The GazetteAugust 2017

Registered Charity Number 263049

Supporting Chess Players with Sight LossBCA Website Address: www.braillechess.org.uk

Email: customerservices@braillechess.org.ukTwitter: https://twitter.com/braillechess @braillechessFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrailleChess

To contact a member of the committee, please see the Braille Chess Association’s website where there is a facility for emailing each officer.

Note: The views expressed in the Gazette do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of the BCA, nor those of the editor.

CONTENTSEditorial.......................................................................................................................................................................3Forthcoming Events.....................................................................................................................................................3Other Events of Interest...............................................................................................................................................5All Under One Roof.....................................................................................................................................................5Eli’s First Tournament.................................................................................................................................................6Successes for BCA Members in Mainstream Chess....................................................................................................6Words from the Whitehouse........................................................................................................................................7Should We Change Our Name?...................................................................................................................................8Membership Secretary’s Report..................................................................................................................................8Haaksbergen 2017........................................................................................................................................................92017 BCA Junior Chess Championship......................................................................................................................9BCA Championship 2017..........................................................................................................................................11IBCA 15th Olympiad..................................................................................................................................................16Coaching Initiatives...................................................................................................................................................18Correspondence Chess Director’s Report..................................................................................................................18New Correspondence Rules.......................................................................................................................................19E-Chess News............................................................................................................................................................21Chris’s Puzzle............................................................................................................................................................22Millennium Club........................................................................................................................................................22Personalia...................................................................................................................................................................22Obituary for Andy Lee...............................................................................................................................................22Obituary for Derek Spink..........................................................................................................................................23Obituary for Jan Lovell..............................................................................................................................................24

EditorialIt is forty years since Swedish pop group ABBA spent four weeks at the top of the UK singles chart with "The Name of the Game". The lyrics pose questions: "What's the name of the game? Does it mean anything to you?" Well the name of our game is "Chess" and we love it! What about the name of our association though? In this is-sue members are asked to consider whether a new name is needed and if so, what it should be. Some members might not attach a great deal of significance to this and respond like Shakespeare's Juliet "What's in a name? The BCA by any other name would be as fine!" For others though this decision could be a critical turning point in our history so I urge you all to read the article by our Chairman and let the committee know your views.Our Olympiad squad returned home from Macedonia at the end of June. Many thanks to captain Bill Armstrong for getting his report to me in time for this issue. (He must have written it even before unpacking his suitcase!) In these pages you can also read about our email chess events and two over the board championships. Corres-pondence chess players should take careful note of the new rules that have been drafted by the Tournament Sub-committee and are due to come into force next year. There is news of BCA members achieving success in main-stream chess and a report on the annual Haaksbergen trip as well as all the usual officers’ reports. Sadly, we also pay our respects to three members who have passed away in recent months. Please send me your articles for the November gazette by the end of September.Julie Leonard

Forthcoming Events27 th to 29 th October 2017: International Autumn Tournament This is the last call for our International Autumn Tournament at the Crown Plaza Hotel, formerly the Holiday Inn, in Solihull! By the time you read this the closing date for entries will soon be upon us. I hope as many as possible will have entered by then as it has proved to be a successful venue in recent years. No doubt recent refurbishments will have made it even better so why not come along. I very much hope that those who have not so far taken part in our events will consider coming for the first time and we would, of course, very much like to welcome any of our junior members who have previously not attended our events.At our AGM in March discussions took place regarding the use of digital clocks and time increments in our tournaments. As a result we are recommending that, where both players agree, digital clocks will be used in the Open Section and a small increment will be applied.The event will consist of two five round Swiss tournaments – an Open and a Challengers for those whose grade or estimated grade is 100 or below. Both are open to blind and partially sighted players and to associate members of the BCA. The hotel is located a short taxi ride from Solihull Railway Station, and is also convenient for Birmingham International Airport. It has extensive grounds and is adjacent to Solihull’s indoor shopping centre.As the hotel has changed hands prices have increased, but we are of course doing our best to minimise the effect of this to members. The cost for dinner, bed and breakfast for the Friday and Saturday nights is £37 per person per night for BCA members and associate members in a shared room and £39 per person per night in a single room. The cost for non-members and for those staying the Sunday night will be £56 per person per night sharing and £58 per person per night single.Payment for all accommodation (including Sunday if required), together with the £10 entry fee should be sent to the Treasurer, Gill Smith. The closing date for entries is 8th September 2017. Any queries, please contact the organiser, Voldi Gailans.

