The Knockout Tournament organiser Steve Dunleavy announces the draw for the Semi-Finals.

2020 Knock-out Semi-Finals Draw

Dear all the draw for the above made by myself and Suzan is as follows:

Game 1: Rob Bird vs Peter Przybycin

Game 2: the winner of the replay between Rose Saunders and Steve Dunleavy (played Thursday 27^th August) vs Patrick Pavey

In addition to the above please make note of the following guidance notes

1. All games to be played by the 25^th September (4 weeks time), in the event of a draw (or if arranging the game proves to be very difficult) a time extension can be requested if needed
2. All games can be played on lichess, chess.com,email, text, telephone, over the board or whatever format/medium that can be agreed by both players
3. The player named first will play with white in the event of a draw colours will be reversed
4. All games played on lichess and/or chess.com to have a 90 minute time control for both players games played on any other format can dispense with the time control unless both players can agree on a solution
5. Please email me with the result of your game as soon as it has been played
6. Enjoy your games and thanks for entering/supporting this competition in such difficult times
7. Results are not acceptable to be sent for grading purposes

See the Knockout Tournament Page

Results of last week’s two online club tournaments on lichess.org: the Tuesday Arena on 25th August, and the 5-round Swiss on Thursday 27th.

Tuesday Arena, 25th August 2020

Nine of us participated in the tournament this time. It was a one-hour Arena event in which players had ten minutes each per game.

Congratulations to Rob Sims who won the event. Well done too Sam Murphy 2nd, and David Culliford (‘djc202’) 3rd.

5-Round Swiss, Thursday 27th August

Eight of us played in the 5-round Swiss on Thursday 27th August on lichess.org. Each Round comprised games in which players had an initial 7 minutes then 3 second increment per move.

Congratulations to Graham Stuart (‘WillHeSac’) who won this week’s Swiss with 5 straight wins in a row. Well done too David Culliford (‘djc202’) who came 2nd, and Don Creasey (‘carouselman’) 3rd.

Forthcoming online Tournaments

There are two online tournaments coming up. Firstly the regular Tuesday evening Arena (ten minutes per player per game in a one-hour tournament) on 1st September 2020.

Then on Thursday 3rd September, the Southampton v Portsmouth match that Graham Stuart has set up on lichess.org, and is a ‘Team Battle’ event between the Southampton Chess League (SCL) and Portsmouth & District Chess League (PDCL). The tournament’s time control, at 7 minutes initially then 3 seconds a move increment roughly equating to ten minutes per player per game, is the same as we’ve recently used in our 5-round swiss tournaments. Please note though the slightly earlier time for this event, 7:30pm, and that it lasts for 1 hour 30 minutes.

Click on the buttons below to go to the tournaments:

To join the Team Battle on 3rd September, join one of the teams on lichess.org:

Membership of the English Chess Federation runs from 1st September to 31st August each year. Basic Bronze level ECF membership gives players ECF Grading for their game results in club tournaments, local Leagues, and County games; Silver level of membership additionally, grading at chess tournaments (Congresses). Gold membership also includes FIDE rated standard play tournaments.

One of the membership benefits this year is a one-off discount at Chess & Bridge (chess.co.uk) of an amount equivalent to your subscription cost https://www.chess.co.uk/ecf-members/ – until 13th September 2020.

ECF Membership rates for 2020/21

ECF Supporter – £10.00
Bronze – £18.00 | Junior Bronze – £6.00
Silver – £27.00 | Junior Silver – £6.00
Gold – £39.00 | Junior Gold – £19.50
Platinum – £75.00

Please see recent Membership message from the ECF:

ECF Membership – Your Federation Needs You!

Your current ECF membership expires on 31 August 2020. The membership rates are unchanged from last year. In this time of crisis for our game please support the ECF so we can continue our work and ensure that chess life continues to thrive when circumstances permit.

The ECF has been actively working to develop online chess tournaments for members (details here: https://englishchessonline.org.uk/), and to assist clubs with getting started again when they feel the time is right.  We’re also working hard to put in place the software that will give members monthly grades when over the board chess begins again.

