Somerset Chess News (2017-18 Season)

07/06/2018 - Your Results Officer and Webmaster would like to step down from both roles at the 2019 AGM. He is of course willing to provide any necessary help, training and on-going support for anyone interested in taking on either role. Contact Gerry for more details.

07/06/2018 - The post of Somerset match captain is currently vacant. This post is extremely important and needs to be filled urgently if Somerset are to field a County team next season. The first County match is the Jamboree on 15^th September. Your webmaster can help anyone interested in taking on this post by supplying player contact details.

07/06/2018 - At the 2018 SCCA AGM held on the 4^th June the following decisions were made: a) Quick-play finishes are no longer mandatory and clubs may agree an alternative time control, e.g. one with 10 second increments as used in the Bristol League. b) The default time control was changed from 15 minute quick-play finish to a 90 minute per game 'guillotine' finish. c) The default time, i.e. the elapsed time before a game may be declared lost by default in the event of a player not turning up, was set to 30 minutes. d) In Divisions 2 and 3 the restriction that a player may not play for more than 2 teams in the same Division was changed to 'no player may play for more than two clubs'. (The purpose of the latter is to help clubs field teams where otherwise they may have difficulties through shortage of players.) Not all of these changes are uncontroversial.

24/05/2018 - Agenda and Proposals for the SCCA AGM are now available. Agenda, Proposal 1, Proposal 2, Proposal 3

24/05/2018 - The games from the Frome Open are now available to view.

20/05/2018 - The 29^th Frome Congress was held on the weekend of May 18^th to 20^th. For a report on this very successful event see the Congress Home Page.

28/04/2018 - In the final County match of the season, Somerset defeated a strong Gloucestershire side 8.5 - 7.5 today. Full results here.

28/04/2018 - Congratulations to Somerset League players Kevin Paine, Chris Lamming, Chris Purry, Matthew Turner and Oliver Howell on gaining the Level 1 ECF Arbiter qualification at the ECF Course held at Millfield School in March.

08/04/2018 - Somerset League. Congratulations to Millfield on winning Division 1. (Although Yeovil are still theoretically able to catch them on points, Millfield would win on tie-break.)

26/03/2018 - Somerset League. Congratulations to Trowbridge on winning Division 2 East.

10/03/2018 - Somerset League. Congratulations to Yeovil on winning the Somerset Cup and to Bath for winning Division 3 East.

04/03/2018 - Bristol Spring Congress. Sadly the Congress this weekend had to be cancelled because of the adverse weather conditions and the consequent closure of the School grounds.

28/02/2018 - WECU County Championship. Because of the adverse weather conditions the match against Gloucestershire on 3^rd March has been postponed until 28^th April.

28/02/2018 - The final of the Somerset Cup will be between Yeovil and Glastonbury on 7^th March. Glastonbury defeated cup holders Trowbridge on tie-break in the previous round, but Trowbridge deserve special commendation for the sporting way they gave up home advantage to play at Glastonbury, thereby enabling their opponents to field a team.

21/01/2018 - WECU County Championship.Somerset won a tense match 9 - 7 against Cornwall yesterday, with the match result not being decided until the fifteenth game to finish. Full details and games.

15/01/2018 - ECF Arbiters Course. There will be an ECF Arbiters course held at Millfield School during the weekend of March 10-11. Full details are here. This is an excellent opportunity for any Somerset player interested in gaining an Arbiter's qualification.

27/11/2017 - In the Somerset v Devon County match on Saturday Somerset's first team came agonisingly close to pulling off a surprise win against a strong Devon team. Somerset's top boards scored 4-0 against evenly matched opponents whilst the middle order held Devon to a string of draws despite being outgraded by 20 points or more. However, this grade difference took its toll on the lower boards. The match finished 7.5-8.5. The Division 2 match was won convincingly by Devon 8.5-3.5. Full results and Division 1 games.

