Category Archives: UKCC

2023, 4NCL, Birthday, Player, UKCC

Happy Birthday IM Jonah Willow (30-xii-2002)

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FM Jonah Willow, UKCC Terafinal 2018, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
FM Jonah Willow, UKCC Terafinal 2018, Courtesy of John Upham Photography

Happy Birthday IM Jonah Willow

Jonah B Willow was born in Nottingham on Monday, December 30th 2002. Jacob was the most popular boy’s name in 2002. “Lose Yourself” by Eminem was number one.

Jonah has a chess playing sister, Hambel, who plays for Newcastle-under-Lyme, West Nottingham, Staffordshire CA and Nottinghamshire CA.

Jonah’s first recorded graded standard play tournament was the 2010 Delancey UK Chess Challenge Terafinal and his first recorded rapidplay event was the Nottingham Rapidplay in 2011.

Jonah Willow at the 2012 UKK Terafinal. Courtesy of John Upham Photography
Jonah Willow at the 2012 UKK Terafinal. Courtesy of John Upham Photography

Jonah’s first published standard play grade was 96D in January of 2012 :

Jonah's ECF grading progress
Jonah’s ECF grading progress

Jonah has represented West Nottingham, 4NCL Wood Green, Nottinghamshire CA and Syston (Leicester).

FIDE rating profile for FM Jonah B Willow from Megabase 2020
FIDE rating profile for FM Jonah B Willow from Megabase 2020

It is a little curious as to the reason for the rating profile to halt at the end of 2018 since Jonah has played plenty of FIDE rated games since. Compare the above with :

FIDE rating for FM Jonah Willow from fide.com
FIDE rating for FM Jonah Willow from fide.com

Jonah’s current (December 2021) FIDE standard play rating is 2381 and Jonah became a FIDE Master in 2018.

Jonah has plus scores against : Mike Surtees, Peter Svidler (!), Richard Pert, Peter Shaw, Ranesh Ratnesan, Shreyas Royal, Keith Arkell and Ameet Ghasi to name but a few.

With the white pieces Jonah is a committed 1.e4 player but he has scored 83% with 1.Nc3! first played by JH Blackburne against Noa in 1883 and named after Timothy A Dunst.

Jonah plays the unusual Chekhover Variation (4.Qxd4) in the 2…d6 Sicilian : this is an interesting alternative and has been discussed by GM Ben Finegold :

and

GM Varuzhan Akobian :

Jonah plays the Four Knights game with white.

As the second player he plays the Accelerated Dragon and the Modern Benoni.

He has his own Twitch TV channel.

On chess.com he is JonahWillow and his highest chess.com rating has been 2863 on April 5th 2020.

Jonah has achieved three IM norms at

1° Grandiscacchi Cattolica International 2022, 1st EJOCA Forest Hall Invitational 2021 and Dublin 2021.

FM Jonah Willow, UKCC Terafinal 2018, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
FM Jonah Willow, UKCC Terafinal 2018, Courtesy of John Upham Photography

At the 2nd FIDE Council of 2022 Jonah’s IM title was confirmed.

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2024, 4NCL, Biographies, Birthday, British Championships, Players, UKCC

Happy Birthday IM Yang-Fan Zhou (08-ix-1994)

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We send best wishes to IM Yang-Fan Zhou on his birthday.

Yang-Fan George Zhou was born on Thursday, September 8th, 1994 in Wandsworth, London. His mother’s maiden name was Yang. “Parklife” by Blur was number one in the UK Singles chart.

His brother, Yangjian Zhou, is also a strong player.

Yang-Fan attended Whitgift School, Croydon (founded by John Whitgift in 1596) and then Churchill College, The University of Cambridge where he studied Chemical Engineering (same subject as Malcolm Pein)

During his undergraduate years he worked as a punter for the Traditional Punting Company in Cambridge.

Yang-Fan works for The Hut Group and resides in Manchester.

Here is an article from the Guardian which included
“The Whitgift 13-year-old recently won the Coulsdon Premier with 8.5/9, gaining nearly 100 world rating points which will make him England’s highest ranked under-18 after Howell in the July FIDE list.”

He became a FIDE Master in 2009 and an International Master in 2011.

Yang-Fan claimed the title of UK Chess Challenge “Strat” in 2011 for winning the Terafinal outright. Only Mike Basman knows what “Strat” means.

IM Yang-Fan Zhou at a Wellington College Training Event in 2014, courtesy of John Upham Photography
IM Yang-Fan Zhou at a Wellington College Training Event in 2014, courtesy of John Upham Photography

He scored 9/9 in the 2011 e2e4 Brighton Masters Closed tournament, including beating the two grandmasters (Keith Arkell and Alexander Cherniaev) in the tournament.

