UK Blitz Championships 2022

blitz2022-II

The ECF is pleased to confirm that this years UK Blitz Championships will go ahead, with regional qualifier events on 3rd of 4th September or in some cases the weekend before or after. The finals will then be on 3rd December at a midlands location to be confirmed.

Regional qualifying events
There will be eight regional one-day qualifier events at locations across the country as follows —

England
London – Saturday 3rd September – St Luke’s Church, Kidderpore Ave, Golders Green NW3 7SU
Midlands – Saturday 3rd September – Holiday Inn, 212 Abbey End, Kenilworth CV8 1ED
North West – Sunday 4th September – Ukrainian Social Club, 99 Castle Street, Bolton BL2 1JP
South West – Saturday 10th September – Polish Community Centre Whitbourne Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 2JX
North East – Sunday 11th September –The Parks Leisure Centre, Howdon Road, North Shields NE29 6TL

To learn more and enter please click here

Delancey Junior Mega Finals

School-Chess-Champion-10-x-5-cm-1

The club maybe closed for the summer but the Juniors are still playing their chess.

Today was the Delancey UK Chess Challenge Megafinals which were held at Taunton School.  The Delancey Uk Chess Challenge is the worlds largest junior chess competition which has been running since 1996 and over 1 million children have competed in the competition since it began.

What better day to have a tournament with the sun shining enabling parents to sit out on the grass as they waited for the result of each game.

Each junior played 6 games throughout the day and the top boy and girl from each section received trophies and medals for second and third place.  All those receiving an award qualify for the gigafinal and all players scoring a minimum of 4/6 points qualify for the gigafinal.  In addition; U-7s, U-9s and U-11s scoring a minimum of 3.5/6 qualify for the Gigafinal.

I am pleased to say that our juniors did us proud today with them all taking home an award and qualifying for the gigafinals for their age group.  Congratulations to both Josh and Adri for winning their age group.

IMG_20220612_170741193

Well done!! 1st place – trophy / 2nd place – purple silver medal / 3rd place – chequered bronze medal. (It seems, by accident, the teams colours were green and blue today!).

Delancey UK Chess Challenge Mega Finals – Calling all Juniors

Delancey Logo_Gigafinal-3

Calling all Taunton Chess Club Junior Players.

When: 12th June 2022
Where: Taunton Pre School
Age: Aged 18 and younger (born after 31.08.2003)

The tournament is part of the Delancey UK chess challenge for juniors and covers all the UK. Mega finals are held in different areas of the country (Somerset being our local tournament), then those who are successful will proceed to the gigafinals, then the terafinals.

More information about the Delancey program can be found here: https://www.delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com/enter-the-challenge/

Taunton Chess Club Juniors are eligible to enter the competition at the megafinal stage and we would like to encourage all of you to enter, if you are able, as it will be great experience for you all and even better if you continue on in the competition. The cost is £20 and to submit your entry please head over to the entry form at the following link:

https://www.delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com/product/2022-somerset-megafinal/

If you do sign up to take part can you please drop an email to Sharon & Chris on the club email: tauntonchessclub@gmail.com to let us know you are going so we can gather together during the event and Chris will be on hand to walk through games, give advice and Sharon can bring cake and look after bags etc!

Hope you can make it.

Frome Congress.

Please find below details of the next Frome Congress organised by the Frome Chess Club (with many helpers).  The annual Frome Congress is one of the most popular and friendly Congresses in the South-West, regularly attracting between 150 and 200 entrants.  The Selwood Academy venue has comfortable playing conditions. The restaurant, bookstall and analysis areas are separate from the playing areas and there is ample (free) car parking.  The Congress includes the Somerset Championships. The Open is FIDE-rated.

The organisers reserve the right to require additional mitigations against COVID-19, such as the compulsory wearing of face masks in the tournament hall.  The final decision will be made shortly before the start of the congress, based on the government regulations in force at the time.  Online entries and Congress leaflet/brochure will be made available as soon as possible.  Please bear with them while they make the final arrangements.

You may register your interest by emailing info@somersetchess.org. We will contact you when all the details are finalised.

The 31st FROME CHESS CONGRESS DETAILS:

May 13th – 15th 2022
Selwood Academy, Berkley Road, Frome, Somerset BA11 2EF

Selwood Academy

Selwood Academy – (photo by Brendan O’Gorman 2016)

Tournaments

Four 5-round Swiss tournaments with 4-hour playing sessions
Please note that all fees and prizes are subject to confirmation. No entries will be accepted at this time.

Section

Grade Limit

Entry Fee*

(not including any
applicable ECF fee
or Junior discount)

Prizes

Open
(FIDE-rated)
None £32 First = £200,  Second = £150, Third = £100
Denys Bonner trophy
Major Under 1950 £23 First = £150,  Second = £125, Third = £90
Leon York memorial trophy
Intermediate Under 1750 £23 First = £150,  Second = £125, Third = £90
Roy Hossell trophy
Minor Under 1500 £23 First = £150,  Second = £125, Third = £90
Cyril Chapman and Jean Mackereth (for ungraded players) trophies

* For late entries after 1st May add £3

ECF Fees

In the Open section there is no charge for Gold or Platinum ECF members.
Otherwise: FIDE registered players with a non-English affiliation £1.50. All other players £11

In all other sections there is no charge for Silver, Gold or Platinum ECF members. Otherwise £9

Junior Discount

There is a £5 discount for all Juniors under 18 on 1st September 2021.

Trophies and Cash Prizes

Somerset trophies are awarded to the highest placed Somerset player in each section.

Dependent on entry, there will be at least one grading prize in each section.
Team prize of £50 for genuine club teams of 4 players.
Except in the Open tournament, no ungraded player may win higher than the value of the third prize.

Playing Schedule

Friday 18.50 Opening
19.00 Round 1
Saturday 10.00 Round 2
15.00 Round 3
Sunday 10.00 Round 4
15.00 Round 5

Players will be defaulted if not present within 30 minutes of start of round.

Rate of Play

All Sections: 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move from start of game.

Byes

A half-point bye may be claimed in any one of Rounds 1,2,3 or 4.

Bookstall

Bookstall and sets supplied by Chess Direct

Refreshments

We hope to provide hot and cold drinks and lunches on-site — to be confirmed.

Grading Information

The January 2022 ECF standardplay  grading list will be used to determine eligiblity for a section.
It is a condition of entry that all entrants agree that their results will be forwarded to the ECF for grading.

Conditions of Entry and Competition Rules

The full Conditions of Entry and Competition Rules are here.

Somerset Chess Congress ‘Missed Fork’

[pgn]
[Result “1-0″]
[Date “2020.01.11”]
[Round “Minor round 2″]
[Event “Somerset Chess Congress”]
[White “Martyn Maber 109″]
[Black “Colin Thompson 118″]
[Site “Walton Park Hotel, Clevedon”]

1.d4 e6 2.Bf4 f5 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 b6 5.Bd3 Bb7 6.Nb-d2 Nc6 7.c3 Ne7 8.h3 Ng6 9.Bh2 Be7 10.Qc2 0-0
11.0-0 Re8 12.Rf-e1 Bd6 13.Ne5 Nf8 14.Qb3 c5 15.Bf5 Bd5 16.c4 ef5 17.cd5 cd4 18.ed4 Qc7 19.Nc4 Be5
20.Ne5 d6 21.Rc1 Qb7 22.Nc6 Re1 23.Re1 Re8 24.Re8 Ne8 25.Qe3 Kf7 26.Nd8+ Resigns. [/pgn]

Somerset New Year Congress.

[pgn]
[Result “1-0″]
[Date “2020.01.12”]
[Round “Round 5″]
[Event “Minor Round 5″]
[White “Alan Fraser”]
[Black “Martyn Maber”]
[Site “Walton Park Hotel, Clevedon”]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3 Bg4 7.Be2 Be2 8.Qe2 e6 9.Bd2 Nb-d7 10.0-0 Be7
11.Nf3 e5 12.Ra-d1 0-0 13.Rf-e1 Rc8 14.Bc1 Qc7 15.Bg5 Rf-d8 16.Rd2 h6 17.Bh4 g5 18.Bg3 Qc4 19.Rd3 Rc5 20.Nf-d2 Qb4 21.Nd5 Nd5 Rd5 22. Nf8 23.h3 Qb2 24.Qh5 Kg7 25.h4 Ne6 26.Rb1 Qc2 27.Rb7 Rc7 28.Rb1 Rc5
29.Rb7 Rc7 30.Rb1 Rd-c8 31.Rb6 Nd4 32.Nf3 Ne6 33.Nh2 Qe4 34.Rd1 Nf4 35.Bf4 Qf4 36.Ng4 gh4 37.Rb3 Rc1
38.Ne3 Rd1 39.Qd1 Qg5 40.Rb1 f5 41.Nd5 f4 42.Ne7 Qe7 43.Qg4+[1-0][/pgn]

Somerset New Year Congress ‘Smothered Mate’.

[pgn]
[Result “0-1″]
[Date “2020-01-12″]
[Round “Somerset Congress”]
[Event “Major Round 4″]
[White “Grant Daly”]
[Black “Chris Greenaway”]
[Site “Walton Park Hotel, Clevedon”]

1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.Nf3 Be7 5.c4 d6 6.Nc3 Na6 7.e3 0-0 8.0-0 c5 9.d5 e5 10.b3 e4 11.Ne1 Nd7 12.Bb2 Ne5 13.Qc2 Bf6 14.a4 Nc7 15.Bh1 Bd7 16.Ng2 Nf3 [0-1] [/pgn]

Nicky Bacon 154 v Martyn Maber 109. Somerset v Devon.

[pgn]
[Result “1/2 – 1/2″]
[Date “2019.12.07”]
[Round “County Match”]
[Event “Devon v Somerset”]
[White “Nicky Bacon”]
[Black “Martyn Maber”]
[Site “Bridgwater”]

1.e4 c5 2.b3 a6 3.Bb2 d6 4.f4 e6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Nc3 d5 7.e5 Nh6 8.d3 Nf5 9.Qd2 Be7 10.0-0-0 d4 11.Ne4 Ne3
12.Re1 Nb4 13.Re3 de3 14.Qe3 Na2+ 15.Kb1 Qa5 16.Nd6+ Bd6 17.ed6 Nc3+ 18.Kc1 Na2+ 19.Kb1 Nc3+ 20.Kc1 Na2+
21.Kb1 Nc3+ 22.Kc1 [draw]
[/pgn]