Book Prize Tournament organiser Peter Przybycin announces the start of the new Book Prize 2022-3. The Book Prize tournament is more popular than ever and comprises three Sections, 25 players in all. The Book Prize Tournament 2022-2023 is one of four Chandler’s Ford Chess Club tournaments that are played each year. This year’s Book Prize Tournament started at the beginning of October 2022.

Book Prize Tournament 2022-2023

The 2022-23 Book Prize Tournament is now active.

This year the tournament is divided into three all-play-all sections: Premier, Major, and Minor.

The Premier section has eight contestants, as does the Major, but the Minor section has nine players.

I plan to allow four weeks for each round to be completed but, if the Minor section completes any round before the deadline, I might start the following round for that section immediately. This is to allow for the fact that there will be two extra rounds in the Minor section.

Rate of play is 90 minutes each, for the whole game.

Games will be played over-the-board at chess club, or at the home of the player with the white pieces. Score sheets and clocks must be used.

Both players should inform me of each game’s result via email.

In the event of a tie for first place in any section, the book prize will be awarded to whoever wins their individual game. If this is a draw, a tie break game will be necessary, colours reversed. If there is still a tie, then the player with the lower most recent grade will take the prize.

Round 1

Here are the pairings for round 1, all games to be played by 28^th October:

Premier section:

• Iwan Cave v Sam Murphy
• Robert Sims v Graham Stuart
• Pablo Vidal v Keith Gregory
• Cary Xie v Peter Przybycin

Major section:

• Andy Mills v Peter Eales
• Patrick Pavey v Nobby George
• John Pellegrini v Dick Meredith
• John Kooner v Keven Lamb

Minor section:

• Alan Weaver v Rose Saunders
• Lee Mundy v Ian Parker
• Rob Strachan v Geoff Parish
• Steve Dunleavy v Steve Saunders
• Bye: Daniel Phillips

The first named player has the white pieces.

Castle Chess will hold their 19th Fareham Congress tournament (over the board games) on 7-9th October 2022. It will be at the Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, PO16 7BQ.

At the time of publishing this Post, there are 86 entrants to the Congress, a huge level of interest.

Castle Chess have run a number of Congresses (tournaments) over recent years at this pleasant venue. They host two Congresses per year at the Lysses, one earlier in the year, one in the Autumn.

Tournament format

The format of the Congress is a six-Round Swiss: round one on the Friday evening, three rounds on the Saturday, and the last two games on the Sunday. Byes may be requested (except Round 6).

There are three sections:

• Open: Under 2001 (=175 former ECF grade system),
• Major: Under 1901 (=160),
• Minor: under 1601 (=120).

The Congress costs £40 to enter, with a £7 discount for Juniors. Non-ECF members will need to pay £9 extra. There are also various accommodation packages – available through Castle Chess – if you would like to stay at the Lysses.

Tea and coffee will be provided for a donation.

Results of all games will be be sent to the ECF for Grading.

There will not be a Prize-giving ceremony as prizes will be sent via bank transfer.

Rate of Play

The rate of play for the games is 75 minutes plus 30 seconds per move (about 3 and a half hours). All moves must be recorded throughout the game.

Further information

EVENT ENQUIRIES:
Tony Corfe, 51 Borough Way, Potters Bar, Herts. EN6 3HA
Tel: 01707 661160 Mob: 07973 516718
email: tony@mrcorfe.co.uk or marc.shaw.chess@gmail.com
or Marc Shaw 07947 813303

See the Castle Chess website’s Fareham Congress page:

The Chandler’s Ford Chess Club will hold its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 21st September 2022. The AGM 2022 will be at the Club’s venue at the Central Club, at 7:30pm.

The League structure was agreed for the forthcoming 2022-23 season following its AGM, and our Club’s own AGM will decide, amongst other things, which players will play in which team, and who the team captains will be.

Agenda

1) Apologies for absence

2) Minutes of last year’s AGM.

3) Matters arising

4) Officer reports eg Secretary, Treasurer

5) Election of Officers

6) Fees for 2022/23

7) Proposals

 a) Regarding amalgamation of senior and junior club – Nobby George

 b) Regarding status of club history project – Steve Dunleavy

 c) Suggestion regarding purchase of 5 wooden sets – Graham Stuart

 d) Need to allocate squads for next season based on current grades – Rob Sims

8) Plans for season with regard to tournaments, ladder and league teams

9) Any other business

As the new Southampton Chess League season, 2022-23 gets closer, we take a look back at the League AGM 2022 to see what the new season might look like.

The Southampton Chess League’s Annual General Meeting was held at our club’s venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club. Matthew Coldwell opened the League AGM 2022 at 19:30 on Tuesday 14th June. 20 people from the various clubs of the Southampton League attended. The League AGM concluded at 21:00.

Malcolm Clarke presented his Secretary’s Report, in which he noted that the 2021-2 season was in a sense experimental, as the League began to find its feet after the pandemic-caused break. The Robertson Cup and Plate were not contested as the League focussed on getting the League up and running in its reduced format. Fraser Macleod presented the Treasurer’s Report, and League subscriptions for the clubs were agreed.

Election of officers

• Chair: Matthew Coldwell was elected, and was Chair at the AGM, keeping things moving at a good pace.
• Vice Chair: Michael Pope
• League Secretary: Fraser Macleod
• Fixture Secretary: Malcolm Clarke
• Treasurer: no takers for this role yet, so Fraser continues for the present.
• Webmaster: a candidate for this role to be sought from the Clubs. Since the AGM Graham Stuart has kindly stepped up to fulfil this position.

2021-22 Season trophy presentations

	2018/19	2022 winner
Division 1	Ringwood A	Fareham A
Division 2	Hamble B	Salisbury A
Division 3	Ringwood B	Basingstoke A
Division 4	Salisbury C	Fareham B
Division 5	Ringwood C	Basingstoke C

Note: Robertson Cup, Individual and Rapid-play competitions were not held this season.

Planning for the 2022-23 Season

The structure of the new season was discussed: number of Divisions, number of boards per team, start and end dates of the season and so on. The clubs were invited to say how many teams they would field, and their Division preferences (assessing where they saw their teams would compete according to expected player strengths). There will be Robertson Cup and Plate competitions.

Here are some key features of the forthcoming season:

• There will be 5 Divisions in Southampton Chess League.
• The season begins on 28th September 2022 with a Division 5 fixture between Basingstoke D and Salisbury D.
• There will be Robertson Cup and Plate matches.
• Chandler’s Ford Chess Club will be fielding 4 teams, playing in Divisions 2, 4, and 5 (our C and D teams are both in Division 5). This represents the player strength profile of our club’s membership.
• Match captains can notify results directly to the SCL Website, as in recent seasons.

The League structure established, it will be for our Club’s own AGM, on Wednesday 21st September to decide, amongst other things, which players will play in which team, and who the team captains will be.

The Chandler’s Ford Junior Chess Club will re-open for over-the-board chess on Wednesday 14th September 2022 – at its new venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club. The Junior Club meets 6-7pm term time Wednesdays. The adult chess club meets there (on Tuesday evenings), and it will be great to have the Juniors meet at the same place.

About the Junior Chess Club

• The Junior Chess Club meets on Wednesdays 6-7pm – in school term time only: see the schedule below for full Autumn 2022 schedule.
• There will be 25 minutes coaching by the experts and the rest will be games, Tournaments etc. Some of the tournaments’ fees are paid by the club so it is free for club kids.
• The age criteria will be 6-16 years but, in some cases, exceptional.
•  There is a Free on-site Parking at the back, front and side of the Central club for Junior chess club members.
• Please write the details on visitor’s page when you go inside the Club.
• The Junior Chess Club is run by Maha Chandar.
• The Junior Club on Facebook:

The venue: Chandler’s Ford Central Club

The address is: Chandler’s Ford Central Club, 2 Winchester Road, Chandler’s Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO53 2FZ.

Parking is available at front and rear of the venue.

The venue’s website:

The Junior Chess Club age range is 6-16. The club will meet on Wednesdays at 6pm until 7pm each week – during school term time. See the schedule below for the rest of 2022.

Junior Chess Club schedule for the rest of the year:

2022 YEAR CHANDLER’S FORD Junior chess club
14/09/2022	6-7PM	starting
21/09/2022	6-7PM
28/09/2022	6-7PM
05/10/2022	6-7PM
12/10/2022	6-7PM
19/10/2022	6-7PM	finishing
26/10/2022	HOLIDAY BREAK
02/11/2022	6-7PM	starting
09/11/2022	6-7PM
16/11/2022	6-7PM
23/11/2022	6-7PM
30/11/2022	6-7PM
07/12/2022	6-7PM
14/12/2022	6-7PM	finishing
21/12/2022	HOLIDAY BREAK

Membership of the English Chess Federation enables playing ECF-graded games, such as the club’s own internal tournaments, plus Southampton Chess League matches, County matches, and Congresses (tournaments) across the country. The different membership levels will determine what is covered.

There are other benefits too: a range of discounts at online chess retailers Chess & Bridge (chess.co.uk) and Chess Direct, as well as discounts with other partners. See Membership partners and benefits – English Chess Federation for more information.

ECF Membership 2022-3 due

The ECF Membership year runs from 1st September to 31st August each year.

ECF Membership levels: what’s best for me?

• Basic Bronze level ECF membership gives players ECF Grading for their game results in club tournaments, local Leagues, and County games. 
• Silver as Bronze, plus grading at chess tournaments (Congresses – but not FIDE rated standard-play ones). 
• Gold membership: as Silver, plus it includes FIDE rated standard play tournaments.

For most club players, Bronze or Silver Memberships are sufficient: Bronze if you don’t plan to go to Congresses, but do want to play in the club’s events and the League.

Other ECF Membership types

Whilst Bronze or Silver would suit most of our Club members, there are other ECF membership types, and, just for information, here’s a brief overview:

• ECF Supporter: access, and ECF grading to ECF online members clubs and events on chess.com and lichess.org together with free online rating of all ECF rated online events. £10.
• Queen’s Gambit Scheme Supporter: Available to women aged 18 and over who have not been members of the ECF before, for their first membership year. Grants access to ECF online members clubs and events on Chess.com and Lichess, together with free online rating of all ECF rated online events. Free.
• Platinum. As per Gold, plus printed ECF Yearbook. £75.

ECF Membership rates for 2022/23

Bronze – £18.00 | Junior Bronze – £6.00
Silver – £27.00 | Junior Silver – £6.00
Gold – £39.00 | Junior Gold – £19.50
Platinum – £75.00

It looks like the ECF have kept the membership rates at the previous prices, which is good in these inflationary times.

Renewing your ECF Membership

This may automatically happen, and the subs will be taken (today, actually). If you are an existing ECF Member, but haven’t set up for automatic payments, you can renew by going to the ECF’s membership payment page ecf.justgo.com – or via the ECF’s Membership page:

Any other costs for chess players?

English Chess Federation membership is one of 3 possible costs of being an active member of Chandler’s Ford Chess Club. The other costs are joining our chess club, and membership of our venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club. See our ‘What does it cost?” Page:

Keith Gregory’s 4th simultaneous match against his friends in Chandler’s Ford Chess Club. Congratulations to Keith on being unbeaten in the match: he won 5 of the 6 games and drew the other game (Graham Stuart thwarted the whitewash).

Simultaneous Exhibitions

Keith has now set up four of these club simultaneous tournaments online. These events, where one player takes on multiple opponents, are known as Simultaneous Exhibitions, or ‘simuls’ . Simuls can be over the (several) boards, or online. Keith has set up four of the online simuls so far.

These are very busy for Keith of course – and good fun for all of us. Keith copes well with the pressure of multiple opponents and the technical issues, and plays very well, and scores impressively highly each time.

Keith’s 4th Simul vs Chandler’s Ford

The 4th ‘Simul‘ tournament was on Monday evening, 21st August, on the online platform lichess.org. The games had full, standard time control, this event being 60 minutes for each player plus an increment of 20 seconds per move. As host, Keith played as white, and had an overall extra 20 minutes. As it happened time was never an issue for Keith as he kept up a good pace of play in all the games.

Previous Simultaneous Exhibitions with Keith

Keith’s 1st Simul on 11th November 2021.

With all the pressures of setting up a type of online tournament we hadn’t played before, then playing nine of us from the Chandler’s Ford Chess Club simultaneously online, how would Keith do? Very well actually: see results at 1st Simul

Keith’s 2nd Simul. December 2021.

Keith takes on no fewer than twelve players simultaneously! See results at 2nd Simul.

Keith’s 3rd Simul. March 2022.

Players who had been so used to playing in the online rapid-play tournaments had now learnt that there is ample time in a classic length 60+20 time-control game. So a tougher prospect for Keith with eleven opponents all playing better with the time limits. He still does well though… See 3rd Simul

Round 1 of the 2022 Knockout Tournament saw 8 of the remaining 16 players eliminated. Eight now remain. The Knockout Round 2 Draw has now been made. The Knockout is organised by Steve Dunleavy.

The Knockout 2022 so far

26 players entered this year’s Knockout. The Preliminaries, 10 games and 6 byes, saw that field reduced to 16 to compete in Round 1. Eight of the Round 1 players have been eliminated. Eight players have made it to the second round.

Round 2 Draw

• Graham Stuart vs Joe Henbury
• David Culliford vs Keith Gregory
• Dick Meredith  vs John Kooner
• Rob Sims vs Nobby George

Pairings and results for each Round can be seen on the Knockout 2022 Page:

Rules recap

1) the player drawn first plays with white(in the event of a draw colours
are reversed in the replay)
2) both players have their clocks set at 90 minutes
3) all games to be played by the 24th August; please let me know if for any reason you need a time extension to that deadline
4) if possible all games to be played over the board at club nights(2/8,
9/8,16/8,23/8) or at an agreed alternative venue
5) if necessary games may be played on the internet but please check with me first that this is okay
6) enjoy your games and please email me your result asap + when you have agreed to play the game to enable me to monitor progress

Steve Dunleavy

The club’s popular Ladder Tournament has seen its numbers climb recently, and there are now 25 players in the contest. Tournament organiser Rob Sims reports on the latest games on Tuesday 26th July. The current, 2021-22 Ladder, ends on 13th September.

Three games were played at club on Tuesday night:-

• Peter Przybycin beat Lee Mundy  ( no change needed in Ladder positions)
• Nobby  George beat Daniel Phillips
• Cary Xie beat Pablo Vidal

The last two games have resulted in Cary and Nobby moving up while Daniel and Pablo drop down.

Only 7 more club nights before the current ladder finishes on 13th September and the mini tournament to decide the winner takes place.

A new ladder will start at the end of September.

Best wishes to all,

Rob Sims

For full Ladder player positions (latest is from 28th July), see the Ladder 2021-22 Page:

Ladder rules recap

• All games to be played on the clock, which will be set at ninety minutes and then played to a finish.
• Players may challenge up to four places above their own step.
•  If the challenger wins, he will exchange places with the loser, all other results then the positions remain the same.
• The same players may not play each other again without first playing another player.   
• Once a challenge is accepted neither the challenger nor the player being challenged may make or accept another challenge.
• A challenge cannot be made more than seven days ahead of the game to be played.
• The challenger will have the white pieces.
• All games to be played over the board, other than games for Mike Henbury, which can be played online.
• Please notify Rob Sims with the results of all games played.

The current Ladder will end on 13th September 2022. In previous years, after the ladder ends the two players in second and third place play each other and the winner of that game plays a final match against the player who is top, so we’ll go through that process when the final ladder positions are revealed on September 13th.

Summer Tournament 2022 Round 2 player pairings are announced by organiser Malcolm Clarke.

The Summer Tournament runs during the summer, and is a 5-round Swiss format event is played between May and September. Usually in the Summer Tournaments, the winner’s name is engraved on the Kooner Cup and receives a replica of the Cup. The organiser is Malcolm Clarke.

Round 2 Pairings (and player scores so far)

• Geoffrey Parish (1) v Iwan Cave(1),
• Sam Murphy (1) v Keith Gregory (1).
• Keven Lamb (1) v Graham Stuart (1),
• Mike Henbury (1) v David Culliford (1),
• Peter Przybycin (0.5) v Nobby George (1),
• Pablo Vidal (0.5) v Rob Strachan (0,5),
• Rob Sims (0) v Peter Eales (0.5),
• Steve Dunleavy (0) v Lee Mundy (0),
• John Kooner (0) v John Pellegrini (0),
• Alan Weaver (0) v Steve Saunders (0),
• Rose Saunders (0) v Ian Parker (0)

First named players white.

Summer Tournament 2022 Rules recap

• The Games are 90 minutes all moves per player.
• When the Round Pairings are announced, the first-named plays as white.
• Notify Malcolm Clarke of the results.

Click on the button below to see the Summer Tournament 2022 Page: