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British Chess Magazine - British Chess News ArchiveOther information - International News Archive | 4NCL NewsArchive Keyword Search FacilityYear: 2003 20042004Freddie Flintoff - Chess Player? [28/11/04]One thing in particular that caught the BCM editor's eye in the recent
Guardian 'rook'n'roll' article on chess was the fact that top English
test cricketer Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff was a chess player. Apparently
this is true - he played a bit of junior chess in Lancashire when 'nobbut
a lad'. Given his iconic status in English cricket, he would seem to be
a trump card in chess's never-ending (and slightly desperate) attempts
to demonstrate how 'cool' we are to children and the media. After a bit
of 'googling', I found this
reference to him in Manchester Online as a 'chess champion' (media-speak
for anyone who has ever pushed a pawn). Also this
one, where Flintoff's chess abilities are cited as one of the reasons
why he would make a good England captain: "A top chess player at
school, he enjoys tactics and has a sharp cricketing brain." Today's
Observer Sports Monthly has a
big article on Freddie Flintoff - coincidentally by the same journalist
who wrote the 'rook'n'roll' story, Stephen Moss - in which it mentions
that Freddie's 'more academic' brother Chris has 'played chess for England'
- anyone know anything about that? If you do,
Chess: The New Rook'n'Roll? [28/11/04]Click on the above link to read an interesting article by Stephen
Moss on chess and its UK image which appears in today's Guardian.
This was inspired by a recent report from major UK supermarket Tescos
that there had been an unexpected surge in the sale of chess sets and
that they expected to sell 35,000 of them in the run-up to Xmas. Tescos
attributed it to the influence of Madonna and Lennox Lewis. This could
of course be a clever sales pitch rather than a hard news story. Any views?
Read
the Tescos story here Latest: Brian Gosling and
Charlie Linford add comments in response to points made by well-known
chess teacher and author Richard James. Click
here. Alexey's Angels [26/11/04]One of the more remarkable British chess publicity stunts was pulled
off at the weekend's 4NCL (British Team League) in West Bromwich. Wood
Green team manager Brian Smith rested his usual grandmaster-filled squad
and instead fielded seven of the world's top female players for league
leaders Wood Green 1 in their matches against North West Eagles and Betsson.
The magnificent seven were Pia Cramling (SWE), Viktorija Cmilyte (LTU),
Ekaterina Kovalevskaya (RUS), Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (GEO), Elena Sedina
(ITA), Harriet Hunt (ENG) and Yelena Dembo (GRE). As well as breaking
the record for the most women in a 4NCL team, there were eight different
nationalities represented. It scarcely needs saying that this was the
strongest female chess line-up ever seen on British soil and, if divided
in half, would produce two teams capable of challenging for Olympiad medals.
Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention... 4NCL rules demand that at least
one male player play in a top division 4NCL match. So one of the women
players' husbands helped out and played a couple of games. You may have
heard his name before: Alexey Shirov (ESP), husband of Viktorija Cmilyte
and rated 2726. British Rapidplay Championship, 13-14 Nov [13/11/04]The Britih Rapidplay Championship is running over the weekend of 13-14
November in Halifax. There is a website showing the top six games from
the tournament live - www.bcfservices.org.uk/rapid2004/ Where are They Now? [07/11/04]The last time I checked, there were something like 33 English chess grandmasters
and 45 IMs. Given that opportunities to play professional chess in the
UK are now about as plentiful as jobs for snow plough mechanics in the
Sahara Desert, fewer and fewer titled players make their money from playing
chess, or even around the fringes of the game. So what do they do? One
escape route that is becoming increasingly popular is professional poker.
The grandmaster skill set fits well with this activity: the ability to
calculate, remember, visualise, stay cool and retain focus over long periods
of time... all these qualities are common to both games. Poker is enjoying
a major vogue as more and more people play on the internet from the comfort
of their own home, and some talented chess players are trading their chess
sets for card packs. One such is Yorkshire IM Angus Dunnington. Angus
hasn't entirely turned his back on chess, but he is beginning to make
a name for himself at the virtual poker table. He is already an author
of a book on internet gambling and is now writing a poker diary at the
32Red Poker Room.
Worth a read... Thomas Rendle: 1st in Rosny-sous-Bois [01/11/04]British players don't win too many international tournaments these days,
so it is nice to be able to report something positive for a change. Thomas
Rendle (rated 2303), who plays for the Hastings & St Leonards club
and who turned 18 during the Monarch Assurance, has won the 3rd Rosny-sous-Bois
tournament, held last week. It was a category 5 all-play-all (with two
GMs in the field) and Thomas scored 7/9 for his first IM norm and a 2571
TPR. Hint to the England selectors: of the English players who played
in the Olympiad, only Adams made a TPR higher than this. Official website:
http://www.ecole-rosny-echecs.org/ Guernsey International, 3-9 Oct [13/10/04]The annual Guernsey tournament has just finished. There are results of
both sections at http://www.logiclines.nl/chess
- thanks to Marc Jongerius. Final: IM Robert Bellin (ENG)
won the Open with 6½/7 ahead of GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (SWE)
on 6. P Carlucci won the Holiday tournament with 6/7. My thanks to Arthur
Brameld for sending all the games. Download
zipped PGN file Games
Viewer Tournament
Crosstable. Hastings 2004/5 - A New Format and Time Control [07/10/04]The Hastings Congress has always been one of the most traditional in
the chess calendar. However, because it is as ever strapped for cash,
the 80th in the series is going to feature one of the most boldly avant
garde formats yet tried anywhere. It is to be a knock-out (with losers
going into a swiss event), and Black will be allocated more thinking time
than White. Not surprisingly, this radical change has caused controversy.
Any views? Email
if you have any views. 13th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International 2004 [04/10/04]The 2004 Monarch Assurance Isle of Man Masters is being held from 25
September to 3 October. This year's tournament is dedicated to the
memory of Richard Furness who was the tournament's chief controller for
11 years. The total prize fund is an impressive £16,500. Top seeds:
Milov, Smirin, Iordachescu, Volkov, also in the field: Korchnoi, Speelman,
Rowson, etc. It is one of the strongest tournaments ever held in the British
Isles (possibly the strongest). Latest: Final scores
- 1-2 Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iran, winner on tie-break), Petr Kiriakov (Russia)
7/9; 3-6 Murray Chandler (England), Vasilios Kotronias (Greece), Jonathan
Rowson (Scotland), Zhang Zhong (China) 6½, etc.
Gawain Jones, IM and British Under 21 Champion [15/09/04]So the Scots scooped all the prizes at the Smith and Williamson British
Championship, then? Wrong. In fact the English teenager Gawain Jones won
the British Under 21 Championship with an excellent score of 6½/11
- and at the tender age of 16, too. In the process he chalked up his third
and final IM norm, becoming one of the youngest Britons to qualify for
the IM title. Back in July Gawain finished 1st= in the Irish Open Championship,
although he was not eligible to take the title. He is a remarkable young
talent. Read more on
Gawain's own website. 2nd Staunton Memorial, Simpsons, 23-29 Aug [29/08/04]As last year, a four-player double-cycle tournament was held at the famous
19th century chess venue, Simpsons
in the Strand in London, to commemorate Britain's greatest player
of that era, Howard Staunton. The four participants were Jonathan Speelman
(2555g), Daniel King (2512g), Jonathan Levitt (2432g) and Jovanka Houska
(2375wg). Final: 1-2nd Daniel King, Jon Speelman 4/6, 3rd Jon Levitt
3½, 4th Jovanka Houska ½. Crosstable
Game
Viewer Download
Games Official
website 1st Staunton Memorial
(2003) Welsh Championship, 9-12 Apr [25/08/04]This year's Welsh Championship, held at the Cardiff Moat House Hotel
over Easter, was won by 42-year-old Suan-Shiau Evans-Quek, originally
from Singapore but now qualified for Wales and married to Welsh women's
international Debbie Evans-Quek. Scores: 1st Suan Evans-Quek 6/7,
2nd Howard Williams 5½, 3-6th Leighton Williams (Nidum), Iolo Jones
(Cardigan), Ioan Rees (Caerphilly) & Tim Kett (Cardiff) 5, etc, in
a field of 30 players. Crosstable
Game
Viewer (all games now available) Download
PGN. Thanks to Jon Gilbert for the games. Triple Scotch at the Smith & Williamson British Championship, 1-14 Aug [20/08/04]Triple scotches all round in Scarborough - firstly, congratulations to
Jonathan Rowson, who has become the first Scottish player to win
the British Championship since 1946. He looked to be winning most of the
way against Andrew Greet, but eventually agreed a draw when it was enough
for victory, Wells having drawn with Motwani and Williams unlikely to
do better than draw with Hebden. Rowson's post-victory quote: "it's
nice to dispel the myth that Scots are not quite champions".
