BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//British Chess News - ECPv6.17.3.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://britishchessnews.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for British Chess News REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:UTC BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:UTC DTSTART:20190101T000000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201226 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201227 DTSTAMP:20201223T150159Z CREATED:20200411T130309Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201223T150159Z UID:4431-1608940800-1609027199@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday for IM Vaidyanathan Ravikumar (26-xii-1959) DESCRIPTION:Vaidyanathan Ravikumar (“Ravi” to his friends) was born in Paramakudi\, Ramanathapuram\, Tamil Nadu\, India on Saturday\, December 26th\, 1959. On this day Nelson Rockefeller announced that he would not seek the Republican Party nomination for 1960. \nRavi credits his father N. Vaidyanathan for help with his early chess development. \nAn early image of Vaidyanathan Ravikumar from page 81 of Ulf Andersson’s Decisive Games\nIn 1978 Ravi won the Asian Junior Championships in Tehran and was awarded the International Master title as a consequence. Ravi was India’s second International Master : Manuel Aaron was the first in 1961. \n“Ravi” at the 2013 UKCC Terafinal at Loughborough Grammar School\, Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nHis earliest recorded game in Megabase 2020 was from the 3rd of September 1978 and was from the World Under-20 Championships in Graz\, Austria. The event was won by Sergei Dolamatov and Ravi finished =25th on 6.5/13. The following year (Norway\, 1979) Ravi improved to =12th with 7.5/13 and the title was won by Yasser Seirawan. James Plaskett was =3rd. \nRavi at the UKCC Southern Gigafinal 2014 at the Rivermead Leisure Centre\, Reading. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nBy now ( 1979) Ravi had graduated from The University of Madras with a degree in commerce and relocated to England seeking more playing opportunities. He played in his first Lloyd’s Bank Open in 1979. \nRavi and IM Andrew Martin providing the commentary for the 2015 British Championships in Warwick. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nRavi made his first appearance for India in an Olympiad at Valetta\, Malta 1980. In 1981 he was runner-up to Bjarke Sahl in the 6th North Sea Cup followed by a creditable equal 10th in the 68th British Championships at Morecambe won by Paul Littlewood. In round eight he played this attractive game against Daniel King. Notes by PC Griffiths : \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIM Vaidyanathan Ravikumar v. Vassily Smyslov\, Lloyds Bank Open\, round 6\, 30th August 1981. The game was drawn in 33 moves.\nIn 1982 Ravi scored a creditable =3rd at the 1982 British Championships (Mile’s year) in Torquay including wins over Basman\, Muir and Plaskett : \nCross table for the 1982 British Championship in Torquay\n1983 included an excellent win over James Tarjan at the Lloyds Bank Open but Danny King got revenge for his 1981 defeat! \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nRavi at the closing ceremony of the 2014 British Championships at Aberystwyth. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nRavi’s second Olympiad appearance for India came at Thessaloniki\, Greece in 1984. This year provided Ravi’s highest FIDE rating of 2415 in January. \nIM Vaidyanathan Ravikumar and friends at the 1990 NatWest Young Masters\nRavi continued to be active as a player until 2000 when he started a career in coaching. He was the National Coach of the Emirates for eight years and has accompanied the ECF junior chess team to World Youth Chess Championships in 2014\, held in Al Ain\, UAE. \nRavi at the 2014 British Championships at Aberystwyth. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nAccording to Spectrum Chess Calculation : “He is an experienced chess coach and provides chess coaching in 10 schools in Hertfordshire” \nHis first book was Karpov’s Best Games\, Chess Check\, 1984. \nFollowing that Ravi wrote a biographical work on Ulf Andersson : \nUlf Andersson’s Decisive Games\, IM Vaidyanathan Ravikumar\, Peja International\, 1985.\nand then \nPlay the Benko Gambit\, Vaidyanathan Ravikumar\, Pergamon Press\, 1991\nfollowed by \nThe Closed Sicilian\, Vaidyanathan Ravikumar\, Tournament Chess\, 1993\nChess Tactics Quiz Book\, Chess Check\, Vaidyanathan Ravikumar\, 2004\nand most recently \nSpectrum Chess Calculation\, Vaidyanathan Ravikumar\, Chess Check\, 2011\nThere were also works on Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman as well as works on the Caro-Kann Defence. \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-for-im-vaidyanathan-ravikumar-26-xii-1959/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player,UKCC,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG_0630-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201229 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201230 DTSTAMP:20260817T135529Z CREATED:20200411T183358Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260817T135529Z UID:4487-1609200000-1609286399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Nicholas Thomas (29-xii-1966) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Nicholas Thomas (29-xii-1966) \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-nicholas-thomas-29-xii-1966/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20201230 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20201231 DTSTAMP:20201229T175730Z CREATED:20200412T131219Z