More information and the entry form can be found on the Witney website.
Category: Chess
Fixtures are out!
The new season is upon and is due to kick off this week.
Cunmor 1 will playing in division 1 for the first time and will play their first match away to City 1 on 7th October before home matches against Didcot 1 and Cowley 2.
Cumnor 2 kick off with home matches against Witney 4 and Didcot 3.
We are always looking for new players so drop us an email / call or pop along to the club on Thursday more information can be found here.
All fixtures are subject to change.
Final Club Night of the Season
The club will close throughout August and will reopen on the first Thursday in September, which is the 5th of September.
So Thursday 25th July will be final club night, we hope to see many of you there before the summer break.
Gareth is planning a meetup on Saturday 3rd of August to keep himself sharp for the coming season, more information can be found here.
The Oxfordshire Leagues then restart in October.
The new grades should be published sometime in the next few days so keep an eye out.
Have a great summer!
Casual games in Witney in August
Gareth has organised an afternoon of Chess in the Como Lounge in Witney, please see below for more detail.
“Hi all,
Please join us for a casual day of chess at
The Como Lounge in Witney, on Saturday, the 3rd of August.
What: Casual games of chess
Where: Como Lounge, 34 Market Square, Witney OX28 6BB
When: 12pm – late, 3/8/2019
All chessplayers, friends and family are welcome.
There is a bus stop right outside the Como Lounge which makes it easy to get to, especially from Oxford (Gloucester Green S1).
Plenty of free parking nearby too.
I will be getting there at about 12 but feel free to come along and leave whenever you like.
There is reasonably priced food and drink available.
Bring a chess set and chess clock if you can. (Or download the free chess.com clock app onto a smartphone).
I look forward to seeing you there.
Gareth Stevens”
Summer time 2019
The season concludes on Monday (24th June) with the Cowley Summer Blitz and the OCA Prizegiving. The first team will receive Trophy for winning the second division and Nick will receive the Bernard C Wyatt Memorial Trophy for being the player who scored the best game points percentage in Division 2, in our promotion winning season. It would be great for many Cumnor players to come along for the evening and more details can be found here.
The Players Cup and Bill Laar Trophy are in full swing and the updated tables (20th June) can be found here. Nigel is leading the way in the highly competitive Players Cup while Robin has swept all before him with 7 wins from 7 in the Bill Laar Trophy.
Gareth is planning a chess afternoon on the 3rd August in the Como Lounge in Witney, more details will be announced soon.
The Club will be open for another 5 weeks and will close in August before opening again in September with the 2019/20 season starting in mid-October.
The Grunifeld Defence (aka Oxford University) win the 2018/19 FWS
The final match of the 2018/19 season was played this week and it saw The Grunifeld Defence, a team made up from Oxford University, lift the cup.
After winning the title last year (check out our crowning moment here), this year we reached the semifinal but lost to The Cowley Countergambits who then lost to The Grunifeld Defence.
Cowley only needed 1 win with the grading difference being a massive 58 points but they lost 6-0.
Congratulations to Oxford University who also won the first division with their very strong team.
Cowley Summer Blitz (& OCA Prizegiving), 24 June 2019
The Cowley Summer Blitz is taking place on the 24th June, Cumnor will be receiving the Second Division Trophy so please attend if you can.
“Cowley Chess Club invites you to its 2019 Summer Blitz Tournament, which will be held on Monday 24 June at Cowley Chess Club (at Rose Hill Methodist Church in the Main Hall downstairs), with Round 1 beginning at 7.15 pm. All chessplayers are welcome. (The presentation of the OCA team and individual trophies for the 2018-19 season will also be held during the evening.)
There will be ten games in the Blitz (five rounds playing games with both colours, with a digital clock and a time allowance per player per game of 3 minutes plus a 2 seconds increment per move added from move 1). The tournament winner may take either a prize from the prizes table or a cash prize of 10% of the entry fees. There will lots of other prizes of books, etc., on the prizes table, including grading prizes, prizes for juniors in various age groups, for the best slow starter, etc. (see below for lists of prizes and prizewinners in recent blitzes). We rely on donations of prizes, mainly chess books but also other (non-alcoholic) prizes, and these will be gratefully received.
