Tag: Cowley Blitz

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Club is now closed for the Christmas period. It has on the whole been an exciting time since reopening in September. Cumnor 1 currently sit in second place in the first division while Cumnor 2 sit forth in the 3rd division.

The Club will be closed on the 23rd and the 30th of December and will reopen again on Thursday the 6th (unless we get told otherwise). But the club will be open for a Lichess Cumnor Clash on both Thursdays, kick off at 7 to remember the good old days of last winter(?!). The Cowley Blitz will also be online again this year, for more information follow this link.

Hopefully I will see some of you online at either Cumnor Clash or at the Cowley Blitz but if I don’t Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

“Merry Christmas
May your every New Year dreams (of mating with a Bishop and Knight) come true!”

Cowley Christmas Blitz 2021

Due to the blindingly obvious Cowley is holding their Christmas Blitz competition on line again – Thanks to Dave Robson for organizing this, details are below (taken from https://www.oxfordfusion.com/oca/GetNews.cfm?Year=2021&Org=1)

This year’s Cowley Christmas Blitz will be played online on Lichess on Monday 20th December at 7:30 p.m.

It will consist of as many blitz games as you want to play between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

To play, you must have a Lichess account. You must also be a member of the Cowley Blitz Lichess team. If you aren’t already a member, you can visit https://lichess.org/team/cowley-blitz and click the “Join” meeting. When the admins notice, they can then admit you.

Please also email CowleyBlitz@gmail.com and tell us the name of your Lichess account, and also your real name, so we know who is playing. Also if you would like to be considered for an age or gender related prize, please send us the details.

As there is no admission fees, the awards are for the prestige only.

Finally, if you are signed up, all you have to do is to visit the tournament link on the night at lichess.org/tournament/ovGKuSGa

OCA Blitz @ Cowley – Thursday 8th April

Following what seemed to be an enjoyable night of Chess in Feb we shall be rerunning the OCA Blitz @ Cowley event, this time on Thursday 8th April. Again Dave Robson of the Cowley club has very kindly allowed us to reuse what he set up. As for the Cowley Blitz there will be no admission fee, and there will be no prizes. However, we will recognize, and announce the names of those players who in different circumstances would have won the usual prizes for finishing first, second, third, or as best female player, best slow starter, etc., etc.

The blitz will start at 7:30 p.m. and finish at 9:30 p.m. Any games running after that time can be completed, but they will not contribute towards the final standings. To provide a bit of variety, this time we shall be using the slightly longer time control of 5 minutes for the game, plus an extra three seconds for every move you take.

If you didn’t play in the earlier events, you will need to join the Cowley Blitz Team on Lichess (note if you did play this step is unnecessary). To do this:
First get a Lichess account from Lichess. They’re free
Then Send an email to CowleyBlitz@gmail.com stating:
a) Your real name
b) Your Lichess username
c) Your age (if you want to be in contention for recognition as a best junior player)
d) If you are female (if you want to be in contention for recognition as a best female player)
Finally visit the Cowley Blitz Page and click on the “Join Team” button, There will be a delay until the administrators approve your request.

Once you are a member of the Cowley Blitz team you enter as as follows: On the night of the tournament five or ten minutes before the tournament starts, click on the tournament link and then click on the green “Join” button which you can find just above the list of players who have already entered. At 7:30, the Lichess site will then pair you with your opponent, and the game will begin.

A few gotchas …

If you need to resign or to offer a draw, you must hit the relevant button twice. You can disable this behaviour in your Lichess profile.

At the end of your game, you will need to hit the labelled button to return to the tournament. Lichess will then pair you up with your next opponent.

The tournament is of an “arena” format, so there isn’t a fixed number of rounds. You can get more information at Arena Help. You can start the tournament late, or leave early, but the more games you play, the better the odds of you winning! Note that we have disabled “beserking” and extra points for winning streaks.

Have fun! For any questions, please email CowleyBlitz@gmail.com

OCA Blitz @ Cowley – Monday 15th Feb

There will be no round of the Mike Duck Tournament in the week starting Monday 15th Feb. Instead during the “half term break” we will be holding the “OCA Blitz @ Cowley” tournament on the 15th Feb along the lines of the Cowley Blitz held just before Christmas. To make things especially easy to organise Dave Robson of the Cowley club has very kindly allowed us to reuse what he set up. As for the Cowley Blitz there will be no admission fee, and there will be no prizes. However, we will recognize, and announce the names of those players who in different circumstances would have won the usual prizes for finishing first, second, third, or as best female player, best slow starter, etc., etc.

The blitz will start at 7:30 p.m. and finish at 9:30 p.m. Any games running after that time can be completed, but they will not contribute towards the final standings. The time limit will be three minutes for the game, plus an extra two seconds for every move you make.

If you didn’t play in the Cowley Blitz before Christmas, you will needto join the Cowley Blitz Team on Lichess (note if you did play this step is unnecessary). To do this:
First get a Lichess account from Lichess. They’re free
Then Send an email to CowleyBlitz@gmail.com stating:
a) Your real name
b) Your Lichess username
c) Your age (if you want to be in contention for recognition as a best junior player)
d) If you are female (if you want to be in contention for recognition as a best female player)
Finally visit the Cowley Blitz Page and click on the “Join Team” button, There will be a delay until the administrators approve your request.

A few gotchas …

If you need to resign or to offer a draw, you must hit the relevant button twice. You can disable this behaviour in your Lichess profile.

At the end of your game, you will need to hit the labelled button to return to the tournament. Lichess will then pair you up with your next opponent.

Have fun! For any questions, please email CowleyBlitz@gmail.com

Link: https://lichess.org/tournament/l1jWEzXI

Cowley Christmas Blitz 2020

The Cowley Blitz will take place this year on Lichess, its good to see the traditional tournament take place in these difficult times. Please join in if you can and enjoy a good evenings fun with our friends over in Cowley.

David Robson

This year’s Cowley Christmas Blitz will be held on Monday 14th December. It will be run on the lichess.org web site. This year, there will be no admission fee, and there will be no prizes. However, we will recognize, and announce the names of those players who in different circumstances would have won one of our usual prizes for finishing first, second, third, or as best female player, best slow starter, etc., etc.

The blitz will start at 7:30 p.m. and finish at 9:30 p.m. Any games running after that time can be completed, but they will not contribute towards the final standings. As in previous years, the time limit will be three minutes for the game, plus an extra two seconds for every move you make.

To sign up, you will need to:

Get a Lichess account from https://lichess.org/signup . They’re free
Send an email to CowleyBlitz@gmail.com stating:
a) Your real name
b) Your Lichess username
c) Your age (if you want to be in contention for recognition as a best junior player)
d) If you are female (if you want to be in contention for recognition as a best female player)
Visit the Cowley Blitz Page at https://lichess.org/team/cowley-blitz and click on the “Join Team” button, There will be a delay until the administrators approve your request.

Five or ten minutes before the tournament starts, click on the tournament link (https://lichess.org/tournament/8UVhoQXQ ) At 7:30, the Lichess site will then pair you with your opponent, and the game will begin.
A couple of gotchas …

If you need to resign or to offer a draw, you must hit the relevant button twice. You can disable this behaviour in your Lichess profile.

At the end of your game, you will need to hit the labelled button to return to the tournament. Lichess will then pair you up with your next opponent.

The tournament is of an “arena” format, so there isn’t a fixed number of rounds. You can get more information at https://lichess.org/tournament/help?system=arena.. You can start the tournament late, or leave early, but the more games you play, the better the odds of you winning! Note that we have disabled “beserking” and extra points for winning streaks.

Have fun! For any questions, please email CowleyBlitz@gmail.com

Cowley Christmas Blitz

The Cowley Christmas Blitz is taking place on Monday 9 December 2019, please attend if you can.