LAST-MODIFIED:20201229T175730Z UID:4543-1609286400-1609372799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Jonah Willow (30-xii-2002) DESCRIPTION:Happy Birthday to FM Jonah Willow \nJonah B Willow was born in Nottingham on Monday\, December 30th 2002. Jacob was the most popular boy’s name in 2002. “Lose Yourself” by Enimem was number one. \nJonah’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. \nJonah Willow at the 2012 UKK Terafinal. Courtesy of John Upham Photography\nJonah’s first published standard play grade was 96D in January of 2012 : \nJonah’s ECF grading progress\nJonah has represented West Nottingham\, 4NCL Wood Green\, Nottinghamshire CA and Syston (Leicester). \nFIDE rating profile for FM Jonah B Willow from Megabase 2020\nIt 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 : \nFIDE rating for FM Jonah Willow from fide.com\nJonah has plus scores against : Mike Surtees\, Richard Pert\, Peter Shaw\, Ranesh Ratnesan\, Shreyas Royal\, Keith Arkell and Ameet Ghasi to name but a few. \nWith the white pieces Jonah is a committed 1.e4 player but he has scored 83% with 1.Nc3! \nJonah plays the unusual Chekhover Variation (4.Qxd4) in the 2…d6 Sicilian : this is an interesting alternative and is discussed by GM Ben Finegold : \n\nand \nGM Varuzhan Akobian : \n\nJonah plays the Four Knights game with white. \nAs the second player he plays the Accelerated Dragon and the Modern Benoni. \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nHe has his own Twitch TV channel. \nOn chess.com he is JonahWillow and his highest chess.com rating has been 2863 on April 5th 2020. \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-jonah-b-willow-30-xii-2002/ CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Player,UKCC ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/utf_9875_lv-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210101 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210102 DTSTAMP:20210120T115949Z CREATED:20191229T122758Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210120T115949Z UID:2634-1609459200-1609545599@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of IM Dagne Ciukšyte (01-i-1977) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of IM Dagne Ciukšyte (01-i-1977) \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-im-dagne-ciuksyte-01-i-1977/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Dagne.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210102 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210103 DTSTAMP:20210120T120409Z CREATED:20200409T074929Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210120T120409Z UID:4225-1609545600-1609631999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Stuart Fancy (02-i-1959) DESCRIPTION:Birthday of FM Stuart Fancy (02-i-1959) \n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-stuart-fancy-02-i-1959/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Stuart_Fancy_2012.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210107 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210108 DTSTAMP:20210120T120552Z CREATED:20191230T113557Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210120T120552Z UID:2638-1609977600-1610063999@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday for GM Luke James McShane (07-i-1984) DESCRIPTION:We send best wishes to GM Luke James McShane on his birthday\, this day (January 7th) in 1984. \nHere is Luke’s Wikipedia entry \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nLuke James McShane\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nLuke James McShane\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-for-gm-luke-james-mcshane-07-i-1984/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/jb4_8003_lv-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210108 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210109 DTSTAMP:20210120T120750Z CREATED:20190822T161251Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210120T120750Z UID:990-1610064000-1610150399@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of IM George Botterill (08-i-1949) DESCRIPTION:We send birthday wishes to IM George Steven Botterill born on this day (January 8th) in 1949. \nHere is his Wikipedia page \nBrian Reilly\, Ray Keene\, George Botterill\, Anatoly Karpov\, Harry Golombek and Viktor Korchnoi\nand here is his academic page \nCapa vs Corzo Rerun ? Nigel Short had 1977 British Champion George Botterill on the ropes at The National Bank of Dubai Open. In the photo Nigel is considering 42 Rh5 The champ just escaped with a draw.\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nIM George Steven Botterill (08-I-1949)\nThe Modern Defence\, BT Batsford\, 1972\, GS Botterill and RD Keene\nThe Pirc Defence\, BT Batsford\, 1973\, GS Botterill and RD Keene\nBritish Chess\, Pergamon Press\, 1983. Editors : GS Botterill\, DNL Levy\, JM Rice and MJ Richardson\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-george-steven-botterill/ CATEGORIES:Birthday,British Championships,Player,Writer ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Bot01091.