Previous Seasons
The ECF has published some updated guidance and a roadmap which clubs should be made aware of:
The main points to note are:
All these dates are subject to change.
The ECF are also planning a British Championships for October but in a slightly different format than usual.
Lincolnshire started the competition with a 12-10 loss to Glamorgan in round 1. The team beat Derbyshire 4.5-1.5 in round 2 and are leading 3-1 against Highlands & Islands in round 3. They only need half a point from the remaining two games to secure the win. Rounds 4 and 5 are starting this month.
The Lincolnshire Online Rapidplay tournament was held on Saturday 28th November on chess.com. The tournament consisted of six rounds with each player having 25 minutes for the whole game. Nick Stead (Grimsby) won the tournament with a score of 5½/6. Full Results
The new season of the Iceni Live League starts on Monday 11th January. The time control is 15/10 and is played on chess.com via the club match feature. Teams consist of at least four players. There are three divisions - open, U1850 (average rating under 1850) and U1700 (average rating under 1700). The divisions may change depending on the number of teams participating. 9 rounds will be played with a round played each week. Matches are played weekday evenings starting at 7:30pm. The home team chooses which evening the match is played.
The League is open to clubs from Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. A number of clubs from these counties have entered the league. It would good to see a Lincolnshire club enter the league.
A club has been set up on chess.com called Boudica1. Lincolnshire players who are interested in playing online league chess can sign up for a chess.com account and join the club. At least 6 players need to join the club to make it viable in entering a team in the league. So far 2 players have joined so another 4 is needed.
If you have any questions please email the webmaster.
In October and November this year the MCCU organised some online county team competitions on lichess. 3 teams played in the Open section and 2 teams played in the U1825 section. If the MCCU organise any further county team competitions it would be good if Lincolnshire were able to enter a team.
The Worcestershire captain has agreed to organise a friendly match on lichess against Lincolnshire in the New Year in a similar format to the competitions. The format is 6:30pm on a Saturday evening with a 60/15 time limit played over 12 boards. Individual challenges are used so that the ECF standard grade determines the board order. The date and time is still to be confirmed for the friendly match.
If you are a Lincolnshire player and are interested in playing friendly or competitive county matches please sign up for free on lichess and join the Lincolnshire team - https://lichess.org/team/lincolnshire. When new posts are added to the team forum please respond promptly to them to indicate your availability to play in matches.
If you have any questions please email the webmaster.
Lincolnshire have entered a team in Division 4B. There are 10 teams in the division with 9 rounds being played over the next year. In the first round Lincolnshire play Glamorgan. The match will start on Tuesday 15th December. Full results
Message from Nigel Birtwistle
Lincolnshire Chess are holding an Online Rapidplay tournament on Saturday 28th November. This will be our second Rapidplay event of the year following on from the successful Online Louth Rapidplay tournament held in June. The tournament will consist of six rounds with each player having 25 minutes for the whole game. The tournament starts at 10am and will finish at around 3pm. There will be no breaks in between rounds. Each round will start immediately after the last game of the previous has finished. A rough outline of the tournament schedule is given below:
9.00am : Registration for the tournament opens.
| Round 1: | 10:00am | Round 2: | 10:50am | Round 3: | 11:40am | Round 4: | 12:30pm |
| Round 5: | 13:20am | Round 6: | 14:10pm | Finish: | 3pm |
Everybody is welcome to play regardless of playing strength. We are hoping to be able to organize some prizes for the winner and probably a couple of rating prizes depending on entry.
The link to the tournament is here: https://www.chess.com/live#t=1776217
Players must be members of Lincolnshire Chess on Chess.com if they wish to play. To join Lincolnshire Chess go to Home - Chess.com and create your free account and username.
Once you have created your account you can join Lincolnshire Chess here: Lincolnshire Chess - Chess Club - Chess.com
It would be good if you could all keep Saturday 28th November free so that you are able to play. For the tournament to run smoothly we ideally need 30 players to enter so please make an effort to play if you possibly can please.
Lincolnshire is registered in the UK & Ireland County Championship which starts in December. The time control is 3 days per move. The competition is split into divisions with around 10 teams in each division. As Lincolnshire are a new team they will start in division 4. Usually there will be one match per month. In each match you play 2 concurrent games against your opponent - one with white and the other with black. The aim is for all matches to be completed by 30th November 2021.
