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WHAT’S NEW on the site?
(Archive 1999-2000)

Only the major additions are noted here. Minor roadworks go on all the time.


31 Aug 2000
  • We weren't sure about this two days ago, but the Director has confirmed that the revised Grading List will be sent free of charge to people who bought the original version.
29 Aug 2000
26 Aug 2000
  • BCF Grading: another report on progress
  • In readiness for the new season, 1999-2000 has been transferred to the Website's Archive where it has a section to itself. Some later material remains duplicated on the main site for reference.
21 Aug 2000
  • Thanet Congress 18-20 August 2000
  • Our article on the BCF Grading List (see 19th August) has evolved somewhat in the last two days. There are some questions about the accuracy of the List.
19 Aug 2000
  • We have received a BCF Grading List. That's not a download, it's a link to a Review. You can order the List from the BCF Office.
15 Aug 2000
  • John Saunders replies to Ken Norman and Mike Gunn (see 13.8.00).
  • Is this a record? Essex league championship decided in mid August! Writtle snatch title after adjudication appeal v Ilford. See update to item 8.8.00 in the Club & County page.
14 Aug 2000
13 Aug 2000
  • From sexism to ageism. Ken Norman writes in Open Forum.
  • And Mike Gunn responds, about gradeism
  • Herts Centenary Match v SCCU, over 50 boards at Hertford 30th September 2000. Double-round rapidplay, with food laid on. Please volunteer if you'd like to play. Go to the link for contact details.
12 Aug 2000
11 Aug 2000
  • It's out. The Grading List went on sale at the British this morning. There's another update in the Grading page.
  • Also an update on the Essex results of 8th August. It's only an adjudication technicality, but technicalities matter.
09 Aug 2000
  • We've added the Middx League winners 1999-2000, for completeness. A fuller version has been on the Middx CCA site for some time.
08 Aug 2000
  • Essex: more internal results 1999-2000
  • The Links page has acquired half a dozen new entries in the last couple of months. Why not check it out?
03 Aug 2000
  • We hear there are rumours that the Grading List "won't be out till the end of September". They're false. The list is with the printer. For a brief new update, see the Grading page.
02 Aug 2000
  • National Club results are finally complete. One more SCCU winner (Handicap Plate).
30 Jul 2000
  • Grading. Or maybe no delays. An update to yesterday's item.
  • Roger de Coverly writes about a controversial aspect of FIDE plans to extend the international list down to 1001 (= 50!).
29 Jul 2000
26 Jul 2000
  • We hear with sadness that Harold Sims, long-time servant of Ilford and Essex, died yesterday morning. An appreciation of his work will appear in these pages shortly.
  • BCF Counties Team Rapidplay Championship, Sunday 1st October 2000 at Bedford. Teams of 12, with Handicap competition built in. Is your county in yet? Maybe not, because the entry form is only just out. You can download it (zipped rtf, 1½K) by clicking here.
25 Jul 2000
  • National Club Finals 9.7.00. Results are now complete, barring the Handicap Plate. We give them in full where SCCU teams were involved.
23 Jul 2000
15 Jul 2000
10 Jul 2000
  • National Club Finals 9.7.00: Open and Major. All the results from Wanstead, Plate included, in full detail. Acknowledgments John Philpott. Philip Clemow controlled, Roy Heppinstall and Roger Sharman were the arbiters, Chris Majer presented the prizes, and Jane Smith and Eileen Philpott provided the refreshments.
  • Chris Majer, Union President, has a mobile phone now. The number is in Who's Who?.
08 Jul 2000
06 Jul 2000
  • We reproduce, with permission, Roger Edwards's report on Grading and Game Fee to the BCF Management Board 17.6.00. That was three weeks ago, but it's still of general interest.
03 Jul 2000
  • National Club U125 semi-finals are in. Only one SCCU Finalist. We're now up to date with the NC: that's the last of the semi-finals.
02 Jul 2000
29 Jun 2000
26 Jun 2000
25 Jun 2000
  • BCF Counties Finals 24.6.00 at Beeston: SCCU takes three titles, no other Union gets more than one. We give all the results in full, even the two with no SCCU involvement. It was the Finals, after all. Results from John Philpott, Ian MacLachlan, Peter Walker, Chris Majer, Cyril Johnson.
    Open Essex 6½ 9½ Yorkshire
    Minor Counties Herts 9 7 Norfolk
    U175 Warwickshire 10½ 5½ Yorkshire
    U150 Essex 9½ 6½ Devon
    U125 Cambridgeshire 9 7 Hampshire
    U100 Surrey* 6 6 Merseyside (board count)
24 Jun 2000
  • National Club prize fund is to be increased in the coming season. This ought to have gone in the Management Board report a couple of days ago, but was held up while we sought clarification. It's there now.
22 Jun 2000
20 Jun 2000
  • National Club U150 Plate: SCCU fails to make it two in the Final.
19 Jun 2000
  • BCF site now has an expanded Directory section with more contact details. Wouldn't do any harm to check it. They're inviting corrections, if your organisation's details are wrong. (Some Leagues are complete. County Officers, mostly at any rate, are still in the pipeline. Club secretaries are withheld. BCF Directors and Officers are now listed, and up to date!)
17 Jun 2000
16 Jun 2000
  • National Club Open and Major. The semi-finals are now complete. If you fancy a bit of spectator sport, go to Wanstead House on the 9th July. The Open and Major Finals, Plate and "Proper", will all be there. They decided not to go to Syston. For info, and semi-final results, thank you to John Philpott.
14 Jun 2000
13 Jun 2000
  • County matches: BCF Finals 24th June 2000. The venue and time have been changed. It's at Beeston, a suburb of Nottingham. OK, so you knew, but we didn't. An important letter to match captains from Cyril Johnson, the Controller, is available for download (zipped rtf and tiny). It's dated 12.6.00. Please look at this, if you're involved and haven't seen it.
  • Some ECGCF results and fixtures. The oddly named Petit Coup (Minor Counties) competition was won on the 11th June by Kent. See the SGCL/ECGCF site.
12 Jun 2000
  • Minor Counties Semi-final 11.6.00 Norfolk* 8 8 Oxon. So it's just the four SCCU teams at Finals Day.
  • A couple of friendly results, and some ramblings about the Varsity Match, appear in the Club and County page.
