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News from 2004–05 is also available.
The best game prizes were announced at the prizegiving on 31 July. The overall best game prize went to Gavin Nguyen for his game against Maurice Hill, and the Under 16 prize was awarded to Amisha Parmar for her win over Robert Thompson at the Ampleforth Junior Masters.
There were no entries for the Under 11 prize.
The AGM was held on 31 August following the prizegiving. The existing officers were all re-elected. The accounts showed a small loss because of the quantity of new equipment purchased. Increased hall fees for next year as well as the expense of running two new teams will probably mean a small increase in membership fees. The draft constitution circulated prior to the meeting was approved.
The final two results in the club championship are now in, and the final standings are available.
The new grading list was published on the ECF web site on the evening of 23 July. All of the club’s graded players are listed on our Players page.
Highlights: Gavin Nguyen (186) is our new No. 1; Reece Needham is the most improved junior (and 16th most improved player in the country – up 33 to 87); David Levens is the most improved adult (up 12 to 167); a clutch of juniors have made significant advances, among them Lateefah Messam-Sparks (121), Eric Williamson (114), Daniel Lin (117) and Jonathan Day (119); and Michael Zhang gets a first grade of 78.
Nottingham High School retained the National Schools Championship on 7 July, beating Dulwich College 5–1. The winning team members were the same as last year and included four WNCC members: Billy Grewal, Michael Keetley, Ian Harris and Dominic Heining.
There are still two postponed games left to play, but the three club championship titles have been decided. Guy Hinton scored an excellent win against David Levens to take the overall trophy with 4½ points, leaving a pack of six players a point behind. Among that group, three Under 16s all finished on 3½ points – Eric Williamson wins the title on tie-break. The Under 11 championship was won by Andrew Garside (2 points), beating Oliver Williamson on tie-break.
Most of West Nottingham’s qualifiers from the Trent Megafinal travelled to Manchester on the weekend of 7–8 July to compete in the penultimate stage of the UK Chess Challenge. Here’s how they fared (* = qualified for Terafinal; ** = Section winner; all scores out of six points):
A fine set of results. Congratulations to all the qualifiers for the Terafinal and thanks to all of the parents who made the trek up to Manchester to give so many of our juniors the chance to compete in the national stages of the competition.
Full results for the Saturday and Sunday events are now available.
The decision taken at the club’s AGM last year to get more involved in NCA matters resulted in a full complement of seven WNCC representatives (Phillip Burley, Tracey Clegg, John Collins, John Crawley, Ian Kingston, David Levens and Robert Willoughby) attending the NCA AGM on 11 July. A report is available on the NCA web site, but the main news for WNCC is that David was elected President of the NCA; Ian added the jobs of League Secretary and Records Secretary to his other roles as Bulletin Editor and Webmaster; and the club as a whole will run the County Championship and the NCA’s special events, such as the Blitz Championship. David and Ian will sit on the NCA’s Executive Committee.
Yes – we’re going to be busy. However, it will mean more opportunities for WNCC members to play in NCA events and to get involved with helping to run them.
The draw for Round 5 of this year’s Club Championship is now available. Note that there is one outstanding game from Round 4 to be played and that one Round 5 game has also been postponed. Round 5 will be played on 17 July; the postponed games will be played on 24 July.
The 2006 Lightning Championship was won by John Collins with a score of 5½/6. Eamonn Lim took the Under 16 title with 3½/6, while Andrew Garside won the Under 11 Championship, also with 3½/6.
The situation at the top of the championship has become very clear after Round 4. David Levens and Guy Hinton lead with 3½, followed by Eric Williamson and Ian Kingston on 3. A draw for David will be sufficient to win the championship on tie-break, regardless of what Ian and Eric do; a win for Guy will give him the title.
Eric currently leads the Under 16 title race, although the situation is somewhat uncertain because of Reece Needham’s postponed game, which will be played after Round 5 has been completed. The four Under 11s are all tied on 1 point – Michael Zhang leads on tie-break.
The draw for Round 4 of this year’s Club Championship is now available, following the completion of Round 3’s postponed games. Eric Williamson is now the sole leader with 3/3.
Ian Kingston won the blitz tournament held on 26 June with 6/6. Daniel Lin scored 5/6 to finish second, and there was a three-way tie for third between Guy Hinton, Michael Zhang and John Crawley, who all scored 4/6.
The final of the All England Girls Championships was held at Bramcote Hills Sports & Community College on 24 June. The West Nottingham contenders both performed well: Lateefah Messam-Sparks scored 4½/5 and just missed out on retaining her U14 title on tie-break. Ella Macleod scored 3/5 in the U10 competition.
A full list of winners and results ia available on the ECF Women and Girls web site.
Round 3 has been slightly affected by illness, and two games are still outstanding. In the games that were played, Daniel Lin held David Levens to a surprise draw in a fluctuating game where both players missed wins. Daniel, David and Guy Hinton now share the lead on 2½/3, but either Eric Williamson or John Collins could join or overtake them.
The draw for Round 3 has been made. No byes in this round!
No real surprises in Round 2, although John Crawley will be pleased with his win over Andrew Garside. Eamonn Lim pushed Daniel Lin all the way in the longest game of the night. Five players share the lead with 2/2.
The draw for Round 2 has been made. Update (4 June): An extra half-point bye has been granted, with an adjustment to the pairings that affects Sam Henegan and Arun Maini.
Daniel Lin contributes two games as entries for this year’s Best Game prize. More wanted!
Most of the games were won, as expected, by the higher graded player, but there were a couple of upsets in the first round: Michael Zhang beat Toby Thurgood, showing good technique in the endgame, and Tracey Clegg outplayed Ian Kingston in a complicated position. Round 2 is on 5 June, and the draw will be published on 29 May. Requests for a half-point bye must be received by Sunday 4 June at the very latest.
Several West Nottingham members were part of the Notts team that finished 6th in this year’s national championship, held at Hampton School on 13 May. Andrew Garside scored a perfect 3/3 on Board 3, matched by Michael Zhang on Board 9. Yash Gupta had a harder time, scoring ½/3 on Board 10. Arun Maini scored ½/2 as a substitute on Board 15, as well as winning his only game in the Reserves competition.
Matthew Bevan missed out on playing in the main competition, but scored 2/3 in the Reserves.
The draw for the first round of this year’s Club Championship is now available. Update: A slight change has been made to the draw. John Collins now plays Philip Rhodes, and Mark Rowbotham has a half-point bye.
Two West Nottingham players represented the East of England in the EPSCA All-England U11 Girls Match held at St Albans High School for Girls on 1 May. Ella Macleod scored 1 point (out of 2) on Board 8, while Sarah McKeating made the same score on Board 12. The East beat the West 28–16.
Many of the club’s junior members were among the 343 competitors in the Trent Megafinal of the British Land UK Chess Challenge. They reached the Megafinal either through competitions held at school or through a qualifying round run by John Crawley during junior sessions at the club.
No fewer than eight of our juniors took first place in their age group, and almost all of the rest scored the necessary 4 points to qualify for the next stage – the Gigafinal. Detailed results are available on the tournament web site; all the West Nottingham results are listed below (section winners in bold; all scores out of six points):
The latest issue of The Passed Pawn is now available for download. This issue has also been emailed or posted to everyone on the membership list – if you didn’t get a copy, let me know.
Two games from this year’s Nottingham Congress featuring deadly assaults on the enemy king.
WNA put a final gloss on their season with a comprehensive win over Rolls Royce A that keeps the latter down in Division 3.
With all the perverse inevitably of sport, WN1 rose up and beat the new league champions in the final match of the season.
WN3’s final match ended in defeat, but with promotion already secured no one was too worried.
WNB’s successful run ended with defeat in the final match, resulting in a fourth place finish.
Several West Nottingham members were in the prizes at this year’s Nottingham Congress. The full list of West Nottingham results:
WNB continue their sparkling finish to the season with a third straight win – this time against the division leaders.
WN5 round off the season with an excellent win that brings their playing record to a solid 50%.
WNA make it a memorable night for the club, winning Division 3 at the same time as WN2 were beating Long Eaton.
WN2 clinched their second promotion in two years with an upset win against Long Eaton. Amarjit and Ian held firm on the top boards, while Michael and John brought home the points with simultaneous wins.
WN3 wrapped up promotion to Division 3 with a match to spare. Congratulations to captain Phil Burley and everyone who contributed to a successful season!
WN1 finally find a way to avoid losing 3–2. This probably wasn’t the way to do it...
Daniel Lin won the Notts Under 125 County Championship (both adult and junior titles) on 1–2 April. Further details at the NCA website.
WN4 secured another season in Division 4 with a comfortable win over the only team that could stop them staying up.
WNB finally achieve lift-off, moving off the bottom and into mid-table
An all-girls team rounds off the season for WN6, overpowered by a promotion-chasing Long Eaton side.
The first of two very tough matches to finish the season is lost, but Lawrence Alfred gains a creditable draw.
WN4 put themselves in prime position to avoid the drop, simultaneously taking one of WN3’s rivals out of the promotion race.
A solid win against a weakened Grantham puts WN2 on the verge of promotion.
Despite a clash with WN2 for players, WNA beat a strong Belper side to return to first place.
An excellent away win, with the top two boards scoring early and stand-in captain John Crawley taking a draw to seal the match.
WN3 boost their promotion hopes by being the first team to take a point off the leaders.
WN2 fail to provide themselves with the cushion that winning this match would have given them. The season now hangs on the next match, against Grantham 1.
Strong performances on the top two boards weren’t matched lower down.
A last-gasp win by the captain gave WN3 the win they needed to consolidate second place.
The top two boards put on an attacking demonstration (pawn storm by Gavin; pieces on open lines by Ian) to set up a win that takes WNA to the top of the Division.
WN5 all hit top form together to take their season’s record to 50%.
If it’s WN1 it must be a 3–2 defeat. You could bet your mortgage on it.
Another hard-fought match that wouldn’t quite go WN6’s way.
WN6 failed to take advantage of University’s missing player, but still put up a tough fight.
There were some excellent West Nottingham results at this year’s Rapidplay, including two winners. Section by section (all scores out of six points):
A case of might-have-been, as two good positions were blundered away.
WN4 give themselves a real chance of survival by beating their main rivals in a tight match.
The fifth team give a good account of themselves in a tough away match, losing narrowly.
I could probably have written this scoreline before the match – add another to the collection of 3–2 defeats. Sadly, this loss condemns the team to almost certain relegation.
Although a 2–2 draw was played on the night, Bunkers fielded an ineligible player. The result is therefore adjusted to a win for WN5.
A poor first round, losing 2½–½, left the Nightmare with too much to do. Needing to win all three games in the last round to go through on tie break, the team pushed all the way, but couldn’t quite claw back the difference.
An easy win against the second-placed team pushes WNA up to third place, with a serious shot at promotion.
A no-show from Gambit 5 pushes WN5 up the table.
A narrow defeat leaves WN4 deeper in relegation trouble.
A new issue of The Passed Pawn is available. Copies can be collected at the club or downloaded.
The second team bounced back from last week’s defeat to win a tight match in the final minutes of the session and consolidate second place in the table.
WN3 move into clear second place in Division 4 with a resounding away win.
A strong performance by WN4 brings hope of avoiding the drop.
Deprived of a fourth player by traffic chaos in Nottingham, the team nevertheless claim an excellent draw. Update: Bunkers’ top board was ineligible, so the result changes to a 3–1 win for WN5!
A narrow defeat against the division leaders represents a fine result.
WNA moved into the thick of the promotion battle with a solid win over the bottom team.
In a tense and exciting finish, WNB won the final game of the match against Rolls Royce A to tie the scores at 2–2. On the night nobody could find a copy of the rules to confirm what the tie-break was, but with wins on Boards 1 and 3 it always looked good for us. The victory was confirmed the following day. Congratulations to everyone who took part!
The twice-postponed match resulted in a strong performance against the division leaders, but not quite good enough for a point.
Always a tough match on paper, but with the return of Billy and Amarjit from the exam season there were hopes of a good result. Instead, we got the almost standard 3–2 defeat.
A weakened Bunkers team should have been there for the taking, but two early defeats left the remaining three players with too much to do.
The score doesn’t reflect how well the team played, with all four games being competitive battles. Inexperience showed in the end.
Another good result for WN5, with good wins on Boards 2 and 3.
Another fruitless trip to Newark, again with only four players available. The quartet still produced a decent result against the division leaders.
A solid all-round performance took the Nightmare into the semi-final. The first round of games saw the WN team (Gavin Nguyen, Ian Kingston and Phil Burley) trail 2–1, with only Gavin winning. However, the second round proved crucial, as all three players won. Leading 4–2 and needing just a point from the last three games, things suddenly became very tense – Gavin (facing a huge time handicap for the third game in succession) lost, while Ian was bamboozled by the Elephant Gambit and was staring at a two-pawn deficit against Kevin Harvey. Phil was the exchange up in a complex position of the sort where anything might happen. Ian then sent his king on what looked like a suicide mission, marching right into the heart of the enemy position, where it caused enough confusion to win a pawn back, followed by winning the exchange. With time running short in the endgame, Ian’s king and rook somehow rounded up both of Kevin’s passed pawns, after which Ian’s pawn on c7 was enough to win Kevin’s knight, the game and the match. Phil’s game was last to finish – a perpetual check rounding off another entertaining evening.
A vital win in the promotion race, pushing one of WN3’s rivals down the table and taking the team into second place.
With only four players available from the whole of the WN1, 2 and 3 squads, this was always going to be a tough match. For once, the lower boards scored 50%, but the usual points from the top two failed to materialise, resulting in defeat.
It was always going to be tough taking on the division leaders, and the defeat was more or less as expected.
Sam Henegan became the latest player to make his debut for the club. The loss was expected.
On paper it looked possible to make it two straight wins, but evenly balanced matches sometimes swing heavily to one side or the other. WNB were on the receiving end.
An excellent win moves WNB off the bottom in this very evenly contested division.
The fourth team gained a small measure of revenge in the return match, forcing WN3 captain Phil Burley to grind out a tough endgame win to secure the draw.
The top two boards delivered excellent wins, but with no support from the bottom three, the team slipped to another defeat.
Toby Thurgood played in the York Congress (6–8 January), scoring 3½/5 in the Intermediate section (U130). He won the grading prize as the lowest graded player scoring 3½.
WN’s charmed season rolls on. Despite yet again putting out a makeshift side, the team dominated the match and at one stage looked like whitewashing Fiveways. A late recovery made the score look close, but couldn’t prevent WN2 from reclaiming first place.
Yet another fixture in which WNA’s worst enemy was WN2, in competition for players. It’s exam month as well, cutting the team’s resources still further. The defeat continues the erratic nature of the team’s season.
As expected, the stronger of our two teams won. The surprise was Reece Needham losing to his father, securing WN6’s point.
The team was outgunned, but fought well before losing to their more experienced opponents.
The expected result. Destinee Needham became the third member of the Needham family to represent the club.