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16 th to 18 th March 2018: AGM Weekend Chess Congress This will take place at The Hallmark Hotel, Derby. The AGM will be held at 2pm on Saturday 17th March. We are pleased to be returning to this popular hotel with its excellent facilities. The hotel is very conveniently located within a few yards walk of Derby railway station.There will be two five round chess tournaments. The Open section is open to all visually impaired chess players and associate members of the BCA. The Challengers is limited to those graded 100 or below. The entry fee for both tournaments is £10. The cost of dinner, bed and breakfast for members and associate members is £40 per person per night for Friday and Saturday nights in a single room, and £36 per person per night in a double/twin room. For non members and those staying on the Sunday night, the cost will be £58 per person in a single room and £51 per person in a double/twin. The closing date for entries is 26th January. Please send your entry fee and full payment for all accommodation to Gill Smith by this date. Please send any resolutions or other items for inclusion on the AGM agenda to Guy Whitehouse by 31st December 2017. Also, let Guy know if you are planning to attend the AGM without staying at the hotel so that we can let you have the AGM papers. Organiser Steve Burnell.16 th to 23 rd June 2018: Chairman’s Cup, Whitehall Hotel, Exeter Park Road, Bournemouth The Chairman's Cup is open to all visually impaired players whose grade or estimated grade is 140 or below and to BCA associate members within the same grading limit. The event is played over 7 rounds with one round each day. Players may request a half point bye in any one of the first six rounds. If there are sufficient numbers there will be two sections. Entry fee: £10. Cost of dinner, bed and breakfast accommodation to members and associate members of BCA: £270 for the week. The cost to those booking for less than the full week will be £45 per day for members and associate members. The cost to non-members of BCA: £357 for the week or £57 per day. The closing date for bookings is 30th April 2018. Bookings accepted after that date, at the discretion of the organiser, will be subject to a late booking fee of £10 per person. Bookings, including full payment, should be sent to: Mrs Gill Smith (see list of BCA Officers for contact details). Please note: Rooms will not be reserved until full payment has been received. The Whitehall Hotel has become very popular with our members who particularly appreciate the good food and the very friendly and helpful staff. The hotel is situated a relatively short downhill walk to the seafront, lower gardens and shops. In addition to the chess tournament there will be a varied programme of social activities. Anyone with ideas for social events, or who wants further information is invited to contact the organisers: John and Pam JenkinsA message from John Jenkins: I think the format of the 2016 Chairman's Cup went down fairly well with most attendees. There was one game played every morning at 10.00am except the first night when the chess started at 7.30pm. Entertainment included a simultaneous display, barber shop singers, a quiz, jazz in the bar, a murder mystery, and a final night concert. I can arrange trips out to suit individuals. The Lighthouse is functioning again, offering music and various exhibitions etc. Please give me feedback for possible improvements.Booking Conditions and ProceduresIf you have any queries about the hotel or the tournament please contact the organiser. Blind and partially sighted UK residents under the age of 25 receive free entry and free accommodation when playing in BCA events. In appropriate circumstances, free accommodation is also available to a parent or guardian accompanying a junior.Visually impaired UK residents in their first year of membership receive their first BCA weekend event free or £100 reduction in the cost of a week-long event. They may also be accompanied by a guide or companion who will receive the same concession.For a first event we ask for payment in advance and we then make a refund at the event.You may pay in these ways:Cheques payable to Braille Chess Association should be sent to Gill Smith. Online or telephone payments may be made to: Braille Chess Association, sort code 40 52 40, account number 00082456.Credit/debit card payments may be made through the BCA website.If you pay by direct payment then you should inform Gill when the payment has been made. Bookings accepted after the closing date are subject to a £10 late booking penalty for each person. Late bookings and entries are accepted at the discretion of the organiser. Bookings are confirmed when full payment has been received. Payments can only be refunded within the time limit set in the terms and conditions set by the hotels.Members are advised to take out holiday insurance to cover themselves.

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When contacting Gill please let her know if you want a single, double or twin room and if you have a preference for a bath or a shower. And remember, if emailing Gill, copy in the tournament organiser.Also say whether any of the following apply.

1 If you will be bringing a guide dog;2 If you are on a special diet;3 If you have mobility problems and would benefit from being located in a room near to a lift;4 If you are a wheelchair user;5 If you feel you would have any special difficulties in an emergency such as a fire evacuation;6 Any other special requirements.

By entering a BCA tournament a player is deemed to have consented for their forename, surname, club, results and possibly also their gender to be sent to the ECF for grading purposes. For juniors, the date of birth is also required if they are to get the age-related grading bonus they are entitled to.Please note: BCA reserves the right to refuse or cancel any entry or to exclude any person from any event it runs.

Other Events of Interest 25th Windermere Chess Theme Break 2018The ever popular chess theme break will be held from Saturday, 27th January 2018 to Saturday, 3rd February 2018.If you’d like to join Peter and Celia Gibbs for this wonderful week of coaching and a Chess Handicap Cup Competition at the Windermere Manor Hotel don’t forget to book up and pay your deposit prior to 30th September to get the most favourable rate! Please refer back to the May 2017 gazette for further details. 2017 Belgian Open Chess Championship for the Visually Impaired1st to 5th of November 2017 in Blankenberge, Belgium. Visually impaired players and their guides can enter. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Voldi Gailans.

All Under One RoofMembers can claim support for attending any of these congresses from the Congress Support Scheme. You just have to flag up with the Congress Support Officer, Mark Kirkham, that you intend to participate, and assuming you have not exceeded the amount you are entitled to claim in a year and that you send in a small report on the tournament afterwards you could probably offset the vast bulk of costs incurred by playing in an event. If you do choose to claim for attending one of these tournaments, or indeed for playing at any other tournament covered by the scheme, please follow the guidelines and send the Congress Support Officer, Mark Kirkham, travel receipts and the required report. This list should not be treated as definitive and is only as complete as I can make it whilst complying with gazette deadlines. The following events take place in hotels so the accommodation and tournament are at the same venue.Castle Chess Website: www.castlechess.co.ukThese are organised by Tony and Barbara Corfe. You can subscribe to Tony’s newsletter yourself; just email him at one of these addresses and you will be added to his list of subscribers. Tony and Barbara are used to having visually impaired participants in their events. I have also found that other participants in Castle Chess events have got to know and befriended BCA players.Please note that unless otherwise stated, all Castle Chess congresses are now six-round Swiss events and you are allowed to take a half-point bye in any two of the first five rounds. The grading bands are an U195 Championship with a Premier U175 section, the Major for those under 155 with an Intermediate section for U135s, and a Minor section for those with a grade less than 115 with a Challengers section for U95s.29th September – 1st October 2017, 12th Fareham Congress, Lysses House Hotel, High Street, Fareham Rooms in this hotel are limited so book well in advance if you wish to go to this event and stay in the hotel.e2e4 events Website: www.e2e4.org.ukAt this writing I can find no e2e4 events listed for the period covered by this gazette. 4NCL Events Website: www.4ncl.co.ukFive round Swiss tournaments with sections: FIDE Open, FIDE U2000 (ECF U175) and an ECF U135. Contact Mike Truran.8th – 10th September 2017, 15th 4NCL FIDE rated Congress, Holiday Inn Doncaster, Doncaster DN4 9UX

