Blackpool Chess Congress

This weekend sees the traditional Blackpool Congress, and once again boasts a very impressive field. 3 GMs, and more 190+ players then you can shake a stick at. The reason for this post however, is to focus on entrants from the South West.

By my reckoning the following people have entered from the South West-

Mike Richardt, Taunton, in the open.
William Taylor, Bridgwater (now resident at Durham Uni), in the major.
Stephen Piper, Wootton Basset, in the major.
Thomas Cooper, Trowbridge, in the intermediate.
Colin Gardiner, Falmouth, in the intermediate.
David Marshall, Trowbridge, in the intermediate.
Gareth Williams, Trowbridge, in the intermediate.
Adrian Davis, Trowbridge, in the minor.

If I've missed anyone from this list, do let me know and I'll add them. Depending on how quickly the Blackpool Chess website is updated (click on the title to go directly there), I'll either keep you up to date with the results daily, or let you know how everyone got on early next week.

The European Championships

Hard to see how this one fits in with Westcountry Chess isn't it? GMs Michael Adams and Keith Arkell are the link. Now resident in Somerset and Devon respectively, they've flown out to Rijeka in Croatia to compete in the European championships, starting tommorow. For anyone wondering where exactly in Croatia Rijeka is, it's (hope I'm getting this right) in the north- west of Croatia, right on the coast, close to the Slovenian border.

Michael Adams seems to have been around top level chess for as long as anyone, but his form has dipped slightly in recent years. Boasting a very impressive 2704 rating, he's 7th seed, and as long as he doesn't get bogged down in drawing with lower rated players, will be one of the favourites to win the tournament.

I think I'd need a calculator to add up the number of weekend congresses Keith Arkell's won, but here he's 212th seed, just in the bottom half of the draw. Given that the first round is done on a top-half vs bottom- half pairing system, he's going to face a very tough first round.

Best of luck to both, and I'll keep you updated with their progress.

Bristol League Chess (Prt.3)

Thanks to Phil Nendick for the following report on the Clifton 'A'- Horfield 'A' match. If you click on the title it should, with any luck, take you to the Horfield home page.

Switching Steve and Derek so that Steve could have a break from playing James Cobb only managed to pair Derek against his previous opponent since Cobb wasn't playing. Steve ended Duncan's unbeaten run when the latter "self destructed" from a reasonable position and we were one up. Elsewhere we were doing well although Harvey was suffering with a backward c pawn but got a reprieve when David blocked the file and then followed up by nearly gifting a bishop, only realising at the last possible moment that he was about to leave it en prise. In my game we played the same first 10 moves from our previous encounter before I unleashed a sharp line I had found on Chessbase just an hour before the match. On our 3rd wintry visit to the Polish club in 22 days I was also pleased with my clothing preparations: body warmer, sweatshirt and fleece combo did the trick. After several hairy moments the game petered out to a drawn rook and pawn ending. Meanwhile Derek had taken a draw, Harvey had succumbed to David's relentless grinding down and boards 3 and 4 also went south after looking promising.
Our 3rd match loss in a row sees us out of the cup and league contention, but we should achieve a respectable 3rd place in the league if we can emulate our B team and return to winning ways against Clevedon.

Somerset League, Div. 1

This evening sees Yeovil play host to Taunton in Div 1 of the Somerset League. Taunton are neck-and-neck with Frome at the top, whilst Yeovil are struggling near the bottom of the league.

I should point out here that there is no promotion/ relegation in the Somerset leagues, as there simply aren't enough teams. Currently there are only 5 teams in Div 1, and of the 6 in Div 2, 4 are essentially the same teams as in Div 1, bar one of the top players. It's a shame that clubs such as Burnham and Street are no longer active, and I'm surprised there's never been a club in Minehead, but I'm wandering from the original point of my post here.

Currently Frome have 10 points from 6 games, whilst Taunton have 8 from 5, so a win tonight will draw Taunton level at the top. Yeovil have 3 points from 5 games, and although they are out of the title race, a win tonight would see them move above Sedgemoor into the top half of the league.

On the basis of who plays for each club, Taunton should be favourites. Whilst not quite as strong as say Clifton 'A', they can still boast a team that at full strength would have Mike Redman (186 grade) on top board, and Dave Littlejohns (167),on board 5. However, it's never easy getting every player available to play on any given evening, and Taunton's achilles heel has always been a lack of strength in depth.