Secondly, Joe Redpath, 18, of the Hamilton club has won the FIDE
World Major with 9/11. Joe will be 19 next Monday. The new British champion
has already predicted that Redpath will be Scotland's next GM. Thirdly,
Edinburgh resident and Scotland's player of the year Kete Arakhamia
retained her British Women's title. Final Scores: 1 J Rowson 8½/11,
2-3 P Wells, S Williams 8, 4-7 J Emms, A Greet, R Gwaze, P Motwani 7½,
8-9 M Hebden, S Knott 7, etc. Games downloads/viewers: names and header
information standardised, and ratings added. Corrections made to Rowson-Arakhamia
(Rd 3, date), Briscoe-P.Hutchinson (Rd 2, colours). Latest: All
games now available (20/08/04) Civil Service Championship, Leeds, 28-30 Jul [01/08/04]Kevin Thurlow reports: Peter Jowett won the Civil Service
Championship, a five-round swiss held at Devonshire Hall, Leeds University
earlier in the week. 1 P Jowett 4/5, 2 AW Brusey 3½, 3-6 DI Calvert,
JG Cooper (ENG, not WLS), A Maxwell, A Pickersgill 3, etc. Game
Viewer Download
games. Glorney & Faber Cups, Aberdeen, 26-29 July [31/07/04]The two annual boys and girls international competitions were played
at Elphinstone Hall in Aberdeen, with teams from home nations plus Belgium
and the Czech Republic. Final Results: England won both cups for
the first time since 1997. Glorney: 1 England 17½/25, 2 Czech Republic
15, 3 Belgium 13, 4 Scotland 11, 5 Ireland 10, 6 Wales 8½. Faber:
England 12½/15, 2 Wales 9½, 3 Czech Republic 7½,
4 Belgium 7½, 5 Scotland 6, 6 Ireland 2. Official website:
http://www.glorneyfaber.co.uk/
Results
& Games Irish Open Championship, 10-18 Jul [29/07/04]This year's Irish Championship was held as an open tournament, with entrants
from England, Scotland, France and the Czech Republic competing in the
nine-round event, held in Limerick, although only Irish-registered players
were eligible for the national title. Top seed was 16-year-old Gawain
Jones, who is now resident in Ireland. Results: 1-2 Gawain Jones, Joe
Ryan 6½/9, with each of them winning €1,250 and Joe Ryan becoming
Irish champion. Website: http://members.fortunecity.com/irishchess/irish2004/irish_championship_2004.htm SpecSavers Young Masters, Millfield School, 19-25 Jul [28/07/04]The annual Young Masters tournament, this year sponsored by SpecSavers
Opticians, has been won by FM Craig Hanley of England. 1 FM Craig Hanley
(2356, ENG) 7½/10, 2-3 IM Gergely Antal (2478, HUN) & FM Stanislav
Jasny (CZE, 2311) 7, 4-7 CM Gawain Jones (2453, ENG), WGM Jana Jackova
(2403, CZE), IM Gabor Pinter (2356, HUN) & Rafe Martyn (2322, ENG)
6½. Best Untitled: Jones, Jackova & Martyn 6½; Best
2151-2300: Thomas Rendle (2258, ENG) & Michael White (2154, ENG) 6;
Best 2000-2150: Peter Roberson (2111, ENG) & William Bennet (2084,
ENG) 5½; Best Unrated: Balvinder Grewal (ENG) 6. Latest (28
July): all the games now available (full names, round numbers corrected):
Game
Viewer Download
games Link
to Official Site 111th Scottish Championship, Hamilton, 10-18 Jul [26/07/04]Scottish no.1 Jonathan Rowson recovered from being a point behind to
win the Scottish Championship, held at New Douglas Park, the home of Hamilton
Academicals football club. He scored 7½/9. Danish IM Jacob Aagaard,
resident in Scotland but ineligible for the national title, finished second
with 7, a point clear of the field which included GMs Motwani and McNab.
Aagaard thus secured his second GM norm. Final
Crosstable Game
Viewer Download
games Link
to Official Site BCF National Club Championship Finals, 4 July [08/07/04]John Philpott reports: Wood Green won this year's BCF National
Club Championship, beating Bedford 4½-1½ in the final. For
full report and results, games viewer and downloadable
PGN, click on the above link. 1st Coventry International, 16-18 Apr [27/04/04]Jonathan Wilson reports: The 1st Coventry International
attracted 100 entries from 11 countries, including 3 GMs and 6 IMs. 70-year-old
US IM James Sherwin led with 4/4 but was overhauled in the last round.
