SCCA - Somerset Chess News

Somerset Chess News (2013-14 Season)
18/07/2014	Good Performance by Millfield Student Congratulations to Stephen Whatley who defeated grandmaster Francisco Vallejo Pons the Spanish number one and world number 51 rated player in a simultaneous display held at the public launch of Chess24.com, a new online chess platform based in Gibraltar. Stephen has just completed his first year as a chess scholar at Millfield school in Somerset. - Lawrence Cooper, ECF Junior Director (posted on ECF web-site)
14/07/2014	119^th AGM (02/06/2014) Minutes of AGM Treasurer Report Match Captain Report Tournament Secretary Report Results Officer Report ECF Delegate Report
18/06/2014	Illegal Moves Here is an interesting article by Tyson Mordue about illegal moves. The article has been updated to reflect the July 2014 Laws.
18/06/2014	New Laws of Chess The 2014 revision of the Laws come into effect on 1^st July. Among other changes, there is a tightening up of rules relating to mobile phones and other electronic communication devices, modifications to the way irregularities (illegal moves etc.) are dealt with and a relaxation of the prescribed procedure for promoting a pawn. Here are the new Laws with changes marked in red and some comments from the Chess Arbiters Association on how the Laws should be interpreted for English events.
19/05/2014	Minor Counties Championship Somerset narrowly lost to Suffolk 8.5 - 7.5 in the Minor Counties Quarter-Final yesterday. With one game still in play at the end of the 5-hour session Somerset just needed a draw to beat Suffolk on tie-break. But the Suffolk player held his nerve to win. Individual results and ten of the games.
19/05/2014	Somerset Cup Taunton defeated Sedgemoor 5.5 - 3.5 on 13^th May to win the Somerset Cup.
28/04/2014	Somerset League Sedgemoor are confirmed as winners of Division 2 West.
13/04/2014	Somerset League Taunton have won Division 1 with one match still to play. Trowbridge have won Division 2E. Division 2 West is still undecided - Sedgemoor are leading but Taunton could still catch up.The Division 3 East and West titles go to Bath and Weston-super-Mare respectively. The final of the Somerset Cup will be played on May 13^th between Taunton and Sedgemoor.
13/04/2014	ECF Finance Meeting 12/04/2014 Read Ben Edgell's report (or download) on yesterday's ECF Finance Council meeting. Fees for 2014/5 will be unchanged.
13/03/2014	Somerset League Here is a match report on the recent Division 2W clash between Glastonbury and Weston-super-Mare.
11/03/2014	ECF Minor Counties Championship Somerset's opponents in the Minor Counties Quarter-finals will be Suffolk. The match is due to be played the weekend of 17^th/18^th May.
09/03/2014	Somerset v Hampshire 08/03/2014 Somerset won both their matches against Hampshire yesterday. Full results are here.
07/03/2014	Somerset League Glastonbury are leading Division 1 with Taunton (who have played one match less) in second place Here is a report with match card on Glastonbury's recent match against Frome.
28/02/2014	Somerset League Glastonbury suffer shock defeat to Wellington in Division 2 West.
09/02/2014	Somerset v Gloucestershire 08/02/2014 The Somerset team had an average rating advantage of about 16 points against Gloucestershire so their win was not unexpected. However, Somerset won the match without losing a single game. The full results are here. Boards 7 and 8 had two fine wins in contrasting styles from David Littlejohns and Barry Morris.
26/01/2014	Somerset v Dorset (U160) 25/01/2014 The Somerset U160 team beat Dorset U160 by 12.5 points to 3.5. Individual game results are here.
18/01/2014	Somerset League Here is a full report on the recent Division 1 clash between Glastonbury and Taunton.
15/01/2014	Somerset League At the mid-point of the season League leaders are: Division 1 Glastonbury; Division 2E Trowbridge; Division 2W Sedgemoor; Division 3E Bath; Division 3W Glastonbury and Sedgemoor. In Division 1 Glastonbury have inflicted a rare defeat on current champions Taunton, whilst last night's scheduled Frome v Yeovil match was reduced to a single board when a car containing 5 Yeovil players suffered a flat tyre. (The other 5 games will be played at a later date.) Division 3W is too close to call with all five teams separated by only a single point.
