Category Archives: Reports

Luke McShane is Chess Columnist for The Spectator

GM Luke James McShane
GM Luke James McShane

Luke McShane has made a welcome return to chess journalism as the columnist for The Spectator. At fifteen Luke provided a regular column for The Express on Sunday and, until recently, was a busy full-time trader at Goldman Sachs.

Luke McShane
Luke McShane

The first chess columnist for The Spectator was Conel Hugh O’Donnell Alexander who was followed by Raymond Keene who “retired” in 2019.

Luke’s most recent article may be found here.

GM Luke McShane
GM Luke McShane

We look forward to original and interesting articles from Luke !

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Third Keith Richardson Memorial : September 14th 2019

Camberley Baptist Church
Camberley Baptist Church

A glorious Saturday (the 14th) in September was the date and Camberley Baptist Church was the location of the third tournament in memory of correspondence Grandmaster Keith Bevan Richardson.

Keith Bevan Richardson (1942 -2017)
Keith Bevan Richardson (1942 -2017)

A field of thirty-two gathered at the home (since 1982) of Camberley Chess Club for a six round rapid-play event (R20′ + 10″) that was free to enter raising money by donations to The Cure Parkinson’s Trust. Players were invited to choose books from Keith’s library

Charity Bookstall
Charity Bookstall

and donate to charity in return.

The Cure Parkinson's Trust
The Cure Parkinson’s Trust

Top seed was recently qualified IM Adam C Taylor (ECF230)

IM Adam C Taylor
IM Adam C Taylor

whose chances were dented by losing in round 4 to Clive Frostick (Farnham) who, like Keith, was a highly successful correspondence player (a SIM : Senior International Master)

Clive Frostick
Clive Frostick

Other pre-tournament favourites were FM Andrew P Smith (IRE and Bourne End)

FM Andrew Smith
FM Andrew Smith

and FM Richard M Webb (Crowthorne)

FM Richard Webb
FM Richard Webb

along with WFM Louise Head (Crowthorne)

WFM Louise Head
WFM Louise Head

Following three rounds we stopped for lunch (in some cases liquid only) and on 100% were Adam, Clive and Andrew so round four could well be a key decider. Clive beat Adam with the white pieces whereas Andrew and Richard drew a hard fought Sicilian Dragon. In round five Clive breathed a sigh of relief to survive a “dodgy” position against Colin Purdon in one of the candidate games for the “Best Swindle” Prize.

Colin Purdon
Colin Purdon

The drama continued into the final round as Adam beat strong junior Ranesh Ratnesan
and everything hinged on Clive’s game with Richard Webb. After a long and interesting struggle the game was drawn and the tournament was decided.

The award for Best U-150 player went to rapidly improving Jessica Mellor (Guildford)

Jessica Mellor
Jessica Mellor

the award for Best Junior went to Radesh Ratnesan (Surbiton)

Ranesh Ratnesan
Ranesh Ratnesan

and the title of Camberley Chess Club Champion (highest placed local player) went to Colin Purdon

Ken Coates & Colin Purdon
Ken Coates & Colin Purdon

In overall first place with 5.5/6 was Clive Frostick :

Overall winner : Clive Frostick
Overall winner : Clive Frostick

The event collected more than £300 for the Cure Parkinson’s Trust and we are sure Keith was looking down from above and was pleased with what he observed.

Keith Bevan Richardson (1942 -2017)
Keith Bevan Richardson (1942 -2017)

Past Winners of Keith Richardson Memorial :

2017 : Julien Shepley
2018 : Ken Norman
2019 : Clive Frostick

Full results may be found from UTU Swiss

Camberley Chess Club would like to thank :

Camberley Baptist Church, Berkshire Junior Chess Association, Ken Coates and Christine Coates.

The organiser was John Upham.

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British Blitz Championship Qualifier : Bristol

GM Matthew Turner (SCO)
GM Matthew Turner (SCO)

Sixty-four (!) players entered the South-West qualifier for the British Blitz Championship 2019 held at Bristol Grammar School for a fifteen round tournament employing a 3′ + 2″ FIDE approved time control.

GM Keith Arkell (ENG)
GM Keith Arkell (ENG)

The entry was headed by GM Matthew Turner (SCO) scoring 13.5/15 and gaining a mere 8.8 FIDE Blitz rating points drawing quickly with Keith Arkell and losing to FM Lewis Martin (ENG).
Paignton based “local” GM Keith Arkell (ENG) took runner-up spot with 12/15 losing 15 rating points having drawn with Lewis Martin but losing to in-form IM James Cobb (WLS) and IM Malcolm Pein (ENG). Malcolm’s son Jonathan elected to play in the much weaker Belfast qualifier which was probably a good move.

IM James Cobb
IM James Cobb

Highest placed lady player (and therefore qualifier) on 8.5/15 was University of Warwick student and reigning English Ladies Champion, WFM Louise Head (ENG) who was supported by her Crowthorne team mates FM Richard Webb, Colin Purdon and Mark Taylor.

WFM Louise Head
WFM Louise Head

Surprise performance (perhaps?) was from FM Lewis Martin (title awarded in 2018) who beat Matthew Turner, Malcolm Pein, Richard Webb and Louise Head of the titled players to earn a 64.8 rating increase.

FM Lewis Martin (ENG)
FM Lewis Martin (ENG)

Full results may be found at Chess Results . com

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Life Begins at Eighty Six (!) for IM James T Sherwin

IM James T Sherwin
IM James T Sherwin

Veteran IM James T Sherwin (FIDE 2231) brought home possibly the most pleasing result of the 2019 British Championships in Torquay.

Infamously featured in game one of Bobby Fischer’s Sixty Memorable Games, James has been resident in the London area for many years specialising in rapidplay events such as the Richmond and Golders Green series of rp tournaments.

FM Andrew Lewis
FM Andrew Lewis

James and FM Andrew Lewis (somewhat less that 86!) tied first equal in the orange lit Forum area of the Riviera Centre with 7.5/9 with James beating Gerald Moore (FIDE 2132) in the final round whereas Andrew (FIDE 2283) drew with Josiah Haynes (2132).

Well done James and Andrew !

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Today in Torquay…

BCN has joined the action in wonderful Torquay at the Riviera Centre.

British Championships in Torquay
British Championships in Torquay

On Board four we have IM Richard Pert vs GM Nick Pert (Richard won the game) :

IM Richard Pert
IM Richard Pert
GM Nick Pert
GM Nick Pert

and on board three : GM John Emms vs GM Justin Tan (the game was drawn) :

GM John Emms
GM John Emms
GM Justin Tan
GM Justin Tan

and on board two : IM Richard Palliser vs GM Stephen Gordon (the game was drawn) :

IM Richard Palliser
IM Richard Palliser
GM Stephen Gordon
GM Stephen Gordon

and on top board we have GM David Howell vs GM Michael Adams (the game was drawn) :

GM David Howell
GM David Howell
GM Michael Adams
GM Michael Adams

Follow the action at Twitch with GM Danny Gormally and IM Adam Hunt

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