Cowley Summer Blitz 2015

Cowley Chess Club invites you to its 2015 Summer Blitz Tournament, which will be held on Monday 22 June at Cowley Chess Club (at Rose Hill Methodist Church in the Main Hall downstairs), with Round 1 beginning at 7.15 pm sharp.

All chessplayers are welcome. During the evening we expect again to be hosting the presentation of this season’s OCA team trophies and the individual medals for the best performances in the League, including Cumnor’s Daniel Varney.

Rose Hill Methodist Church.
Rose Hill Methodist Church.
As usual, there will be ten games in the Blitz: five rounds playing games with both colours, with five minutes per player per game. A cash prize will be available for the tournament winner, and lots of other prizes of books, etc., including grading prizes, prizes for juniors in various age groups, for the best slow starter, etc (see the club website here for lists of prizes and prizewinners in recent blitzes).

We rely on donations of prizes, not only chess books but also other (non-alcoholic) prizes, and these will be gratefully received. Round 1 will start at 7:15pm sharp. Players who have not entered in advance should 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.

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 blitz@cheekychess.org.uk giving the following information (or by filling in this form and handing or sending it to Gerard O’Reilly):

Name:

Club:

Grade (Standard-play rather than Rapidplay if you have one):

Age at 1st September 2014 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 registrations by email will be accepted until 2pm on Monday 22 June.

Report from the Cowley Christmas chess blitz

A touching mark of respect for the cricketer Phillip Hughes who lost his life last month
A touching mark of respect for the cricketer Phillip Hughes who lost his life last month
The 2014 Cowley Christmas Blitz was held on Monday 1 December and attracted a total of 48 players.

A closely contested blitz chess tournament was eventually won by Mark Hannon of Witney Chess Club with 8.5 out of 10, half a point ahead of Phil Hayward (Oxford City), Graham McInnes (Didcot), and Cowley’s own Will Burt.

Cumnor Chess Club was well represented with 8 players, 5 of which got a prize! Some of the prize winners are below and a full list can be found on Cowley Chess Club’s website.

A list of some of the prizewinners and their scores is as follows:

1st: Mark Hannon (Witney) 8.5/10
2nd: Phil Hayward (Oxford City) 8
3rd=: Graham McInnes (Didcot), Will Burt (Cowley) 8
Best junior (U18): Daniel Varney (Cumnor) 6.5
Best U145: Mark Sayers (Cumnor) 6
Best very slow starter - 0/4: Alan Flockton (Cumnor) 3

The coincidence of having several entrants graded 147 (and with the UK Snooker Championships currently taking place) prompted Controller Tim Dickinson to award a special ‘Best 147’ prize!

Special 'Best 147': Andrew Varney (Cumnor) & Liam Glenn (Cumnor) 6/10

Magnus Carlsen reigns supreme

Congratulations to Magnus Carlsen!

Who currently holds all three Fide World Championships (Classical, Rapid and Blitz) after winning the World Blitz Championship with 17 points in the 21-round tournament in the Dubai on Friday.

Some people may not be that impressed with that, after-all Chess is just Chess. But it is similar to a Tennis Player winning grand slams on hard-court, clay and grass or a Golfer winning The Masters, The Open Championship and The Butlins Bognor Regis Crazy Golf Championship.

P.S Cowley are hosting their bi-annual Blitz Tournament tonight (don’t worry I think Carlsen is busy)

P.P.S The Club is open as usual this Thursday after our break for the England v Uruguay Game.

Tournaments Galore!

With the Chess season ended for the summer break, One might assume that not much chess is being played however One would be very wrong.

Zoe Varney is going to play in the European School Chess Championships 2014 organised in Kavala, Greece from 16 June to 27 June. We wish to send our Good Luck to Zoe, over in Greece and we hope to hear from Andrew who is going to post some information once the tournament starts.

Cowley Chess Club invites you to its 2014 Summer Blitz Tournament, which will be held on Monday 23 June at Cowley Chess Club, with Round 1 beginning at 7.15 pm sharp. All chessplayers are welcome. During the evening we expect again to be hosting the presentation of this season’s OCA team trophies and the individual medals for the best performances in the League. Further Information including how to enter can be found here.

Witney Chess Club are pleased to announce that entries for the Witney Rapidplay taking place on Sunday 28 September at The Batt School in Witney and the 2nd Witney Tournament taking place 18-19 October at Cokethorpe School are now being accepted. Further Information including how to enter can be found here.

And last but not least The 2014 Cumnor Players Cup is in progess, an exciting race has already started with many plays hoping to gain a top 4 place. The table can be found here.

Cowley Christmas Blitz

The 2013 Cowley Christmas Blitz will be held on Monday 2 December at Cowley Chess Club (at Rose Hill Methodist Church in the Main Hall downstairs). All chessplayers are welcome.
As usual, there will be ten games (five rounds playing games with both colours). A cash prize will be available for the tournament winner, and lots of other prizes of books, etc., including grading prizes, prizes for juniors in various age groups, for the best slow starter, etc.

N.B. Donations of (non-alcoholic) prizes will be gratefully received.

Round 1 will start at 7:15pm sharp. Players who haven’t registered their entry in advance should do their utmost to register no later than 7pm at the venue on the night if they, to enable pairing cards to be written and the first round draw to be completed promptly. Prizegiving 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 happy to receive donations for the Lester Millin Memorial Fund.

Please register your entry in advance if possible (it helps us to make a prompt start) by sending an email to blitz@cheekychess.org.uk giving the following information:

Name:

Club:

Grade (Standard-play rather than Rapidplay if you have one):
Age at 1st September 2013 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 registrations by email can be accepted until 3pm on Monday 2 December.

A Quick June Update

Even though the chess playing season is over, the club is still open up until the end of July (closed for the Thursdays in August).

Here is just a couple of things to keep you busy over the longer summer evenings.

Cowley have their bi-annual Summer Blitz Tournement on Monday 24th June at the Cowley chess team’s home, Rose Hill Methodist Church with a start time of 7.15pm. All chessplayers are welcome.

During the evening they shall also be hosting the presentation of this season’s OCA team trophies and the individual medals for the best performances in the League.

More info can be found here

Meanwhile, The Cumnor Players Cup is as competive as usual and the updated table is now available.

Make sure you enjoy the sunshine, as I’m sure it will not last very long.