Witney 4 vs, St Clare's
24.2.14 -
A disappointing night against St Clare's, who belied their gradings
with a strong performance. Well done to Jon for a calm conversion of
a winning advantage which was not straightforward, finishing with 3
pawns against a knight.
21.2.14 -
Press ganged into being Captain again while Mike was away on
business I was fortunate that we were playing a friendly club from
MCS/Blackbird Leys and in Dave Sayers a player I have known for over
40 years - frightening!
Before start of play we were one player short as
Peter did not travel because of the sad loss of his mother. Luckily
Alan Gentry was on hand to step
in on board 6.
14.2.14 - On Sunday 30th March 2014,
Wellington College, one of the top co-educational day and boarding
schools, will host a chess training day. These are aimed at a high
level and have been very well received in the past.
There will be 2 groups, one aimed at players
graded over 150 (both adults and juniors) and one aimed at players
graded from 100-150 (juniors only). Trainers in the past have
included Grandmasters David Howell, Simon Williams and Nick Pert.
Further information and entry details here.
13.2.14 - More reports have been posted,
this time from recent Witney 2 and
Witney 4 matches.
13.2.14 - Pavil went to the Classic and
met some of his favourite players and also found time
to play some chess!
12.2.14 - Our away match at Cowley took
an untoward turn when Tim and Csaba failed to
materialise at the appointed time and place. It
appears that an unscheduled night time trip
around of the scenic delights of Headington had
taken place, culminating in a visit to the
splendours
of the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.
Witney 1 vs. OxUni1
12.2.14 -
If there can ever be an unconvincing 6:0 scoreline, this was it. Tim
hung a rook at the end of his game; his opponent, instead of taking
it, exuberantly played Rf8ch to clear a path for his queen to mate
on g7. Unfortunately for him, Tim's reply Rxf8 was also check. Worse
still, Tim's opponent then picked up his
queen to deliver mate.
Wantage 2 vs Witney 4
12.2.14 -
A good solid win for Witney 4 to take us top (for now anyway) of
Division 4. As usual I made the most of my time available (!)
finally getting mate with at least a minute to spare, meaning I had
little time to look at the other games. My opponent's English
opening neglected defence of the King's side and allowed terminal
pressure down the f-file.
12.2.14 - The latest
results
and games
are now online following the completion
of round 4.
The 37th annual Kidlington Tournament held last
weekend (our traditional slot on the first weekend in February),
attracted a very satisfying 170 entrants, with 22 starters in the
top section (U225), 46 in the U180, 59 in the U145 section, and 43
in the U120. This was considerably up on last year's total and the
best for several years. A full list of prizewinners, the section
crosstables, and a tournament report have now been posted on the
tournament website:
see the pages there under the '2014' tab.
Congratulations go to Witney's 12-year-old
Elizaveta Sheremetyeva,
one member of a quartet of Oxfordshire juniors who formed a team
wittingly named, 'Please Print Name Here', which shared the Team
Tournament prize of £40 with (some might say) the very aptly named 'Cowley
Knightmares'.
My thanks go to all who helped to make the
tournament a success: to the players who competed, to the
controllers (this year Tim Dickinson, Alex Holowczak, and Lucy
Smith), to Tom Williams (Tournament Treasurer and much more
besides), to Andrew Butterworth of
Chess Direct</a>, to
Helen Hackett of Hackett's
Food and Drink of Witney, to Brendan O'Gorman for posting
photos of
the event online, as well as to various other people acknowledged in
the
tournament report.
The booking for next year for Exeter Hall,
Kidlington, has now been confirmed, and the 38th annual Kidlington
Chess Tournament will therefore take place there on Saturday and
Sunday 7 & 8 February 2015. We hope to see you there!
- Gerard O'Reilly
Gibraltar - never mind
the grandmasters ...
22.1.14 - The latest
results
and games
are now online following the completion
of round 3.
22.1.14 - A rare report from
Witney 3 as we reach the halfway point of the season. To date the
team has made steady progress with some good and bad,
particularly my performances.
19.1.14 - Wiltshire & West of
England Junior Open Championships takes place
22-23 Feb at St Joseph’s Catholic College,
Ocotal Way, Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 3LR
MAP
Contact:
Bev Schofield Email:
bev@schofieldhall.co.uk
Website:
www.wiltshirejuniorchess.co.uk
Although this 28th Junior Open Congress is
organised by Wiltshire Junior Chess, it is open
to ANY chess player aged under 18 on the 31st
August 2013.
19.1.14 - My slow, long trail
back to the game has started with some early Saturday Morning
coaching with the Aylsham Chess Club Juniors. I did put my big right
foot in it by a suggesting a move to a lad whose opponent instantly
blubbed to his mum; apparently i've been forgiven! I did quite enjoy
being in chess company; whether I will ever play again only time
will tell!
I'm supposed to be playing in the NATO at Quebec
in September (will probably take the team coach role), also a Tour
to Latvia is being arranged. Throw in the ECF at Aberystwyth (I have
attended the Champs since 1981!) and I'm probably incurable. Only
time will tell...
Regards to all at Witney CC who remember me.
- Alec Toll
19.1.14 - Witney 2's early hopes
that Cowley 2 would need to work hard to achieve the 4:2 win
required for them to advance to the semi-finals of the Frank Wood
Shield were somewhat dampened by Mark Hannon's late withdrawal and
by the news on arriving at the Cowley 2 venue that not only Gerard
O'Reilly (ECF grade 190) but also Andy Walden (ECF grade 197) would
be playing. Some small consolation was provided by Heather Lang's
and Maria Lang's absence, but even so
Witney 2 faced an uphill task.
16.1.14 - There's a nice article
about October's Witney Weekend Congress in
January 2014's CHESS magazine.
10.1.14 - The most recent league
reports are now online for Witney 1,
Witney 2 &
Witney 4.
The 37th Annual Kidlington Chess Tournament will
be taking place on Saturday 1st & Sunday 2nd February at Exeter
Hall, Oxford Road. The tournament has four sections (Under-120,
Under-145, Under-180, and Under-225) of five rounds each. The total
prize fund is £1930.
There will be, as usual, a bookstall provided by
Chess Direct, and refreshments will again be provided by
Hackett's
Food & Drink of Witney.
Entry forms can be obtained online either from
the
tournament website or from the
ECF Tournament Calendar.
Hard copies of the entry forms are also being
circulated to the secretaries of local clubs. Entries received by
Saturday 11th January may deduct a £2 discount.
The organising team hope that many local players
will again support this well-established event and have an
interesting and enjoyable weekend of competitive chess in pleasant
surroundings. We look forward to seeing you there!
- Gerard O'Reilly
06.1.14 - The 2011 Cowley Christmas Blitz
was held on
Monday 2 December at Cowley
Chess Club (at Rose Hill Methodist Church in the
Main Hall
downstairs).
2013 results and history about the Cowley
Blitz..
23.11.13 - The first to finish
was Bill Read with a fine win, followed by Maxim
achieving a hard fought draw. Joshua won well,
his first league win, and Freddie
settled for a draw.
14.11.13 - The latest
results
and tables
are now online following the completion
of round 1.
09.11.13 -
It wasn’t to be for Witney 4 against
a very strong Cumnor 2 side, out-grading us on
every board bar none.
MCS/B1 vs. Witney 1
09.11.13 -
Witney 1 maintained their unbeaten
start to the season and are already in the lead in Division 1 after
only three matches. I was away on business so can't comment on the
result in too much detail ... read more.
|
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Ben
(left) and Pavel with their prizes |
|
09.11.13 -
Just a short message to let you all
know about this weekend's Oxford Juniors tournament - qualifier for
the LJCC (U12, U10, U8). It took place in MCS - a great venue as
usual.
Witney CC was very well presented and all the
children did really well! Pavel won the U13 trophy and is going to
have his name engraved alongside the Marcus Harvey's and a few other
famous Oxfordshire players. Pavel finished second on 4½/6, only
missing out by half a point to win outright.
Ben won the controller's prize as after 15
minutes of thinking he went on to win a very difficult game.