10 Jun 2000
09 Jun 2000
  • U175 Semi-final 3.6.00 Warwickshire 8½ 7½ Sussex
  • David Smith, County Match Controller, presents the SCCU Open Fixture List for next season.
08 Jun 2000
  • Essex league results 1999-2000
  • SCCU AGM 1st July 2000. The papers of the meeting are available for download: click here. Zipped rtf, 13K.
07 Jun 2000
  • Open Semi-final 3.6.00 Yorkshire 10 6 Bucks
  • Minor Counties Semi-final 3.6.00 Lincolnshire 7½ 8½ Herts
  • U175 3.6.00 (bare match score) Warwickshire 8½ 7½ Sussex
06 Jun 2000
  • U100 Semi-final 3.6.00 Staffs South 5½ 6½ Surrey
05 Jun 2000
  • 30th Richmond Rapidplay 4.6.00
  • Coulsdon & Purley reach the Final of the National Club U150 Plate. We also have details of one of those Open results we couldn't vouch for yesterday.
04 Jun 2000
  • Open Semi-final 3.6.00 Leicestershire 5 11 Essex
  • U175 Semi-final 3.6.00 Essex 6 10 Yorks
  • U150 Semi-final 3.6.00 Warwicks 7½ 8½ Essex
  • Open Semi-final 3.6.00 Yorkshire 10 6 Bucks (details expected imminently)
  • Minor Counties Norfolk v Oxon is postponed to the 11th June. No news of the other SCCU teams yet.
  • National Club Open Plate: some results we can't vouch for
  • Links page has been lately revised. The number of SCCU sites has at least doubled since we started up eighteen months ago.
01 Jun 2000
  • Have a go at the British Chess Solving Championship: starter problem just out. We've put it at the top of the Games page.
30 May 2000
  • Ilford Congress 27-29 May 2000: John Philpott reports.
  • People in Surrey and elsewhere will be saddened by the death of Jon Benjamin at the age of 41. An obituary appears on the BCM site.
28 May 2000
  • We're still here. KJCA Family Tournament at Sevenoaks 28.5.00
  • You'll have noted the BCF's new address, with official effect from tomorrow. No? It's The Watch Oak, Chain Lane, Battle, East Sussex TN33 0YA. New telephone number 01424 775222 (not as given in the May ChessMoves). New fax number 01424 775904. Email and website unchanged.
21 May 2000
20 May 2000
  • U150 QF 13.5.00: Devon 9 7 Herts
  • Counties Championship results are now complete, up to and including the quarter-finals. Acknowledgments to Cyril Johnson for the ones we didn't have already. That includes (bare score only) U125 Surrey 7½ 8½ Suffolk.
18 May 2000
  • U175 QF 13.5.00 Devon 7½ 8½ Sussex
  • Surrey (who have also had an AGM) have a new SCCU rep: Mike Gunn, contact details in Who's Who?. Mike is the new SCCA President. We hear Surrey have some new match captains as well.
17 May 2000
  • Not sure how many Bucks people are going to be seeing this in the next 24 hours, but we are asked to remind them that their AGM is tomorrow! Seems there's specially important business coming up. John Sharp has published the Agenda.
15 May 2000
  • Open QF 13.5.00 Essex 8½ 7½ Greater Manchester
  • The SCCU needs a Junior Organiser for 2000-2001. If you might be interested, please contact the Secretary/Webmaster rjh@sccu.ndo.co.uk.
14 May 2000
  • Open QF 13.5.00 Dorset 5½ 10½ Bucks. Bare match score: Essex 8½ 7½ Greater Manchester. Plus one non-SCCU result (there's some in the other divisions as well).
  • Minor Counties QF 13.5.00 Worcs 4½ 11½ Oxon; Herts* 8 8 Suffolk
  • U175 QF 13.5 00 Warwicks 10½ 5½ Kent; Essex 11 5 Beds. Bare match score: Devon 7½ 8½ Sussex
  • U150 QF 13.5.00 Essex 10½ 5½ Norfolk
  • National Club U125: all the missing results, and the semi-final pairings. The U100 is now down to the Final in both "regular" and Plate.
  • SCCU Executive meeting 12.5.00: a report
11 May 2000
  • U100 QF 7.5.00: Surrey 8 4 Suffolk
09 May 2000
  • U125 QF 6.5.00: Herts 7 9 Hants
08 May 2000
  • Coulsdon Rapidplay 6.5.00
  • Maidenhead Junior Congress 18-19 April - see entry for 6th May - is now on Roger Brugge's congress page. Our link goes to it direct, and leads nowhere else. If you want to browse around, you can also get there from the Berkshire Junior site (go Contacts & Links | Roger Brugge). George was 2nd in the U9 behind a Hampshire boy, and Claire was the only girl.
  • We now have a semi-final opponent lined up (see BCF-Stage matches) for Essex U175 when they've beaten Beds.
  • And another SCCU result in theNational Club U125
06 May 2000
  • SCCU U9 Champions 1999-2000, from Maidenhead Junior Congress 18-19 April: Boys George O'Toole (Southend) 9/11; Girls Claire Wu (Stanmore) 5. Full congress results when we have them.
  • 4NCL. Final results are on the BCM site. They're taking entries for next year, and we are asked to say that enquiries from prospective new teams should go to Nigel Johnson nigel_johnson_chess@hotmail.com
04 May 2000
03 May 2000
  • UK Chess Challenge: Reading Megafinal (Berks, Oxon, Warwicks) 29.4.00. Events are backwards chronologically, so scroll down a screenful when you get there.
  • National Club U100: Magdalen College School join the SCCU Finalists.
02 May 2000
  • UK Chess Challenge: Chiltern Megafinal (Beds/Bucks/Herts) 29.4.00.
  • U100 quarter-final 29.4.00: Staffs 7 5 Kent
  • National Club: the other (SCCU) Open Finalist has emerged. It's between Wood Green and Maidstone. We also have an opponent for Wanstead in the Final of the U175 Plate.
  • Southend Congress 21-24 April.  SCCU Champion (and Tournament winner) Mark Ferguson; SCCU U18 Champion Tim Hebbes; SCCU U18 Girls Champion Ljubica Lazarevic.
  • Redbus Southend: same page as above. Full results. A more discursive report is on TWIC, but it wasn't complete last time we looked.