The easiest way to renew or upgrade your membership is online, by card or by direct debit. You will need your username. Full instructions can be found here: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-membership-2020-21  

The ECF needs a minimum level of funding to remain viable so that we can provide support to chess activities when life begins to return to normal. To that end, and to encourage our members to renew early, Chess & Bridge (chess.co.uk) are very kindly offering extremely generous one-off discounts until Sunday 13 September which allow you to recover the entire cost of whichever membership category you choose when you shop with them. And it’s even better news if you’re a junior – if you renew early as a paying junior member you still get the full discounts on offer *. Full details here: https://www.chess.co.uk/ecf-members/

* Offer not open to free junior Silver membership

If you need assistance, the ECF Office remains open during normal working hours. Please send us an email in the first instance, and a member of the ECF Office staff will get back to you as soon as possible.

We know these are difficult times for our members and whatever category of membership you choose, we would like to thank you in advance for your support.

Stay safe, and very best wishes.

The English Chess Federation Admin Team
Email: membership@englishchess.org.uk
Tel: 01424 775222
The Watch Oak, Chain Lane, Battle TN34 0YD

Graham Stuart has set up an online Team Battle on lichess.org for Thursday 3rd September. He recently created the SCL and PDCL teams on lichess in preparation. Join Southampton Chess League or Portsmouth & District Chess League – or both online clubs (when you join the Team Battle tournament choose which team you are playing for in that event).

The event lasts for an hour and a half, and starts at 7:30 pm on Thursday 3rd September 2020. There won’t be a clash with the Chandler’s Ford Thursday tournament, as we will skip setting one up that week to avoid such a clash. Time control: the players each have 7 minutes initially plus 3 seconds increment per move in each game.

A message below from Graham Stuart about this event :

SCL – PDCL Chess tournament, Thursday 3rd September, 7.30pm start

Hi all – I have created the 1st SCL – PDCL Chess tournament for 3rd September. Initially this has been created as a blitz/rapid event with a time control of 7mins + 3secs for each game and a total playing session of 90 minutes (i.e. ending at 9pm). Further matches may have a different time control, but this is one which has proved popular in other tournaments. We could do with some more members, so please put the word out to other players in your league.

Players can register to join the SCL squad at: https://lichess.org/team/southampton-chess-league 

(and there is a similar link for the Portsmouth team), which will then allow you to join the tournament on the day.

These are planned to run monthly and will set up a forum post for any suggestions on format / frequency etc. I know the current date may clash with some internal chess tournaments, but finding a suitable time slot which did not clash was difficult.

Graham Stuart

Join the SCL or PDCL teams on lichess.org

Join the Southampton Chess League Team on lichess.org by clicking the button below and click Join when you get to the team on lichess.org:

To join the Portsmouth & District Chess League Team on lichess.org click the button below and click Join when you get to the team on lichess.org:

Join the SCL v PDCL Team Battle tournament

Once you’ve joined one or both teams, enter the event (decide at that point which team you’re playing for if you’re in both clubs).

Results of this week’s two online club tournaments on lichess.org: the Tuesday Arena on 18th August, and the 5-round Swiss on Thursday 20th.

Tuesday Arena, 18th August 2020

Twelve of us participated in the tournament – another great turnout by club members. It was a one-hour Arena event in which players had ten minutes each per game.

Congratulations to Phil Overton who won the event. Well done too Rob Sims 2nd, and David Culliford (‘djc202’) 3rd.

5-Round Swiss, Thursday 20th August

11 of us played in the 5-round Swiss on Thursday 20th on lichess.org, an excellent level of participation. Each Round comprised games in which players had an initial 7 minutes then 3 second increment per move.

Congratulations to Keith Gregory who won this week’s Swiss with 5 straight wins in a row. Well done too Graham Stuart (‘WillHeSac’) who came 2nd, and David Culliford (‘djc202’) 3rd.

Forthcoming online Tournaments

There are two online tournament coming up. Firstly the regular Tuesday evening Arena (ten minutes per player per game in a one-hour tournament) on 25th August. Then a 5-Round Swiss on Thursday 27th August (7minutes then 3 seconds a move increment roughly equating to ten minutes per player).

Click on the buttons below to go to the tournaments:

The Round 4 Draw of the Summer Tournament has been announced by event organiser Malcolm Clarke.