- Asen
Cumnor1 vs Witney 2
09.11.13 -
With it being half-term, Cumnor put
out a weakened team. Eight year-old Leonora gave
Paul a huge fright as she gained a hour time
advantage and an overwhelming position
... read more.
 |
|
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31 October 2013
| By Malcolm Pein |
|
The first Witney Weekend
Congress took place on 19-20 October with
Cokethorpe School providing what many of the
players considered the finest venue they had
played in. Witney Chess Club’s Marcus Harvey
won the Open section with 4½/5.
Continuing
reading ...
Youngsters pick up honours as Witney Chess
Club warms up for big event
The annual Witney
Rapidplay tournaments took place on Sunday 29
September at the Batt School in Witney. We ran an
adult event alongside the junior event.
One for next year's diary - the Witney
Rapidplay has been pencilled in for SUNDAY
28 SEPTEMBER 2014, and will again be held at
The Batt C of E Primary School - Mike.
Witney 2 vs City 2
25.10.13 -
Match report
here.
12.10.13 -
For the third year in a row Witney
have entered a junior team into J4NCL
chess, held this year at Daventry. This
time, rather than have too many players,
we had just about the prerequisite
number to constitute a team. Top board
was Pavel, Jake and Daniel (our import
from Cumnor) alternated 2nd and 3rd
board, with Izzy and Marianne sharing
board 4. The team was feeling confident,
understandably with such talent on
display. However, using the spaghetti
western analogy, I have learned to
expect good, bad and ugly.
| |
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| |
(3rd place) Witney: Jake
Holton, Daniel Varney
with CSC Director Malcolm
Pein |
Game 1: Unfortunately, it did
not start well. A 3-1 defeat against Manchester
A was unexpected - so bad and ugly raising its
head (apologies for the mixed metaphors). The
only win coming from Pav. Game 2: Hackles were
up after the Welsh Dragon team were heard to
express, rather unfairly, that the Witney team
were not very good. This had the desired effect
and triggered a comprehensive 4-0 win, with
Daniel finishing in a characteristically speedy
fashion. Confidence was now on the up. Game 3:
The third match against Midland Monarchs 3
finished impressively 3-1. After Day 1 the team
was in second place.
Day 2 was going to be
difficult as we would start the first match with
only three players. Reinforcements would follow
in the form of Marianne for the final game.
Therefore a management dictat was sent out to
the team: win all of the matches. Surely such a
Paulo DiCanio-esque instruction would be
followed to the letter. Perfectly paralleling
the football team counterpart it ended
imperfectly. Witney ended game 4 even with wins
from Jake and Daniel.
Now in third place overall,
our final (5th) game was against Midland
Monarchs 2. Marianne arrived unflustered to join
the team with 5 minutes to spare and promptly
finished first winning in double quick time. A
win from Pav gave us a 2.5-1.5 win to secure a
comfortable third place.
Well done to the team, a
great fight back given a difficult start.
Overall an excellent weekend of chess. Also,
thanks to the long suffering parents. Malcolm
Pein (CO of Chess in Schools and Communities)
presented the third place book prizes (which was
an unexpected surprise as most of the team had
left by then). I must also note Malcolm was
fulsome in his praise of Witney Chess Club,
therefore I must pass on my praise - well done
Mike.
- David Holton
22.9.13
-
We are pleased to advertise the
following tournaments:
Wiltshire Team-Rapidplay,
Sunday 24th November 2013
Entry Form
Birmingham Rapidplay
http://birminghamchess.org.uk/rapidplay/
Chipping Sodbury Rapidplay
https://britchess.wufoo.com/cabinet/x7x1q9/vCTmsOPrtKM%3D/cs_rap_entry_form.pdf
Dudley Congress
http://www.castlechess.co.uk/
Eton Secondary School
Rapidplay Chess Tournament
http://www.cchess.org.uk/eton.html
Leamington Rapidplay
http://www.kcc1975.org.uk/Kenilworth_Chess_Club/LRP2013.html
- More recent news items from the
current season are
here.