Final scores: 1-3rd IM Roland Berzinsh (LAT), IM Colin Crouch (ENG), GM
Mark Hebden (ENG) 4½/5. Click on the above link for full results.
All games now downloadable. Monarch Assurance Isle of Man 2004 - Entry Details [02/02/04]Click on the above link for full details of how to enter the 2004 Monarch
Assurance Isle of Man event, which will be held from 25 September to 3
October. The total prize fund is an impressive £16,500. There are
a number of changes this year, and the tournament is immediately followed
by the inaugural World Senior Team Championship at the same venue (5-12
October). Further into the future, the Smith & Williamson British
Championship will be travelling to Douglas, Isle of Man, in 2005. West of England Congress, 9-12 Apr [22/04/04]GM Matthew Turner retained his West of England Championship, though without
a 7/7 score this year. The tournament was played at the Royal Beacon Hotel,
Exmouth. Final Scores: 1 Matthew Turner 6/7, 2-3 Jack Rudd, James
Sherwin 5, 4 Ian Ponter 4½. 21 players took part. Complete
crosstables of Open, Major and Minor Game
Viewer of all Open Games Download
all Open games. Thanks to Bill Frost for sending the games. Obituary: Richard A Furness (1937-2004) [20/04/04]His many chess friends will be saddened to learn that Richard Furness,
one of Britain's leading chess organizers, arbiters and administrators,
died on 15 April 2004 after a long illness. Richard Furness will be sorely
missed on the British chess scene, for which he did so much over so many
years. I know I am just one of his many chess friends who have been privileged
to know him and will miss him personally. On behalf of British Chess
Magazine and its readers, I send our deepest condolences to his wife
Judy and his children Robert and Clare. Click on the link above for a
full obituary. JS Welsh Championship, 9-12 Apr [13/04/04]This year's Welsh Championship, held at the Cardiff Moat House Hotel
over Easter, was an unusually strong competition, with many previous champions
turning up to try to regain the title. Perhaps the most notable of these
was 17 times champion Howard Williams who occupies an almost legendary
place in Welsh chess but who has been semi-retired from major tournament
chess for a long time. It was a great come-back for 'AH Wales' (as he
was known in his university days) - he scored 5½/7 - but he had
to cede first place to 42-year-old Suan-Shiau Evans-Quek, originally from
Singapore but now qualified for Wales and married to Welsh women's international
Debbie Evans-Quek. The key to Suan's success was his defeat of reigning
champion Richard Jones in round four which took him to 4/4. Scores: 1st
Suan Evans-Quek 6/7, 2nd Howard Williams 5½, 3-6th Leighton Williams
(Nidum), Iolo Jones (Cardigan), Ioan Rees (Caerphilly) & Tim Kett
(Cardiff) 5, etc, in a field of 30 players. Game
Viewer (four games - more to follow) Download
PGN Full results, plus some photos, are available at Jon
Gilbert's website. British Blitz Championship, 4 Apr [07/04/04]Irish-registered IM Gavin Wall is the new British Blitz Champion, having
scored 16/20 in the ten double-round swiss event held at Brunel University,
Uxbridge, on 4 April. He took the first prize of £400. 2nd IM Robert
Gwaze (ZIM) 14½, 3-4th Thomas Rendle (U18 title), GM Keith Arkell
(both ENG) 14, 5th IM Richard Bates (ENG) 13½. Meri Lyell won the
British Women's Blitz title with 12/20. 68 players took part. Official
website: http://www.britishblitz.co.uk/
Jersey Festival of Chess, 22-28 Feb [01/04/04]Three GMs entered the annual Jersey International this year, and, predictably,
finished in the top three places. Perhaps even more predictable was the
winner - Tiger Hillarp Persson of Sweden. This is the third time he has
won the tournament (his other wins were in 1999 and 2000). Alon Greenfeld
(ISR) was second and Chris Ward (ENG) third. Results and Prizewinners:
Open
Major
Minor.
The best game prize went to Nick McBride for his win against Nigel Dennis
in the Major. Download
All Games of Jersey Open, Major, Minor.
