Chess Moves 2011 March-April, Chess, Chess Moves, ebook, pdf

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//-->4NCL - 3rd WeekendConcentration or despair? The 4NCL Third Weekend in full swingThe third weekend of this season’s 4NCL was split between two De Vere venues,with Divisions 1 and 2 taking place at Wokefield Park in Mortimer whileDivision 3 was played at Sunningdale. The Northern League took place at theBarcelo Majestic Hotel in Harrogate.With just one round to go after the weekend’s matches before the leagues split andmerge into championship, relegation and promotion pools the destiny of severalteams is still unclear. Now read on(continued on Page 3)It's been a tough time for me recentlyas work rather overtook me. However,I was able to devote a few moments tochess and help Nigel Short on hissimultaneous tour around the country.From the desk of the Presidentimpressive series of roles in the IT field, culminating inhis current senior position with Barclays Capital. Steveis a lapsed chess player himself but has found arenewed interest in the game as a very proud “chessparent”. I am grateful to Steve for volunteering hisservices, and I look forward to working with him overthe coming months.”Andrew Farthing, Chief Executive writes:“Two important papers have been posted on theFinance Council page, in preparation for the meetingin Birmingham on 16th April. The first is the 2011-12Business Plan, which sets out the Board’s intentionsfor the coming year. The second is a paper entitled TheFunding of the English Chess Federation, which pres-ents two options for the future funding of the ECF inthe wake of the ending of its £60,000 Governmentgrant. These proposals will have an impact on everyEnglish chess player and are essential to the long-termstability of the Federation. I urge all interested partiesto study them carefully.“The paper contains a lot of information but willundoubtedly raise questions. I have deliberately includ-ed minimal detail on some of the practical implemen-tation issues, in order to keep the debate focused as faras possible on the core principles. This notwithstand-ing, I am happy to invite questions via e-mail onchief.executive@englishchess.org.uk or via the ECFoffice. In order to ensure as informed a debate atCouncil as possible, I shall maintain a Q&A summaryon my blog ChEx based on the questions received.“Along with the 2011-12 Budget, to be posted shortly,the Business Plan and Funding Proposals form what is,I believe, a coherent statement of the path which theECF needs to take over the coming two years (andbeyond). It is important that the Council debate inApril should be as informed as possible and based onthe views of those whom Council members repre-sent.”This year’s Finance Council Meeting takes placein the IBIS Hotel, 21 Ladywell Walk, Birmingham,West Midlands B5 4ST Tel: 0121 622 6010 on the16th April 2011 starting at 1.30 p.m.He went though 7 events concedingonly 9 draws, so we're doing it all overagain in October to give players a further chance toinflict a defeat on the good doctor.The British Championships in Sheffield is taking shapeand will be a spectacular event with the top sectionbeing the strongest ever. This tournament is the cen-trepiece of the domestic chess calendar and I've beenworking overtime to try and secure financial backingfor it - hopefully good news will be forthcoming.I was also honoured to be invited to the GibraltarFestival and the Varsity Match, both of which were ter-rific and humbling events and were clear demonstra-tions of what can be achieved with chess if the will isthere.However, such joy always seems to be tempered, thistime by the sad news that London's bid for the WorldChampionship was unsuccessful. I offer no publicopinion on what happened but after what I witnessedat the FIDE General Assembly, I'm afraid I'm not sur-prised. Malcolm Pein is one of the most hard-workingand invaluable servants of chess this country has everhad and I hope he takes solace in his magnificentLondon Chess Classic.We have world class players, organisers, facilities andsupporters in England and together we can continue tostrengthen our position on the world stage. No more'punching above our weight' - it's time for everyone tofollow our lead and take chess to the wonderful heightsit deserves!