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210109 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210110 DTSTAMP:20220108T163914Z CREATED:20210919T133057Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220108T163914Z UID:18870-1610150400-1610236799@britishchessnews.com SUMMARY:Birthday of FM Shreyas Royal (09-i-2009) DESCRIPTION:BCN sends birthday wishes to FM Shreyas (known as “Shrey” by his friends) Royal born on Friday\, January 9th\, 2009. “Hallelujah” by Alexandra Burke was number one in the UK hit parade. \nShreyas attended The Pointer School in Blackheath\, London\, SE3 whose motto is “The Lord is my Shepherd”. \nIn October 2021 BCN secured an interview with Shreyas via his father Jitendra and below is mostly from that interview: \nBCN: What caused his initial interest in chess and at what age? \nHis initial interest in chess was capturing or as he used to call it ‘eating’ pieces but as he grew more mature\, he loved that there were so many possibilities in chess\, so much still left to explore! At the Age of 6 he learnt and got an interest in chess. \nBCN: Has Shreyas had any chess teachers or coaches? \n\n\nJyothi Lal N. with a peak of 2250 FIDE but is very knowledgeable and helped from just above beginner to 1800. He was Shreyas’s first coach.\nMeszaros Gyula (Julian) who was an IM with a peak of 2465 FIDE and was an endgame master which helped him from 1800-2100.\nHis Current Coach is GM John Emms with a peak of around 2600 FIDE\, he is an expert in many fields such as Positional Play\, Openings\, Strategic chess etc and has also made a big impact on how to prepare against opponents. He had helped him from 2100-2300 so far in just under a year!\n\n\nBCN: Which chess clubs and/ or Teams does Shreyas represent? \nHe represents SV Erkenschwick from Germany and Wasa SK from Sweden for online events as he has joined them during the pandemic. He started his 4NCL career with KJCA Kings in January 2019 but now mainly represents Wood Green which he has played for in online events in and will also represent them in the upcoming 4NCL weekends. \nHis first appearance in Megabase 2022 comes from the 2015 British Under-8 Championship in Coventry\, the eventual winner being Dhruv Radhakrishnan. \nProgress from those early days has only been interrupted by school examination breaks and the Covid pandemic: \nFIDE Rating progress chart for FM Shreyas Royal\nIn August 2016 in Bournemouth Shreyas scored an impressive 6/6 to win the British Under-8 Championship. \nShreyas Royal at the 2016 UKCC Delancey Terafinal in Loughborough courtesy of John Upham Photography\nBCN: What was his first memorable tournament success? \nThis was the 2016 European Schools Under-7 championship where he was runner-up without any preparation or work on chess! \nShreyas Royal at the 2016 UKCC Delancey Southern Gigafinal in Reading courtesy of John Upham Photography\nIn 2021 Shreyas was awarded the FM title by FIDE: \nFIDE FM Certificate for Shreyas Royal\nBCN: Which chess players past & present are inspirational for him? \n\n\nMagnus Carlsen\, world champion and broke many FIDE records also is an inspiration for most of this generation. He likes his slow grinding and almost winning from any opening or ending. This is his favourite player of all time.\nGarry Kasparov played brilliant attacking chess and calculated like a machine.\nBobby Fischer played a similar style to Kasparov but was more talented than both Magnus and Kasparov in his opinion as he worked all by himself at a time in the USA when chess was not so popular while for the Russians\, they had brilliant coaches and had one good player after the other. He rates him a bit lower because Fischer quit competitive chess a bit too early and could not reach the heights he was worthy of.\nAlireza Firouzja\nFabiano Caruana\n\n\nBCN: What are his favourite openings with the White pieces? \nHe plays 1.d4 pretty much all the time. \nMegaBase 2020 has 294 games with 1.d4 and one solitary 1.g3 from March 2021. The 1.d4 games feature main line Queen’s Gambit / Catalan type positions championing 5.Nge2 against the King’s Indian Defence and the exchange variation against the Grunfeld. \nBCN: and what are his preferred defences as the second player? \nReally depends on what they play\, against every opening he has got one or two lines which he enjoys equally. \nMegabase 2022 informs us that Shreyas defends the main line Closed Variation of the Ruy Lopez and main line Giuoco Piano. Previously he essayed the Sicilian Najdorf. \nBCN: Does he have any favourite chess books? \nNot really as he is not such a big fan of chess books\, but he likes My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer. Fundamental Chess Endings and Encyclopedia of Chess Combinations. \nBCN: Which tournaments are planned for 2022? \nWe have pencilled in a couple of norm and Open (France\, Spain\, Germany etc.) tournaments in European countries. \nBCN: What are his favourite subjects outside of chess? \nHis favourite subjects outside chess are Science\, History\, Maths with Science as his favourite\, History as his second favourite and Maths as his third favourite. \nBCN: Does Shreyas play any physical sports? \nHe does Football\, Cricket and a bit of Lawn Tennis. \nBCN: What are his plans and aspirations for the future? \nTo become a world chess champion one day\, but it’s very expensive to even get to the level of IM! Currently we are looking for sponsors who can help support Shreyas to get there. \nHere is his personal website. \nIn late December 2021 Camberley Chess Club had Shreyas as their weekly Zoom meeting guest speaker. \nand finally three of SRs favourite games: \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nand from more recent times: \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nand finally: \n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization. \n \n \n \n\n\n \n\nFM Shreyas Royal at the London Chess Classic\, 2021 courtesy of John Upham Photography\n Save as PDF URL:https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-fm-shreyas-royal-09-i-2009/ CATEGORIES:4NCL,Birthday,British Championships,Junior ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://britishchessnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/LCC_6153-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR