Tag: Witney Chess Club

2020-21 Season

We need to come together to put in place how the League will work this coming season.

The season traditionally starts in October so if you have ideas, queries or concerns please let Ian or Roger know.

“The 20-21 season is rapidly approaching. Due to the current pandemic it will be very different from any in recent history. Concrete proposals to address this will be made at the AGM in September, and will be available in full later this month. However we thought it best to provide as early as possible an outline of the ways that we might play chess next season in order to obtain feedback, and to this end the document linked to below discusses how the league might be run next season. Comments on the proposals contained therein would be much appreciated. If you have any please either contact your club representative, or send an email to the League Secretary, Roger Thetford”

Ian Bush OCA Chairman

Frank Woods Shield

Since the Frank Woods Shield was revamped a couple of seasons ago we have had some good results in the competition, winning the inaugural year and reaching the semis last season.

This year we have decided to two enter two teams.

The Frank Wood Shield, Players Cup and the Bill Laar Trophy

Our first team is:
The Six Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Our second team is:
The Six Donkeys of the Acropolis

The draw for this season’s Frank Wood Shield will take place on the Saturday of the upcoming Witney Congress, on the 2nd November.

Five Cumnor players are down to take part; Nigel, Nick and Simon in the open, Ian in the U170 and Gareth in the U145.

There is still time to The 7th Witney Congress at http://www.witneychess.co.uk/.

Good luck to the Cumnor Players who will take part.

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”

Summertime Chess

Please join us for a fun, relaxing couple of evenings of chess at
The Como Lounge in Witney, on the 16th August and 23rd August.

What: Casual games of chess
Where: Como Lounge, 34 Market Square, Witney OX28 6BB
When: 5.30pm – late, Thursday 16th August and Thursday 23rd August

All chessplayers, friends and family are welcome.

There is a bus stop right outside the Como Lounge which makes it easy to get to.
Plenty of parking nearby too.

I will be getting there at about 5.30 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).

There will also be chess sets available for purchase.

There website can be found here https://thelounges.co.uk/como/

I look forward to seeing you there.

Gareth Stevens

Grandmaster Peter Wells Simultaneous Display

Grandmaster Peter Wells Simultaneous Display

Peter will be holding his annual simultaneous display at Witney Chess Club’s Ducklington Village Hall venue on: Monday 9 April 2018 at 7.15 pm.

Grandmaster Peter Wells
The evening is open to all Oxfordshire players, and we are very much hoping that, as with last season’s simultaneous display, it will be well attended such that further such evenings can be arranged in the future.

So that we can cover at least some of our costs we are proposing the following prices:

Adults booked in advance: £10.00 (on the night £12.00)

Juniors booked in advance: £5.00 (on the night £6.00)

We are keeping prices as low as possible (i.e. we expect to break even at best) to encourage as many people as possible to attend, and are also offering junior entries at half price in accordance with our aim of promoting junior chess in Oxfordshire.

Light refreshments (coffee, tea etc) will be included in the price.

Please see the Witney website to book your place.

Witney Chess Congress 2017

On the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of October, 100 chess players from Oxfordshire and beyond meet at Cokethrope School for the Fifth Witney Chess Congress.

The Congress had 4 separate tournaments, an Open, an Under 170, an Under 145 and an Under 120 with prize money (a prize fund of over £1900) and a real challenge in each section.

The playing area on Sunday morning by Brendan
Cumnor was well represented at the congress with Daniel (in the open), Ian (U170), Gareth (170), Graham (U120) and myself, Liam (who was playing in the U170).

Sadly this year none of us were among the prize winners, I had a good weekend even though my grade suffered a little.

The complete cross table can be found here.

Pictures from the event taken by Brendan O’Gorman can be found here.

Finally a thanks must be given to all the organisers including Mike Truran and arbiters for providing such a great weekend’s chess and see you all at Kidlington Chess Congress in February.

P.S. Sorry there is an update! Graham won the 1st Round Loser in the U120 section with 3 points from 4 games after losing the first round.