been updated.
The league rules for this season have been updated, voted on, reorganized, gramatically edited and (hopefully) made clearer. The new rules can be found on the information section where they have replaced the previous rules.
The fixtures have been announced for the new County Season. This year there will be an extra match because Greater Manchester have joined the Minor Counties from the open section. The fixtures are as follows with the possible venues:
Please contact Nigel Birtwistle, open team captain, with your availability as soon as possible.
The Lincolnshire Chess Association AGM will take place on 10th September at 2pm at St. James Church House in Upgate, Louth, LN11 9ET. The annual fixture meeting will take place just before at 12:30pm. An agenda has been prepared for the meeting along with a list of the proposed changes to the rules that have been received by Lincolnshire players. The proposed changes are highlighted in red.
Nigel Short and CJ de Mooi are coming to Louth on Tue 25th October for a simultaneous event. This is a rare opportunity in Lincolnshire so please support the event. An entry form is available to download.
The Lincolnshire Chess Association AGM will take place at 2pm on the 10th September at St James's Church House in Louth. So far the proposals received are:
Proposals 2 and 3 are part of a wider restructure of the rules of the Lincolnshire League I am conducting. If anyone has any proposals, questions or suggestions then please let me know in good time before the meeting.
Message from John Grasham, league secretary. Please contact him by email.
The new ECF Grades have been released for the upcoming season and are now available on the ECF Grading database web site. The Active Lincolnshire Players list has been updated with the new grades. Players have been added or removed from the list based on whether or not they played any chess games last season.
The British Championships this year was held at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield. There was a good attendance of Lincolnshire players at the competition (11 in total), with the majority coming from Louth chess club. The best score was from Sam Milson (Louth) in the Atkins Weekender who finished in equal 4th place with a score of 3½/5 and just missed out on some prize money. Full Report
The Jamboree was held at the Mason's Arms in Louth on 26th June. Lincoln Sharks were this year's winners with a score of 11½/16. Full Results
Back issues of Chess Notes (in pdf format) can be downloaded here.