In 2012 he won the Hong Kong International Open

His peak FIDE rating was 2486 in October 2013 at the age of 19.

FIDE Rating Profile of IM Yang-Fan Zhou
FIDE Rating Profile of IM Yang-Fan Zhou

In 2014 Yang-Fan Zhou represented Cambridge in the annual Varsity match (the 132nd) and played on top board drawing with David Zakarian.

Yang-Fan Zhou plays board one in the 2014 Varsity Match, courtesy of John Upham Photography
Yang-Fan Zhou plays board one in the 2014 Varsity Match, courtesy of John Upham Photography

With the White pieces Yang-Fan is exclusively an e4 player using the Scotch Game as his main weapon playing open Sicilians and championing 6.h3 versus the Najdorf.

As the second player he employs the Sicilian Dragon and King’s Indian Defences.

and this article from Leonard Barden

IM Yang-Fan Zhou at the Big Slick Tournament, June 2013. Courtesy of John Upham Photography
IM Yang-Fan Zhou at the Big Slick Tournament, June 2013. Courtesy of John Upham Photography
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2024, 4NCL, Biographies, Birthday, British Championships, Player, Players, Title Norms, Tournament, UKCC

Happy Birthday IM Marcus Harvey (24-vii-1996)

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BCN wishes Happy Birthday to IM Marcus Ross Harvey born on this day (Wednesday, July 24th) in 1996. Killing Me Softly by the Fugees was top of the hit parade.

Marcus was born in Oxford and attended The Marlborough School, Woodstock, Oxfordshire and then (in 2014) at The University of Southampton he studied mathematics.

Originally playing for Bicester Marcus now represents Witney Chess Club in local leagues.

Marcus first played in the British Championship in 2011 (Sheffield).

Marcus Harvey at the 2013 King's Place Rapidplay, courtesy of John Upham Photography
Marcus Harvey at the 2013 King’s Place Rapidplay, courtesy of John Upham Photography

Originally playing for Oxford he now plays for Wood Green in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) and Southampton University in the Southampton League.

Marcus playing IM Yang-Fan Zhou at the 2013 Delancey UKCC Terafinal at Loughborough Grammar School. Courtesy of John Upham Photography.
Marcus playing IM Yang-Fan Zhou at the 2013 Delancey UKCC Terafinal at Loughborough Grammar School. Courtesy of John Upham Photography.

In 2014 Marcus won the title of “Strat” (the overall Terafinal winner) of the 2014 Delancey UK Chess Challenge at Loughborough Grammar School.

Marcus Harvey at the 2013 Delancey UKCC Terafinal at Loughborough Grammar School, courtesy of John Upham Photography.
Marcus Harvey at the 2013 Delancey UKCC Terafinal at Loughborough Grammar School, courtesy of John Upham Photography.

Marcus has a FIDE rating of 2440 and an ECF grading of 240.

2014 Delancey UKCC Terafinal winner, Marcus Harvey at Loughborough Grammar School. Courtesy of John Upham Photography
2014 Delancey UKCC Terafinal winner, Marcus Harvey at Loughborough Grammar School. Courtesy of John Upham Photography

In 2018 he won the Witney Open outright with 4/5 and, in the same year, was runner-up to David Howell in the UK Blitz Open with 12.5/15 and a of 2589.

In 2019 he was =1st (with Mark Hebden) in the 4NCL Easter Open in Stevenage. Later that year Marcus was losing semi-finalist (to Gawain Jones) in the London Classic Blitz Knockout.

Marcus, on home ground, won the 43rd Kidlington Open in 2020 and followed this with and is the current 2020 English Online Blitz Champion beating IM Andrew Greet, FM Jonah Willow, IM Ameet Ghasi and IM Andrew Horton in the final.

In the Pro chess league he represents UK Lions.

Marcus Harvey's FIDE rating profile according to Megabase 2020
Marcus Harvey’s FIDE rating profile according to Megabase 2020

On 6th November 2019 we reported that Marcus had obtained his second International Master norm at the recent (October 2019) Hull 4NCL International Congress by scoring 4.5/9 with wins over IM Andrew Greet and IM Richard Palliser.

On July 17th 2021 Marcus was joint winner with IM Peter Roberson in the 1st Chessfest Decode Rapidplay with an impressive 6/6 and a TPR of 2911.

Marcus overcame Rory McLean, Theo Koury, Steven Coles, FM Alexis Harakis, CM Jonathan Pein and rapidplay / blitz specialist IM Ameet Ghasi to share first place.