Oxford University vs Wales, 15 Feb [29/03/04]Played some time ago, as a warm-up match for the Varsity match, this
match was won 6-2 by Oxford University. It was hosted by Keble College,
Oxford. It is the second match to take place between the two teams, and
Oxford also won the first match in 2002. My thanks to Daniel Gunlycke
for sending the games. Individual
Results Game
Viewer Download
PGN Report
on OUCC website Report
on WCU website. Varsity Match, Oxford v Cambridge, 13 Mar [13/03/04]The 122nd Varsity match between Oxford and Cambridge Universities - the
world's longest standing regular chess fixture - took place at the RAC
Club, Pall Mall, London, on 13 March and was sponsored by Henry Mutkin
and Barry Martin. With world-class grandmaster Luke McShane on top board
and two IMs, Oxford were always firm favourites to win this year, and
so it proved. Oxford won by a comfortable 6-2, their 50th win and first
success since 1998. The overall match score since its inception in 1873
now stands at +54, = 18, - 50 in Cambridge's favour. Individual
Results Game
Viewer Download
PGN. Portsmouth Congress, 20-22 Feb [29/02/04]GM Mark Hebden was the runaway winner of the 2004 Portsmouth Premier,
ahead of a strong but rather small field including GM Peter Wells, IMs
Harriet Hunt, Adam Hunt, Colin Crouch, Simon Williams, Lawrence Cooper,
etc. Report
Crosstable
Download
PGN Games
Viewer. Thanks to Pat McEvoy and Arthur Brameld. Bunratty Masters, 20-22 Feb [24/02/04]The annual Bunratty Masters tournament took place last weekend. Tournament
favourites were the three GMs, Nunn, Baburin and Greenfeld (ISR), besides
whom there were 7 IMs in contention. But none of the above won the tournament.
Instead, undisputed first place and the 1,000 euros prize went to the
19-year-old English FM Lorin D'Costa, who must be congratulated on a famous
victory. He scored 5/6, with draws against Gawain Jones and Mark Quinn
and wins against (among others) Greenfeld and Brian Kelly. An even bigger
surprise was John Nunn's loss to 2271-rated John Joyce of Wicklow in round
one. The English GM recovered to finish second equal with Alex Baburin
(RUS), Mark Quinn (IRL) and Steve Mannion (SCO) on 4½. Official
site results - click
here. IM Andrew Martin - Simultaneous World Record, 21-22 Feb [24/02/04]Congratulations to English IM Andrew Martin who has broken the record
for number of opponents played in a concurrent simultaneous display. He
took on 321 opponents on 21-22 February at Wellington College, scoring
+294, =26, -1. The display lasted 16 hours 51 minutes, having started
at 9.27am and running through into the wee small hours of Sunday morning.
Congratulations also to his longer-lasting opponents for whom the display
was equally long! Gibtelecom Masters, 27 Jan - 5 Feb [06/02/04]The Gibtelecom Masters was a 10-round swiss tournament, run under the
auspices of the BCF by Stewart Reuben and played at La Caleta Hotel in
Gibraltar. 37 GMs were in the field, headed by Short, Dreev, Epishin,
Speelman, etc. Final: Short beat Inarkiev to take sole first place.
Other top board games ended in draws. 1 Short 8/10, 2 Ganguly 7½,
3-5 Dreev, Harikrishna, Wells 7, etc. Norms: GM for Bakre (IND), IM for
Howell (ENG), Seel (GER) and Wippermann (GER), WGM for Ghate Swathi. Download
games (complete) Tournament
table (final) Official website: http://www.gibraltarchesscongress.com/
Hastings Challengers, 28 Dec - 5 Jan [26/01/04]It's one of the top tournaments played in Britain every year, but the
Hastings Challengers tends to get overshadowed by its big brother, the
Premier. To date, only about half a dozen of the games played in the 2003/4
Challengers competition have seen the light of day. This is no criticism
of the organisers, who do a superb job keeping this famous congress running
and currently have the more pressing task of ensuring its survival for
another year. Anyway, Bernard Cafferty managed to commandeer the scoresheets
and the BCM editor motored down to Hastings yesterday to help him key
in a selection of the best games of this event. We managed to amass 102
of them for your delectation, including all the games of the top four
players. A reminder that the tournament was won by Zahar Efimenko (UKR)
7½, followed by B.Lalic (ENG), McNab (SCO), B.Socko (POL) 7, Crouch
(ENG), Williams (ENG), Gwaze (ZIM), Dworakowska (POL) 6½, in a
field of 111 players. Latest - file amended 26/01/04, with 2 corrections
and 9 additional games. Games corrected: Rudd-Dworakowska (rd 1) - result
corrected to 0-1; Kuzmin-Lyell (rd 9) - additional moves now appended;
and 9 games played by Roger de Coverly appended (thanks, Roger!). Download
PGN File Games
Viewer Tournament
Crosstable. Incidentally, if anyone would like to send in their own
games to be added to this database, please feel free to send them (in
PGN or ChessBase format) to me -
2004 Welsh International Congress, 7-15 Jan [16/01/04]The 2004 Welsh International Congress was held at the Hilton Hotel, Newport,
Gwent. It was won by English GM Mark Hebden with 7½/9, 2nd GM Normunds
Miezis (LAT) on 7, 3-4th GM V.Georgiev (MKD), IM Gormally 6½, and
then a big gap to a group of 7 players on 5. Unfortunately Daniel Gormally
failed to achieve a GM norm, and Charles Cobb just missed out on an IM
norm. Wales' two young players Richard Jones and Ioan Rees both scored
2300 performances.