16/11/2017 -The 2018 Frome Congress will be held on the weekend of 18-20 May 2018. Details are on the Congress home page. For the first time all sections will be using digital clocks with an incremental time control (90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move from start of game).

16/11/2017 - Aspiring chess arbiters please note. There will be a 2-day chess arbiters training course at Millfield School on the weekend of 10/11 March 2018. The event will be advertised on the ECF web-site in due course. It is quite rare for a training course to be held in this area so if you fancy being an arbiter this is an opportunity not to be missed.

16/11/2017 - Somerset have taken advantage of a recent offer to Federations from DGT (the digital chess clock manufacturer) to purchase 16 DGT 2010 clocks for use at SCCA events at a significantly discounted price. The purchase has been part-funded by the Frome Congress. The order has been placed via the ECF.

30/10/2017 - Peter Horne. It is with shock and great sadness that the death of Peter Horne (whilst on holiday in France) is reported. Steven Cook has stepped in for the time being as Secretary and Captain of Norton Radstock's teams for the Somerset Cup and Division 2 East. Steven's contact details are on the Club Contacts page.

18/09/2017 - WECU Jamboree. Somerset put in a very creditable performance at the WECU Jamboree near Exeter yesterday. The Open section of the Jamboree was won by Devon A on 9.5 points. Somerset came second with 7 points ahead of Cornwall A (5), Devon B (4.5) and Gloucestershire (4). Cornwall B won the graded section on tie-break from Torbay League.

11/09/2017 - Laws of Chess. The FIDE Laws of Chess have been revised and a number of changes should be noted. One change in particular is that pressing the clock without making a move is now counted as an illegal move. (Two illegal moves loses the game.) FIDE have published a Table of Changes but a more useful document is the Chess Arbiters Association version of the Laws with added commentary. The Laws now assume that digital clocks with incremental time controls are used. The section on analogue clocks and Quick-play finishes is no longer even in an Appendix but has been relegated to a section called 'Guidelines' along with Laws for adjourned games and the chess variant Chess 960. The section may be removed completely in 2021. 

11/09/2017 - Somerset League Rules. The rules on the web-site have been brought up-to-date to reflect motions passed at AGMs since 2013.

09/09/2017 - Sad news. Tony Bamford, a Vice-President of the SCCA and a long-time, respected member of Glastonbury chess club has passed away. Tony's funeral will take place at Mendip Crematorium on Monday September 25^th at 2:00pm.

03/09/2017 - See the ECF LMS link above for 2017-18 Somerset League fixtures. (Somerset are now adopting the new ECF League Management System for recording and display of League fixtures and results.)

27/08/2017 - Correspondence chess. Jim Fewkes reports a terrific result by the Somerset team in Division 3 (Butler Thomas trophy).  Somerset was first with 15/16 and West Wales B was second with 14/16. The key to our success was the due diligence of our players and, of course, it helped greatly that Ivan Stringer scored 2-0 against his West Wales opponent. Presumably we shall be promoted to Division 2 for the 2017/18 competition.

27/08/2017 - The dates of County match fixtures are confirmed.

25/08/2017 - Great News! Somerset's new match captain for WECU County matches is Roger Morgan. Please contact Roger if you are interested in playing County chess. Roger cannot, however, manage the Jamboree on 17^th September so a volunteer is still urgently required for that. Please contact Somerset Chess or Ben Edgell if you are interested in helping to raise a team.

17/08/2017 - SCCA AGM minutes. There have been some minor revisions to the first issue of these minutes.

09/08/2017 - Somerset are still without a match captain for the coming season. Without a match captain there will be no County team. Anyone interested in filling this vital role should contact Ben Edgell.

09/08/2017 - Junior chess. Great performances by Somerset juniors at the British Championships. Check out the facebook page for details.

27/07/2017 - New ECF grades. The July ECF grades are now published.

25/07/2017 - New chess web-sites. Jon Fisher has announced the relaunching of the Bristol Chess Times. We wish it success. And here is another new site (The QuietMove) that is also worth a look.