- CJ de MooiECF Finance Council MeetingECF NewsAndrew Farthing, Chief Executive, writes:“I am delighted to announce the appointment ofStephen Ashcroft to the role of Manager of ICT(Information & Communications Technology). Steveis highly qualified for the post, both in terms of hisacademic background in computer sciences and anNew ECF Manager of ICTCONTENTS24NCL - FC,3Presidential - 2ECF News - 2JR Grand Prix - 6Junior - 6Grand Prix - 8International - 9Results - 9ChEx Bookshelf - 15Gibraltar - 17Book Reviews - 20Batsford - 21Calendar - 22Division One Section A4NCL - 3rd Weekend (cont)ance this season alongside Stephen Gordon, Nick Pertand Jovanka Houska. Jovanka maintained her 100%record whilst Nick is on 5/6 and Stephen on 4.5.e2e4.org.uk remain the team to most outperform theirseeding and two more victories, including their 3rd 4.5-3.5 win of the season against Guildford qualified themfor the Championship Pool. One of their heroes isEngland’s number one junior, Yang-Fan Zhou, whohas a performance of 2472 after four rounds.Third and fourth have yet to be decided althoughWhite Rose will qualify if they manage 4-4 or betteragainst Sambuca Sharks, and Oxford will almost cer-tainly have to beat Guildford whom they trail on gamepoints to finish in fourth. Cambridge is the only otherteam with a mathematical chance but will need to beatBarbican 2 and have the other results go in theirfavour.Barbican 2 and Sambuca Sharks will play out the sea-son in the relegation pool. Barbican lost both matches4.5-3.5 despite out-rating Oxford on every board onSunday.Pride & Prejudice qualified for the Championship Poolafter wins against Pandora’s Box Grantham andBarbican 1 left them on 12 match points. They did,however, suffer two shock defeats in their matchagainst Pandora’s with Michael Adams losing withwhite against IM Jerzy Slaby and David Howell losingto untitled Marcos Capucci. Gawain Jones alsoappeared to be in some danger when he agreed to adraw against Martin Burrows. It was left to their otherfour grandmasters and their Norwegian WIM tosecure the necessary wins to steer them to a 5.5-2.5victory. Their round 6 victory against Barbican 1 washard fought but with fewer scares. Chris Ward andSheila Sahl won on boards 6 and 8 resulting in a 5-3victory.Barbican 1 qualified after a 4-4 draw on Saturdayagainst Betsson, with the only decisive games beingDave Ledger’s win against Simon Knott for Betssonand Kanwal Bhatia’s point against Maria Yurenok forBarbican. Betsson confirmed their place with a com-fortable 7-1 victory against Pandora’s on Sunday.Cheddleton had a successful weekend, with victoriesagainst the ADs and Warwickshire Select to move intofourth place on 6 points although they will need atleast a 4-4 draw against Barbican in round 7 to qualifyfor the Championship Pool if, as expected, WoodGreen Hilsmark Kingfisher 2 win their match againstPandora’s Box. The ADs also have a mathematicalchance of fourth place but will need to win againstBetsson and hope the other two results are favourable.Warwickshire Select and Pandora’s Box will both finishthe season in the relegation pool after two defeats butthey at least had some notable individual results. I havealready mentioned Pandora’s grandmaster scalpsabove, but I was pleased to see two of Warwickshire’sjuniors win against titled players with Brandon Clarkewinning against FM Peter Sowray whilst RichardWeaving defeated IM Malcolm Pein.Division One Section BWood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher 1 powered to twobig victories against Oxford and White Rose to qualifyfor the Championship Pool with 12 match points. Iwas pleased to see WGHK field an all English top fouron Sunday with Luke McShane making his first appear-3Division 2 Section ABarbican Youth recorded two more victories to winthe section and qualify for the Promotion Pool, albeitthe only way they can be promoted is if Barbican 2 arerelegated. Twelve-year-old Isaac Sanders moved to5.5/6 with two more wins and Sam Franklin now has2.5/3 and a 2356 performance for the season. GeorgeO’Toole also won both games and it’s really positive tosee so many of our young players being given oppor-tunities and performing so well.The remaining three places remain undecided. Five ofthe six matches not involving Barbican Youth ended4.5-3.5 and the section is so close that it may comedown to the last game of one of the round 7 matchesto determine who qualifies in the top four. The pair-White Rose 2 (5) vs. Barbican 4NCL Youth (10)Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg (7) vs. Jutes of Kent (7)Anglian Avengers 1 (7) vs. Poisoned Pawns 2 (2)Cambridge University 2 (6) vs. South Wales Dragons (4)ings will be as follows:Division 3This division remains wide open with Wessex 2, CelticTigers and Oxford 2 being separated only by gamepoints with 10 match points whilst Brown Jack are theonly team on 9. Seven teams are on 8 points andanother 5 teams are on 7.Prior to the weekend the Braille Chess Association hadwon all 4 matches and were leading the table. Despite2/2 from IM Colin Crouch on board 1 they were out-rated in both