Download complete PGN File Games
Viewer Tournament
Table Official website: www.mark-adams-home.com/welsh/index.html Fulprint 17th York Congress, 9-11 Jan [15/01/04]Jon Griffiths reports: 235 players competed at this established
and popular New Year congress. Joint winners of the Open were Bret Addison
(Hartlepool) and Alan Walton (Oldham), who both scored 4½/5 after
drawing with each other in round three. For the first four rounds the
leader was IM Andrew Ledger from Sheffield, who was beaten by Addison
in the final round. The British Championship qualifying place was awarded
to Alan Walton on tie-break. Download
PGN File Games
Viewer Full
Results Frank Parr (1918-2003) [13/01/04]Frank Parr, veteran English chess player and former winner of
the Hastings Premier, died on 28 December at the age of 85. Click above
for the full obituary. Later Note: the funeral
is to be held on Friday 23 January at 3.30pm at Randalls Crematorium in
Leatherhead, Surrey. 79th Hastings International Congress, 28 Dec - 5 Jan [06/01/04]Stewart Reuben reports: The 79th Hastings International
Congress takes place at the Horntye Sports Centre, Hastings, from 28 December
to 5 January. The line-up for the Hastings Premier, the world's longest-running
international event is as follows: Alexander Cherniaev (RUS), Vladimir
Epishin (RUS); Stuart Conquest, Danny Gormally, Mark
Hebden (ENG); Vasilios Kotronias (CYP); Abhijit Kunte
(IND); Kateryna Lahno (UKR) (who celebrated her 14th birthday at
the drawing of lots ceremony on 27 December 2003); Peter Heine Nielsen
(DEN) and Jonathan Rowson (SCO). Final: Scottish
GM Jonathan Rowson beat top seed Vladimir Epishin in the last round to
tie for first place. He becomes the first Scottish player to win the Hastings
Premier, in conjunction with Vasilios Kotronias of Cyprus who drew a short
game with Kunte to finish 1st=. Scores: Rowson, Kotronias 6/9, Epishin
5½, Kunte 5. Download
PGN File Play
through games in Java 2003British Rapidplay Championship 2003 [23/11/03]GM Peter Wells of Abingdon retained his title of British Rapidplay Champion
at the 11-round swiss event held in Halifax, 15-16 November. He finished
strongly, defeating Nicholas Pert in the final round to end with a score
of 9/11. The runner-up was was Bogdan Lalic with 8½. Nigel Davies
and Nicholas Pert finished 3rd= with 8. Robert Gwaze of Zimbabwe scored
7½. Download
35 games in PGN Play
through 35 games in java window for details of other prizewinners,
etc, see the official website: www.british-rapidplay.org.uk. 29th Guernsey International Chess Festival, 19-25 Oct [26/10/03]A delightfully discursive account of the annual Guernsey International
from BCM's roving reporter Kevin Thurlow. Latest:
GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (SWE) took a quick draw with Krunal Kahar in
the last round to finish first with 6/7. 2nd= were K Kahar (ENG), R
Bellin, (ENG) M van Herck (BEL) 5½. A few of the games now available:
Java
PGN
Close Encounters of the Short Kind ... [09/10/03]Or should that be Short Encounters of the Close Kind? I promised
you further details of what happened when celebrity grandmaster Nigel
Short withdrew from the Monarch Assurance tournament in the Isle of
Man on 27 September. Well, here is the real inside story, of a tired
Short and an emotional prizegiving. Don't miss the excellent advice
to grandmasters from tournament winner Simen Agdestein... JS Major Awards for the Monarch Assurance's Sponsor & Director [07/10/03]The Managing Director of Monarch Assurance, Patrick Taylor, has been
presented with the Isle of Man's Department of Tourism's "Merit
Award" for 2003. This is a richly-deserved award for the sponsor
of the Monarch Assurance International, of which the 12th just took
place in Port Erin. The presentation was made at the prize-giving on
5 October. Full
story on the www.manxradio.com
website. At the same time tournament director Dennis Hemsley was awarded
the BCF's President's Award for his huge contribution to chess in Britain
by the BCF President Gerry Walsh. Our heartiest congratulations to both!