Over the 19th – 23rd August  2021 Marcus played in the Wood Green Invitational round-robin event at Oddfellows Hall, Stafford.

Marcus scored 6/9 and secured his second International Master Norm and  a TPR of 2532.

<img class=” wp-image-18696″ src=”http://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/untitled_wgi.jpg” alt=”Wood Green Invitational Round-Robin event at Oddfellows Hall, Stafford. August Bank Holiday Weekend, 2021″ width=”654″ height=”229″ /> Wood Green Invitational Round-Robin event at Oddfellows Hall, Stafford. August Bank Holiday Weekend, 2021

Over the August Bank Holiday weekend of 2021 Marcus played in the Northumbrian Masters  GM Tournament at the splendid Marriott MetroCentre, Gateshead scoring 6/9 and TPR of 2559 and earing his fourth IM norm. His standard play rating of 2451 (September 2021) is sufficient and now only requires the next FIDE Congress to ratify the IM title.

Marcus enjoys playing the Smyslov-Larsen opening with white

and the classical French and the Nimzo-Indian Defence.

It is clear that Marcus is now surely a strong candidate for England’s next Grandmaster.

FM Marcus Ross Harvey
FM Marcus Ross Harvey
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2023, Birthday, British Championships, Organiser, Players, Remembering, UKCC, Writers

Remembering IM Mike Basman (16-iii-1946 26-x-2022)

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We remember IM Michael Basman who passed away on October 26th, 2022

Mike J. Basman on the right as he is to-day; in the centre with the cup he won by taking the London under-14 championship. Left : admiring sister in 1960. From CHESS, August 1973, page 322.
Mike J. Basman on the right as he is to-day; in the centre with the cup he won by taking the London under-14 championship. Left : admiring sister in 1960. From CHESS, August 1973, page 322.

Mike attended The University of Leeds as an undergraduate reading history.

Joel Benjamin plays Mike Basman in round 2 of the 1978 Lloyds Bank Open
Joel Benjamin plays Mike Basman in round 2 of the 1978 Lloyds Bank Open

Here is Mike’s wikipedia entry

Mike and friends during a Lloyds Bank Masters
Mike and friends during a Lloyds Bank Masters

Here are his games

Mike Basman
Mike Basman

An interesting article from chess.com

Confessions of a Crooked Chess Master – Part 1 from Kingpin

Mike plays William Hartston during the play-off for the 1973 British Championship
Mike plays William Hartston during the play-off for the 1973 British Championship

Confessions of a Crooked Chess Master – Part 2

From Chessgames.com :

“Michael John Basman was born in St Pancras, London, England. He was awarded the IM title in 1980 and having dual nationality won the Erevan Championship whilst living there in the early 1970s. He was also a pioneer in the production of audio tapes for chess.

He is noted for his use of unorthodox flank openings, such as 1.g4, 1.h3, 1.e4 g5, etc. He expanded on the work of Henri Grob with his book on the topic of 1.g4, The Killer Grob.

He created the UK Chess Challenge, a tournament for juniors of all standards and ages progressing over four stages.(1)”

MJB won the ECF President’s Award in 2013.

Video Chess Event (See caption below)
Video Chess Event (See caption below)
Video Chess Caption
Video Chess Caption

Mike recently received a “bursary” from FIDE as a tribute towards FIDEs more senior players.

Michael Basman (rear, far left))
Michael Basman (rear, far left))
The Killer Grob
The Killer Grob
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2023, 4NCL, Biographies, Birthday, Organiser, Players, UKCC

Happy Birthday WFM Sarah Longson (née Hegarty) (02-x-1988)

We send best wishes to WFM Sarah Natasha Longson (née Hegarty) on her birthday this day, (October 2nd) in 1988.

WFM Sarah Longson, courtesy of John Upham Photography
WFM Sarah Longson, courtesy of John Upham Photography

From Sarah’s web site :

“I have played competitive chess since the age of 7 when I became UK U7 Girls Chess Champion and appeared on Blue Peter where I met the then world champion Garry Kasparov. Since then I have represented England in many international competitions and in 2013 won the British Ladies Championship.”

In 2016 Sarah and partner FM Alex Longson made a successful bid for ownership of the UK Chess Challenge which was auctioned by the bankruptcy receiver of IM Mike Basman, the previous owner.

Sarah and Alex have modernised the UKCC considerably especially in the areas of communications and usage of IT.

WFM Sarah Longson
WFM Sarah Longson

According to the ECF Sarah’s nominal club is Marple but she also plays for Stockport and 4NCL 3Cs.

WFM Sarah Longson, courtesy of John Upham Photography
WFM Sarah Longson, courtesy of John Upham Photography
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