David Graham v Merlin Saunders

[pgn]
[Event “Club Championship”]
[Site “Taunton”]
[Date “2022/2/1″]
[Round “?”]
[White “David “]
[Black “Merlin”]
[Result “1-0″]
[ECO “D00″]
[Opening “Queen’s pawn, Mason Variation “]

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Nbd2 Bd6 6.Bg3 O-O 7.Nb3 Ne4 8.Bxd6 Qxd6
9.Be2 Nd7 10.O-O c5 11.Nh4 Bg6 12.c3 c4 13.Nd2 Ndf6 14.f4 b5 15.Bf3 Nxd2 16.
Qxd2 Bd3 17.Rf2 Ne4 18.Bxe4 dxe4 19.g3 f5 20.Qd1 g6 21.Rg2 b4 22.Qd2 a5 23.g4
bxc3 24.bxc3 Qa3 25.gxf5 exf5 26.h3 Kf7 27.Kh2 Rg8 28.Rag1 Rab8 29.Qc1 Qxc1
30.Rxc1 Rb6 31.Rcg1 Rgb8 32.Nxf5 gxf5 33.Rg7+ Ke6 34.Rxh7 Rb2+ 35.Kh1 Rb1 36.
h4 Rxg1+ 37.Kxg1 Rg8+ 38.Kf2 Kf6 39.Rh5 Rb8 40.Rg5 Rb2+ 41.Kg3 Rxa2 42.h5 Ra1
43.Kh2 Be2 44.h6 Rb1 {Bf3 wins} 45.h7 Rb8 46.Rg8 Rxg8 47.hxg8=Q Ke7 48.d5 Bh5
49.Qg5+ {Black Resigns} 1-0 [/pgn]

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.

Match versus Sedgemoor 17th Nov

Ok. So this was our second friendly match. We had had to postpone the match twice owing to non-availability of players but finally agreed on a mutually convenient date and Sedgemoor were good enough to visit us.

Joshua Acibar, in his first match for the club. played, as usual, at lightning speed but unfortunately also lost at lightning speed.

Niall won a protracted and fairly close game thanks to a superior pawn count.

Richard won, fortuitously I thought, in a close game when his opponent, playing too quickly, was obliged to continue a move having touched his piece, a rook. Richard was able to fork the King and Rook leaving him a bishop up.

Fernando lost a close game agin showing the advantage of a superior number of pawns.

Arnold, playuing against a much higher rated player fought for and got a draw in a position I thought was lost. Well done Arno;d.

Mike’s game I didn’t see much of and he lost graciously.

Well done Sedgemoor. 3½ v 2½

Wellington Friendly

On Tuesday 12thOct Wellington came over with a 6 man team for a friendly match,there being no official league matches until at least Christmas. Taunton fortunately has a large enough area for us to accommodate a normal club night with a match. I’m curious as to why we continue to call these ‘friendly’ as I did not notice any lack of competetiveness, the last game not finishing until 10.30pm.

Kym, the Wellington Captain and I had tried to ensure a fairly evenly graded pairings, though as it turned out their No 1, Alex was considerably stronger than ours. To be fair Taunton’s top 3 players have not got an official ELO grading, so the placings were a bit arbitrary.

The results were as follows:

Alex Conway (Wellington) beat Richard Hailstone

John Jeremiah lost to Giannis Papaoikonomou

Robert Harris drew with Niall Homer

Ollie Sells lost to David Graham

Rupert Sells lost to Steve Smith

Eric Wall beat Nathanael Tretheway

Final result therefore was Wellington 2.5 – Taunton 3.5

I think most people enjoyed the ‘Over The Board’ experience, so we will be planning some more.

David Graham

 

 

Club Reopening

GREAT NEWS – We are reopening the club. Please see below for dates:
 -
Tues, 7th September 2021- current members only
Tues, 14th September 2021 – new starter members
 -
If you haven’t heard from us via email or FB messenger, please get in touch at tauntonchessclub@gmail.com and we can send you further information and some extra things we have put in place.
 -
Look forward to hearing from you!

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]