We'll be reviewing the big Manx tournament here when we get our breath
back... I flew home today after being given a seat on the plane next
to ... Monarch Assurance MD Mr Patrick Taylor! A happy coincidence.
JS 12th Monarch Assurance International, 27 Sept - 5 Oct 2003 [13/01/03]A galaxy of top players took part in the 12th Monarch Assurance Isle of Man International (27 Sept - 5 October), the strongest international swiss event held in the British Isles. Nine rounds, 26 GMs, 16 IMs and 2 WGMs, representing 30 countries were attracted by the generous £16,750 prize fund. Click here to see the official website, results, games in java and PGN, reports. Final: S Agdestein (NOR) and S Lputian (ARM) finished with 7/9 - Agdestein first on SPS (Sum of Progressive Scores) BCF Book of the Year 2003 - Short List [04/09/03]The British Chess Federation's judges have short-listed four books
for this year's Book of the Year award. Click on the above link for
full details of the books chosen and the judges' assessments. Latest:
Kasparov's book is the winner. Staunton Memorial Tournament, Simpsons, 25-31 Aug [01/09/03]Grandmaster chess has returned to its most famous historical venue
with the Staunton Memorial Tournament being played at Simpsons in
the Strand, London. This four-player, double-cycle, event is organised
by GM Ray Keene and Barry Martin and features grandmaster Jon Speelman,
former world championship candidate; grandmaster John Emms,
captain of the English 2002 olympiad team; grandmaster Daniel King,
well-known TV commentator on chess; and England's most promising young
player, FIDE Master David Howell, aged 12. Latest:
Final Round results: both games were drawn (Howell ½-½
King, Emms ½-½ Speelman), which means that Jon Speelman
made sure of undisputed first place with a draw. Final Scores:
Speelman 4½/6, King 3½, Emms 3, Howell 1. The postponed
round 5 King-Emms game was played off on Monday, and ended in a draw.
Click on the above link for the official website, with full
details, photos, PGN file, reports by GM Ray Keene and the games in
java windows. UK Chess Challenge Matches, 20 Aug [25/08/03]On 20 August, the 2002 US Women's Chess Champion, Jennifer Shahade
took on two UK Chess Challenge champions, 18-year-old Lorin D'Costa
and 17-year-old Aly Wilson, and won. Jennifer played two 15m rapidplay
games against each player on a giant chessboard in London's Broadgate.
Lancashire Chess Festival, 4-9 Aug [25/08/03]Bill O'Rourke reports: Two international tournaments
took place at the Blackpool Hilton. The Hilton Premier was
a category 8 10 player all-play-all, featuring the newly-crowned British
champion Abhijit Kunte, and fellow GMs Nigel Davies and Colin McNab,
while the Ron Banwell Masters was a category 2 all-play-all
features three IMs plus the UK's top prodigy David Howell. Smith & Williamson BCF Congress 2003, Edinburgh [02/08/03]This year's BCF Congress started on 21 July at George Heriot's School,
Edinburgh. The championship tournament is not very representative
of British chess, there being very few top English grandmasters in
the field and a great number of Commonwealth players. However,
the congress as a whole has proved very popular with amateur players,
topping 1,007 competitors - a notable achievement for congress director
Neil Graham and his team. Click on the title link for commentary on
the controversial structure of the BCF Championship, plus reader's
feedback. The powers-that-be have finally bowed to widespread opinion.
A meeting of national federation representatives was held on 21 July
in Edinburgh and agreed that, as from 2004, the British Chess Championship
would be open only to citizens or permanent residents of British Isles
countries (click
here for details).
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