What Christmas gift to get a keen chess player who wants to improve? A chess book? A DVD tutorial? Or arrange for a former Chess World Champion to give a personal message of greetings and advice? Steve Dunleavy’s family did just that! One of the world’s top chess players, Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand gives Chandler’s Ford’s Steve Dunleavy some advice! Vishy’s advice to Steve is on Cameo.com.

Viswanathan Anand

Viswanathan – ‘Vishy’ – Anand is an Indian Chess Grandmaster and former World Champion. He has won the World Chess Championship five times. He is currently (December 2021) ranked 16th in the world by FIDE.

Vishy’s Advice to Steve

One of the best Christmas presents ever for a chess player has to be Suzan and Hanna Dunleavy’s to Steve: ‘Cameo.com‘ greetings given by a Grandmaster. The video message contains season’s greetings from former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand on behalf of Suzan and Hanna.

In the video the Grandmaster says that Suzan and Hanna have told him that Steve is an avid and passionate chess player, but has hit a ‘rough patch’ in his game recently. Vishy Anand sympathises, having had a ‘rough patch in Baku’, Azerbaijan, himself… (See Viswanathan Anand finishes last in Gashimov Memorial chess : The Tribune India). He continues with some good advice for Steve. And it’s really useful for all chess players of whatever ability. And that advice? Follow the link below and hear the wise words yourself.

Viswanathan concludes with wishing Steve a wonderful Christmas and all the best.

We’d better watch out now that Steve’s been advised by a former World Champion!

Links

• cameo.com Personalised videos featuring your favourite stars.
• Viswanathan Anand gives Steve Dunleavy Xmas greetings and chess advice on cameo.com
• The Wikipedia entry for Viswanathan Anand: Viswanathan Anand – Wikipedia
• FIDE online Top 100 Players December 2021: FIDE Online. FIDE Top players – Standard Top 100 Players December 2021
• When members of our Club met Viswanathan Anand! See From the Archives: The London Chess Classic 2012: meeting Vishy Anand and Luke McShane – Chandlers Ford Chess Club

Merry Christmas everyone from Chandler’s Ford Chess Club.

The new Ladder Tournament 2021-22 starts, Tournament organiser Sam Murphy announces.

The previous Chandler’s Ford Chess Club Ladders were run by Nobby George, and he adapted to the pandemic by setting up an online version of the tournament, where the games were played on lichess.org. The games in the new 2021-22 Ladder tournament, organised by Sam Murphy, will mainly be played over the board.

Sam Murphy has been very successful as a player in the previous Ladders, and he was the first to win the Ladder Trophy.

Players may challenge up to 4 places above their own step: if the challenger wins, they swap places, otherwise they stay where they are. The time control for the games is 90 minutes for each player. The challenger has the white pieces. For the full Rules, see the Ladder Tournament 2021-22 Page.

See the table on the Ladder Tournament 2021-22 Page for the latest positions. There will be regular updates to show on the table as the tournament progresses.

Book Prize 2021 Tournament organiser Peter Przybycin reports on Round 2, and announces the Round 3 player pairings.

Round 2 Report

In the Minor section John Kooner beat Lee Mundy, Steve Saunders beat Ian Parker, and Maha Chandar beat Rose Saunders.

In the Major section Dick Meredith was unlucky to end up with a draw against me (Peter), after having much the better of it for most of our game.

As in round 1, the Minor section looks likely to finish this round early. The last remaining game is Rob Strachan v Nobby George , which is understandable as Rob is currently recovering from injury and unable to attend at club. The Major section has three more games to play.

Update: all Round 2 games now complete, including Rob Strachan’s against Nobby George.

Pairings for Book Prize Tournament Round 3 are as follows:

Minor:

• Rob Strachan v Geoff Parish
• Rose Saunders v Nobby George
• John Kooner v Steve Dunleavy
• Lee Mundy v Ian Parker
• Maha Chandar v Steve Saunders

Major:

• Mike Henbury v Manoj Chandar
• Rob Sims v Graham Stuart
• Peter Przybycin v Eric Jones
• Dick Meredith v Keith Gregory
• Sam Murphy v Keven Lamb

All games in round 3 to be completed by January 1^st 2022.

Extra time has been added to allow for likely Christmas distractions and the loss of a club night due to Keith’s training event this Tuesday (23rd November).

All the best,

Peter.

Rules Reminder

(for full list see the Tournament’s Page) :

• Rate of play – 90 minutes each for the whole game.
• The first named player has the white pieces.
• Games will (preferably) be played over-the-board at chess club, or at the home of the player with the white pieces. Score sheets and clocks should be used.
• Games may alternatively be played online, using Lichess, by mutual consent. Score sheets are not needed for online games.
• Online games will not be sent for grading.

Links