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Other Events11th – 13th August 2017, West Midlands Championships, Park Inn, Birmingham Road, West Bromwich.There are three sections: a FIDE Open, a FIDE U-1900 and a section for those with an ECF grade of 130 or below. Contact Alex Holowczak.3rd – 9th September 2017, 67th DCCA Congress, Livermead House Hotel, Torquay TQ2 6QJContact: Alan Crickmore Ron Bruce Premier (FIDE-rated Open), Rowena Bruce Challengers U180, Bloodworth Intermediate U150, Walker Minor U120, Boniface Morning 5 Round U180 and Thynne Morning 5 Round U1358th – 10th September 2017, Dublin Championships, Gresham Hotel on Lower O'Connell Street, Dublin 1The only details given are that the event is a six-round Swiss with four sections. Contact Pat Fitzsimons.23rd – 24th September 2017, Irish Rapid & Blitz Championships, Academy Plaza Hotel, Dublin 1There is a FIDE-rated seven-round Rapidplay on Saturday (15 minutes +10 second increment) and a FIDE-rated 11 round Blitz on Sunday (3 minutes + 2 second increment). Contact John McMorrow.13th – 15th October 2017, 52nd Dorset Chess Congress, The Elstead Hotel, Knyveton Road, BournemouthThis is what some members would have come to call the Bournemouth Congress. There are four sections: Open, Major (under 160), Intermediate (under 135) & Minor (under 115) Contact Ian Clark. Website: https://www.dorsetchess.co.uk/52nd-dorset-open15th – 21st October 2017, 43rd Guernsey International Chess Festival, The Peninsula Hotel, Guernsey Seven round Swiss with an Open section and a Holiday tournament for those under FIDE 1900 (under ECF 147).Contact Fred Hamperl.

Guy Whitehouse

Eli’s First TournamentJunior BCA member, Eli Josebashvili, played in the U120 section of the Richmond Rapidplay on the 18th of June. Despite never having played in a tournament of any description before and not being accustomed to playing with a clock, Eli won three of his six games and finished on 50%. It was an impressive performance for a first event! Eli is now keen to build on his success by brushing up on some openings. I'm sure we all wish him well for his next tournament, whenever that might be, and we look forward to hearing how he gets on.

Our Congress Support Officer, Mark Kirkham, writes: If, like Eli, you would like to start participating in more mainstream events, but the cost is an issue for you, please remember that the BCA is here to help. Our congress support scheme allows UK visually impaired members who have played in a BCA event in the past year to claim up to £300 in expenses over a maximum of four mainstream events. Please contact me for further details. (See Officers’ Contact details.)

Successes for BCA Members in Mainstream ChessCups for Colin!Colin Baxter writes: Although I now admit to being well past my best, I’ve just had a bit of success. My grade had gone down to 121 and I’ve been playing for the club second team. I decided to follow a bit of advice in a report of one of the BCA Skype sessions to the effect that you should be patient, avoid errors and keep making moves to set your opponent problems or even just annoy him. I suddenly found myself winning lots of games and got my grade back over 140. I was unbeaten until the last match of the season when I forgot all my previous philosophy and came a right cropper trying to beat up someone graded 100. I was, however, quite pleased to receive my club’s cup for the biggest grade jump during the season, but on the 4th of July, at the Hull and District presentations, I did even better. I got a shield for the best second division player and the big one, the shield for the overall player of the season.Editor’s note: Many congratulations to Colin on receiving these honours in recognition of such a successful season! Colin himself attributes his success in part to advice given in a BCA Skype session so it is also a fine accolade for those sessions and all the hard work that goes into preparing them!

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Gary and the Lost BoyGary Wickett writes: Here is the pretty little miniature I played on Saturday 1st July in the Warwickshire v Leicestershire U100 County Final. Warwickshire unfortunately got thrashed 8.5 - 3.5 with myself getting the only win.It was all a bit rushed at the beginning as I suddenly learned that we weren't playing the usual time control and I had to re-set my clock in a hurry. I didn't have any device to record my opponent's name and no time to commit it to memory. All I can say is that he was a young kid who I would say was between 12 and 14 years old. I shall therefore call him Master Black. I don't really like playing children as I don't particularly want to lose and if I win I feel like Captain Hook! Wickett v Black (Warwickshire v Leicestershire U100 County Final, Board 2)1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. c3 Nf6 7. 0-0 Be7 8. Bg5 0-0 9. Nbd2 Re8 10. Re1 Nd7 11. Bxe7 Rxe7 12. Bxh7+! Kxh7 13. Ng5+ Kh6 14. Qxg4 Rxe1+ 15. Rxe1 Qxg5 16. Qh3+! Kg6 17. Nf3 Qf5? 18. Nh4+ ResignsAlthough my opponent blundered at the end in a desperate attempt to hold on to his piece advantage, I think the end sequence is quite fascinating. I believe Black had to lose his piece advantage and give up the knight and remain a pawn down with a weakened king. As if he had tried to save his knight with 17 ... Qd8 18 Qg4+ is quite an easy win for White. I have to admit when I played Bxh7+ I hadn't seen at the time how complicated it would turn out to be and there was a brief moment when I feared I'd pushed my luck a little too far.Editor’s note: Thanks to Gary for sharing this game and his thoughts on it. Peter Pan called Captain Hook a “dark and sinister man” but that description definitely doesn’t apply to you, Gary! Next time one of you face a daunting opponent, junior or otherwise, remember Tinkerbell’s words, “All you need is faith, trust and a little pixie dust!” However, the use of performance enhancing substances such as pixie dust is naturally prohibited in BCA events.

