News from 2011-12

More website changes

Following the move to biannual publication of gradings in the ECF grading database, I've made some further program changes on this site.

Where a single grade is displayed for a player (e.g. as displayed at the top of a player's game history), it should be the most recent grading.

The grades used for match results reflect the date that the match was played: on 1 August and 1 February the stored grades are reset, so for a match submitted as played on 6 February a new set of grades will be fetched from the ECF database. In a player's history, opponents' grades are those that applied on the date when the match was played.

The changes rely on the mid-year grades being published by 1 February.

Roger Thetford

Under 9 and Under 11 County Trials

The tournament to decide the various Oxfordshire county teams, under 9, under 11 and girls' under 11, will be held at St. Andrew's School in Headington on Saturday 25th February.

Please follow the link below to download the entry form and email Jon D'Souza-Eva (jon.dsouzaeva@gmail.com) if you any questions.

Oxfordshire Vs Buckinghamshire under 150 Result.

Our Oxfordshire under grade 150 team lost their Chiltern league match
against Buckinghamshire by 10 games to 6 at Magdalen College
School on February 11th. This was a reversal of the October result 
when Oxfordshire won by 12 games to 4. The team have now won 3
and lost 2 matches this year, with only one match still to be played.

Saturdays match was played in a friendly atmosphere and I think that
everyone enjoyed their games.

The match details are as follows.

         Oxfordshire                             Buckinhamshire.
 
1	 Karl Biswas		  0  -  1	 Kevin Hawkins
2	 Graham Cole		  0  -  1	 Darrell Watson
3	 Bill Stanley		  1  -  0	 Tom Rixson
4	 Maria Mate		  1  -  0	 Jacek Brant
5	 Zaid Marham		  1  -  0	 Herby Ferris
6	 Ian Brooke		  1  -  0	 B. Atkinson	   
7	 John Taylor		  0  -  1	 Graham Brown
8	 Martin Sheridan	  0  -  1	 Fred Day
9	 Richard Weston		  0  -  1	 David Rollinson
10	 Gary Reynolds		  0  -  1	 Derek Simpson
11	 Malcolm Brindley	  0  -  1	 Andrew Chalinger
12	 Daniel Beckett		  1  -  0	 Ian Hall
13	 Steve Rumsby		  0  -  1	 Cliff Schornak
14	 Tony Burcham		  ½  -  ½	 Joe Arthur
15	 Tamal Matilal		  0  -  1	 Chris Stothert
16	 Sam Harkins		  ½  -  ½	 Colin Piper
					   
	          Total		  6 - 10

				

PETER WELLS EVENING 5 MARCH

Just a reminder if I may that Peter Wells will be giving the second lecture in his annual programme Ducklington Village Hall on Monday 5 March. His subject will be "Why do we blunder?" - a question I imagine we have all asked ourselves on various occasions!

Those who have not signed up yet are welcome to attend. Ticket prices £7.00 (juniors £5.00) if received by 28 February, £8.00 (juniors £6.00) from 1 March/on the night - light refreshments included. Please contact me by email (mikeattruranfamily.co.uk) or on 01993 708645 if you would like to come.

Mike Truran

35th Annual Kidlington Chess Tournament

Exeter Hall, Kidlington, was again the excellent venue for the annual Kidlington Chess Tournament, which this year increased the prize fund and introduced a fourth section for Under-120 players. The entry was up on the previous year, despite several withdrawals on the night before due to bad weather or dire warnings of bad weather.

Although the weather continued to cause travel problems for a significant number of players, who either struggled to get home safely on the Saturday evening and/or were unable to come back on the Sunday (and we commiserate with them), the tournament otherwise ran very smoothly under the watchful eyes of Tim Dickinson, Priscilla Morris, and Lucy Smith, the section controllers. The refreshments provided by Hackett's to Go of Witney, and the bookstall provided by Andrew Butterworth of Chess Direct, further contributed to the amenities and the usual friendly atmosphere.

A notable feature of this year's event was that the age range of the players was even wider than usual, the youngest being just six years old and the most senior fourteen times older. The youth versus age theme was a theme in pre-tournament coverage by the Oxford Mail and BBC Oxford focused on the youngest competitor, Callaghan McCarty-Snead. A reporter equipped with camera also came along from BBC Oxford to cover his Round 2 game against Julian Booker of Wantage. Some of you may have seen the resulting pieces which were broadcast on the local BBC television news.

Though age and experience triumphed in that particular encounter, youth was elsewhere to the fore. The top section (U225) was won by 14-year-old William Foo from Reading. The U180 section resulted in a tie for first place between Ti Chen (Athenaeum, though recently an Oxford University player) and Matthew Daggitt (MCS/Blackbirds), who started his degree at Cambridge University this year. Current Oxford University players Erik Thornblad and Alastair Irving respectively won the U145 and U120 sections outright.

