News

Older news items

Archived news from earlier in the season will appear here. For the latest news, visit the Home page.

ECF Club of the Year presentation (16 September)

The ECF Club of the Year Award – a new digital clock, a certificate and a plaque – were presented by ECF Treasurer Robert Richmond on 10 September. A couple of photos:

Rob Richmond, David Levens, Ian Kingston, John Crawley
Rob Richmond presents the award to committee members David Levens, Ian Kingston and John Crawley.

Club members with the award
Members of the club at the award presentation.

Results of the blitz tournament held immediately afterwards:

Pos Name Total
1 Ian Kingston 4
2 Robert Willoughby 4
3 Jonathan Day 4
4 Nikolai Berdunov 3
5 John Collins 3
6 Phillip Burley 3
7 Ross Mackay 3
8 Michael Zhang 3
9 Mohammed Mozaffari 2
10 Arun Maini 2
11 Matthew Pethick 2
12 Jordan Nicholson 2
13 Lucien Holliday 2
14 Arnaud Banon 1½
15 David Somers 1
16 Ruth Chadwick ½

Ian took first place on tie break.

Fixture updates (3 September)

Changes to the published fixtures: Ashfield 3–West Nottingham 3 is on Tuesday 9 October, not Wednesday 10 October; University 2–West Nottingham 1 will be rearranged to a date to be confirmed; and West Nottingham A and B’s matches on Friday 9 November will be rearranged, as the hall is not available that night. Update: the WNA and WNB matches will now be played on the date originally scheduled – the room is now free.

Another update: At Belper’s request, Belper C–West Nottingham B moves from 9 January to 30 January.

And another: West Nottingham C–Foremarke B moves from 15 February to 9 November; West Nottingham B–Foremarke A has been moved to Monday 26 November.

West Nottingham A–Burton A has been shifted to a neutral venue (Spondon) at Burton’s request, with a date of 11 December. As that clashes with a West Nottingham 1 fixture, we’ve asked for a new date. The away match against Burton is also at Spondon, and is now on Tuesday 8 April, not Monday 7 April.

UK Chess Challenge Terafinal (22 August)

The West Nottingham representatives put on a good show at this year’s UK Chess Challenge Terafinal, held in Leamington Spa on 18 and 19 August. In the Terafinal itself, Lateefah Messam-Sparks added the Girls title (shared) to her British Championship with a score of 4/6, winning the tidy sum of £500 for her efforts. In the Challengers sections, Eamonn Lim finished =5th (4½/6), Andrew Garside shared the best Under 11 prize (3½/6), Sanat Kulkarni scored 3½/6, Lucien Holliday 3/6, and Saaras Mehan 2/6. Unlike the Mega- and Gigafinal stages, all ages play in the same tournament in the Terafinal and Challengers.

British Championship (12 August)

A contingent of six West Nottingham players visited Great Yarmouth for this year’s British Championships, held from 29 July – 11 August. Once again, Lateefah Messam-Sparks claimed a British Championship – this year the Girls Under 15 title. A summary of results:

More local players’ results can be found at the NCA site, and full details are at the Championship site linked above.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable competition. The playing conditions were excellent, and the weather was sunny but not too hot. As luck would have it, David and Lateefah were drawn to play against each other in the Major Open, resulting in a long and fluctuating draw. Lateefah also played another Notts opponent (Ashfield’s Richard Webster), winning after a blunder by her opponent. Ian was in contention for both the U150 title and the Afternoon Open on the last day, but couldn’t win either game and ended up in a six-way tie for second place in the latter event.

Some pictures (Ian Kingston took the first; Bob Taylor of Ashfield took the other two):

Great Yarmouth College
A view of the venue.

David Levens and Ian Kingston
David Levens and Ian Kingston just before the start of the final round.

Lateefah Messam-Sparks
Lateefah Messam-Sparks prepares for her last game.

AGM/Prizegiving (31 July)

The Prizegiving and AGM were held on 30 July – see the pictures. The AGM itself was a quiet affair, with little business to discuss. The existing committee was re-elected en bloc and unopposed. The club made a very small surplus over the year, but since there was no expenditure on new equipment, which is needed, and the cost of hiring the hall has risen again, it was decided to raise all annual membership fees by £5.00. John Crawley uncorked a bottle of bubbly at the end of the meeting to celebrate our ECF Club of the Year Award, and that took care of the 2006–07 season.

UK Chess Challenge Gigafinal (31 July)

The usual large contingent of West Nottingham juniors competed in the northern Gigafinal of this year’s UK Chess Challenge, held on 14 and 15 July in Manchester. There were lots of good performances, and the following players qualified for the Terafinal on 18–19 August:

Lateefah won her section outright. More details are at the competition’s web site.

News from previous seasons:

Copyright © West Nottingham Chess Club 2008

Please send any queries, comments or corrections to the webmaster.