Round 1 is scheduled to start at 7:15pm. Players who have not notified their entries in advance are asked to register by 7pm at the venue on the night, to enable pairing cards to be written and the first round draw to be completed promptly.
The Prizegiving for the Blitz will be at approximately 9:45pm. (It will be possible for young juniors for whom a 9:45pm finish is too late to play in either two rounds [8:05pm finish approx.] or four rounds [8:55pm finish approx.] if this is arranged in advance.)
Entry fee: £3, to be paid when you arrive on the night. We will also be glad to receive additional donations for the Lester Millin Memorial Fund, which supports Cowley junior players.
To help us make a prompt start, please register your entry in advance if possible by sending an email to gerard@fianchetto.co.uk giving the information requested below or by filling in one of these forms, hard copies of which will be available at the Cowley club (or otherwise getting the requested information to Gerard O’Reilly):
Name:
Club:
Current Grade (Standard-play rather than Rapidplay if you have one):
Age on 1 September 2018 if under 18:
Finally, if the entrant is a junior who can play in only the first two (or the first four) rounds, please specify which:
NB. Advance registration by email will be accepted until 4pm on Monday 24 June.
Gerard O’Reilly (Cowley Chess Club)”
Ray Starkie Memorial Award
Please get your thinking caps on and if you think you played a brilliancy this season get your game entered.
“As some of you will be aware at the last OCA AGM it was decided that an annual best game award be instituted in Ray Starkie’s memory. This will be judged by Matt Rose, and games should be submitted by the May meeting – so if you have played any games which you are particularly proud of this season in OCA events (the League, The Frank Wood Shield and the Chiltern League) get them in!
The way to submit your game is to send it to Roger Thetford, the League Secretary, in PGN format – Please, please, please, no photos of score sheets! Roger’s email is available under the contacts tab on the OCA web site, and if you are unsure of what PGN format is please visit PGN editor where there is a nice on line utility which will help you create a PGN file. Click on the “2.Game moves” tab where you can play out your game, then click on “NEXT” to add the details about the players, and “NEXT” again and the PGN file is in the window. Simply cut and paste this into your email to Roger or (probably better) save it into a file and send it as an attachment.
Roger plans to put the submitted games on the web site, so hopefully we will soon all be dazzled by your collective brilliance!
Ian Bush 02/04/2019″
Oxfordshire A win the Chiltern League Open
Congratulations to the Oxfordshire A team who won the Open section of the Chiltern League on Sunday (31st March) with a 9 – 7 victory against Buckinghamshire. It was played at Cumnor and 25% of the team were Cumnor players; Eldar, Nick, Nigel and Ian.
All four players achieved 50% or more over the course of the season with Eldar getting 100%, with 3 wins from 3 games.
Oxfordshire Easter holiday chess events for juniors
Monday 8 April – Thursday 11 April
Oxford New Generation chess & activity holiday club.
The February half term club was fully booked some time beforehand. The holiday club ethos is to keep groups small to allow quality coaching time, so it is recommended people book early to avoid disappointment. Please contact Yanling Cheng or Andrew Varney.
Thursday 11 April
St. Giles’ Church Junior Chess Club Under 12 tournament
It is intended that this will be an ECF graded Rapid Play tournament. Exact details to be clarified. Please contact Rod Nixon.
Saturday 13 April
Delancey UK Chess Challenge Oxon Last Chance Saloon
This is a 7-round Rapid Play (ungraded) open to all juniors who have not yet qualified for the Megafinal stage of the UK Chess Challenge competition. There will be an ECF graded Rapid Play running alongside it open to junior ECF members. Please contact Andrew Varney.
Andrew can be reached
AV.chess@outlook.com
01865 460279