30 Apr 2000
25 Apr 2000
  • National Club Intermediate: quarter-final results and semi-final pairings
24 Apr 2000
  • U150 Preliminary round (?)15.4.00: Leicestershire 7½ 8½ Herts
  • Another Preliminary result, with no SCCU involvement, was added to the bare scores a day or two ago. "Foreign" results will be added as we get them, but usually will not be noticed by What's New?. The same thing tends to happen with the National Club.
  • Bryan Fewell joins in the BCF Membership correspondence. This topic has a page to itself now.
20 Apr 2000
  • Open Preliminary round 15.4.00: Sussex 6½ 9½ Warwicks
  • U150 Preliminary round: Leics 7½ 8½ Herts. Details when we have them.
  • Kasparov Chess Online (mentioned in the MB Report 17.4.00). The Report now includes some extra background detail.
19 Apr 2000
  • Bryan Fewell (Chairman, BCF Finance Committee) responds to an item in Sunday's Council Report
  • National Club: another SCCU Finalist, in the Open. There will be two.
17 Apr 2000
16 Apr 2000
13 Apr 2000
12 Apr 2000
  • The BCF Membership correspondence continues. Your Webmaster is manfully resisting the temptation to join in it himself.
11 Apr 2000
  • Howard Grist adds to the correspondence on BCF membership (see 5th/8th/9th April)
  • Times eighth-final results, and an SCCU disappointment in the semi-final of the National Club
10 Apr 2000
09 Apr 2000
  • Tim Lawson joins in the Dupré-Majer correspondence
  • BCF U18 Finals at Nuneaton 8.4.00: Surrey win Girls, Kent and Essex only 3rd= in "Boys". See Neville Belinfante's site. For next year's date (and a small Times update), see the (SCCU) Junior page.
  • St Olaves Rapidplay at Orpington 8.4.00
08 Apr 2000
07 Apr 2000
  • The CORRECTED GRADING LIST is now available from the BCF Office. See BCF Page for details.
06 Apr 2000
05 Apr 2000
02 Apr 2000
  • National Club progresses (Major, U125). Only one SCCU team in the Finals so far.
01 Apr 2000
30 Mar 2000
  • Just in: U14/90 12.2.00 Bucks 17  7 Berks (but some doubt about the totals)
29 Mar 2000
  • Herts U11/U9 Championships 16th and 23rd January. Placed chronologically in the page, so you'll have to scroll down a bit.
  • U125 18.3.00: Cambs-Essex (see 22nd and 25th March) is 11-5 again.
  • Cambs have a new SCCU rep (and Open match captain): see Who's Who.
28 Mar 2000
27 Mar 2000
  • U100 25.3.00: Essex 5 7 Surrey
  • Counties Championships: all qualifiers are now known.
  • National Club (Intermediate): one more SCCU result.
  • BCF Council meeting 15th April: we provide the Agenda [deleted 16.4.00]. Not the supporting papers, sorry. The proposed increase in Game Fee is tiny and hidden, the Accounts are hopefully uncontroversial, and there's nothing much else except an election and some rule changes (Counties Championships and National Club).
26 Mar 2000
  • The League Tables are complete. The positions have been checked with the Tournament Controller, but there could be mistakes in the detail. Let us know if you find any.
  • National Club: a message about the Finals, from the BCF Home Director and the National Club Controller
25 Mar 2000
  • U175 25.3.00: Sussex 9 7 Kent
  • U100 25.3.00: bare match score Essex 5 7 Surrey
  • U125 18.3.00: Cambs-Essex (see 22nd March) was 10½-5½.
  • Final league tables shortly
24 Mar 2000
  • Times Schools Championship Interzonal stage: round 1 results and round 2 pairings
  • Also in Junior News: more EPSCA results 11.3.00 and 18.3.00. You'll have to scroll down a bit.
  • Middx CCA has a website. See the Links page.
22 Mar 2000
  • U125 18.3.00: Cambs 11 5 Essex (but some doubt about the totals)
  • Kent Schools League 21.3.00: another title for St Olaves GS
20 Mar 2000
  • Redbus GM tournament at Southend is stronger this year.
  • If you were unhappy yesterday about the obscurity in the BCF Stage qualifiers, it's been resolved.
19 Mar 2000
  • U125 18.3.00: Kent 5½ 10½ Herts. Plus (bare match score) Cambs 11 5 Essex. Cambs take the title. For nominations, see the League Tables page.
  • BCF Stage: Cyril Johnson has provided an updated list of qualifiers, from all Unions.
  • NYCA U16 Team Championship at Reading 18.3.00. Richmond score a weekend double.
18 Mar 2000
  • EPSCA U11 South-East Zone 18.3.00 (plus Northern info)
16 Mar 2000
15 Mar 2000
  • Open 11.3.00: Berks 7 9 Oxon. Oxon did have nine whites.
  • U150 11.3.00: Herts 8½ 7½ Kent
  • National Club U100 has advanced by two matches.
14 Mar 2000
  • Open 11.3.00: Cambs 12 4 Middx (7 Middx defaults)
  • U150 11.3.00: Sussex 6 10 Surrey
13 Mar 2000
  • Open 11.3.00: Sussex 10 6 Surrey
  • BCF Management Board: meeting 11.3.00. Chris Majer reports.
  • And we hope the League Tables are now right. Open and U150 are complete. For BCF-Stage nominations, see the notes accompanying the league tables.
12 Mar 2000
  • Open 11.3.00: Bucks 9 7 Herts; Essex 7½ 8½ Kent. Essex, at last defeated, take the title.
       Plus (bare match scores) Sussex 10 6 Surrey (four Surrey defaults); Cambs 12 4 Middx; Berks 7 9 Oxon. We hear that Oxon had NINE whites, but don't know how it happened.
  • U150 11.3.00: Cambs 5 11 Essex. And that makes three, if you're counting Essex titles.
       Plus (bare match scores) Sussex 6 10 Surrey; Herts 9 7 Kent
  • U100 11.3.00: Middx 9 3 Kent
  • The League Tables page is as accurate and up to date as we've had time to make it, but it's not complete. Bear with us for 24 hours.
  • Cambridgeshire: important ruling. The National Director has ruled that, if Cambs U150 or U125 qualify through both their Unions, their actual qualification will be through the Union they finished higher in. If that's a tie, then the Union they traditionally belong to. Cambs are understood to have come first in East Anglia in both divisions.