The Round 4 Draw

White	v	Black
Phil Overton		Peter Przybycin
John Kooner		James Daas
Sam Murphy		Maha Chandar
Keven Lamb		Don Creasey
Steve Saunders		Rob Sims
Steve Dunleavy		Rose Saunders
Bye – Rob Strachan

The Chandler’s Ford Chess Club Summer Tournament is one of the club’s three internal tournaments, and is usually of five rounds – and usually over the board. But this year of course, games have to be played in a safe environment – such as playing them online using such platforms as lichess.org or chess.com.

See our Summer Tournament Page for the individual results so far, and further information.

There were two Chandler’s Ford Chess Club online Tournaments on lichess.org this week. There was the regular Tuesday Arena on 11th August, and on Thursday 13th, a 5-round swiss Tournament.

And Phil Overton won both!

Tuesday Arena online tournament 11th August

Ten players participated in this week’s Tuesday evening Arena online tournament on lichess.org . Congratulations to Phil Overton (‘CFCC-Phil’), this week’s winner! Well done too David Culliford (‘djc202’) who was second, and Graham Stuart (‘WillHeSac’) third. Phil scored 8 points, David 6, Graham 5 – and interestingly everyone else got 4 points (see results table below).

5-round ‘Swiss’ Tournament on Thursday 13th August

Thursday’s club online tournament was a 5-round Swiss, in which each player had an initial 7 minutes per game with a 3 second increment each move – so about ten minutes each per player per Round. See our article about time control for discussion about Rapid-play and increments etc.

The tournament had 8 players. Congratulations to Phil for his impressive 5 consecutive points. Well done too Keith Gregory second, and Mike Henbury third.

Forthcoming tournaments

There are two online tournament coming up this week. Firstly the regular Tuesday evening Arena (ten minutes per player per game in a one-hour tournament) on 18th August. Then a 5-Round Swiss on Thursday 20th August (7minutes then 3 seconds a move increment roughly equating to ten minutes per player).

We had another online 5-round Swiss tournament on lichess.org on Thursday 6th August 2020. Six of us played, everyone seemed to enjoy the event.

Congratulations to Graham Stuart (WillHeSac) who won the Tournament! Well done too Kev Lamb 2nd (me!), and David Culliford (djc202) 3rd.

The tournament this week experimented with increments: each player had a base 7 minutes per game plus 3 seconds per move (equates to about ten minutes per player per game).

Upcoming Tournaments

There are two online tournaments this week for our club on lichess.org: our regular Tuesday one-hour Arena on 11th August, and a 5-round Swiss on Thursday 13th. Both start at 8pm. The Tuesday ‘Arena’ is for ten minutes per player per game as per previous tournaments. The time control for the 5-round swiss will be 7 minutes each plus a 3 second increment per move (that is, games of about ten minutes per player).

What makes the Tuesday evening online Arena Tournaments so interesting is that, one week you’re a winner, and next week you languish at the bottom. Or, as this tournament showed, the reverse. The previous week David Culliford came last, and this week he won! And he won emphatically: as many points as the next two players put together. Congratulations David!

Well done too James Daas who came second, and Rob Sims who was third.

The tournament was a one-hour Arena event on lichess.org. The time control was ten minutes per player per game. There were 11 of us, another great level of participation from the Chandlers Ford Chess Club on lichess.

Next: 5-round Swiss on Thursday 6th August 8pm

The next online club tournament is this Thursday, 6th August, at 8pm. It is a 5-Round Swiss event in which players have 7 minutes plus 3 seconds per move each per game.

The Round 3 Draw of the Summer Tournament has been announced by event organiser Malcolm Clarke.

The Round 3 Draw

White	v	Black
James Daas		Phil Overton
Peter Przybycin		Rob Sims
Don Creasey		Sam Murphy
Maha Chandar		Keven Lamb
John Kooner		Steve Dunleavy
Rose Saunders		Rob Strachan
Bye – Steve Saunders

The Chandler’s Ford Chess Club Summer Tournament is a club event usually of five rounds – and usually over the board, so this year of course, games have to be played in a safe environment such as playing them online using such platforms as lichess.org or chess.com.

See our Summer Tournament Page for the individual results so far, and further information.