Your club secretary braved the snowy weather and the threat of being stranded somewhere in Kent to compete in this year’s Hastings Congress. I scored 3½/5 in the Christmas Morning B tournament and 3/5 in the Christmas Afternoon A, winning the U155 grading prize in the latter event. Full details of the various Hastings tournaments are at http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/, and there is further coverage at http://www.monroi.com/wdc/Hastings/indexHastings.php. (Anyone who can spot me in the picture gallery at the latter site probably has too much free time on their hands, but I’m definitely there in one of the photos – just quite a long way in the background.)
Following the ECF’s change of name, the website has also moved. The new address is http://www.englishchess.org.uk/. The old address still works, but now would be a good time to update any links or favorites/bookmarks.
The annual Christmas party and quiz was held on 19 December.
The team fell at the first hurdle, but the contest was much closer than the score suggests.
WNA continue their up and down season with a good away win. Still very much in the promotion race.
One of those matches where everything goes wrong.
A calamitous performance. Two advantageous endgames ended as draws, and then a won endgame oscillated wildly between victory and defeat in the blitz finish before ending up with the wrong result.
WNB registered their first win of the season with a solid performance. The captain’s game was the crucial one – the only game won by the lower graded player.
The away match from hell. No blame attaches to Grantham – it was a combination of heavy traffic, road closure and unavailable players that made this a late night for everybody. Despite everything, a team that looked more like WN3 than WN2 took a point against stronger opposition to stay at the top of Division 2.
A serious upset for the third team, who outgraded the opposition on every board.
An excellent win for WN4.
A much closer match than the score would suggest, all games being hard fought. Experience told in the end.
West Nottingham B reached the final of the Plate competition, beating Spondon B 3½–½.
A comfortable win that moves the team into second place in the division.
A slightly disappointing defeat in a winnable match.
More valuable experience gained, but defeat in the end. Lawrence Alfred scored his first win for the club.
An evenly balanced match that eventually went the way of the home side.
A strong team on paper contrived to lose from a winning position.
The second team hit the top of Division 2 with an emphatic win over Nomads. Both teams were weakened through losing players to a High School match, but our strength in depth made all the difference. Gavin’s win on top board is now online.
A bad day at the office.
A really hard-fought match against the division leaders slipped away at the end, but not before Vidoshan Vijayadurai scored a maiden win on his debut for the club.
The second of three legs of the East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix took place on 19 November at Dovecote Primary School, Clifton, Nottingham. There were 64 competitors in three sections. West Nottingham members once again featured strongly in the list of prizewinners (all scores out of 6 points; * = WNCC member):
| Under 10 | Under 12 | Under 16 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Srikar Varadaraj | 5½ | *Reece Needham | 6 | *Eric Williamson | 5½ |
| 2nd | Brandon Clarke | 5 | *Michael Zhang | 5 | *Lateefah Messam-Sparkes | 5 |
| 3rd | Neel Kothari | 5 | Keval Rughani | 4½ | Kush Bajaria | 4½ |
| Best girl | *Ella Macleod | 4 | *Heather Garside | 3 | *Lateefah Messam-Sparkes | 5 |
| Best game | Brandon Clarke – Srikar Varadaraj | *Reece Needham – Keshav Nehra | *Lateefah Messam-Sparkes – *Eric Williamson |
Additional prizes were awarded to *Daniel Thurgood (Best Under 8) and Sanat Kulkarni (Best Under 9).
The overall standings are headed by Brandon Clarke (U10; 11 points), Reece Needham (U12; 11 points) and Eric Williamson (U16; 11½ points)
The third and final leg is on 3 December. Contact John Crawley (01773 827179) for details.
More valuable experience gained, but Rolls Royce’s experience told in the end.
A spectacular win against a much stronger team, which was even more comfortable than the score suggests – two of the drawn games could easily have gone our way. Ian’s win, featuring some spectacular computer analysis, is available for replay.
WN3 returned to winning ways, despite making heavy weather of weak opponents.
The club has a British Rapidplay Champion! At this year’s event, held in Halifax on 12–13 November, Lateefah Messam-Sparks won the Under 16 title, scoring 5½/6. Eric Williamson finished third in the same section. Amisha Parmar finished second in the intermediate section with a score of 8½/11.
You don’t expect to be facing a player graded 155 in Division 4, but that’s what happened in WN3’s defeat against Newark 2, with the home side taking advantage of a strong new member.
Ashfield were at full strength for the first time this year; we weren’t. The defeat could have been a lot heavier.
The night we found out how good Gavin really is. After sweeping all before him for WN3 and for WN’s lower boards, he demolished Long Eaton’s top board in a fine win for a below-strength side.
The team is starting to settle down, and this win takes them up to 50% and within striking distance of the promotion race.
Weakened by the competing demands of WN2, this looked like a tricky match on paper. Instead, the team beat the division leaders to move into contention for promotion.
A tough match for WNB, losing to a team coached by David Levens.
West Nottingham B qualified in second place for the semi-finals of the Plate competition following the second set of rapidplay games. West Nottingham A withdrew from the Cup because of a shortage of sufficiently strong players.
Amisha and David were interviewed on BBC Radio Nottingham last week. There is a summary of the interview on the BBC’s web site, and you can listen to the interview (just under 8 minutes long) by clicking on the link near the foot of that page.
More tightly contested than the score suggests, but the Fantasy become the third of the club’s teams to be knocked out.
Although notionally fractionally weaker, the Nightmare proved to be the stuff of dreams, winning the first five games of the match to go through to the second round with ease. Here’s the game that took us to the brink of victory.
A very tight match, with handicap ultimately tipping the balance in favour of the weaker side.
The latest issue of The Passed Pawn is now out. Copies are available at the club or via download. This issue will not be sent out in the post.
The Ampleforth Junior Masters included five WNCC members among the 95 competitors. The event was a six-round Swiss. The final scores of the WNCC players were: Amisha Parmar 3½, Michael Keetley 3; Toby Thurgood 2½; Peter Keetley 2; Jyoti Parmar 1. Amisha won the Game of the Round prize in Round 4.
Despite fielding a weakened side, the players delivered a victory that was more comfortable than the score suggests.
Stronger on paper, but weaker on the night – a disappointing defeat. Ian Kingston’s game from this match is now available to play through.
Just like the first team on the same night, our side was stronger on paper but failed to perform and slipped to a narrow defeat.
A heavily outgraded team fell to the expected defeat, completing a miserable night for the club’s teams.
A straightforward win gets the A team’s season moving.
The fifth team wins to make it a hat-trick for the club in three away matches on the same night. Aarav Gupta-Kaistha scored a maiden win on his debut.
The fourth team gets its season moving with a big away win.
The first team bounced back with a win against a team graded an average of 10 points higher.
Several club members took part in the 3rd Leicester Rapidplay, held on 9 October. In the Major (U136) John Collins scored 4/6, while in the Minor (U101), Lateefah Messam-Sparks scored 4, Ashton Alfred 3 and Lawrence Alfred 1.
The first of three legs of the East Midlands Junior Rapidplay Grand Prix took place on 15 October at Dovecote Primary School, Clifton, Nottingham. There were 70 competitors in three sections. West Nottingham members dominated the list of prizewinners (all scores out of 6 points; * = WNCC member):
| Under 10 | Under 12 | Under 16 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Brandon Clarke | 6 | *Keshav Nehra | 6 | *Eric Williamson | 6 |
| 2nd | Hari Patel | 5 | Lloyd Clarke | 5 | *Lateefah Messam-Sparks | 5 |
| 3rd | *Andrew Garside | 5 | *Reece Needham | 5 | Nigel Wright | 4 |
| Best girl | *Ella Macleod | 4 | *Sarah McKeating | 2½ | *Lateefah Messam-Sparks | 5 |
| Best game | Brandon Clarke – Hari Patel | *Keshav Nehra – Lloyd Clarke | *Eric Williamson – *Lateefah Messam-Sparks |
These scores (and those of all the other competitors) count towards the overall Grand Prix championships. The second leg is on 19 November and the third on 3 December. Contact John Crawley (01773 827179) for details.
An excellent first win for WN6, with maiden league wins for Yash Gupta and Lawrence Alfred.
The second team takes its first defeat of the season.
The first of our four teams is knocked out in the preliminary round. Needing only one point from the last three games to go through, all three players lost.
Several West Nottingham members took part in this event, held at Bramcote Community College on 2 October:
Congratulations to Amisha and Lateefah for winning their respective sections. Both qualify for the finals, to be held next year.
A below-strength team struggled against one of the division’s stronger sides.
Despite outgrading Mansfield on all except top board, the team went down to a disappointing defeat.
The first session of the Derby & District League Cup and Plate competitions produced mixed results for the West Nottingham teams. In the Cup (for stronger teams), our team was outmatched, scoring 2½/8. However, in the Plate competition we stand in second place with 6/8. Robert Willoughby and Phil Burley both scored 2/2.
The format of the competition is for teams of four players to play four rounds of rapidplay over two nights, using the jamboree system. The top four teams in each competition go through to the semi-finals, which are played at the standard time control for league matches.
The second team notched up a second win to keep them near the top of Division 2.
Update: John Collins’ attractive win on Board 4 is now available for viewing.
Good positions slipped away as the team slipped to a second defeat.
The Alfred brothers played their first games for the club, with Ashton registering the half point in a defeat against Gambit 5.
A poor start against a team that was outgraded on every board.
Bunkers have been forced to move again, following the refusal of the Rose of England to allow juniors anywhere on the premises.
The new venue is the Navigation public house: 6 Wilford Street, Nottingham NG2 1AA (Map) (tel: 0115 941 7139). This is near the Evening Post building, next to the canal. Parking is available on Castle Boulevard (free after 6:00 p.m.) and Castle Road.
West Nottingham 3 provide evidence that they may well be the class of the division with an excellent away win that sees them setting the early pace.
The first team gets away to a flyer with a convincing win.
The Division 5 teams split the points in the opening match. WN6 will probably be happier than WN5 with the result.
The West Nottingham ladies make their debut in the Derby & District League, but fall to a narrow defeat.
The match Foremarke–West Nottingham B has been moved from 24 October to 31 October because of a clash with half-term.
Amisha Parmar is representing England at the European Youth Championships in Herceg Novi, Serbia and Montenegro, from 13–28 September. She’s playing in the Girls Under 14 section and has started with a win in Round 1.
Regular updates will be posted here. You can follow Amisha’s progress at the tournament web site, which also has games available for replay. The BCF web site also has daily reports.
Round 2: Amisha missed a spectacular rook sacrifice by her opponent and lost. Score 1/2.
Round 3: Amisha bounces back with a second win. Score 2/3.
Round 4: A tough opponent – the top seed – results in a loss. Score: 2/4.
Round 5: The first week ends with a draw. Score 2½/5.
Round 6: Back after the rest day with another draw. Score 3/6.
Round 7: No luck in this round – a loss. Score 3/7.
Round 8: Back to 50% with a win. Score 4/8.
Round 9: The last round brings another win. Final score 5/9; =16th of 51 competitors.
The second team opened their first season in Division 2 with a solid win.
The opening match saw WN3 score a slightly fortuitous win over WN4.
The club has received an entry form and rules for the 2005–06 Derbyshire County Individual Championship, for which many of our members are eligible. Games are played throughout the season, and you’ll need to travel around Derbyshire for some of your games. If you’d like a copy of the entry form, contact Ian Kingston.
The BCF Grand Prix competitions ended at this year’s British Championship in August. Amisha Parmar finished 6th and Lateefah Messam-Sparks 8th in the Female Prix. In the Graded Prix (174–150) section, Derek Jarvis finished 7th.