  • SCCU Executive Committee: meeting 10th March 2000. Includes national Grading news!
11 Mar 2000
  • Open 11.3.00: Bare match score Bucks 9 7 Herts. We think that decides the title, but it was hasty arithmetic.
  • Herts have a new SCCU rep: Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell (see Who's Who?)
10 Mar 2000
  • U100: The Herts match captain has resigned and Herts will not be completing their fixtures. Their two remaining matches (v Surrey and Middx) are shown in the League Table as 0-12 defaults.
  • 28th Richmond Rapidplay 5th March 2000
08 Mar 2000
  • U125 4.3.00: Herts 8½ 7½ Surrey
  • Counties U18 Championships: SCCU gets two places (that is, one extra) in the Major final. All the finals are 8th April. See Junior Jamborees page.
07 Mar 2000
  • U125 4.3.00: bare match score Herts 8½ 7½ Surrey. Details expected shortly.
06 Mar 2000
05 Mar 2000
  • SCCU U14/90 Final Jamboree 4.3.00: 1 Essex 18½/24; 2 Sussex 11½; 3 Oxon 6. Results Peter Walker, Nigel Dennis.
  • Today's SCCU Girls U18 Jamboree is cancelled. Middx withdrew on Wednesday, leaving only Essex and Surrey. Essex, unable to field a team of any strength, then conceded rather than force Surrey to go to Southend for a one-sided match. Surrey go through to the BCF Final.
  • Counties Championships. An updated list of qualifiers, from all Unions, is at the bottom of the BCF Stage page.
04 Mar 2000
  • SCCU U18 Jamboree 4.3.00: 1 Kent 9½/12; 2 Essex 8½... Full details expected shortly. U14/90 results not known.
  • National Club Open is down to the semi-finals.
  • Late discovery: Freeserve. If your ISP is Freeserve, make sure you've bookmarked our Freeserve site rather than the ndo one. See the note in About the SCCU Website.
03 Mar 2000
01 Mar 2000
29 Feb 2000
  • This site's ndirect address has closed. You knew that, if you've just come from there. In addition to the existing ndo address, we are now also at http://www.sccu.freeserve.co.uk. It is suggested you note both addresses, because servers fall over. As a part of the general upheaval, your Webmaster has a new email address: rjh@sccu.ndo.co.uk
  • Open 26.2.00: Kent 8 8 Sussex
  • U100 26.2.00: Kent 6 6 Surrey
  • U100 Herts-Essex (see 27th February). Essex, still in the dark about the venue, are now claiming a win by default.
27 Feb 2000
  • Open 26.2.00: Herts 5 11 Essex; Oxon 6 10 Bucks; Middx 13 3 Surrey. Plus (bare match score) Kent 8 8 Sussex.
        One match to go. Essex, a point clear of Bucks, have the cushion of a healthy game-point lead that matters. Bucks will be second at worst.
  • U150 26.2.00: Essex 13 3 Surrey; Kent 10 6 Sussex
  • U100 Herts-Essex is re-scheduled for the 4th March, but we hear that Herts still seek a venue.
  • National Club (Major): one result
  • Middx have a new SCCU delegate: see Who's Who?
26 Feb 2000
  • Open 12.2.00: Surrey 5 11 Kent
23 Feb 2000
  • National Club U150 eighth-final results are in. (Finals are at Syston on the 9th July. But teams may agree on a different venue if they wish.)
  • Kevin Clark (Herts Open match captain) comments on the proposed change to the Minor Counties rules.
  • Please note, if you haven't, that this site's ndirect address closes at the end of February. See entry for 9th February.
22 Feb 2000
  • Open 19.2.00: Middx 8 8 Herts
21 Feb 2000
  • Counties Championships rules: John Philpott responds to one of Cyril Johnson's proposals for change. See 23rd January if you didn't know what the proposals were.
20 Feb 2000
  • U175 19.2.00: Surrey 5 11 Sussex; Essex 10 6 Kent. For SCCU nominations, see the note in the League Tables page.
  • U125 19.2.00: Sussex 11 5 Cambs; Essex 7 9 Kent
  • U14/90 12.2.00: Berks v Bucks was a win for Bucks, by what score we don't know yet.
19 Feb 2000
  • Open 26.2.00: Berks, citing difficulty in raising a team, are conceding their away match v Cambs.
  • U14/90 12.2.00: Sussex 11 13 Surrey
  • SCCU U18 Jamborees 2000: Nigel Dennis notifies the entries. Details of BCF Finals are still awaited.
18 Feb 2000
17 Feb 2000
  • Counties Championship: the BCF-Stage draw has been revised. Among other changes, the SCCU now gets a third nominee in the U175.
  • Open 15.1.00: Kent 7½ 8½ Herts. A reliable source tells us that the Herts QPF claim of a draw on board 15 has been upheld. [This has now (19.2.00) been confirmed by the Tournament Controller.]
16 Feb 2000
  • Lester Millin continues last week's correspondence about BCF codes on entry forms
15 Feb 2000
14 Feb 2000
  • U14/U90 13.2.00: Bucks 11 13 Oxon. Also a bare match score Sussex 11 13 Surrey 12.2.00: details when we have them. Qualifiers for Final are Essex, Oxon and Sussex.
  • U150 5.2.00 Herts 6 10 Cambs. They've been keeping this one secret. We thought it was the weekend after next.
  • Roy Heppinstall, Essex Open match captain, now has a home email address. It's in the list of match captains in the Fixtures page.
13 Feb 2000
  • Open 12.2.00: Bucks 11 5 Cambs; Berks 5 10 Middx (with one double default)
  • Open 12.2.00: bare match scores Surrey 5 11 Kent; Sussex 8 8 Herts. Thanks, Syringa. Again.
  • U14/U90 13.2.00: bare match score Bucks 11 13 Oxon. Closest match of the season. Details tomorrow.
  • Stewart Reuben on North London v South London, and large-scale matches of the past
12 Feb 2000
10 Feb 2000
  • Three letters. John Cannon writes on county-match records. Can anyone beat 350 appearances? Bob Lee-Anderson proposes a new scoring system; and Howard Grist (SCCU Grading Secretary) replies to Lester Millin's letter of yesterday.
09 Feb 2000
  • Lester Millin writes about multiple grades
  • Website's address. Please note that our ndirect address, which is on a subscription account, will close at the end of February when the subscription runs out. Our alternative address (www.sccu.ndo.co.uk) will be unaffected, and we hope by then to have acquired a new backup address to go with it.
