ECF 'CHESSMOVES' report

19.05.2012 - There is an article in the March/April edition of the English Chess Federation's Chess Moves magazine about Cumnor and Witney's victory in the 2011/2012 Junior 4NCL.

• Read the 3-page extract

• Download the full edition in PDF

Summer Rapidplay

New Photos

12.05.2012 - A nice collection of archive photos from the Witney v Banbury match in 2010 is now available - Mike.

U11 Delancey Megafinal

04.05.2012 - Jake played in the U11 Delancey chess challenge Megafinal on Saturday 5 May. The boys U11's had over 20 players, with some very strong competition from MCS and William Fletcher pupils. In the first match Jake won fairly quickly.

The second game was more difficult but Jake edged a minor piece advantage before checkmate. In the third game his opponent tried a rather speculative scholars mate and subsequently lost his queen and, soon after, the match. The fourth game was against last year's Supremo from MCS. Two pawns down Jake devised a trap which would either end up winning a knight or, as it turned out, a back-rank checkmate. In the fifth round he was playing the current top board of the Oxfordshire county team. After a long game he won a supposedly drawn rook-knight endgame with only a few minutes left on the clock. At this point he had won the section on progression. His final game was against another strong county player. After winning his rook, Jake kept the material advantage to secure 6 from 6 and the Supremo title.

In the U11 girls, Marianne won four out of her 6 matches to qualify for the Gigafinal. She was disappointed to lose in an early round and then lost again to the eventual winner, so had to make sure she won both her last two matches. Although feeling under pressure she kept a calm head, slowed her playing down and made sure she did enough to win those important rounds - a good lesson in nerve control!

Meanwhile there were only 2 entrants in the U14 - one girl, one boy, so Isabel was assured of a prize just for turning up. She was in the U14 - U18 section and therefore in with the quite a few of the "big guns", and started off with a game against a player with more than double her own grade. However, she lasted the full hour and came out undaunted. Next up someone only 40 points higher (!) and she got her first win. The next round seemed comparatively easy with an older but perhaps less experienced player. In the fourth she made an error but felt he would have beaten her anyway (possibly true as he was three times her grade!) and then she finished with two rather easier matches, taking her to 4 points like her sister, but with the bonus of the U14 Girls Suprema title, and a good feeling that it was earned by more than just by turning up.

- Mike

Div 4: Cumnor 2 vs. Witney 4

04.05.2012 - It was great to win our final league game against Cumnor 2. They played 6 youngsters and we played 4 youngsters as Joseph wasn’t available ... [... more]

From a former club member

01.05.2012 - Fantastic cup result Mike and an amazing double success worthy of the 1990ers!

Please pass my congratulations to all concerned at the club and send me a copy of the write-ups in the Witney Gazette - with photos! It's exactly what the club needs to find sponsorship and/or new players (incl. juniors and schools) for next season. Don't miss up on the chance.

The phenomenal strength of both teams would do justice to the top boards in a strong County side let alone a club team.

I played in the Norfolk Champs this weekend in a circus ring (Gt. Yarmouth Hippodrome!).

I'm off to RAF Cosford for the Combined Services event starting Thursday, back home on Monday then off to Spain for our tour of five Spanish clubs in five nights! If that isn't enough I then have two weeks at the British in North Shields.

At least it's making up for the entire lack of any cricket played in Norfolk so far in the 2012 season! - Alec Toll.

FWS Final: Witney 1 vs. University 1

01.05.2012 - A fine match worthy of the occasion as University 1 fielded their strongest team of the season (effectively their Varsity Match team) - so strong in fact that Alan K had a frantic phone call with Jon D'Souza-Eva during the match to establish whether under the fairly arcane rules for the competition they were all eligible to play in the Frank Wood Shield. Happily, Witney 1's narrow win meant it was all academic in the end anyway. [Full report with results]

ECF's new funding arrangements

30.04.2012 - The following post on the OCA website, which explains the English Chess Federation's new funding arrangements and the implications for Oxfordshire League players, may be of interest.

As many of you will know by now, the ECF will be changing its funding structure from a game fee basis to a membership basis with effect from 1 September 2012. I am making this post now to give you early warning of the new arrangements, details of which can be found here. In essence:

1. The ECF has lost its £60,000 annual grant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

2. Had a new membership scheme not been approved by the ECF Council, there is no doubt that ECF game fee would have had to rise substantially anyway to cover the funding shortfall.

3. For those playing only local league chess, annual membership will be £13 adults/£9 juniors (£12 adults/£8 juniors if paid online or via ECF member organisations). This will be at least partly defrayed because ECF game fee will no longer be payable on league games, and so OCA league fees payable by clubs should reduce significantly. We anticipate that it will be down to individual clubs to decide how they deal with this saving.

The OCA Committee are currently liaising with other leagues and organisations to establish the best way to operate under the new regime, and we will be in touch shortly with our proposals. In the meantime, please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions at this stage.

Link: www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=18690

- Mike

Chess Club Dinner 18th May

28.04.2012 - Here is the menu for the chess club's annual dinner scheduled for Friday 18 May (7.30 for 8.00). It looks pretty yummy to me! - and good value as well at £14.95 for two courses or £17.95 for three courses including coffee and mints to finish.

Spouses, partners and children are all welcome as always; hopefully you can all make it and make it another successful occasion. If you are intending to come, please send me your menu choices as soon as you can so that I can forward them on to Hackett's - MT.

PGN Editor

26.04.2012 - Here's an easy to use game input facility for creating a pgn of your games for inclusion on this website.

This free chess tool will allow you to easily enter a series of moves, and then output the game in PGN format (Portable Game Notation). A useful video tutorial is also available here - Runtime: 9:21 mins - MT.

Div 3: Witney 3 vs. Cumnor 1

26.04.2012 - Last week saw Witney 3 play their last match of the season with all pressure off due to finally escaping relegation. And so, with a carefree attitude we took on the runaway divisional leaders. [report and games]

News from the Witney diaspora

25.04.2012 - Good to see Witney ruling the roost again - the FWS should emulate the 'double' from 1992 or thereabouts! My team (Broadland Bitterns) played way above their grades and finished in the top 4 in Norfolk. [link]

It seems a bit wrong that the clubs with games in hand know what result they need! I have loads more chess coming up - Combined Services at RAF Cosford next week, Norfolk Congress in the Hippodrome Circus! British Champs up north, a chess tour of Spain (playing 5 local clubs) and the NATO Champs in Brest, France. By then the league will have restarted.

Our new venue - the Kings Head, Coltishall (in my village!) has proved to be an excellent move for the club. I have regained my confidence when playing and work daily on my game using Fritz. I recommend retirement!

Any sign of Arthur Mushens?

- Alec Toll

Div 2: Witney 2 vs. Oxford City 2

25.04.2012 - Well played, an excellent end to the season as the 2nd team fought for promotion, albeit in vain as it turned out. Dave got a safe draw on board 1, after an early Queen exchange a position with R and opposite coloured B and pawns, petered out to a draw ... [more here]

Div 1: Cowley 1 vs. Witney 1

25.04.2012 - So in the end a match which threatened to be our second default of the season in the absence of a number of the usual Witney 1 players finished up as our eleventh win out of eleven played matches - thanks in small no part to the sterling efforts of the Witney 3 players, who came to the rescue just when it was needed and acquitted themselves nobly against their Division 1 opposition ... [continue reading]

Div 3: Cowley Workers 1 vs. Witney 3

03.04.2012 - Witney 3 went into tonight’s match requiring at least a draw to avoid relegation. The night started well Richard aggressively attacking his opponent until he could take no more ... 1-0. All the other boards were about even except Alan had gone the exchange up ... [... more]

Div 2: Didcot 1 vs. Witney 2

30.03.2012 - Witney 2 pulled off their best win of the season and put themselves in with a chance of 2nd place and promotion to division 1 with one match to go! [full report and game]

Div 4: Witney 4 vs. Wantage 2

27.03.2012 - A fine win for a young team, four of whom were Juniors, which leaves us mid-table with one match to play.

Div 3: Witney 3 vs. Bicester 2

22.03.2012 - It’s been a while since my last report and there hasn’t been much to report other than Witney 3 lost again! Our run of form has put us into a do or die situation but everything is still in our own hands ... [more]

Div 4: Oxford City 5 vs. Witney 4

15.03.2012 - A close match which we narrowly lost, again the highlights were a strong performance on the bottom boards. Ian was the first to finish, having blundered on move 6, and being unable to recover ... [continue reading]

Frank Wood Shield - Witney 1 vs. Cumnor 1

14.03.2012 - Playing a Division 3 side in the Frank Wood Shield semi-final provides all manner of opportunity for upsets, particularly given the requirement under the competition's handicapping rules to win by a 4.5:1.5 margin, but in the end we made it to the final with few alarms, with nobody as far as I could see worse in their games at any stage ... [...more]

Div 2: Witney 2 vs. MCS Blackbirds 1

13.03.2012 - A difficult night turned out well as the five pulled off a creditable draw 3-3 v MCS/B. Jon had earlier withdrawn with illness and Patrick was a very late absentee due to work commitments (hope he is well paid) ... [... more]

Cumnor and Witney win the Junior 4NCL - report by Andrew Varney and Catriona Hauer

07.03.2012 - An outstanding performance from all our players this weekend, and a thoroughly deserved victory at the top of division 2 ahead of the very strong Yateley Manor A team.

Who would have thought as we headed up to Hinckley Island for that first weekend of the three in November that the team would be claiming the trophy and top prize money just a few months later? Over the three weekends we've had four Witney and four Cumnor juniors taking part in the team, and with all eight of them available on the final day we even ended up with an A and a B team ... [... continue reading]

© SC

© 2012 Witney Chess Club

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