11/01/2014	Division 3 West Yeovil have withdrawn from Division 3 West of the Somerset League. Games already played will be retained for grading but previous match results are now void.
02/12/2013	Somerset v Cornwall County Match 30/11/2013 Somerset and Cornwall drew a tense match. See the full Results Table and Roger Knight's very comprehensive report.
02/01/2014	Half-year Grading Game results from the the Somerset League up to December 2013 have been submitted for grading. The new ECF grading list is expected to be published towards the end of January.
03/12/2013	Vivian Horn It is with great sadness that Norton-Radstock club report the death of their very dear friend and Chairman who passed away on Friday 29/11/2013. He amazed many by coming to the club this season and playing in 3 matches. Vivian Horn was one of the club's longest serving players, a founder member of the club in 1972, and will be greatly missed for his genial good humour and kindness.
02/12/2013	Somerset v Cornwall County Match 30/11/2013 Somerset and Cornwall drew a tense match. See the full Results Table and Roger Knight's very comprehensive report.
04/11/2013	ECF Manager of Disabled Chess Congratulations to Somerset's Jack Rudd on his appointment as ECF Manager for Disabled Chess. We wish him every success in this new role.
19/10/2013	25^th Frome Congress May 2014 Details of the 2014 (25^th) Frome Congress are now available. There is an increased prize fund and additional grading prizes to celebrate the Congress's quarter-century.
14/10/2013	ECF AGM 12/10/2013 The annual ECF AGM was held in London on 12/10/2013. The following candidates were elected: President: Andrew Paulson Chief Executive: Phil Ehr Director of Finance: David Eustace. Director of Home Chess: Alex Holowczak Director of International Chess: David Openshaw Director of Junior Chess & Education: Lawrence Cooper Director of Membership: David Thomas Non-Executive Directors: Julian Clissold and Sean Hewitt FIDE delegate: Nigel Short Finance Committee: Mike Truran (Chairman), Ray Clark and Ian Reynolds Governance Committee: Chris Majer (Chairman), Mike Gunn, Richard Haddrell and Andrew Leadbetter. Ben Edgell attended the meeting for Somerset. Read Ben Edgell's report. The event registration scheme (which may affect club internal tournaments) has been delayed to Xmas.
13/10/2013	Devon v Somerset County Match 12/10/2013 Somerset 1 beat Devon 1 10.5-5.5. The U160 team lost 4-8. This was a very creditable result for the first team who were out-graded on every board. Full results are here. See Bob Jones' report with pictures.
24/09/2013	WECU Jamboree 22/09/2013 WECU Jamboree: Devon won the Open section with 9 points ahead of Somerset (5.5) and Gloucestershire (3). Wiltshire won the graded section with 7 points, narrowly ahead of Dorset (6.5), Somerset West (6), Torbay League (5.5) and Somerset 'M n S' (5). Here are the full results.
17/09/2013	Division 1 At the beginning of the season it looked as though Division 1 would only have 3 teams (Frome, Taunton and Yeovil). Opinion was therefore canvassed about the feasibility of reducing the number of boards from 6 to 4 and thereby encouraging a greater number of teams to enter. Glastonbury decided that they were willing to enter either a 4-board or 6-board Division. Trowbridge expressed willingness to enter a 4-board Division, but no other teams came forward. The addition of only one team was not considered sufficient to justify a reduction in board numbers. It has therefore been confirmed that Division 1 will remain a 6-board competition with 4 teams this year: Frome, Glastonbury, Taunton and Yeovil. A revised fixture list will be published shortly.
23/08/2013	Yeovil Chess club have moved to a new venue (The Fleur-de-Lys, Mudford Road, Yeovil BA21 4NP) with immediate effect.
28/07/2013	County Match Fixtures The 2013-14 calendar is here
10/06/2013	Bath Chess club have moved to a new venue (The Conservative Club, Hawthorn House, London Road BA1 6AB) with immediate effect.
10/06/2013	2013 SCCA AGM Minutes of the SCCA AGM held on 03/06/2013 and League Rules for 2013-2014 season.

SOMERSET COUNTY CHESS ASSOCIATION