RAPID Tournament 2024 Results

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A fun day was had by all who attended, games moved rapidly and the only noise to be heard was the clicking of the timing clocks, more intensly as the games neared an end.

All of the participating juniors received a medal for participating:

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Jeff

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Abel

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Georgios

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Jethmi

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Adri

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Josh

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Louis

 

 

 

 

Louis won the First Junior trophyDSCN2990

Alan Stonebridge won the First Senior trophyDSCN2993

Josh was Second in the Under 1500 categoryDSCN2995

Louis Mallender won the First Under 1500’s DSCN2997 Adri won the Third Overall trophy  DSCN2999

Arnold Acibar came Second Overall DSCN3001 - Copy

And finally Niall Homer was the winner of the First Overall trophy                           DSCN3003 - Copy

 

We look forward to holding another tournament next year.

Sad News

          Mike Watson 2023 3                                   

Dr Mike Watson died the weekend of 20/21 Jan 2024

Mike was rushed to hospital at the weekend and died surrounded by his family.

Mike has been a stalwart and long-standing member of the Club for many years, and most recently our main tea and coffee person raising money for MIND.

He was a very intelligent and friendly man who loved his Chess.

Mike was a Doctor and worked in Africa for some years, wrote 3 books and was a General Practitioner.

He will be greatly missed by us all at Taunton Chess Club.

 

Taunton Chess Club announces its next Rapid Tournament

Taunton Chess Club Rapid Tournament

Saturday 20 January 2024

Play will commence at 9:30 and finish by 16:45
Prize giving and photos 17:00 to 17:30

Fee: £5 for each entrant
Payment & completed forms to be received by Saturday 13 January 2024
Completed entry form to be handed to Roger Newton
or emailed to tauntonchessclub@gmail.com

NO late entries or entries on the day will be accepted

Payment can be made by electronic bank transfer or cash.
Name:                        Taunton Chess Club
Sort Code:                  30-90-90
Account Number:       44813260
Please use your full name as a reference on the payment.

There will be 8 rounds.              Each player has 15 mins on the clock, no increments.

Non Cash Prizes:

1st Overall;   2nd Overall;   3rd Overall;
1st Under 1500;   2nd Under 1500;
1st Junior, Under 16’s
1st Senior over 65

Please note that this tournament is not eligible for ECF grading and games are therefore unrated.
Sandwiches and drinks will be available to purchase.

Please download the application form here

 

2023/24 Somerset Chess League Fixtures

Div 2 West Div 3 West
Taunton v Wellington Tues 3rd Oct
Sedgemoor v Taunton Mon 16th Oct
Taunton v Weston Tues 31st Oct Sedgemoor v Taunton Mon 30th Oct
Taunton v Wellington Tues 7th Nov
Glastonbury v Taunton Mon 13th Nov
Taunton v Wells Tues 28th Nov
Yeovil v Taunton Wed 6th Dec
Taunton v Weston Tues 12th Dec
Taunton v Yeovil Tues 9th Jan 2024
Wellington v Taunton Wed 24th Jan
Taunton v Sedgemoor ** Tues 30th Jan 2024
Taunton v Sedgemoor Tues 6th Feb
Taunton v Yeovil Tues 13th Feb
Weston v Taunton Thurs 22nd Feb
Wellington v Taunton Wed 28th Feb
Taunton v Glastonbury Tues 5th Mar
Yeovil v Taunton Wed 20th Mar
Weston v Taunton Thurs 28th Mar
Wells v Taunton Thurs 11th Apr
** may need re-arranging because of KO cup semi-finals

Somerset Knockout Competition

Yeovil v Taunton Wed 22nd Nov
CUP SEMI FINALS                                                   Week of 29 Jan 2024

Taunton Chess Club clothing available online

We are live!

We now have a Taunton Chess Club online shop to order t-shirts, polo shirts, hoodies and caps with the Taunton Chess Logo.  Junior and adult sizes available.

A big thank you to our club member / logo designer, Sophia Wainwright and to Stud Sports / Macron SW for helping us create the online shop.

Items can be bought online for delivery to your home and you can even personalise them for an additional price.  Head over to the menu tab “club clothing” to place your order.

Screenshot Senior Club shop

Junior Monthly Sessions starting Tuesday, 1st November

Taunton Chess Club are pleased to announce that they will be starting their monthly junior chess sessions this Tuesday, 1st November 2022

When:
First Tuesday of the Month
18:45 – 19:30

Where:
St Michaels Church
Pitts Close
Galmington
Taunton
TA1 4TP

Cost:
£2 per session to help with additional costs.
(This charge still applies if you are a club member)

The sessions will be led by Chris & Niall who are both DBS checked, and Niall is the clubs safeguarding officer.
All equipment will be provided just bring yourself along and maybe a notebook and pen if you want to make a note of any tips you may pick up!

Can we also ask you to fill out the form below and return to either tauntonchessclub@gmail.com or hand to Chris and Niall on Tuesday.
Taunton Chess Club junior form

We look forward to seeing you there.

First 2022/23 Match

The first match of the 2022/23 season on Tuesday 11th Oct starred the Taunton Knights against visitors Yeovil.

The gradings suggested that Taunton would win 2 ½ to 1 ½ but you will have to read on to discover the actual result.

Ioannis on Board 1 unexpectedly lost following a slight miscalculation (blunder?), whilst Richard on Board 2 duly won against his lower graded opponent. Even though you outrank your opponent you still have to play well to win. Well done, Richard.

On Board 4 Mike Ward was easily beaten by an opponent who outgraded him quite significantly so no real shame in losing that one Mike.

On Board 3, Phil who was playing with the Black pieces made a poor start but recovered to finish in an end game with a Rook and Bishop versus White’s Rook.

At one point there seemed to be loads of pawns but the next time I looked they had all gone. I thought this was going to be a draw and we would lose but he played very well and his opponent resigned before an inevitable mate.

2-2 was the final result. Well done everyone. It is great to be back playing OTB matches against other clubs.

And good luck to our Bishops who visit Weston Super Mare on Thursday.

Beware decommissioned oil rigs!

Simultaneous Match

On Tuesday the 27th of September we held a simultaneous round at the club.  We had 15 members who were brave enough to come up  against Hugo Fowler, a 2000 rated player who kindly volunteered his time to do this for us.

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It also gave our Junior players some experience of playing against a very high graded player; teaching them patience as it took 15 minutes for Hugo’s rotation to complete.

Ultimately Hugo was able to keep his street cred in order and ended up winning 10 games and 5 draws.  Unfortunately for the club we had no victors but it was enjoyable to see the whole club participate.

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This is the first time the club has held a simultaneous event and although we were short on time I think it was very successful and we hope to invite another high rated player to do it again in the future.  Other activities to look forward to are a rapid tournaments and dobble chess.  See you at the next event!

SCCA League – Division 3 West

Fixtures for the SCCA League Division 3 West have now been posted for 2022/23 at the following link:

Division 3 West Fixture Dates

Our team captains, David and Chris are currently arranging the teams and will be in touch soon.  A smaller version of the fixtures will also be made available on the club notice board so you can stick it to your fridge at home and never miss a game!