Words from the WhitehouseWe held a committee meeting in May, but much of what was discussed including international events will be dealt with elsewhere in this gazette. However I’d direct your attention to Norman’s article on options for changing the association’s name. Another point I’ll mention here is that starting with the autumn international tournament, we’re making time increments the default in the Open section of our tournaments as long as both players agree; if they don’t mechanical clocks will still be used for that game.Fundraising for the current financial year is going well, with Julia having raised over £21,000 at the time of the meeting. We do benefit enormously from her efforts and minuting thanks to her has become a staple part of our committee meetings!We do feel that a fresh approach is needed regarding activities targeted at our junior members. Accordingly we are looking at putting on rapid-play events and whether a match between some senior BCA members and the juniors is possible. Rapid-play events could be made open to both juniors and seniors.Mark Kirkham reported he had been made aware of the possible existence of some commentaries on games by Paul Benson. If they did exist it would be on cassette, but if they are found Mark will try to digitise them. The same is being done for the commentaries on his games by Chris Ross.We used some funds ringfenced for website purposes to get some tidying up work done on the main pages (correcting formatting inconsistencies and other small-scale errors). The work has been completed and we are pleased with the result. To counteract the idea that only Braille users can apply to the association, we’ve changed the heading on our website to “Welcome to the BCA, supporting chess players with sight loss”.An action placed on me at the AGM was to contact Stefano Murgia in Italy to ask whether smaller versions of the magnetic set are available. It turns out they aren’t. Stefano did offer to put me in touch with the supplier, but the general view of the committee was that trying to work with an overseas supplier wasn’t feasible, at least not when it came to developing and quality checking what would in effect be a new product. We are also concerned not to do anything to undermine the arrangement we have with Chess Baron, our current main supplier of adapted sets.Finally the other action placed on me at the AGM was to look into the wording of the FIDE rules governing the participation of visually impaired players in mainstream events. I had a chat about this with Gerry Walsh at the championships in Harrogate; our basic approach will be to try to simplify the wording. I haven’t drafted an amended text yet, but some people have already asked me if they could see it when a draft had been prepared and it’s my intention to consult as widely as possible.

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Guy Whitehouse

Should We Change Our Name?At our AGM earlier this year one of our newer members indicated that he had initially assumed that, as a non-Braillist, he would not be able to make use of the services of the Braille Chess Association. It was only after he met Mark Hague on a holiday that he found out that the BCA is there for all chess enthusiasts.The committee has since been considering this point and trying to assess whether our name is a possible disadvantage, putting some potential members off that we never hear about. After much discussion, we have come to the conclusion that we should recommend a name change.Before arriving at this conclusion, we did consider the possibility of retaining our current name but giving it less prominence in our publicity output and we have already taken steps down this road with our website. However, we feel that this is not a satisfactory permanent solution and that a name change is the best way forward.Changing our name after 85 years would be a major step and we would very much like to have views and ideas from members, not only on possible new names but also on whether we should retain our current name despite the potential disadvantages. Our timetable is that, at our Autumn committee meeting, we will discuss the matter again in the light of feedback and ideas from members and then come to the 2018 AGM with firm proposals.It is worth mentioning that there are two options when considering a name change. One can change the name completely or one can simply add an extra working name for use in most situations. There is less work involved with the latter option but overall we feel that it is best to go for the full change.So what possible new names have we come up with so far? Our feeling is that it would be very useful to be able to retain the term BCA since that is how we are so often known. A new name that would allow this is the Blind Chess Association. However, we are aware that such a name would not be universally popular among existing members and might be a barrier to potential new members who are partially sighted.Another option that could retain the term BCA is to call ourselves the Blind and Partially Sighted Chess Association. Using the term BCA with such a name is perhaps stretching things a little but we feel it would be reasonable. The RNIB did something similar some years ago when they added the word “people” to their name without changing the acronym.Other names we have come up with would involve abandoning the term BCA. These include Visually Impaired Chess Association (VICA) and Sight Impaired Chess Enthusiasts (SICE).Please get in touch with a committee member to give your views and ideas for possible new names before the end of September. Naturally we also want to hear from members who like our current name and feel it should not be changed. Many thanks.Norman Wragg, on behalf of the committee.

Membership Secretary’s ReportNo new members to report this quarter but I’ve had plenty of interest from juniors and other potential new members.

Deceased:It is with great sadness that I have to report the passing of three of our members.Andy Lee: One of our newer members who was a keen supporter of our Challenger Tournaments.Derek Spink: A long standing BCA member, who competed in our over the board and correspondence tournaments for many years.Jan Lovell: Though not a chess player herself she was an Honorary member in recognition of her hard work for the BCA. She also brought much happiness to our events and will be greatly missed.

Mark Hague

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Haaksbergen 2017By Jim Cuthbert:On Thursday 20th April Tanvi Muir, Gary Wickett, Norman Andrews and I left Liverpool Street station on the 18:20 boat train. Mike Murphy had been due to travel with us but sadly he had had to cancel due to ill health. We knew that he wouldn't have taken this decision lightly as he has been a regular attendee at the Haaksbergen tournament for many years. He was much missed. As Norman was the only guide in our party we were glad to be helped onto the ferry at Harwich. On board we had four cabins on deck 10 but before retiring for the night we enjoyed a meal in a restaurant on deck 9. The breakfast call was at 05:30 Dutch time. After arriving at the Hoek of Holland the vehicle passengers were instructed to go to the car decks and then the foot passengers disembarked. We took a bus the short distance to the railway station then journeyed on by train to Hengelo, changing once en route. The host families met us at Hengelo. Norman and I had the good fortune of staying with a lovely lady whose guests in earlier years had included Geoff Patching and the late Brian Perham. We went out for a steak dinner then returned to the house briefly before joining the other participants from Belgium, Germany and of course the Netherlands at the centre where the chess would be played the following day. By this time, Steve Hilton, who had travelled separately by air, had also arrived to boost the numbers in the UK party. In the Haaksbergen tournament players are divided into groups of four by playing strength. Each is assigned to a table and a mini all play all is held on each. Norman was on the top table, Steve was on table 2, Gary was on 8 and I was on 10. The next morning we gathered in the centre again to get down to the serious business of the chess. The mayor opened the tournament. There were about forty players in total. Who should Norman face in the first round, but fellow BCA member Hugo Roman from Belgium! Norman had lost to Hugo in 2016, but got his revenge this year! I also managed to win my game. At lunchtime a minute's silence was held for Haaksbergen regulars who had passed away since the previous year's event. After lunch we played round 2 and had some tea before returning to the centre for a party in the evening. Round three was played on Sunday morning and was followed by the prize giving. On table one Norman and Hugo both scored a respectable 50%. Steve scored 2, Gary 2.5 and I managed 3 points. Gary and I were winners on our respective tables and we each received a tea caddy and some tea. Mike Murphy got a special mention in the speeches and a get well card was sent to him. Monday came around all too soon and it was time to leave for home. Unfortunately, on the return journey we had a couple of incidents with train doors shutting too quickly when we were trying to get off the train. On the first occasion Norman bravely held the door open and we were able to escape. On the second occasion not even Norman could make the door stay open and so we literally shouted for help. After a few worrying moments somebody came to our rescue.I would like to say a big “Thank you” to Norman for all his help during the trip. He did a great job under difficult circumstances. I would also like to thank the organisers in Haaksbergen as well as our own trip coordinator, Guy Whitehouse. Last but not least many thanks to the host families who once again welcomed us into their homes and looked after us for the weekend. It would be nice if more people went on the Haaksbergen trip next year. Watch out for details in the next gazette!

2017 BCA Junior Chess ChampionshipBy tournament organizer and arbiter, Owen Phillips:The Fourth Wallington based BCA Junior Championship took place on 6th May. Nineteen expressions of interest were received and twelve players entered. Three subsequently withdrew before the event so nine were expected on the day. However, for various reasons, only five competitors were available on the day. Thus the event was hastily rearranged into a double round all-play-all. The players were BCA Multiple VI Junior Champion 13 year old Efe Shimwell (ECF Rapid 102), 8 year old Nishad Patil (53), 10 year old Shehroze Bhutta (37), 8 year old Sanjay Rajkumar (e30), and 11 year old Ehteshaam Bhutta (19). Having only five competitors ensured that there was always plenty of elbow and leg room, and lack of air only became apparent during time scrambles! As usual the event was sportingly contested with parents and players having lots of chats between games. The re-freshments provided were popular and in high demand! Some friendly ungraded games were played before the main event started. With an odd number of players there were two games per round with a one point bye for the other player. The event was an ECF graded Rapid-Play with 20 minutes per player per game.Round 1 saw Efe beat Sanjay with a Van de Kruits opening, and Shehroze lost with White playing a Hungarian

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opening against Nishad. Round 2 saw Nish lose to Efe’s Scandinavian, and Sanjay lose to Shami’s Hungarian. Scores (including byes) af-ter the second round were Efe and Shami 2, Nish and Sheroze 1, and Sanjay 0.Round 3 saw Efe beat Shami with a Larsen Birds, whilst Nish used a Reversed Krazy Kat to down Shehroze. Efe had marched on to 3 points, Nish and Shami had 2, and Shehroze and Sanjay 1point each. Round 4 saw Sanjay lose with an Irregular King Pawn opening to Nishad, and Shami drew with a highly irregular Hippoesque opening to his brother Shehroze. This was later judged to be the best game of the tournament for many reasons-not least Shehroze’s fine early tactical ideas and later fightback to draw with a stalemate! So Efe 4, Nish 3, Shami 2.5, Shehroze 1.5 and Sanjay 1Round 5 saw Nishad have his first Bye, and so he closed out the halfway stage with 4 points. Efe won with black against an Irregular Reversed Krazy Kat by Sanjay. Shehroze beat his brother in another good game - a Hippo! To speed things up and as it was a double-round robin some games were now played out of sequence. It was no-ticeable that Shehroze seemed to up his game against his elder brother! Was family rivalry showing its head? So at the halfway stage Efe had 5/5, Nish 4/5, Shehroze and Shami 2.5, and Sanjay 1. The remaining rounds saw an increasing number of irregular openings played by all except Efe. Efe went on to achieve a clean sweep winning with 10/10 (including byes). In clear second place was Nishad scoring 8/10, only having lost to Efe. The second half saw Nish inflict three quick wins on opponents! It seemed to me that had he played more classically against Efe, then the first place could have been in doubt for far longer, if not altogether!Eventually Sanjay drew in round 8 against Shehroze, who gave away an unnecessary stalemate! Shehroze finished in third place with 5 points followed by Shami with 4.5 and Sanjay with 2.5.I felt a bit guilty at the prize giving with there being such a small turnout for so many decent prizes. But the lads had all been very sporting and some good chess was played all day. Most players were guilty of playing too quickly but they were starting to learn “that haste can often come before a fall” or some such phrase! Efe showed what a mature player he is becoming. No doubt playing in adult BCA events has helped his technique, quite apart from lessons he has had. It was a pity that one of the higher graded entrants had to miss the event on the day, but Efe still had a good work out! Nishad demonstrated that he was second only here to Efe, and probably showed un-derstandable nerves while playing his august opponent! I think that maybe Efe’s reputation proved a little fright-ening on this occasion!Shehroze and Shami at times both showed that they have learnt a lot in the past year and played some good moves. Shehroze in particular could have scored more points. Sanjay put up with the losses inflicted upon him with good spirits and was still smiling at the close of play. He did play relatively calmly despite being the least experienced player by far. He learnt a lot and I awarded his good sportsmanship with one of my two personally contributed book prizes! Watch out as Sanjay may become an expert on the Caro Kann Defence!The other prizes were a mounted miniature clock engraved with the 2017 BCA Junior Chess Champion on it, and Efe took that home along with his cash prize of £50. No wonder he was smiling! Nishad won a fine trophy for coming second and also took home the £30 Runners-up prize. Shehroze not only won £10 for coming third, but also picked up the smaller Best Game Prize Trophy and the Best Game Prize Book award I made (GM Eduard Gufeld's “The Search for Mona Lisa”. I suggested he share the book with his brother who made his contribution to that best game prize! Finally I awarded a special extra Golden Knight award for the best comeback which was that of Shami drawing against his brother in their first game.The silverware, or rather brassware, did not stop there! All players went home with a participant’s medal around their necks. They felt that they had done a good days work, and indeed they had, along with a lot of patient par-ents! Enough of this malarkey and on to what you really want to know: What were the most popular refreshments? Per-haps not surprisingly it was crisps for the juniors, closely followed by almond cakes, coconut macaroons and chocolates. Juniors have some sophisticated tastes these days! Parents preferred coffee or water, and possibly the odd cupcake! The wafers were not in high demand but at the end the diet cokes seemed to go down a treat!As controller I thanked those who turned out and all the parents for their good sportsmanship and patience espe-cially at the outset when we did not know whether four extra players were coming or not! We all thanked the BCA for their generous ongoing sponsorship of this event. BCA at its AGM has also previ-ously thanked the ECF for its contribution towards costs and prizes from its special John Robinson Trust award to the BCA for their Junior Event this year. I would note that all the parents and participants said they greatly en-joyed their further adventure into the chess world!Editor’s note: We are grateful to Owen for organising and running our Junior Championship once again!

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BCA Championship 2017The BCA Championship was held at The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, from Saturday, 27th May, until Saturday, 3rd June. It was a seven round event and there was one round per day. The tournament was open to visually im-paired chess players from the UK and overseas. It was also open to all BCA associate members. The British Champion was the highest placed UK visually impaired player.Organisers: Hazel and Steve Burnell, supported by daughter Philippa. Needless to say, this trio made an excellent team and their combined efforts ensured that we all had a most enjoyable week. Many thanks from us all.Entertainment: In the daytime this comprised of a walking tour of Harrogate; visits to Slingsby Gin and Harlow Carr Garden. In the evenings we had: a soirée arranged by Clare Gailans and Joan Shorrock; Sue Parish singing (after leaving the hotel Sue sent an email from herself and her husband, Jon, and wished to be remembered to everybody); a couple of quizzes; the Denise Ross Fives and Threes dominoes competition; last, but far from least, we were entertained by the BCA Band, with supporting singers.Raffle: Moira Whittle. Moira raised an impressive £144.Arbiters: Gerry Walsh and Matthew Carr; Steward: Richard Murphy. Again this trio performed very efficiently and ensured the smooth running of the tournament.

Final Tournament standings; including name, grade, points and any prize:5 points: Owen Phillips 169 and Bill Armstrong 144 (Joint 1st Prize)4.5 points: Ernie McElroy (IRL) 146, Colin Chambers 142, Philip Doyle (IRL) 132 and Steve Burnell 137 (all shared 3rd Prize, with Doyle also receiving a share of Grading Prize A)4 points: David Welch 147, Norman Andrews 128 (received a share of Grading Prize A), Dan Rugman 86 (won Grading Prize C)3.5 points: Phil Gordon 119, Jim Cuthbert 76, Sean Loftus 126 and Eamonn Casey 100 (Gordon and Casey shared Grading Prize B)3 points: Voldi Gailans 862.5 points: Gary Wickett 972 points: Mike Lowery 30 (won Grading Prize D)1 point: Richard Harrington 0

Final top three places in The BCA British Championship; including name, grade, points and prize:1st Bill Armstrong (retaining his title of BCA British Champion)2nd Colin Chambers (the only unbeaten player in the tournament)3rd Steve Burnell

To crown Bill's success in retaining the British Championship he was also awarded the David Hodgkins Memorial Best Game Prize for 2016 by judge, Owen Phillips. Very well done again Bill!On the subject of Bill's games, the game which clinched the title for Bill follows this report.Colin Chambers

Round 7: Bill Armstrong v Owen Phillips (with comments by Owen)1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O d6 6. Nc3 e5 7. d3 f5 8. Nd5 Nf6 9. Bg5 h6 10. Bxf6 Bxf611. Nxf6 Qxf6 12. Qd2 g5 (Surely Black stands better or has at least equalised, but this position needs careful play and Owen plays on auto-pilot for too long! Then Bill strikes on the Queenside with lethal effect!!)13. Rab1 O-O 14. a3 a5 15. b3 Bd7 16. Ne1 Rae8 (Pointless!) 17. Nc2 f4 18. Bd5+ Be6? 19. e4 Kh7 20 Bxe6 Qxe6 21. f3 fxg3 22. hxg3 Qh3 23. Qg2 Qxg2??! 24. Kxg2 Re7 25. Rf2 R7f7 26. g4 Kg6 27. Ne3 Nd4 28. Nf5 Nxf5??! 29. exf5+ Kg7? 30. b4 axb4 31. axb4 b6??! 32. Ra2 h5 33. Ra6 h4?? (With particular reference to Black’s moves 16, 18, 23, 28, 29, and 33, Owen says he “Wasn’t quite all there on this one!” Bill now despatches Owen superbly.)34. Rxb6 Rd7 35. bxc5 dxc5 36. Rg6+ Kf7 37. Rbb6 Red8 38. Rbf6+ Ke7 39. Re6+ Kf7 40. Rxg5 Rxd3 41. Rh5 Rd1 42. Kh3 Rf1 (Owen only plays on in vague hope of a forced stalemate!) 43. Kxh4 e4 44. fxe4 Rg8 45. g5 Rh1+ 46. Kg4 Rg1+ 47. Kf4 Rf1+ 48. Ke5 Rf3 49. Rh7+ Rg7 50. g6+ Kf8 Owen resigned soon after. 1-0

Editor’s note: Many thanks to Joan Shorrock for sending me her poem about the 2017 BCA Championship. Due to space re-strictions it will appear in the November issue. Thanks also to everyone who sent in the BCA Championship games that follow this note. There are some great games here and because they have appeared in the gazette they

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will automatically be entered into the 2017 BCA Annual David Hodgkins Best Game Competition. Don’t forget that you can also enter games by sending them to this year’s judge, Graham Lilley, via any committee member. Please refer to the February 2017 gazette for the eligibility criteria.

Move rate for Championship games was: 40 moves in 2 hours plus 30 minutes per player for the rest of the game. Round 2: Steve Burnell v Owen Phillips (Annotator Owen Phillips plus KOMODO and Fritz)1. d4 c6 (Keeps White wondering whether Black will play a Slav, a Pirc or turn it into a Caro Kann with 2. e4) 2. c4 g6 (I decided on a Gurgenidze Pirc.) 3. Nc3 Bg7 (3. ... d5 is still an option but development is appropriate here too.) 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 Qb6??! (An odd variation which I would not recommend to my pupils! Why not the simple 5. ... Nf6?! or the bizarre but very solid idea of a Krazy Kat with Nh6, f6 and Nf7? Anything but moving out the Queen so early! Yet this is a recognised Master line trying to force White to get doubled F pawns.)6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Be3 (An interesting alternative line is 7. Na4 Qa5+ 8. Bd2 Qc7 9.Be3 Nd7 10. O-O Ngf6 11. Nc3 O-O 12. Nd2 e5 13. d5 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 Kh8 15. Rfd1 c5 16. a3 a6 17. b4 Nh5 with complications that somewhat favour White. Then simply 18. Nb3 with sound development.) 7. … BxNf3 (Black adopts the doubled pawn variation: A high risk strategy in view of the concession of the Bishop pair, plus the potential use of the semi open g file for a White rook and later f3-4-5! But it is paramount that White plays aggressively.)8. gxBf3 Nbd7 (Not the overly optimistic accepting of the poison `B' pawn, where White's Queen wastes too much time with extricating itself from a potential early grave! I'll let the reader explore the unsavoury possibilities for Black and the fun White can have.)9. Qd2 (White wisely calmly goes on with sound development. 9. Rb1 is ok too, but unnecessary.) 9. ... Qc7 (Having adopted the doubled pawn line, I decided to face the consequences and hide my Queen. I did consider 9. ... h5, but rejected that in view of 10. O-O. Qc7 11. h3 a6 12. a3 e6 which looked bad for Black.)10. f4 (Steve now correctly plays with energy! The idea is to castle long early on and use the semi-open g file. The engines prefer the more esoteric 10. O-O for White, presumably with the idea of placing the King on h1 be-fore reverting to Rook g1 at some stage!)10. ... e6 (I decided “discretion is the better part of valour” and mused to myself that White might easily go wrong in the complications. I looked first at 10. ... Nh6 but rejected that after exploring 11. O-O-O O-O-O 12. f5 Ng8 which KOMODO gives as better for White.)11. O-O-O (Steve bravely goes for it!)11. … a6 (I rejected the idea of immediately castling on the same side. I felt if that was needed, it could wait, leaving the game more complex!)12. h4 (Steve took his time here. No doubt he had also considered a move such as 12. Kb1 first. As you can ima-gine the mighty Silicon Monsters prefer that idea!) 12. … h5 (I now have to try to slow matters down.)13. a4 (Steve is possibly trying to deter me from castling long. I felt a more direct assault with the immediate 13. f5 would have put a bigger question to me! For example very bad for Black would have been 13. ... gxf5 14. exf5 O-O-O. Even worse I adjudged to be: 14. ... Bh6 15. fxe6 Ndf6 16. d5 fxe6 which indeed I now learn from the Silicon Monster is much better for White! So I was pleased with some breathing space to develop.)13. … Ne7 14. Bd3 (Possibly the prophylactic move 14. Kb1 was wise)14... Qa5 (Hitting out again as I felt I needed to complicate in the mess before me! The centralising 14. ... d5 was also a consideration: 15. cxd5 cxd5 16. e5 O-O 17. Kb1 which I thought was probably about level. Whilst if in-stead White was to continue with 17. Rhg1 b5 18. Qc2 Nb6 19. axb5 Nc4 looked good to me! But having started to worry in the opening I instead decided that with both us taking a lot of time that now I'd complicate with the Queen out and then castle long if Steve continued with the g file pressure-pin idea.)15. Rhg1 (The engines again prefer Kb1.)15. … 0-0-0 (I felt at last I was really in this game! I was still rueing playing that so called “double-edged” 5..Qb6 variation, which I was thinking to myself was in fact close to “garbage” and why wouldn't such a breaking of Best Principles

