Tag: Chess - Page 3 - Cumnor Chess Club, Oxford

Oxfordshire Individual Chess Championship 2016-17

A proposal to revive the Oxfordshire Individual Chess Championship after a gap of about about fifteen years was approved by the recent County AGM. The title of Oxfordshire Individual Chess Champion and the trophy will accordingly go to the eligible player with the highest combined score in the Open sections of the Witney Chess Congress (coming up on the weekend of 22 & 23 October) and the Kidlington Chess Tournament being held on Saturday & Sunday 4 & 5 February.

A player will be eligible provided that either (i) his or her (main) home at the time of both events is in Oxfordshire, or (ii) he or she has played a combined total of at least four games in the Oxfordshire League and (representing the Oxfordshire Open team) in the Chilterns League before the end of January in the season in which both events are held. In the event of eligible players being tied for the highest combined number of points, the title will be shared.

I encourage the ambitious among you to enter the Open sections of both weekend events, and especially not to delay entering the Open section at Witney, coming up later this month. See the Witney Chess Club website (http://www.witneychess.co.uk/).

Gerard O’Reilly
Organizer, Oxfordshire Individual Chess Championship

2016-17 Fixture Lists

The fixtures for the 2016-17 season have now been released and can be found here.

Cumnor 2 kick off the season with a home match against Cowley Workers 2 next Thursday (13/10) while Cumnor 1 play their first game a week later (20/10) at home to Bicester 1.

Peter Hemmings who has been producing the fixtures for previous seasons has now stepped aside and Asif Hameed from Cowley has taken on the job.

The fixtures are subject to change.

Witney Rapidplay

Written by Gareth Stevens seen here after his victory against Peter Wells — Written by Gareth Stevens seen here after his fine victory against Peter Wells

An enjoyable day of chess was had at Witney Rapidplay, hosted by Batt’s school on Saturday 24th September.

Representing Cumnor were Gareth Stevens, Daniel Varney, Marc Ives and Leonora Ives. Andrew Varney was running a book stall and helping his students in between games.

Gareth lost his first game, against Richard Beckett of Bicester. His second was a draw against Catalin Viscu. Then he went on a run and won the next three (against Christine Coates, Maria Mate and Neil Staples) to put him in with a chance of finishing in the top three overall.

However, in the last round Gareth faced James Cole, from MCS, and also an Oxfordshire county player. Losing a piece there was little hope and Gareth resigned when faced with losing his passed pawns.

Gareth and Daniel both finished joint 8th in the Senior section with 3.5/6. Marc Ives finished with 1/6 with a win against Ian Brooke of Oxford City.

Leonora finished joint 9th in the Junior Major section with 3.5/6.

The next tournament to look forward to will be the Witney Congress next month.

The results can be found here on the Witney Site

The Players’ Cup and Bill Laar Trophy 2016

Each year, Cumnor Chess Club holds two tournaments: The Players’ Cup and the Bill Laar Trophy. As the leaves have just started to fall from the trees and the nights are drawing in the tournaments are entering their final straight. With only (!) 15 Thursdays left in the year its now a good time to take stock of the standings.

Currently top of the Players’ Cup is Gareth, last night himself and Daniel battled out a great game. Mark remains in second place as the only unbeaten player so far, with myself in third, level on points with Mark but I have a worse head-to-head.

David is storming away in the Bill Laar Trophy, last night he beat Marc with Black and now sits with 4 wins from 4.

Take a look here to read more about the two tournaments.

Witney Rapidplay and Witney Weekend Congress 2016

Players deep in thought at the last Witney Congress

Here’s the usual reminder a month beforehand about the Witney Rapidplay on Sunday 25 September at The Batt School. Last year we had no fewer than 84 entries for what is one of the best value congresses in the UK – I’m hoping we can beat that number this time!

You can find online and hard copy entry forms here: www.witneychess.co.uk/witneyrapid16_entry.htm.

And the fourth Witney Weekend Congress takes place on 22nd and 23rd October 2016 at Cokethorpe School. Online and entry forms here: www.witneychess.co.uk/4thwitney_entry.htm.

Mike Truran
Witney Chess Club

Chess returns

Have you been twiddling your fingers for the last 4 Thursdays?

Never fear we are back and ready to roll!

Our first club night of the season starts at 7pm at Cumnor Old School on Thursday the 1st September.

The club is looking for new members for the new season so please come along or give Steve a call or email for more information (Tel: 01865 862788 / mobile: 0771 424 4029 / email: westfs@aol.com).

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

The Légal chess trap and Stephen Hawking

Do you know the Légal chess trap?

Named after the French player Sire de Légal, the trap sees White sacrifice their Queen for a devastating checkmate involving two knights and a bishop.

But the trap is particularly well known inside Cumnor Chess Club as it famously saw Ann Willan defeat Steve Bennett one night a few years ago. A great victory which many of us (well, all of us apart from Steve) love to recollect.