07 Feb 2000
  • U125 5.2.00: Sussex 7 9 Surrey
06 Feb 2000
  • U14/U90 5.2.00: Essex 20 4 Herts. By our reckoning this makes Essex the first qualifiers for the Final on the 4th March.
05 Feb 2000
  • U175 5.2.00: Kent 10½ 5½ Surrey; Essex 9 7 Sussex. Essex retain the U175 title. That's four years now. The Montague Jones trophy itself has never stayed four years in one county before.
  • U14/U90 5.2.00: Essex 20 4 Herts. Details tomorrow. (After midnight, that is. U14/U90 matches are a bit of a typing job.)
04 Feb 2000
  • SCCU success in the Birmingham & District U14 Team Quickplay 29.1.00
  • National Club U125: Round 1 results and next-round pairings. Things were held up by one first-round match which eventually both sides defaulted.
02 Feb 2000
  • U150 29.1.00: Cambs 10½ 4½ Surrey
01 Feb 2000
31 Jan 2000
  • Open 29.1.00: bare match result. Herts 11 5 Surrey (info from Bucks, thanks Syringa!)
  • U14/U90 29.1.00: Oxon 20½ 3½ Berks
  • A brief BCF Update on the Office and Council meetings. Nothing very new. Also grading (revised grades may be a while yet).
  • Trevor Jones adds a postscript to his letter (see 29th January).
30 Jan 2000
  • Open 29.1.00: Berks 6 10 Bucks; Cambs 7½ 8½ Essex; Oxon 5 11 Sussex; Middx 8 8 Kent
  • And an entertaining game from Cambs-Essex
29 Jan 2000
  • Trevor Jones writes about venues for County matches
  • Open 29.1.00: Berks 6 10 Bucks. Details to follow.
25 Jan 2000
23 Jan 2000
  • Counties Championships: BCF-Stage draw (made yesterday). We even have the MCCU qualifiers in the U175: 1 Warwickshire, 2 Leicestershire.
  • Still on the Counties Championships, Cyril Johnson has come up with several new proposals for rule changes. They're going to Council in April, it says here, and some are a bit important. Full details in the Rules Section.
22 Jan 2000
  • U100 22.1.00 Essex 8½ 3½ Kent
  • U150. If you're wondering about Cambs-Surrey, scheduled for Sunday 16th January, it's been moved to Saturday 29th. Surrey, finding hardly any of their players available on a Sunday, offered to default but Cambs said no.
21 Jan 2000
20 Jan 2000
19 Jan 2000
  • U150 15.1.00: Sussex 11 5 Herts
  • Open 15.1.00: Cambs defaulted their away match against Sussex. Apparently term didn't start till the 18th. This must have come as a complete surprise to them.
  • National Club: U100 draw for Quarter-finals and Semi-finals
18 Jan 2000
  • Open 15.1.99: Kent (7 8) Herts. One critical game has gone to the arbiter. Details in the results page.
17 Jan 2000
  • Golders Green Rapidplay 15.1.00
  • Paul McKeown writes about Middx history and an SCCU 400-board(!) match of 1921 which he'd like to repeat.
  • "British Land" UK Chess Challenge is the biggest yet. Some facts and figures in Junior News. There is still time to enter: telephone Mike Basman on 07715 041320.
16 Jan 2000
  • Open 15.1.00: Surrey 7 9 Oxon; Bucks 9½ 6½ Middx
  • U150 15.1.00: Kent 9½ 6½ Essex
  • U14/U90 15.1.00: Essex 23 1 Middx
  • And one more National Club result (U100)
15 Jan 2000
  • Open Essex 14½ 1½ Berks 15.1.00
13 Jan 2000
  • U100 Middx 3 9 Essex 8.1.00
  • An important ruling about County Matches (and National Club). The Director of Home Chess has said that corrected grades (list due soonish) will not be used for eligibility this season. You carry on under the grade published in September.
12 Jan 2000
  • U125 Cambs 10 6 Kent 8.1.00
09 Jan 2000
  • Match results 8.1.00: U175 Surrey 6½ 9½ Essex; U125 Surrey 10 6 Essex
  • Yateley Manor (Hants) International 4-6 and 19-20 February: entry form and some details [removed 6.2.00]
  • One more National Club result in the U100
07 Jan 2000
  • Herts U100 are defaulting tomorrow's away match against Kent. That's their third (short-notice) match default of the season. Kent can't get their room rent back but are reluctant to take the default and claim money off their opponents. This website would have no such scruples.
06 Jan 2000
  • Chess burglary at Golders Green. See report in the Club and County page.
  • Two new entries in the Links page.
04 Jan 2000
31 Dec 1999
  • SCCU U11 title is shared between Jacob Bigio (Middx) and Anton Chernikov (Richmond Juniors). Title awarded on basis of London U12 just completed. For LJCC cross-tables (U21/18, U16, U12) see Neville Belinfante's site.
  • And yes, we've been at the History again.
30 Dec 1999
  • Port and plum pud replete, the Website has browsed drowsily in minute books long neglected, and done some History. Not a lot, but there's a new Trophy in the Trophies page, and the Junior Champions (both Team and Individual) have been pushed back by one year. Elsewhere we've filled in some detail, and corrected a major error.
23 Dec 1999
22 Dec 1999
  • U100 18.12.99: Middx 12d 0d Herts. "Thursday, Herts expecting 6-9 players. Saturday 7 a.m., team had got smaller."
  • Sorry. Eligibility again! BCF Home Director writes in the Rules Section.
21 Dec 1999
  • National Club U150: round 1 results and QF pairings
  • A Grading update. Maybe it's time we had a Grading page. The BCF page will do, for the moment.
  • Let's wrap this up now. Cambs eligibility: final note. Bottom of Fixtures page again.
19 Dec 1999
  • U100 Surrey 7½ 4½ Essex 18.12.99
  • Dave Shipp writes about game defaults
  • Cambs eligibility: a brief update to the entry of 10th December. See bottom of Fixtures page.
  • The Links page has some new entries
18 Dec 1999
  • U125 Cambs 9½ 6½ Surrey 11.12.99
  • National Club Open: Round 1 results and QF pairings
17 Dec 1999
  • U125 11.12.99 Herts 8½ 7½ Essex. Also, at second hand, Cambs beat Surrey.