matches and lost 3.5-2.5 to Celtic Tigersand 4-2 to Brown Jack. Wessex 2 also won both match-es to join the leaders.Amongst the junior performances twelve year oldTarun Malhotra has played on board 1 for AMCAHippos and is performing at 2175 after four games.Northern LeagueRhyfelwyr Essyllwg are on 25.5 game points whilstAnglian Avengers 1 and Jutes of Kent are both on 25game points. Cambridge University 2 are on 6 matchpoints and 24 game points whilst White Rose 2 haveonly a slim chance as they have 5 match points and22.5 game points.Both South Wales Dragons and Poisoned Pawns 2 willfinish the season in the relegation pool.Division 2 Section BBristol qualified for the Promotion Pool despite losingon the Saturday to Guildford 2. They secured a 6-2 vic-tory on Sunday against rivals Wessex to finish theweekend on 10 match points.Guildford 2 look favourites to join them although theywill need 4-4 or better against 3Cs to be certain. Thereare three teams on 7 match points, Poisoned Pawnshave 26.5 game points, Wessex have 25.5 and AMCAhave 24.5. Kings Head have 5 match points and 22.5game points so need to beat Wessex by at least 5.5-2.5and hope at least one of the other teams on 7 loses.Eleven-year-old Ravi Haria of Kings Head has had agood season so far, scoring 3 out of 4 and performingat 2145.Poisoned Pawns face Sambuca whilst AMCA appear tohave the trickier round 7 pairing against Bristol butwith James Holland on 4.5/6 and performing at 2380+they are not without match winners. 3Cs and SambucaBlack Sheep will be involved in the relegation poolafter round 7.The crucial top of the table clash in round 5 betweenSpirit of Atticus on 8 points and Bradford DCAKnights A on 7 ended in a 3.5-2.5 victory for Bradfordwith Ben Hague defeating John Carleton with black onboard 1. Louis Brijmohun also won for Bradford onboard 5 while David Robertson won on board 4 forAtticus against a much higher rated opponent.Bradford then won 4-2 against Cheddleton on Sundaywith wins for Adam Lang and Louis Brijmohun to fin-ish the weekend on 11 points ahead of Atticus on 10who won 4-2 against Aigburth. Holmes Chapel hadtwo wins to move to 9 points ahead of Cheddleton on8. Jorvik defeated Bradford B to move to 6 whileBradford remain on 4 while Manchester Manticoresand Aigburth are still looking for their first points andwill face each other in round 7.My thanks to the hotels for accommodating and host-ing the third weekend and to all the arbiters and 4NCLofficials for the smooth running of the weekend.4The fourth weekend takes place on the 26th & 27thMarch 2011 with the following venues being used:De Vere Venues, Staverton Park – Divisions 1 and 2Barcelo Hotel, Daventry- Division 3De Vere Wychwood Park (near Crewe) – NorthernLeaguePlayers are requested to make themselves familiar withthe venue addresses and suitable directions before-hand!- Lawrence CooperLinks are as follows:Website: http://www.4ncl.co.uk/Results:http://www.4ncl.co.uk/resdiv1.htmhttp://www.4ncl.co.uk/resdiv2.htmhttp://www.4ncl.co.uk/resdiv3.htmhttp://www.4ncl.co.uk/resnorthern.htmGames for download:http://www.4ncl.co.uk/downloads.htmCertificate of MeritThe Certificate of Merit (COM) is centred on a num-ber of online tests, which enable chess students tomeasure their progress and to earn certificates andbadges. The tests are taken entirely online, and pay-ments for the credits can be made online or bycheque. Examinees can practice as many times asthey wish before they take the CoM test. All ques-tions are multiple-choice, and the result comesthrough automatically - the certificate is issued byemail and the button badge for the particular level issent out by the ECF Office shortly afterwards. Pleasesee the shop on the ECF websitewww.englishchess.org.uk for details of purchase ofthe full package or individual items.The English Chess FederationNew!Each credit costs £6 or £150 for 30.Once a student has paid for a credit,he or she can then take the test as manytimes as necessary until a pass is achieved.New!Students can track each question answeredwrongly and find out the correct answer.New!The answers now have an explanationincluded (where appropriate)There is also a package available of many goodies -for details, go to www.certificateofmerit.org.ukFor further information contact the ECF Office:01424 775222 / com@englishchess.org.ukwww.certificateofmerit.org.ukDates for 2010-11 season:http://www.4ncl.co.uk/2010_11_dates.htmRounds 9, 10 and 1130th April to 2nd May 2011Barcelo Hotel, Hinckley IslandDivisions 1, 2 and 3 & Northern LeagueJunior 4NCL Weekend 39th & 10th April 2011Barcelo Hotel, Daventry5 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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