CLUB AND COUNTY

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updated 15.8.00 CLUB AND COUNTY NEWS

MIDDX LEAGUES 1999-2000
9.8.00
Division 1 Kings Head I (on tie-break from Athenaeum I)
Division 2 International Students
Division 3 Athenaeum II
Division 4 Harrow II (on tie-break from Hammersmith II)
Division F1 (grading-limited) Wood Green I
Division F2 Edmonton IV
Full details on the Middlesex CCA site. Middlesex appears to be the only SCCU county with an official adult website.

MORE ESSEX RESULTS 1999-2000
8.8.00
Essex League, division 1 update (with supplemental updates 11.8.00, 15.8.00)
The championship is still undecided: the critical adjudication appeal (see below) is going strong. Ilford won the game, first time round, after both sides had claimed wins. Chessex now reports that "the Ilford Club sought clarification regarding the rules relating to appeals when both teams had originally claimed a win". Our guess is that Writtle's appeal was for a draw and Ilford were querying the legality of it. A draw would give Writtle the title. Anyway, if that's what happened it's been ruled permissible, and the game is with the appeal adjudicator.
     Update 11.8.00. It's nearly what happened. Writtle's appeal is for a win, but with a request that "draw" should still be deemed a permissible result. That's what Ilford were querying. Ruling: "draw" is a permissible result. Watch this space.
     Update 15.8.00. Here's the space. It came back as a draw, hence the match is a draw and the final positions are 1 Writtle 16½/20 (GP 64); 2 Ilford 16½ (59½)... We thank Jeff Goldberg for this info (especially as he's from Ilford).
Essex Individual Championship at Writtle, 15-16 July 2000
1 Marc Brazier 148 (Maldon) 4½/5; 2-4 Russell White 199 (Chelmsford), Bob Latter 154 (Braintree), Kerry Chilvers 143 (Writtle: 1st U150(?!)) 4; 5-7 Paul Salmon 155 (Brentwood), David Chandler 158 (Chelmsford), Mick O'Neill e135 (Barking) 3½... Junior Titles U18 1-2 Julian Winkworth 127 (Wanstead), Bobby Payne 130 (Barking) 3; U16 Graham Walker 101 (Customs) 2½; U14 1-2 Josiah Lutton 124 (Basildon), Alistair Hung 89 (Writtle) 2. 40 played.
Essex Team Blitz (5 minute) at Wanstead, 2nd July 2000
1 Cavendish (mean grade 186) 36½/44; 2 Chelmsford (173) 32½; 3 Woodbridge I (167) 30½... 12 teams APA, and the mean grades went down to 72.
Essex Individual Lightning (10 second) at Wanstead, 2nd July 2000
1 Zaki Harari 210 (Cavendish) 5/5; 2-3 Sid Kalinsky 160 (Cavendish), Russell White 199 (Chelmsford) 4; 4 Philip Fallon e175 (Chelmsford) 3½... Junior Prize Julian Winkworth 127 (Wanstead) 2½. 18 played.
North Essex League: KO event
Final: Marconi A 1 3 Maldon A
Plate Final: Braintree A 1 3 Writtle B
Source: Chessex