  • National Club progresses.
  • May we remind readers that this site, as a safeguard against system failure, has two addresses on two different servers. It's really two independent sites, only they happen to be identical. Both addresses are given on the home page. It is suggested you note them both, because servers fall over sometimes.
16 Dec 1999
  • SCCU Girls titles (see yesterday). Following complications we didn't know about and don't understand, it appears that yesterday's news was true. No Girls titles at U14 or U11, but the U18 and U9 are intact. The Website is not happy about this, and it apologises for the Union's failure to announce it earlier.
  • More National Club results, and QF pairings in the U175.
15 Dec 1999
  • Two more National Club results. Round 1 deadline is pretty well on us, in most sections.
  • About SCCU Girls titles (see 13th December). We have just heard that the U14 and U11 titles, despite the Executive's decision made (and announced by us) in September, may not be awarded this year. We're not sure why, and we don't know if it's true. But surely, the Union can't be rescinding a publicly announced decision without giving notice. We'll keep you posted, when we have some information. Our understanding at the moment, but don't count on it, is that the Girls titles at U18 (Southend Congress) and U9 (Maidenhead Junior Congress) are still there.
13 Dec 1999
  • We have a new, or refreshed, SCCU U14 Champion. David Howell, at age nine, yesterday became almost certainly the youngest player ever to win the London Junior U14. He also thereby retained his SCCU Boys U14 title (record age: 8). We have not yet heard who took the SCCU Girls title. For cross-tables, see Neville Belinfante's site.
  • U175 Sussex 8 8 Surrey 11.12.99
  • ECGCF team friendly at Potters Bar 12.12.99
  • Syringa Turvey answers Trevor Jones (see yesterday).
12 Dec 1999
11 Dec 1999
10 Dec 1999
  • Eligibility of Cambridgeshire players: the Director rules. See bottom of Fixtures page.
  • The other Open match from last weekend turned out, when we chased it, to have got postponed (no new date yet). So we're fleetingly up to date again.
09 Dec 1999
  • U14/U90 Bucks 15 8 Berks 4.12.99
  • BCF Council meeting 15th April 2000. If you remember, the September Council meeting gave the Northerners three weeks to find a Manchester venue. BCF's said nothing since, that we've spotted. So we asked them, and Manchester it is. The "extra" February Council meeting is still in the air.
08 Dec 1999
  • Open results 4.12.99: Berks 6 10 Sussex; Cambs 12½ 3½ Surrey. Also a correction to Bucks-Essex, same date.
  • 26th Richmond Rapidplay 5.12.99
  • Two more National Club results. The "every-match-goes-to-tie-break" rule has failed in one of them. Only by 3-2, though.
  • A bit ancient, so you'll have to scroll down for it. Berks Junior Congress 10.10.99
  • A bare match result in the U14/U90: Bucks 15 8 Berks 4.12.99 (round 2 played over 11 boards)
  • The Website is One. It's had a birthday card.
06 Dec 1999
  • Apart from a correction to BCF-Stage dates (see 4th December), all we have is another National Club result (U175). Round 1 as a whole should be in in a week or two. Both matches so far have gone to tie-break. In one (we're not saying which) the losing match captain, already two games down, had instructed his board 1 not to agree the fatal draw. He was less than pleased, twenty minutes later, when the player did so because he was "slightly worse". Should match games be graded?
05 Dec 1999
  • Open 4.12.99: Bucks 8 8 Essex; Oxon 10 6 Kent with 4 Kent defaults
  • Junior match U14/U90 Surrey 6 18 Sussex 4.12.99
  • Our first result of the season in the National Club (U100)
04 Dec 1999
  • Report on Whitstable Rapidplay 4.12.99. This event, improbably enough, has also inspired a footnote in the SCCU Trophies page.
  • A bare match result in the Open 4.12.99: Bucks 8 8 Essex. "Bucks let the win slip away."
  • We have heard the (default) dates for BCF-Stage county matches 1999-2000. They are in the revived-for-the-purpose BCF Stage Matches page.
30 Nov 1999
  • Under 100 matches 27.11.99: Kent 6½ 5½ Middx; Herts 5½ 6½ Surrey
  • In case you're interested, the "friendly game" footnote to Surrey-Kent Under 150 13.11.99 (see entry 17th November) has grown a bit in the last few days. It is not expected to grow any further.
25 Nov 1999
  • Surrey First Team captain (see 14 Nov) remains Paul Dupré until further notice. Risk of team withdrawal has receded.
  • Bucks delegate to SCCU is now Syringa Turvey SyringaL@aol.com. See Who's Who?
  • "How should the BCF approach the controversial nature of the current FIDE Presidency?" A BCF request for input appears in the BCF page.
23 Nov 1999
  • Want to run an Office? Nothing heard from the BCF, but we hear from another source that they require written tenders by 14th January 2000. Don't know if it's true. Contact the BCF Office office@bcf.org.uk to find out, and/or to get an information pack. If you haven't the faintest idea what this is about, ignore it or look at the Management Board Report 13.11.99, item 14.
21 Nov 1999
20 Nov 1999
  • This site, having been out of action for twelve hours yesterday because of server problems, is now belatedly backed up at a different address: http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk. It should make no difference which address you use.
19 Nov 1999
18 Nov 1999
  • Open Surrey 6 6 Berks 13.11.99. (Yes, four double defaults.)
  • Jeff Goldberg writes briefly in Open Forum
17 Nov 1999
  • Under 100 Middx 9 3 Surrey 13.11.99
  • An intriguing (if you like that sort of thing) footnote now appears with the Surrey-Kent match 13.11.99 in the Under 150 page.
16 Nov 1999
15 Nov 1999
  • BCF Management Board meeting 13.11.99: Report by Chris Majer (SCCU President and delegate).
14 Nov 1999
  • Open matches 13.11.99: Essex 9 7 Middx; Herts 8½ 7½ Oxon; Sussex 7 9 Bucks; Kent 10 3 Cambs
  • Under 150 13.11.99: Surrey 8½ 7½ Kent
  • More Surrey news. The County, having already lost one Open and one U150 captain this season, has now lost another Open one. Paul Dupré, who resumed his old job in order to fill the gap, steps down after this weekend's match. We have no result for the match yet. Surrey are looking for a second replacement but may have to withdraw the team.
  • Golders Green Rapidplay 13.11.99
10 Nov 1999
09 Nov 1999
07 Nov 1999
  • Matches 6.11.99: Under 175 Sussex 7 9 Essex; Under 125 Sussex 5 11 Herts.  This brings us up to date for the weekend, and for the season so far. Thank you, match captains.
06 Nov 1999
  • Matches 6.11.99: Under 175 Surrey 9 7 Kent; Under 125 Surrey 10½ 5½ Kent
  • Meanwhile, in the Open: Cambs, unable to raise a team, conceded today's away match v Oxon.
05 Nov 1999
04 Nov 1999
  • Rees Gates, Herts U100 captain, has a new address and phone number. See the Fixtures page. The same page has some thoughts on eligibility, where a County plays in two different Unions.
03 Nov 1999
  • Open Berks 8 8 Kent 23.10.99
01 Nov 1999
31 Oct 1999
  • Under 100 Essex - Herts 30.10.99.  Herts yesterday, on the morning of the match, said they only had half a team and suggested a postponement. We have not heard Essex's response.
  • Grading. What lists will there be this year? What else is happening? BCF page carries another update on developments.
  • We have heard, more or less by accident, that the BCF Office (see Council meeting 25th September) has a one-month reprieve and will remain open until April. No news about future plans.
28 Oct 1999
  • U14/U90 Berks 8 16 Oxon 16.10.99
  • Nick Mackett, Kent U175 captain and SCCU rep. Nick's postal address, already in its second or third version in the Fixtures and Who's Who pages, has done it again. The revised, and hopefully definitive, version can be found in both those places.
27 Oct 1999
  • Open Berks v Kent 23.10.99. We have it from an unofficial Berkshire source that Kent won by the odd point or two. We have not yet heard from the match captains.
26 Oct 1999
25 Oct 1999
  • Under 150 24.10.99: Kent could not raise a team to go to Cambridge, so defaulted.
  • U14/U90 result 16.10.99: Berks 8 16 Oxon. Details not yet available.
24 Oct 1999
  • County matches 23.10.99: Open Essex 9 7 Sussex; Middx 9½ 6½ Oxon. Under U50 Surrey 7½ 8½ Herts. Also Under 150 Essex 10 6 Sussex; details not yet available.
  • What's happening on the Grading front? A brief update, in the BCF page, just to let you know that something is happening.
  • Two (rather old) junior websites have been resurrected at new addresses. See the Links page.
23 Oct 1999
  • Open Bucks 10½ 5½ Surrey 23.10.99
21 Oct 1999
  • More National Club pairings (Intermediate). Looks like someone else hadn't heard.
20 Oct 1999
  • SCCU U14/U90 Championship: Middx 5½ 18½ Essex 16.10.99
  • National Club: entry deadline (see yesterday) is extended in all sections. Clubs in the Open and Major have already received their first-round draw, because the Controller took the 11th-October deadline ("entries will not be accepted after that date") at its word. New entrants will just be paired together. They will, of course, be from Dover, Penzance, Holyhead and Berwick upon Tweed.
19 Oct 1999
  • Rather belatedly, the Herts internal results 1998-9 are in the Club and County page.
  • National Club U100: entry deadline is extended to 1st November. "This is partly due to the late appearance of the grading list, but I need the extra entries." - Mike McNaughton (Controller). Contact him on 01352 780676, or email MMcnau3485@aol.com
18 Oct 1999
17 Oct 1999
  • Results from yesterday: Under 175 Essex 10 6 Surrey; Under 125 Essex 8½ 7½ Sussex
  • Only just received: Open Herts 12½ 3½ Berks 2.10.99
  • First National Club news of the season. No results, just some pairings.
16 Oct 1999
  • Under 175 Kent 8½ 7½ Sussex 16.10.99
  • And a couple of changes to the Fixture List, if you're into Fixture Lists.
15 Oct 1999
  • Open Forum: Neil Clifton on aspects of Girls chess
13 Oct 1999
  • Under 100 Essex 6 6 Middx 9.10.99
  • Roger Edwards, Director of Game Fee and Grading, seeks a volunteer assistant on the Game Fee front. The job is to set up and oversee a manual system for registration of events, until such time as the Game Fee software is working and the link between it and grading is in place. Contact Roger if you might be able to help. He's roger@nstaffsstamps.freeserve.co.uk.
12 Oct 1999
  • Surrey U150 match captain (see yesterday). Fred Manning, that ever-willing work-horse, is taking over for the rest of the season. Details in Fixtures page.
11 Oct 1999
  • Under 100 Herts 3½ 8½ Kent 9.10.99
  • Surrey Secretary tells us that Neil Clifton, their U150 captain, has just resigned with immediate effect. Watch this space, and the Fixture List, but the team might disappear.
10 Oct 1999
09 Oct 1999
08 Oct 1999
  • Open: bare match score. Herts 12½ 3½ Berks 10.10.99, with 5 Berks defaults. Full details when we have them.
  • Grading. Roger Edwards roger@nstaffsstamps.freeserve.co.uk, true to his word, is holding a meeting of Graders in Birmingham on the 30th October. Roger's exercise in consulting the man on the ground is complementary to the high-tech "audit" already publicised. There is much to talk about.
         So let's talk. Graders work in isolation. Your Webmaster is one, and he only talks to one or two others. He can scarcely name ten. There is no list of Graders' email addresses. Let's start talking. If you're a Grader and would like to know what other Graders are thinking, drop us a line on rjh@ndirect.co.uk. You'll go on a select mailing list. First mailing, with input from your Webmaster but let's hope others as well, could be in a few days. Thereafter you Reply to All whenever you want support, or an audience, or a shoulder to cry on. Or you can keep it private and Reply to One.
         Should have said, Roger supports this idea. He's into open government. It is not an SCCU preserve, and the only reason the launch comes from this quarter is that someone had to do it.
05 Oct 1999
  • Open Sussex 14 2 Middx 2.10.99
  • Paul Dupré has agreed to take over as Surrey Open match captain. Details on Fixtures page.