“Cowley Chess Club invites you to its 2019 Christmas Blitz Tournament, which will be held on Monday 9 December 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.

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 be 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: £5 for adults, £3 for juniors (i.e., under 18 on 1 September 2019), 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 2019 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 9 December.

Gerard O’Reilly (Cowley Chess Club)”

Success for Cumnor at the Cowley Blitz

This years Summer Blitz was a very successful tournament for the Cumnor players, 8 Cumnor Players came to see us pick up our second division trophy and Nick pick up the Bernard C Wyatt Memorial Trophy was awarded to the player with the best game points percentage in Division 2.

I counted 8 Cumnor Players (second only to Cowley) who won 5 prizes.

Please see below for the report from Gerard O’Reilly

“This year’s Summer Blitz, held on Monday 24 June, attracted 52 players
from all over Oxfordshire. During the evening the OCA Prizegiving for
the season also took place, with the trophies being presented to winners
by our new OCA President, John Place.

Oxford University’s Filip Mihov score a decisive victory in the Blitz
with 9.5/10, two points clear of the rest of the field.

The complete list of prizewinners is as follows:
1st: Filip Mihov (Oxford University) 9.5
2nd=: Eldar Alizada (Cumnor) 7.5
2nd=: Mike Handley (Cowley)
4th: Graham McInnes (Didcot)) 7.5
Best visitor: Tom Shepherd (Bicester) 7.5
Best Cowley player: James Cole 7
Best U165: Nigel Moyse (Cumnor) 7
Best junior (U18): Daniel Varney (Cumnor) 6.5
Best lady: Maria Mate (Cowley) 6
Best Cowley U155 Rich Weston 6
Best visitor U155: Mark sayers (Cumnor) 6
Best U145: Ian Bush (Cumnor) 6
Best ungraded: Hashim Jusoh (Oxford University) 6
Best U14: Edison Xu (MCS/Blackbirds) 6
Best U130: Dester Murahwa (Cowley) 5
Best U12: Ivan Chetverikov (Cowley) 4
Best U10: Kei Macabenta (Cowley) 4
Best slow starter – 0/2: Stephen Ennis 5
Best very slow starter – 0/4: John Place (MCS/B)/Geoff Rasell (Cowley) 5

I am pleased to take the opportunity to thank all whose help contributed
to the success of the event:
Rose Hill Methodist Church for allowing us to play in the downstairs Hall;
the Kidlington Chess Tournament for the use of its equipment;
and those who kindly donated prizes for the event or made donations to
the Lester Millin Memorial Fund,
or helped clear up at the end of the evening.
And of course everyone who came along to play.

I am also particularly grateful to several of my fellow Cowley members
for their help, especially:
Bob Samuels and Dave Robson, for the transporting of equipment;
Selikem Amoako for help setting up the pieces before play;
Will Burt for various forms of help, especially for taking entries on
the door, assisted in the latter task by Bruno Currie;
Ian Bush for help with some announcements, and the new President of the
OCA, John Place, for presenting the prizes;
and ESPECIALLY our team of controllers, Tim Dickinson and Priscilla
Morris, who controlled the event very smoothly and efficiently.”

Gerard O’Reilly
(28 June 2019)

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.

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.

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.

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)”

Cowley Christmas Blitz, 3 December 2018

Cowley Chess Club invites you to its 2018 Christmas Blitz Tournament, which will be held on Monday 3 December 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 draw for the 2019 Frank Wood Shield Handicap Knockout Competition 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 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.

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 blitz@cheekychess.org.uk giving the following information or by filling in one of these forms, hard copies of which will be available at the club (or otherwise getting the information to Gerard O’Reilly):

Name:

Club:

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:

Advance registration by email will be accepted until 4pm on Monday 3 December.

Gerard O’Reilly (gerard@fianchetto.co.uk)