HAROLD SIMS
The chess community will be saddened to learn that Harold Sims, President of the Ilford Chess Club, died on 25 July 2000, aged 64.
     Harold had been involved in Ilford Chess Club for about 25 years. During this time he held many offices at the club. Although himself never a strong player, for many years he was a very active president, and until very recently was Treasurer and captained all three of Ilford's London League teams simultaneously. Harold never claimed a penny back in officer’s expenses and for several years quietly sponsored the club championship.
     Outside of Ilford Harold was also London League Secretary. At a county level he had been Essex League Secretary, and he was until recently Essex General Secretary, a position he had held for several years.
     As important as what he did was how he did it. Harold was the kind of organiser who did everything willingly, modestly and with good humour, very much for the benefit of chess. Although it’s a terrible cliché, I don't believe that anyone had a bad word to say about him.
     Only weeks before his death Harold was offered, and accepted, the BCF President's Award. The presentation will be made posthumously at the September Council meeting. Harold's nomination for this honour was strongly supported by the Essex Chess Association who warmly welcomed the award.
     He was married with one daughter and he worked in the textile industry as a cutter, which doesn't sound much, but actually it's the guy who plans how the different pieces of a garment are cut out of the material, and it's a skilled specialist job.
     Harold was ill for about 18 months before his death, gradually deteriorating, but until the last few months remained as active as he could. For instance he was picking Ilford’s London League 1st team up until the end of this season; and in the 1999-2000 Counties and Districts Correspondence Championship, playing for Essex, he not only saw his game through but won it.
     Everyone will remember Harold for his friendship and kindness to others.
Based on material supplied by Jeff Goldberg for the BCF ChessMoves

SOUTH WEST SUSSEX LEAGUE 1999-2000
1 Rustington 13/16; 2 Worthing 9; 3 Chichester 9; 4 Emsworth 5; 5 Bognor 4
Silver Jubilee Rapidplay 30/30: 1 The Holt 13/14; 2 Chichester 9; 3-5 (or there may have been a tie-break) Rustington, Brighton, Bognor 8; 6 Arun Gambiteers 5; 7 Emsworth 3; 8 Portsmouth Victory 2
Results Nigel Pestelle

MID SUSSEX LEAGUE 1999-2000
Division 1 (11 teams) 1 Crawley I 8½/10 (GP 40); 2 Horsham I 8½ (36½); 3 Lewes I 7 (36½); 4 Eastbourne I 7 (32½)...
Division 2 (9 teams) 1 Eastbourne II 8/8; 2 Crawley II 4½... "Bognor and Arun withdrew after defaulting twice against Eastbourne 2 and are therefore relegated. Sussex University withdrew without playing any matches." And aren't? Now there's a way of discouraging defaults!
Division 3 (9 teams) 1 The Holt II 7/8; 2 Woodpushers 5... "East Grinstead II had a ½ point deduction for defaulting against Crawley III." And there's another.
Division 4 (8 teams) 1 Horsham III 5½/7 (23½); 2 Crawley IV 5½ (21); 3 St Francis Hospital 4½...
     Last season's results are still there at the bottom of the page, under "Sussex Results 1998-9", and we notice that the number of teams has gone down by more than a couple of withdrawals. Is this happening everywhere?
     For this year's league tables in full, see the new Mid Sussex League site.

SOME OXBRIDGE FRIENDLIES
and other things. Oxford University 8½ 5½ Insurance Chess Club: 10th June 2000. ICC had earlier beaten Cambridge University 7-5. The Oxford-ICC match has jogged our memory about some odd features of the Not Friendly one - this year's Varsity Match. We owe most of our information to Accelerated Dragon, a special early edition of the CUCC's Dragon.
     One odd feature involved the board order. Both sides had put their highest-graded player on board two. Nothing wrong with that. But they both just happened to be women, and the organisers thought it would be a good wheeze to swop the top two boards round at the last minute. A harmless publicity stunt? Read on.
     Another odd feature was the toss. It was announced at the start of the match that colours would be decided by a (two-move) solving contest between champions nominated by the two teams. A random procedure was unworthy of such a prestigious event. This Website thought the toss was supposed to be random. However. Cambridge won the "toss", and chose white on odd. Oxford didn't mind losing the toss, because they had planned to choose black on odd anyway so all their players would know what colour to prepare for. What they minded was that boards one and two had become boards two and one.
     Oxford's plan was entirely legitimate. They scored only half a point on the top two boards, and 50% elsewhere. Were they cheated?