Full crosstables and a complete list of prizewinners from last weekend can be found via the link below. Next year's event, the 36th Annual Kidlington Chess Tournament, will take place on 2-3 February 2013 at the same venue. The organizers look forward to seeing you there!

Gerard O'Reilly

4TH WORCESTERSHIRE OPEN CHESS CONGRESS

The 4th Worcestershire Open Chess Congress will take place on the weekend of 21-22 July 2012. It will be a 5-round standard play event, with four sections (Open, U160, U135 and U115). Top prize is £200 in the Open and £100 in each of the other sections. The rate of play will be 35 moves in 90 minutes, followed by a further 15 minutes to conclude the game.

The venue is the same as for the last two years: the Conference Centre at the University of Worcester, St John's Campus, Henwick Grove, Worcester, WR2 6AJ. The University has plenty of on-campus parking, for which there is a small charge (£1 last year). Refreshments - sandwiches, baguettes, panini, drinks and other light refreshments - will be available from the on-campus Costa Coffee outlet.

Congress equipment is being supplied by CCF Mindgames Ltd, who will also be running their usual excellent bookstall (new and secondhand). I'd like to thank John and Chris Constable for once again supporting the event.

An entry form can be downloaded via the ECF Tournament Calendar at http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=11324, where you will also find my contact details.

As well as providing what we hope will be an enjoyable congress, the organisers have once again chosen a local charity to support with the profits from the event. This year's designated charity is the St Richard's Hospice in Worcester (Charity no. 515668), which each year provides free care for around 2,200 patients and family members in Worcestershire who are living with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

Last year, an increased entry and the generosity of the players - many of whom included a donation with their entry - meant that we were able to present the designated charity, Age Concern Sandwell, with a cheque for a magnificent £650. On behalf of the organisers, I'd like once again to thank everyone who took part for making this happen, and I hope that as many people as possible will join us this year in trying to do even better!

SCCU U14&U130 Tournament

The Oxon U14 (age) and U130 (grade) team has completed its matches in the above SCCU organised tournament. The team won 17½-6½ against Berkshire, drew 12-12 with Middlesex and lost 13½-10½ to Hampshire. Player awards were made to several of the squad, Abingdon School's Ray Ren adjudged Player of the Season for his perfect score of 6/6.
John Place, Team Manager.

Three Division Four fixtures have been rearranged

Monday 13th February Witney4 v MCS/B2 (was 20/2) Monday 20th February Witney4 v Cumnor2 (was 13/2) Thursday 15 March Cumnor2 v StClares (was 23/2) Also one Frank Wood Semi-Final: Monday 20 February MCS/B1 v OxUni1 The fixture webpages have been updated.

Fixture List Update

The Authorised fixture have been updated to include all the rearrangements that I know about or have not forgotten. Please inform me of any oversight. Rearranged fixture are highlighted in Green so please check for amy that involve your club. Frank Wood Rounds Three and Four are covered as far as is possible at this stage.

Cowley Christmas Blitz

The 2011 Cowley Christmas Blitz was held on Monday 19 December, with 47 
players taking part.

Marcus Harvey (Bicester) repeated his success in the 2009 Christmas 
event, with 9.5 points out of 10, again winning by a margin of 
1.5 points. Cowley's Heather Lang took second place, with Csaba 
Koszta and Maria Wang half a point further back on 7.5.

It proved to be a notably good night for families. Among the 
prizewinners were Cowley's Maria and Anna Wang (no surprise there), 
as well as Graham and James Cole (MCS/Blackbirds), and the Cumnor
Chess Club trio of Varneys (Andrew, Daniel, and Zoe), with 
12-year-old Zoe scoring an outstanding 7 points out of 10 to take the Best 
Junior prize.

The full list of prizewinners is as follows:

1st: Marcus Harvey (Bicester) 9.5
2nd: Heather Lang (Cowley) 8
3rd: Csaba Koszta 7.5
4th: Maria Wang (Cowley) 7.5
Best Cowley player: Rod Nixon 7
Best visitor: Jon Manley (Oxford City) 7
Best junior (U18): Zoe Varney (Cumnor) 7
Best lady: Anna Wang (Cowley) 6
Best U165: Dave Robson (Cowley) 6
Best Cowley 155: Maria Mate (6)
Best visitor U155: Mark Flory (Witney) 6
Best U14: James Cole (MCS/Blackbirds) 5.5
Best U145: Graham Cole (MCS/Blackbirds) 6
Best U130: Matt Coburn (Witney) 5
Best ungraded: Andrew Varney (Cumnor) 5
Best U12: Daniel Varney (Cumnor) 4
Best slow starter - 0/2: Steven Bennett (Cumnor) 4.5
Best very slow starter - 0/4: Isabel Hauer (Witney) 4.5
Best veteran: Bill Stanley (Cowley) 5

Our thanks to everyone who helped make the event a success, including 
(naturally) all those who came along to play, and especially to:
 
Rose Hill Methodist Church for allowing us the use of the downstairs 
Hall for the event; 

the Kidlington Congress and Tom Williams for the loan of equipment; 

John Taylor, Jon D'Souza-Eva and Dave Robson for particular help with 
the transporting of equipment;
Will Burt, Heather Lang, and Sara Sengenberger for various forms of 
help in setting up, as well as those many people who helped with
the clearing up afterwards.
 
Finally, a very special thanks to Tim Dickinson who controlled the 
tournament with his customary panache and efficiency.

Gerard O'Reilly
				

Oxfordshire Vs Berkshire Under 150 Result.

Our under grade 150 team won their home match against Berkshire at MCS
on Saturday 3 December by 10 ½ games to 5 ½. 
They have now won three matches and lost one.   

Most of the games seemed to be very close. I was impressed by the play
of Berks Richard Zhu who at the age of 11 has a grade of 135 and won 
his game on board five. Our own junior, Zoe Varney also won 
again for us. 

The match details are as follows.

   Oxfordshire.                      Berkshire.
1   Karl Biswas	   146	 1/2 - 1/2   Mike Redmon    149
2   Patrick Moss   142	 1/2 - 1/2   Brian Millis   143
3   Graham Cole	   141	 1/2 - 1/2   Paul Gibbons   138
4   Kevin Henbest  140	  1  -  0    Adrian Riley   136
5   Richard Weston 139	  0  -  1    Richard Zhu    135
6   Martin Ashford 136	 1/2 - 1/2   Roy Brown	    129
7   John Taylor	   136	  0  -  1    Dean Close	    123
8   David Sayers   135	 1/2 - 1/2   Witek Koreywo  122
9   Zaid Marham	   132	  1  -  0    Ivor kelly	    122
10  Steve Rumsby   132	  1  -  0    Bob Wooding    121
11  Ian Brooke	   130	  1  -  0    Vic Ballard    120
12  M.Brindley	   126	  1  -  0    Gareth Ward    117
13  Andrew Varney  U/G	  0  -  1    Steve pitts    111
14  Daniel Beckett 122	  1  -  0    Default	
15  Tony Burcham   115	  1  -  0    David Stallan   94
16  Zoe Varney      93	  1  -  0    David Hemmings  90

       Total         10 1/2  -  5 1/2

				

Oxfordshire Vs Hampshire under 150 Result

Our under the grade 150 team lost their first home game of the season
to a strong Hampshire side on Saturday 12 November by 10 ½ games 
to 5 ½. The top four players in the Hants team were all graded 149,
and you will see from the following details that we were out graded on
every board. However, there were some very good games and I trust
everyone enjoyed the afternoon.

We could, of course, still retain the cup if we win our remaining three
matches, including the return match against Hampshire. We have so far 
won two matches and lost one.

	 Oxfordshire.		Result	         Hampshire.	
									
1	 Derek Edwards	146	  0  -  1	Tim Chapman	149
2	 Karl Biswas	146	 1/2 - 1/2	Tom Slater	149
3	 Maria Mate	143	  0  -  1	Roy Ashmore	149
4	 Graham Cole	141	  0  -  1 	Philip Barber	149
5	 Chris Grice	U/G	  0  -  1	Alex Beaney	146
6	 Richard Weston	139	  1  -  0	Gillian Moore	145
7	 Bill Stanley	138	  0  -  1	John Watts	144
8	 Martin Ashford	136	 1/2 - 1/2	Paul Johnson	144
9	 Robert Jacobs	136	  0  -  1	Peter Dallas	141
10	 John Taylor	136	  1  -  0	Ray Hartley	138
11	 David Sayers	135	  0  -  1	David Scotney	136
12	 Steve Rumsby	132	 1/2 - 1/2	David Colliford	136
13	 Zaid Marham	132	  1  -  0	Stuart Dean	134
14	 Ian Brooke	130	 1/2 - 1/2	John Wiseman	134
15	 Mal Brindley	126	 1/2 - 1/2      Bob Cleave	131
16	 P. Cartwright  U/G	  0  -  1	Philip Gething	125
					
	              Total   5 1/2  - 10 1/2 	

				

Buckinghamshire Vs Oxfordshire under grade 150 res

Our Oxfordshire under the grade 150 team won their Chiltern league match 
against Buckinghamshire by 12 games to 4 at Holmer Green on Saturday 
22nd of October. Although 12 - 4 seems a wide margin most of the games 
were very close, I don't think that we had more than one or two easy wins,
and we out-graded them on every board except one.
The results included one default by Bucks. The team now have two wins from 
two games, both away from home.

The reason that we had two consecutive away games is that we swapped 
venues for one fixture due to the non-availability of MCS.

The match details are as follows.

Bucks                                  Oxon
 
1  Peter Forrest    149	 1/2 - 1/2     Karl Biswas	 146
2  Tom Rixson	    143	  0  -  1      Malcolm Waddell   145
3  Darrell Watson   143	 1/2 - 1/2     Maria Mate	 143
4  Jonathon Melsom  137	  1  -  0      Gordon Brown  	 142
5  Greg Edmonds     131	  0  -  1      Graham Cole	 141
6  Richard Cranston 125	  0  -  1      Bill Stanley	 138
7  David Rollinson  121	 1/2 - 1/2     John Taylor	 136
8  Derek Simpson    U/G	 1/2 - 1/2     David Sayers	 135
9  Cliff Schornak   115	  0  -  1      Zaid Marham	 132
10 Ian Hall	    112	 1/2 - 1/2     Andrew Varney	 U/G
11 Default		  0  -  1      Malcolm Brindley  126
12 Mike Porter	    102	  0  -  1      Dadiel Beckett	 122
13 Chris Stothert   102	  0  -  1      Tony Burcham	 120
14 Colin Piper	     94	 1/2 - 1/2     Julian Booker	 113
15 Brian Hicks       86	  0  -  1      Tamal Matilal	 111
16 Frank Rich	     81	  0  -  1      Zoe Varney	  93
						   
	       Total	  4  - 12

				

Bershire Vs Oxfordshire under 150 Result.

Our Oxfordshire under grade 150 team won their opening match of the
season against Berkshire by 12 games to 4 at Wellington College on
Saturday 24th of September. A good start to this seasons league 
contest!

Although Berks were out graded on all boards, except the top board, all
the games were hard fought and there were no quick wins.  The top board
contest was particularly keen and lasted almost the full four hours. 
Karl just failed to save his game.


             Berkshire                     Oxfordshire. 
 
1      Mike Redmond	149	1 - 0 	Karl Biswas      146
2      Gordon Birch	141	1 - 0	Maria Mate	 143
3      Adrian Riley	136	0 - 1	Graham Cole	 141
4      Richard Zhu	135	0 - 1	Kevin Henbest	 140
5      Andrew Adair	127	0 - 1	Richard Weston	 139
6      Ivor Kelly	122    1/2-1/2	Bill Stanley 	 138
7      Witold Koroywo	122	0 - 1	Gary Reynolds	 137
8      Bob Wooding	121    1/2-1/2	Martin Ashford	 136  
9      Vic Ballard	120	0 - 1	John Taylor	 136
10     Gareth Ward	117    1/2-1/2	David Sayers 	 135
11     Brian Cleeves	116     0 - 1	Zaid Marham	 132
12     Steve Pitts	111    1/2-1/2	Lucy Smith	 131
13     Christine Coates	101	0 - 1	Ian Brooke       130
14     Ivan Sayer	96	0 - 1	Malcolm Brindley 126
15     David Stallan	94	0 - 1	Daniel Beckett	 122
16     David Hemmings 	90	0 - 1	Tony Burcham     120
			   
	           Total	4 - 12	
				

Revised Draft Fixtures dated 19 September

A Revised set of DRaft Fixtures has been posted in OCA Documents. This features an extra team in Division Four. OxUni2 have withdrawn from Division Two. There may also be a Wantage team to be withdrawn after the club AGM on 27 September. Didcot1 now play home matches on Wednesdays.

Mike Truran wins ECF President's award

I am delighted to announce that Mike Truran was one of this year's winners of the ECF President's award. The award was largely for services to 4NCL where he has been a member of the management board for many years. Witney chess club website also won the website of the year award. Mike has been instrumental in helping this get up and running although the award really belongs to Witney's web master Steve Connor. Well done to you both. Alan Kennedy

Draft_Fixtures_in_Diary_Format.htm

Minor Correction: Chilterm Open Dates have been corrected. Primcipal Changes from the July draft are: New team in Division Four, Cowley Workers2 taking over Fixtures previously assigned to Cowley Workers1; Cowley Workers 1 moved into Division Three taking over fixtures previously assigned to Didcot2; ALL Didcot2 fixtures are different taking up fixtures assigned to Bye3; Problems mentioned by clubs (principally Banbury, Bicester, Oxford City) have been dealt with; Some other points of congestion are eased.

Draft Fixtures in Grid Format

The fixtures may be seen in Grid Format