A reminder that the club will be closed over August, like every year and while we are closed the Cumnor Old School will be decorated.
We will re-open on Thursday 1st September after the August break.
There are still three Thursdays left so a chance to play some cup matches.
Please spread the news far and wide: The fixtures for 2021-22 have been released!
Cumnor 1 will be playing in the first division with 6 other teams: Didcot 1, City 1, Oxford Univ 1, Witney 1, Banbury 1 and Cowley 1. This should provide some tough games but with Covid we will have to wait to see the strength of some of these teams.
Thu 30-Sep-21 Cumnor 1 v Didcot 1
Thu 07-Oct-21 Cumnor 1 v City 1
Thu 21-Oct-21 Cumnor 1 v Oxford Univ 1
Thu 28-Oct-21 Cumnor 1 v Witney 1
Thu 18-Nov-21 Banbury 1 v Cumnor 1
Thu 25-Nov-21 Cumnor 1 v Cowley 1
Mon 24-Jan-22 Didcot 1 v Cumnor 1
Thu 10-Feb-22 Cowley 1 v Cumnor 1
Mon 21-Mar-22 City 1 v Cumnor 1
Thu 31-Mar-22 Cumnor 1 v Banbury 1
Mon 11-Apr-22 Witney 1 v Cumnor 1
Thu 28-Apr-22 Oxford Univ 1 v Cumnor 1
Cumnor 2 will be playing in the third division (so I guess we should celebrate a promotion at some point) with 6 other teams: Abingdon 1, Oxford Univ 3, Cowley 3, Wantage 2, City 3 and Witney 3.
Mon 04-Oct-21 Abingdon 1 v Cumnor 2
Thu 14-Oct-21 University 3 v Cumnor 2
Thu 21-Oct-21 Cowley 3 v Cumnor 2
Thu 04-Nov-21 Cumnor 2 v Wantage 2
Mon 22-Nov-21 City 3 v Cumnor 2
Mon 06-Dec-21 Witney 3 v Cumnor 2
Thu 03-Feb-22 Cumnor 2 v Cowley 3
Thu 17-Feb-22 Cumnor 2 v City 3
Tue 22-Feb-22 Wantage 2 v Cumnor 2
Thu 03-Mar-22 Cumnor 2 v University 3
Thu 17-Mar-22 Cumnor 2 v Abingdon 1
Thu 21-Apr-22 Cumnor 2 v Witney 3
I am looking for our first competitive over the board game in over 18 months! If you would like to get involved in the best Chess Club in the whole wide world check out our New Members page, (the “best Chess Club in the whole wide world” claim was taken by a small sample of Cumnor players who were asked the question).
So last tonight concluded our regular online Thursday evenings, and great fun they were.
For the past eighteen months we’ve been able to continue playing chess with each other. This of course was due to Graham Cluley building the platform at the start of the first lock-down in March 2020.
Thanks a million Graham, it was a god send.
Next week we shall reconvene once again at the club.
Thursday 9th September at 7pm.
The OCA 20/21 season commences during the last week of September. Only three divisions this season, as a number of clubs have reduced their teams.
Cumnor 1 remain in Division 1, and Cumnor 2 play in Division 3.
When we meet next Thursday can we please do the following:
Bring a mask, in case you wish, or your opponent wishes you to wear one.
Bring your own refreshments, and take any empties and waste home with you.
Sanitiser will be available. Please use the sanitiser prior to playing a game.
The club now has seventeen digital clocks, which is enough for match and club play during the same evening. The OCA 20/21 season requires digital clocks to be used only. We have therefore complied with this new ruling. The club will still have a few analog clocks on site should they be needed by anyone.
We looking forward to next Thursday, fingers crossed it will be permanent.
Message from Steve Bennett 03/09/2021
As you will probably be aware the Coronavirus has taken its toll on the sporting calendar. The chess leagues have also been affected with all league matches (in Oxfordshire) being postponed for the next 3 weeks. This will affect Cumnor 1’s matches against Didcot 1, Colwey 1 and City 1. While Cumnor 2 has only one match postponed against Witney 4.
As soon as we learn anything new I will post it on the website, please see below for the latest announcement.
The OCA Chairman and Secretary have been informed that within the next couple of days the ECF will be advising local leagues to suspend matches for a period of three weeks, owing to the potential to transmit coronavirus. We therefore strongly recommend that the ODCL fixtures scheduled to take place in the period Monday 16 March to Sunday 5 April are not played.
We will consult with the Committee and will reassess the situation in due course. It is too early to decide on rescheduling matches, whether the suspension should be lifted after 5 April, and on what to do if the matches in the 2019-20 season cannot be completed.
See the news item on the OCA website for details.
http://www.oxfordfusion.com/oca/index.cfm
The winners are:
Players’ Cup
1, Eldar
2, Nigel
3, Simon
Bill Laar Trophy
1, Robin
2, Steve
3, Graham
The club will be hosting a Trophy Night on Thursday 16th January from 7pm, the winners will be able to collect their trophies and the Division 2 will be at the club which was won last season by the first team.