  • Important information about the Grading Audit, and other things, in an email circulated by Gary Kenworthy. See BCF page
03 Oct 1999
  • Open Kent 10½ 5½ Bucks 2.10.99
  • And two new sites: Hemel Hempstead CC (with Bucks page); and University of Kent at Canterbury. See Links
02 Oct 1999
  • First County Match of the season. Open Surrey 4½ 11½ Essex 2.10.99
01 Oct 1999
28 Sep 1999
  • Rawle Allicock has resigned as Surrey's Open match captain. For the moment, contact the County secretary: Scott Freeman chess@ccfs.freeserve.co.uk
  • Crowborough Junior 18.9.99; NYCA U12 25.9.99; ECGCF South-East 25.9.99. Links appear on the Junior page.
  • Adam Raoof announces the new British Blitz (5 minute) Championships in London. Teams 6th November, Individual 7th. See Adam's site http://www.circuit.demon.co.uk
27 Sep 1999
26 Sep 1999
  • 10th Maidstone Congress 24-26 September 1999
  • BCF Council Meeting 25.9.99. Report is half typed, but you wouldn't want us to rush it. Tomorrow, maybe.
24 Sep 1999
  • Bit of a cheat, because the only addition to the site is a couple of entries in the Ragbag.
  • But, since we're here: it might be a good idea if you used the site's backup email address rjh@ndirect.co.uk until further notice. It's checked just as often. The other address has been so sluggish, these last few days, that we may have to abandon it.
23 Sep 1999
  • Millennium Festival Awards. Brief details, and contact number, in Notices
  • Kent's Summer Quick-play results 1999, in the decent obscurity of the Club and County page
22 Sep 1999
  • Russell Trophy Schools Jamboree 17.9.99
  • Congress Grand Prix: the Terence Chapman Group is to take over from Onyx. See BCF page.
  • BCF page also has a Grading Download. (See Grading item of 31.7.99: yet another footnote.)
20 Sep 1999
19 Sep 1999
  • Leonard Barden's letter wasn't on the site above two or three hours before Roger de Coverly responded.
18 Sep 1999
  • Lots of Sussex results 1998-9, split between Club and County and Junior News. Also a couple of Sussex additions in the Games page.
  • Leonard Barden replies to Neil Clifton (see 15th September)
  • Our CD's come. Brief remarks in BCF News, appended to the Grading item of 31.7.99
  • To whom it may concern. November meeting of the BCF Management Board has been moved to the 13th to avoid a clash with the 4NCL. BCF Office hadn't heard the rumours, yesterday afternoon, but Director of Management Services confirms them.
17 Sep 1999
  • Office took delivery today, and have already posted it. All the orders, and the Graders' CDs.
16 Sep 1999
  • Can we say "Grading"? A correspondent (this morning) writes: "My latest information regarding grading lists... is that the printed copies have not yet been received at the BCF office (they are expected today but the office do not seem too optimistic). This does not seem to tie up with the information gleaned [12th September] from the SCCU web site."
         It does, and it doesn't. Our information then - from a respectable source, we have to say - was that the list was all done bar the binding, and was expected in the Office imminently. Suppose the binding took longer than expected. Keep your fingers crossed.
  • Howard Grist, SCCU Grading Secretary, has a new (or corrected?) email address: howard.grist@rebusgroup.com
15 Sep 1999
  • 25th Richmond Rapidplay 12.9.99
  • At least one more email in the Junior Selection (etc) debate, but this one was addressed to us and not the world at large, so we'll publish it. Neil Clifton in Open Forum.
  • And another changed date in the Fixtures page
14 Sep 1999
  • Match captains and Fixtures won't stand still. One more changed date, and a new Essex Open captain. Amended details also for Essex U150.
13 Sep 1999
  • SCCU Calendar has suddenly and belatedly turned into the 1999-2000 version. Tell us if you spot errors in it.
  • Sorry, but the new address given two days ago for Nick Mackett under Match Captains (and also Who's Who?) was wrong. It's right now.
  • emails (11th September) continue but much abated.
12 Sep 1999
  • Grading. Just to keep you in the picture. The list is now (more or less) back from the printer and the CD-ROM-Maker, and the BCF Office expect to be posting it to purchasers in the next three or four days. Expect a BIG envelope on your doormat.
  • Two more entries in the Links page: Hertford CC, and the Coulsdon Chess Fellowship
  • We hear that Nigel Johnson has announced his candidature as International Director at the BCF Council meeting 25th September.
11 Sep 1999
  • After a 2½-day absence your Webmaster has returned to find his emails clogged with 2googol open replies to a message from Bruce Birchall about the number of girls selected to represent England. Don't quite know how to approach this. We feel a certain responsibility because it stemmed from a BHB article published months ago in Open Forum. But if you're on the circulation list you've seen it; and if not, what can we say? We can't possibly print all the correspondence. If we bundled it for you it would be out of date by tomorrow. Expect it is already. What does one do about promulgating these sporadic email outbursts? Maybe they should have a site of their own. That's actually not such a stupid idea.
  • SCCU Match Captains: addresses are now on the Fixtures page. (They were held up to give people a chance to object to their details going on the site. No one's objected.) Note that Rawle Allicock and Nick Mackett have both moved. If you had their addresses to start with, you're probably out of date.
  • Chris Howell sends various Top 20 lists, "for our information", but we're not sure that amounts to a licence to print them. So we haven't. What are the rules, for publishing grades?
  • History. A small, but rather important, addition to the Individual Champions page. We've now got an SCCU Champion (actually two joint Champions) from the eighteen-nineties.
08 Sep 1999
  • Open Forum: Roger de Coverly on grades and Direct Members
07 Sep 1999
  • Grading. New grades for Direct Members are on the BCF Website. At Kent's request the SCCU site has made the new Kent List available for download (zipped Word file, 160K). Kent people have been getting a bit anxious about this, with fixtures meetings coming up at the weekend. The Kent Association can publish its list wherever it likes, so long as it's bought a copy of the BCF list.
  • One change already (Herts-Cambs U125) in the SCCU fixture list.
  • Some additions to the Saitek Terafinal results 28.8.99, plus a game.
04 Sep 1999
  • SCCU Executive meeting 3.9.99: report
  • Bucks have a new County secretary: see Notices. You'll also find there the new secretary of the Friends of Chess, and the new non-secretary of Berkshire.
03 Sep 1999
  • Saitek Terafinal 28.8.99: SCCU successes!
  • Forthcoming Arbiters Courses. Not sure that this is quite BCF News, but that's where we've put it.
  • BCF Grading List should come from the printer at the end of next week. Will it be right? Wait and see. The Grading item in BCF News has grown yet again.

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