Yeovil on the other hand have a long list of very solid players, but don't quite have the same strength at the top as Taunton. Patryk Krzyzanowski (186), and Andrew Footner (180), are both very strong players, but after that the next few boards will usually be around the 140-160 grade range.

Earlier in the season Taunton managed to win 3.5-2.5 against Yeovil, but that match was effected to a huge extent by 2 defaults on Yeovil's part. I've a feeling tonights match will be very close, and if I had to make a prediction, I'd bet on Yeovil to win 4-2.

I'll let you know the result later in the week.

Bristol League Chess (Prt 2.)

Just a quick follow up on yesterday's item. Here's the result of the Clifton 'A'- Horfield 'A' match. Thanks to David Collier for sending me the results, and it's his comment added on to the bottom as well.

Clifton 'A' - Horfield 'A'

1 A Pickering ½ - ½ D Pugh
2 D Grossett 0 - 1 S Dilleigh
3 G Morris 1 - 0 CJA Jones
4 D Bennett 1 - 0 M Levene
5 J Curtis ½ - ½ P Nendick
6 DO Collier 1 - 0 H Atkinson
4 - 2

Closer than it looks, with Clifton winning the last two games to finish.

I've discovered that the Bath 'A'- Clifton 'A' match has been re-arranged for April 28th.

As things stand, Clifton 'A' are Played 11, Points 21 whilst Bath 'A' are Played 12, Points 20. So (assuming I've got this worked out correctly), Bath 'A' need a big result from one of the teams still to play Clifton 'A' in order for their match to be relevant, whilst Clifton 'A' can afford to lose to Bath 'A', as long as they win the remaining matches.

Bristol League Chess

Thought I'd use today's entry to shine a light on the Bristol League. In Div.1 Bath 'A' and Clifton 'A' are neck-and- neck in the race for the title. It's difficult to tell precisely who's in the lead, as not all of the results are included on the website at the moment (I'm thinking specifically the Bath 'A'- Clifton 'A' match from 13/1), but the league tables currently show Bath 'A' hold a 1 point lead, but having played 2 matches more.

Tonight sees Clifton 'A' play host to third placed Horfield 'A', and could well be a critical match in deciding the outcome of the league. Horfield boast Steve Dilleigh (192 grade), and Derek Pugh (184 grade) as their top 2 players, and I'd be surprised if their bottom board is lower graded then 160. Nevertheless, it'll take a bit of an upset to overcome Clifton 'A', who probably have the strongest 6- board team in the south west. James Cobb (210), Andy Pickering (187), David Collier (187), Gareth Morris (181), Duncan Grossett (180), John Curtis (180). That's scarily strong.

Also, for anyone who reads this and plays in the Bristol League: 12th-14th March is the Bristol League Congress, held at Filton Sports & Leisure Centre. It's only open to people who play in the Bristol League, which I've always found curiously restrictive. Nevertheless...

Here

is the link with the entry form.

East Devon Congress

This weekened just gone was the East Devon Congress, held in Exeter. I had to cancel any plans to go and play/ watch owing to work and a cold (yes, I'm a wimp!), so I'm writing this based on the report on the excellent ChessDevon website. From what I can tell there was a pretty reasonable turnout (36 entrants in the open), and the winners of the open were Graham Bolt, Paul Helbig, Dominic Gibbs, and David Sully, all of whom scored 4/5.

I know it's very much the case that I'm in a glass house throwing bricks here, but it's a little disappointing that there weren't more entries from Somerset players. As far as I can tell only Gerry Jepps was representing Somerset in the open, and there were far more people that travelled down from Bristol for the weekend to play. Maybe it's the case that it wasn't well advertised amongst clubs in Somerset, maybe a lot of the top players were busy/ had work commitments, or maybe it's the case that there were more entrants from Somerset entered lower sections. Anyways, grumble over, the guys who organise this deserve a lot of thanks.

The next tournament is the long Easter- weekend tournament held in Exmouth (Friday 2nd April- Mon 5th). I'll say from personal experience it's quite a tough schedule with 7 rounds over 4 days, but it nearly always has beautiful weather, and is walking distance from the beach, bars, and restaurants, so if you fancy a short holiday combined with some chess, I'd highly recommend it.

Entry form