Please come along to congratulate the winners and to enjoy our collective success over the 2019 year.
The 2020 competitions will also be starting so this is the chance to take an early lead in the hunt for glory so that you might be taking home a trophy this time next year.
The tables will stay up on the website for a few more weeks until the 2020 competitions get up and running they can be found here.
New members are always welcome to come along to any chess night but the new year is the perfect time to come along to the club and more information can be found on our About page.
Last night saw Banbury 2 travel down to Oxford University for a match which would have an affect over here in Cumnor.
Cumnor 1 have been sat on the summit of the Oxford and District Chess League 2 for most of the season gaining a healthy lead at the top. Big wins home and away to Banbury 2, our closest rivals, and a win against Bicester 1 last week put us 6 points clear with a better head to head record against Banbury.
This tops off a very successful time for the club after winning the Frank Wood Shield last year and now this promotion. The membership continues to increase and we must congratulate all the players who have helped the club achieve this triumph.
As noted we still have three league matches left, all at home, to Wantage 1 and Cowley 3 and 4. At the same time as the Oxford University 2 v Banbury 2 the club had a Frank Wood Shield match against the Cowley Chessnuts which we won and now we have a semifinal tie against either the Wantage Alfredians or the Cowley Countergambits.
Lets get organising that open top bus tour.
As Cumnor won the Frank Wood Shield we will be receiving the cup at the Cowley Summer Blitz, so we are hoping for many Cumnnor Players to attend!
Cowley Chess Club invites you to its 2018 Summer Blitz Tournament, which will be held on Monday 25 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. (During the evening we also expect to host the OCA Prizegiving for the season just finished. We particularly hope, therefore, that the captains of trophy-winning teams for the League divisions and the Frank Wood Shield, or their representatives, as well as the individual award-winners for the County Individual Championship and the best individual performances in the League will be able to come along both to play in the Blitz and to be presented with their trophies.)
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 of 10% of the entry fees will be an option for the tournament winner, with lots of other prizes of books, etc., 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, not only 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 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 if under 18 on 1 September 2017:
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 3pm on Monday 25 June.
Gerard O’Reilly
This week saw both Cumnor teams take on their respective Wantage teams in the league. Cumnor 2 visited Wantage 2 on Tuesday evening and came back with a 5-1 victory. Graham, Steve, Marc, Leo and Alan all won while Robert lost but Graham said that he did play well.
Wantage 1 came to Cumnor on Thursday to try and get some revenge but amazingly the same result occurred, a 5-1 win for Cumnor 1. Simon, Gareth, myself, Daniel and Graham (playing twice in 3 days) all won while Mark lost. The match was a closer than the result suggests, Simon and Daniel won rather quickly but the other 4 boards all went down to the final 15 minutes. When Mark lost and I looked at the other boards, Graham was an exchange down, I was drawish and Gareth’s position was so complicated I couldn’t figure it out.
Both teams are in 5th place in their tables which can be found here.
Congratulations to Cumnor 2 for a great win on Thursday evening, click here to see the result!
Cumnor 2 play again on Tuesday away to St. Claires, will they be able to keep the 100% winning start to the season going? Cumnor 1 start their season with a game against Magdalen College School on Thursday evening.
Zoe Varney is playing in the European Youth Championship 2014 in Georgia which starts next weekend. Andrew promises to keep us updated and we all wish her luck.
And finally, one last plug for the 2nd Witney Weekend Congress, being held at Cokethorpe School on 18-19 October. Find out how to enter and more information on the Witney Chess website.
Liam and Gareth have already put their names down in the U180 competition. I will let you know how well (or poorly) we do.
Thursday saw Cumnor 2 play their first game of the season at home to Cowley Workers 2.
Cumnor 2 had to ‘work’ hard for their 3.5 – 2.5 win against the Workers from Cowley.
See what I did there?
Here is the game that Cumnor’s Graham Cluley played against Tamal Matial on board 2, where White grabbed an early piece advantage but both sides exhibited some imprecision.
| Cumnor 2 | Cowley Workers 2 | ||
| 1 | Carr, Robin (124) | 1-0 | _default (-) |
| 2 | Cluley, Graham (112) | 1-0 | Matilal, Tamal (103) |
| 3 | Bennett, Steven (110) | 0-1 | Collins, Lee (109) |
| 4 | Ives, Marc (97) | 1/2-1/2 | Jackson, William J (88) |
| 5 | Steel, Robert (85) | 1-0 | Miller, David H |
| 6 | Sterrie, David (78) | 0-1 | Buckland, David (78) |
| Match played on 09 Oct 2014. | 3.5-2.5 | ||
A good start to the season for Cumnor 2!
