Month: September 2018

September 27, 2018

Thursday 4th October – Modern Defence
The theme is the Modern Defence. Play starts after 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 with white to move.
There are many directions the game could take after this, Modern, King’s Indian, Sniper, 150 Attack, so I’ll limit myself to a couple of specific Modern videos. First one from the Ginger GM giving one of his wins with black playing for Cheddleton in the 4NCL. Second, Gary Quillan’s very exciting win with white against a Russian GM in the 2018 Gibraltar tournament which won him a brilliancy prize.

With the season due to start in a couple of week’s time this will probably be the last one until next summer.

Last week’s Caro Kann tournament was won by Dave Mooney with 9/9, Paul Bielby was in second with 7/9 and Yaroslav Kolodiy and Brian Towers finished in joint third on 6/9. Full details here.

Thursday 27th September – Caro Kann
The theme is the Caro Kann. Play starts after the moves 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 with white to move.
Last week’s London System tournament was won by John Boyd and Dave Mooney, both on 8/9 with Yaroslav Kolodiy 3rd on 6.5. Full details here.

September 19, 2018

The new season is about to start , league meetings are being held this week for both the Northumberland and Durham leagues to finalise the fixture lists .

South Shields are entering 5 teams in the Northumberland and 1 team in the Durham. This is a great achievement and is testament to the increasing interest within our area .

Please ensure that you get your ECF registration sorted as soon as you can . If you need assistance please as the committee .

September 15, 2018

This will be held at Houghton Miners Welfare Hall, Brinkburn Crescent, Houghton-le-Spring.
There are four tournaments, a FIDE rated open, and 3 ECF graded restricted tournaments. The Major is U165, the Minor U135 and the Foundation U100.

Time controls for the Open, Major and Minor are all moves in 1 hour 50 minutes with a 10 second increment from move 1 and the Foundation is all moves in 50 minutes with a 10 second increment from move 1. So, while there are 5 rounds in the Open, Major and Minor, there are 10 rounds in the Foundation. Moves must be written until the first time your time goes below 5 minutes. If you make a few quick moves and your time goes above 5 minutes again you don’t have to start writing the moves again.

There is a £3 early bird discount for entries before 26th October.

Full details and entry form here.

September 14, 2018

At the Parks Leisure Centre in North Shields. There are four tournaments, a FIDE rated open, and 3 ECF graded restricted tournaments. The Major is U166, the Minor U136 and the Foundation U106. I believe there are 5 rounds in the Open, Major and Minor and 10 rounds in the Foundation but this isn’t clear from the website.

Time controls are also sadly lacking from the website. Last year they were game in 1 hour 50 minutes plus 10 second increment for the Open, Major and Minor and game in 1 hour with no increments for the Foundation. Perhaps they’ll be the same this year. If so and there is no increment in the Foundation will quickplay rules apply? If you are playing in the Foundation probably best to ask the arbiter to clarify before the first round as quickplay rules can only apply if announced beforehand.

The important part of the quickplay rules to be aware of is in Guidelines III.4 of the FIDE Laws of Chess. It says:

If the player having the move has less than two minutes left on his clock, he may request that an increment extra five seconds be introduced for both players. This constitutes the offer of a draw. If the offer refused, and the arbiter agrees to the request, the clocks shall then be set with the extra time; the opponent shall be awarded two extra minutes and the game shall continue.

What this means is that once your time goes under 2 minutes if you are worried about losing on time you can ask for this and the 5 second increment can give you the chance to draw the game rather than lose on time. When you make the claim your opponent can take a draw if you have a won game at that stage.

September 13, 2018

To be held at the New Ship tonight   13/09/2018  Starts at 730 pm  .

if members cannot attend please send apologies by email . then we know that this message has been read , also please indicate if you wish to play for one of the club teams . You will need to register with the ECF as a Bronze Member  at least , though if your intend to play in any of the congresses then a Silver or Gold would be more  cost effective .

September 8, 2018

Thursday 20th September – London System

The theme is the London System. Play starts after the moves 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 with black to move. As usual a link to an introductory video from the Ginger GM. And an alternative view from the St Louis Chess Club.

Thursday 13th September – AGM

The AGM will be on the 13th September at the New Ship Inn, South Shields.

Thursday 6th September – Bishop’s Gambit

The previous themed blitz, Bishop’s Gambit, was won by Dave Mooney with 8.5/9 with John Boyd second on 7.5/9 and Ian Maughan third on 6/9. Full details here.

September 8, 2018

Qualifying tournaments were held around the country today for the UK Open Blitz Championships with one of the qualifying heats held at RGS in Newcastle. Time control was game in 3 minutes with a 2 second increment and there were 15 rounds with the top 2 players qualifying for the finals. This was FIDE rated.

GM Danny Gormally of Alnwick and IM James Adair, who is at York University, finished in 1st and 2nd with 15/15 and 13.5/15 respectively.

Well done to South Shields players Dave Mooney who finished in 6th place with 8.5 points and Paul Bielby who finished in 17th with 6.5.

Full details here.