If you are a Lincolnshire player and interested in taking part then please join Team Lincolnshire on chess.com
The County Championship Warm Up Tournament (CCWU) has been taking place on chess.com. The game format is called Daily Chess which is a style of correspondence chess. The time control is 3 days per move. There are 2 groups with 5 teams in each group. All the teams play each other once in the group. The winner of each group then play in a grand final. There is no cut off date for the matches to end but a team can declare a win once an unassailable lead has been reached. Lincolnshire are playing in group 2. Full Results
Message from Nigel Birtwistle
Our next scheduled blitz tournament will be held next week on TUESDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER @7.30PM.
https://www.chess.com/live#r=492112
The time control will be 3 minutes for each player plus a 2 seconds per move increment.
Arena Tournament running for 90 minutes from 7.30pm - 9pm.
Registration for the tournament opens at 6.30pm.
Earn points by winning or drawing, and score bonus points for winning streaks. You can join or leave at anytime. When the time is up, all games end.
Everybody is welcome for a fun, fast paced evening of chess. We hope to see all of our regular players in action and it would be nice to have a few new faces competing as well!
Message from Nigel Birtwistle
After a short break we are back running tournaments for our Lincolnshire Chess members again. The first tournament of the Autumn series kicks off this coming THURSDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER@ 7.30PM:
https://www.chess.com/live#r=490860
Arena tournament running from 7.30pm and finishing at 9pm.
Play as little or as often as you like.
Extra points are scored for winning streaks. When time is up the tournament ends.
We hope that you will continue to support our tournaments and hope to see you all on 24th September@7.30pm!
Lincolnshire had two teams playing in the finals. Neither team were successful on the day. The open team lost 8½-3½ to Northumberland and the U1825 team lost 7½-3½ to Essex.
Message from Nigel Birtwistle
https://www.chess.com/live#t=1511213
A six round Swiss Tournament.
15 minutes for each player but no increment.
Players of all strengths welcome.
We hope to see you all there!
The knockout stages began on 8th August. The Open team comfortably beat Norfolk 7½-4½. The U1825 team had a much tougher match but just edged past Middlesex winning 6½-5½. Both teams progress to the finals.
The Iceni Live League starts on 28th September. The time control is 15m + 10s and is played on chess.com via the club match feature. Teams must consist of at least four players but can extend to any number by mutual agreement. There are two divisions - an open division and a division where players must be U140 and 50% players U120. This may change depending on the number of teams participating.
The League is open to clubs from Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.
For clubs interested in playing, please follow these steps:
The closing date for entries is Thursday 24th September.
For more information please go to https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/iceni-live-league-1.
The Iceni Live Classic starts on 8th September. The time control is 45m + 15s and is played on chess.com. It is a 6 round tournament with one round played each week.
The tournament is open to players from Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.
The deadline for entry at Round 1 is Friday 4th September.
For more information please go to https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/iceni-live-classic-1.
Message from Nigel Birtwistle
https://www.chess.com/live#t=1508419
A six round Swiss tournament starting at 6.30pm this Saturday 15th August
Slow Blitz - 15 minutes per player - no increment.
We hope to see you all there!
Message from Nigel Birtwistle
https://www.chess.com/live#r=414796
After the drama of last Saturday's County Semi Final matches a chance to relax and enjoy a fun Tournament.
Arena tournament running from 7pm until 9pm.
Time control 5 minutes per player plus a 5 second increment.
Players of all strengths are welcome.
We hope to see you all there!
Message from Nigel Birtwistle
https://www.chess.com/live#r=401894
The Tournament runs from 7pm until 9pm.
Play as little or as often as you like.
This week the time control is 7 minutes for each player but no increment.
Players of all strengths are welcome.
Also a good warm up for those players representing the two Lincolnshire teams in Semi Final action this Saturday.
We hope to see you all there!
Both Lincolnshire county teams have qualified for the knockout stages. The U1825 team play Middlesex and the Open team play Norfolk. The matches will be played on Saturday 8th August.
The National 100 is a 4 region slow play national mini-league for U100 players played across the 3 middle Saturdays in August at 6:30pm. The first match starts on Saturday 8th August. Midlands U100 players wanting to play for the region will need to be ECF members and should fill in the form on the Midlands club home page.
Back issues of Chess Notes (in pdf format) can be downloaded here.