Here is how a typical version of the Légal chess trap can play out:

   1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 d6 4. Nc3 Bg4 5. h3 Bh5 6. Nxe5 Bxd1 7. Bxf7+ Ke7 8. Nd5# 1-0

Now, the Legal chess trap may become even better known as Stephen Hawking appears to have tried to use it in a game of Quantum Chess versus actor Paul “Ant-Man” Rudd, as you can see in the following video (narrated by Keanu Reeves).

By the way, Quantum Chess is a real thing.

39th Annual Kidlington Chess Tournament, 6 & 7 February 2016‏

The 39th annual Kidlington Chess Tournament will be held on Saturday & Sunday 6 & 7 February 2016 at the usual venue, Exeter Hall, Kidlington OX5 1AB.

Kidlington is a well-established event in the English tournament calendar with a seasoned team of experienced controllers and a friendly atmosphere. We also have an excellent bookstall provided by Chess Direct and a fine range of refreshments provided by Hackett’s Food & Drink of Witney.

There are four sections:
Under-225,
Under-180,
Under-145, and
Under-120,
with a total prize fund currently standing at £1930.

The tournament is an ECF Grand Prix event, as well as having become once again a British Championship Qualifying Tournament, with the winner of the U225 section (or, if he/she is already qualified, the next-highest-placed eligible player) qualifying for a place in the 2016 British Chess Championship to be held in Bournemouth from 25 July to 5 August.

For more details, to see a list of entries registered so far, and to download an entry form, please visit the Kidlington Chess Tournament website (https://kidlingtonchess.org.uk/).

We hope to see you there! Don’t forget to enter. And you may wish to note that entries which reach me by Saturday 16 January are entitled to a £2 discount from the entry fee.

Frank Wood Shield Draw

The draw for the Frank Wood competition 2015/16 was made during the Cowley Blitz. Thanks to Dave Robson, Gerard O’Reilly and all who helped.

The draw is cascading as usual. The Round 1 ties (5 of them) are formally scheduled for the week Jan 04 – 08. But as Univ 2 are involved and will not be back this tie will need re-scheduling.

1) University 2 v Cowley Workers 1
2) University 1 v bye
3) Witney 1 v bye
4) Wantage 1 v bye
5) Cowley 3 v Cowley 1
6) Banbury 1 v bye
7) City 1 v bye
8) Cumnor 1 v bye
9) Cowley 4 v Witney 4
10) Wantage 2 v bye
11) Banbury 2 v bye
12) City 2 v bye
13) Witney 3 v Cowley 2
14) MCSB/1 v bye
15) Didcot 1 v bye
16) City 3 v Witney 5

The draw means Cumnor 1 get a bye in round one and will play Oxford City 1 away before the 12th February, most likely on Monday 8th, in a repeat of the second round tie of last season (check out the match report for the game by clicking here). Oxford City 1 won the competition last season beating Cowley 2 in the final 4-2.

The winner of the tie will play one of Cowley 3, Cowley 1 or Banbury 1 away at the end of February.

Cumnor 2 vs Bicester 2 [Match report]

Cumnor Chess Club met again last night, with players from the Cumnor 2 team matched against their rivals Division 4 rivals Bicester 2.

Before the match, Liam showed a few Cumnor players the extraordinary 12-move win that Daniel Varney had had against Peter Hemmings from Wantage the week before.

Frankly, we’re all grateful that Daniel plays for Cumnor rather than against us!

Sadly, last night Bicester weren’t able to deliver the full compliment of six players, meaning that the bottom board saw no action and a game was defaulted. But don’t let that fool you into thinking that Cumnor 2 had an easy ride of it.

There was tough opposition on all boards, with Bicester 2 seeming to have the advantage in a number of games giving many of us on the Cumnor side the heebie-jeebies that the match would be lost.

In the end though, some precise play saw Robert gain an advantage over his opponent, Alan go on a killing-spree grabbing his opponent’s pieces here, there and everywhere, and Robin trick his opponent into moving her Queen into a trap.

Meanwhile, a tense game on the top board saw Mark Sayers eventually draw, making the final score 4.5-1.5 to Cumnor.

	Cumnor 2		Bicester 2
1	Sayers, Mark (143)	0.5-0.5	Beckett, Richard (151)
2	Carr, Robin (125)	1-0	Bourliakas, Stephi (52)
3	Steel, Robert (82)	1-0	Bourliakas, Sally (30)
4	Sterrie, David (74)	0-1	Howells, William ()
5	Flockton, Alan ()	1-0	Howells, Paul ()
6	Bennett Anton, Susana (67)	1-0	Default ()
Match played on 15 Oct 2015.		4.5-1.5

Could Mark have won his game? Well, consider the following position with Mark as Black to move.

Can you spot the mate? Warning: It’s not at all easy!

Find the answer on our Facebook page…

Oh, and if you did work it out, we’d definitely like you to join Cumnor Chess Club! Why not come along one Thursday night?