Month: May 2019

May 27, 2019

Last summer’s themed blitz tournaments are starting up again. As before, no entry fee, no prizes, no grading / rating (a themed event breaks Article 2.3 of the FIDE Laws of Chess starting The initial position of the pieces on the chessboard is as follows: ) .

Time control: all moves in 5 minutes with a 2 second increment. Play will start between 19:15 and 19:30 and we will try and fit in 9 rounds by 22:00.

The first one will be on Thursday 30th May. The theme will be The Wayward Queen as played by Nakamura and Carlsen. Play will start with black to move after the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5. OK, so it is sometimes also called the Patzer’s Opening.

For those who want to do some preparation here are a couple of links to Youtube videos courtesy of Dave Mooney. First, a game by Carlsen from the last World Rapid and Blitz Championships .

Second, a full 2 hour long in depth video from  IM Miodrag ‘The Butcher’ Perunovic who has made the opening his speciality.

On the 6th June the Summer Handicap team has a home match so there will be no blitz that evening. Normal service will resume on the 13th June. We are planning on varying once a month with a proper (no theme) FIDE rated blitz and on the 13th we will either do that or the King’s Indian Attack

May 15, 2019

Tim Wall is proposing to start a new North East of England FIDE rated individual championship.

Three sections are planned, open, major (under FIDE 1975 or under ECF 170 if not FIDE rated) and minor (under FIDE 1750 or under ECF 140 if not FIDE rated). Each section would be played as a 6 round Swiss with 2 rounds played on each of 3 Sundays during the season at 3 separate venues in Northumberland, Durham and Cleveland. All players who are resident in, or play for clubs in Northumberland, Durham or Cleveland would be eligible.

The playing schedule would be 10:30 to 14:30 for the Sunday morning games and 15:30 to 19:30 for Sunday afternoon games. The time control would be all moves in 90 minutes plus a 30 second increment from move 1. All games would be FIDE rated.

Players are required to have either ECF Gold membership, in the case of ENG players, or ECF Silver membership in the case of players from other federations.

May 15, 2019

Tim Wall is also proposing to start a new FIDE rated North East chess league.

6 teams of 5 players each would play an all-play-all league on 5 separate Sundays during the season at 5 separate venues. The 6 teams would be made up of 2 teams from Northumberland, 2 teams from Durham and 2 teams from Cleveland. Teams would probably be club based although obviously players from 2 or more clubs could join together to form one team. Teams would either be required to field one U18 player and one female player or a bonus point could be awarded per match to teams which do field both a junior and a female player.

Playing time would be all moves in 90 minutes with a 30 second increment from move 1. Games would aim to start at 14:30 and finish about 18:30. Games would be FIDE rated and players would either be required to have ECF Gold membership, in the case of ENG players, or ECF Silver membership for players with FIDE affiliation to other federations.