ESSEX RESULTS 1999-2000
ESSEX LEAGUE
Division 1 (11 teams) 1 Ilford I 17/20; 2 Writtle 16 but Writtle have an adjudication appeal pending - against Ilford - which, if successful, would reverse their positions. What a way to decide a championship. (See update above.)
Division 2 (9 teams) 1 Brentwood 10; 2 Billericay 10... (If that's a tie-break it must be on something that doesn't show in our copy, like result of match between tying teams.¹)
Division 3 (11 teams) 1 Grays II 18/20; 2 Wanstead IV 15...
NORTH ESSEX LEAGUE
Division 1 (11 teams) 1 Chelmsford A 20/20; 2 Colchester A 14...
Division 2 (11 teams) 1 Clacton A 17/20; 2 Billericay B 15...
Division 3 (10 teams) 1 Braintree C 15/18; 2 Chelmsford D 14...
SOUTHEND & DISTRICT LEAGUE
Division 1 (6 teams) 1 Southend I 18/20; 2 Hadleigh I 12..
Division 2 (6 teams) 1 Basildon I 18/20; 2 Wickford II 13...
Division 3 (10 teams) 1 Westcliff II 16/18; 2 Rayleigh II 14...
Source Chessex
     ¹ Shortly afterwards. John Philpott tells us:
The first tie-break is the result of the match between the tied teams. In the event of this being drawn, the rules currently prescribe a play off match. However, following changes agreed in May, board count (and if necessary bottom board elimination) will in future seasons be applied to the original match between the tied teams.

KENT FINALS DAY
at Sevenoaks, 21st May 2000. All the Club finals under one roof, as always in Kent.
County Cup Charlton I 4 2 Beckenham & Bromley I
Lewis Cup (mean grade not over 160) Maidstone III 4½ 1½ Beckenham & Bromley II
Stevenson Cup (not over 140) Beckenham & Bromley III* 3 3 Thanet (board count)
En Passant Cup (not over 120) Chislehurst III 4½ 1½ Phoenix III
Harvey Cup (not over 100) Medway II* 3 3 Beckenham & Bromley V (board count)
Tom Fuller Cup (not over 80) Maidstone VII 3 1 Charlton VI
Intro competition (not over 60) was absent from Finals Day. It is a brand new section which, so far, exists only in Metropolitan Kent so doesn't have a Final. Three teams played a triple-round APA. 1 Petts Wood VII 4/6; 2 Sidcup IV 3½; 3 Beckenham & Bromley VII 1½
     A special word for Beckenham & Bromley, who had four teams at Finals Day - probably a record - and took only one trophy. The Kent rules are designed for flexibility. You can play the same player in as many divisions as you like, without any restriction at all except for the mean grade one. Until you get to Finals Day. When you get four teams to Finals Day they're all playing at once, and you're spreading your resources a bit thin. It's not consistent, and it's the penalty a county pays for having a Finals Day.

BURGLARY AT HENDON CC
6.1.00
Adam Raoof reports that Hendon CC had all their equipment stolen in a burglary over Christmas at Golders Green Church Hall. We are pleased to say that the equipment will be replaced by the weekend and the Golders Green Rapidplay on 15th January is unaffected, but they had to call off today's Blitz.
     It wasn't quite all the equipment. The five new clocks, which were security marked, were not taken. The hall's other cupboards were opened, but nothing touched except chess equipment. Fingerprint (and DNA!) evidence exists.

HERTS RESULTS 1998-9
Herts Leagues
Division 1 (6 teams) 1 Hertford I 17/?; 2 Barnet I 14; 3 Hoddesdon I 9...
Division 2 (7 teams) 1 Royston I 17; 2 Letchworth I 16; 3 Mid Herts I 14...
Division 3 (6 teams) 1 Hoddesdon II 14; 2 Stevenage I 13; 3 Hemel Hempstead II 11...
Division 4 (7 teams) 1 Hertford III 18; 2 Barnet II 15; 3 Letchworth II 14...
Division 5 (8 teams) 1 Mid Herts II 21 (42); 2 Borehamwood 21 (41½); 3 Hoddesdon III 20...
Division 6 (8 teams) 1 Hertford IV 22; 2 Letchworth III 21; 3 St Albans VI 18...
Division 7 (7 teams) 1 Royston III 20 (41½); 2 Hoddesdon V 20 (38); 3 St Albans VII 15...
Russell Trophy Final: Hertford 3½ 2½ Hoddesdon
Sharp Trophy Final: Hoddesdon 5½ ½ Letchworth
U125 Final: Hoddesdon 3½ 1½ Allenburys
Capel Cup Final: Gary Kenworthy 1 0 C Briscoe. We have always assumed, and Herts never seem to say, that this is the County Individual Championship.
Burn Cup was a 5-player APA. 1 Chris Lean 2½/4, followed by three people on 2 and one on 1½. Half of the games were not drawn.

KENT SUMMER QUICK-PLAY 1999
It's a team competition. Only 13 entries this year, which was very low by normal standards. Local groups produced four semi-finalists:
     Semi-finals Maidstone A 8 8 *Lewisham A; Tunbridge Wells A 9½ 6½ Dartford & Swanley. Final 22.9.99 Lewisham A 8½ 7½ Tunbridge Wells A (damn!)
     It's a very exciting competition, if you can stand the strain. The Engraved Clock is no more than just desserts for the winning team. Teams are of four, and matches are (old-fashioned) Scheveningen with every player playing one game against each member of the opposing team. So 4 rounds, and 16 games, per match. Each round lasts 30 minutes, so two-hours-plus for a match, with time split between opponents according to grading difference. 3 minutes against 27, for grading differences greater than 79.

SUSSEX RESULTS 1998-9
McArthur Cup
We're fairly sure the McArthur Cup is for the Sussex Championship. Confirmation, anyone? We believe that the two Leagues are not actually run by the Association. Anyway:
Western (4 teams) Worthing; Northern (3 teams) The Holt; Central-Eastern "Hastings were unopposed YET AGAIN!" Semi-finals: Worthing 2½-3½ The Holt; Hastings 2½-3½ Brighton. Final The Holt ½-5½ Brighton. We've always assumed that Brighton get a free passage to the Semi-finals as Champions. The alternative hypothesis is that they get a free passage to the Semi-finals as Brighton, but we can't test that until they're not Champions.
County Champion is Luke Rutherford who retained his title comfortably, beating Feliks Kwiatkowski 1½-½ in the Final. KO, with nine players if we've counted right.
East Sussex Queen: Winner, for the first time, was Gino Scamardella with 4½/6. Four players: double-round APA
West Sussex Queen: Jim Graham 4½/5... Six players: single-round APA
Veterans Competition: Robert Williams, for the 3rd (or 4th?) consecutive year, with 4½/6. Four players: double-round APA
Sussex Jamboree for the Bickerstaff Cup: 10th July at Dorothy Stringer School. Nine entries: 1-3 Knoll Knights, Mid-Sussex Select, Presidents Select; 4 Brighton I...
Mid-Sussex League
Div 1 (11 teams) 1 (on game points) Brighton & Hove 8/10; 2 The Holt 8; 3 Hastings 7...
Div 2 (11 teams) 1 Horsham II 7½/10; 2 Hassocks 6½; 3-5 Eastbourne II, Lewes II, Crawley II 6...
Div 3 (10 teams) 1 Sussex University 7/9; 2 Brighton & Hove III 6; 3 Woodpushers 5½...
Div 4 (10 teams) 1 Legal & General 8/9; 2 Brighton & Hove IV 7½; 3 Horsham III 5½...
South-West Sussex League Five teams. 1 (on tie-break) Emsworth 11/16; 2 Worthing 11; 3 Bognor & Arun 9...
Sussex AGM took just over an hour, which seems long by Sussex standards. They have a Jamboree after the meeting (see Sussex Jamboree above), quite possibly with the express intention of keeping the meeting short.
Results Sussex Chess. See also Junior News

Earlier material is in the Archive.