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move be? Admittedly I had also toyed with 15. ... c5, but had concluded that White would retain an easier to play small but distinct pull after 16. d5 exd5 17. Nxd5 Qxd2+ 18. Bxd2 Nxd5 19. exd5 Bd4 20. Rde1+ and the sorry looking Kf8.)16. Kb1 (Funnily enough KOMODO now suggests a hit out first move instead 16. f5 c5 17. fxe6 fxe6 18. d5 Ne5 19. dxe6 Nf3 20. Nd5 Qxd2+ 21. Bxd2 Nxd5 22. exd5 Nxg1 23. Rxg1 which would have given Steve an edge.)16. ... Kb8 (I was happy with the breathing space.)17. Rg5?!! (Steve hit out with a move I had rather hoped he might try, as I knew it might enable me to win a pawn by riposte. I was more concerned about 17. Qc2 c5 18. d5 exd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 although after 20. exd5 Bd4 I felt I would have been almost equal.)17. ... Qb4 (I hit out! In fact, had I spent more time I think I would have opted for 17. ... c5 when if 18. d5 exd5 19. cxd5 Nb6 20. e5 dxe5 21. fxe5 Nbxd5 22. Nxd5 Qxd2 with Black gaining something of a small initiative, and removing ‘the Queen on dangers’! But I felt this line would allow more complications and more chances for White to allow double attacks from Black.)18. Qc2 (Steve played as I felt was likely. He still had 18. f5 Bf6 19. fxe6 fxe6 20. Rgg1 e5 21. d5 Bxh4 with ap-proximate equality.)18. ... Bf6?! (My riposte move! Played hoping Steve would withdraw his Rook in a move or so and that I would eat the h pawn! However, maybe more technically correct would have been 18. ... c5 19. Na2 Qa5 20. dxc5 dxc5 21. e5 Nc6 with approximate equality.)19. Na2 (Steve struck at my Queen before moving the Rook.) 19. … Qb6 20 d5!!? (Steve had the apparently straight forward option of reversing his Rook. But what's this? Can he just sac it? Brave indeed, and classical play down the centre! I had anticipated that he might do this or even play 20. c5 dxc5 21. dxc5 Qa5 22. Nc1 Bxg5 which I thought was about equal). 20. ... Qc7 21. e5!!? (I had expected Rgg1 when I would stand better, albeit in a very complex position. Instead, Steve played this brave move! I suspected that I had to play dxe5 here and enter a morass of complications and in-deed KOMODO shows that is what I should have done. But I did not want to lose my King and I felt that the sort of lines it now proposes were murky indeed taking my Queen away from my King's Defence. We humans simply aren't chess engines and it is easier to play what looks safer! With the clock ticking away sometimes one just has to make a judgment call and I decided that my best course of action was to play a line netting as much as possible for my Queen. KOMDO's preferred line here was 21. ... dxe5 22. d6 Qxd6 23. Bxg6 Qc7 24. Bxf7 exf4 25. Bd2 Bxg5 26. hxg5 Rhf8 27. Bxh5 Rf5 28. Bf3 when it decides Black is better. If only! To show you just how com-plex the middle game fireworks were KOMODO shows how if had Steve chosen to play 19. Rgg1 then 19. ... Bxh4 would have been bad for me after 20. Rh1 Bf6 21. e5 dxe5 22. dxe5 Bg7 23. Bd2 Qb6 24. Ne4 Qc7 That er-rant Queen has been paying its price from the start! 25. c5. Komodo rates White better.Back to reality and with Steve fast approaching 75 minutes used and me approaching 90 minutes used out of our initial 2 hours, lots of thoughts were jingling around on both sides! I accepted the sac.)21. ... Bxg5 22. exd6 Qxd6 23. c5 Qxd5 24. Nb4 (I was unhappy with this relative to White's other main choice which appeared to be 24. Bxg6 Qg2 25. Be4 Qg4 26. hxg5 where I looked a bit ahead, albeit with a totally misplaced Queen! Moreover I had also been looking at lines involving 26. f3 for White!)24... Qf3 (I had in mind my Queen counter sac. I’m unsure now why I didn't simply go ahead with 24... Qg2 25. Bf1 Qg4 26. hxg5 when I still survive and am material ahead as I am too if he played instead 26. Be2 Qxh4 27. Nxa6+ bxa6 28. fxg5 which simply is not good enough for me despite my position looking in tatters. KOMODO gives this position as better for Black!)25. fxg5 (Natural. Had he played 25. Be4 I had in mind25. ... Qg4 26. hxg5 Nd5 with a fair plus for me, albeit again with a very messy position! Instead I now hit back with my plan of many moves back.)25. ... a5?! (I rejected the more materialistic 25... Qg4 26. Be4 Ne5 27. Rd4 Rxd4 28. Bxd4 Qf4 29. f3 which KO-MODO says is better for Black, but do you really fancy that position? Furthermore, there was the added complic-ation I was looking at; instead of 29. f3, what if White played 29. Be3 Qxh4 30. Bd4 or 30. f4 etc. Hopefully you can see my predicament both position and analysis and time-wise by now! KOMODO concludes that Black was fine in all variations but would I have lost on time had I chosen such a dangerous route? Play continued as I had somewhat deviously planned.)26. Be4 Qxd1+!!? (For similar reasons to before I did not like 26. ... Qg4 27. f3 Qxh4 28. Nd3 etc. albeit that for a chess engine that way works!)

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27. Qxd1 Nxc5 28. Nxc6+ Nxc6 29. Qf3 (No better would have been 29. Qc2 NxBe4 30. Qxe4 Rd1+ 31. Ka2 Rhd8 which KOMODO rates as better for Black and to me this position was easier for a human to control!)29. ... Nxe4 30. Qxe4 Rd1+ 31. Kc2 Rhd8 (Clearly the game was strangely tiring for me as what I had missed was that White could have gone ahead against my plan by the following quiet route 28. Bd3 Nd7 29. Nc2! Nd5 leav-ing me somewhat down materially. Not my finest hour!)32. Bc5 R1d5 33. Ba3 Rc8 (I was down to only 12 or so minutes when I chose this slightly less forward and there-fore less correct move. 33. ... Rf5 34. Qg2 Rd4 35. Kb3 Ka8 36. Qg3 Rdf4 would have given White fewer oppor-tunities to harass me and threaten material gain or a perpetual check! White continues accurately:) 34. Kb1 Rd4 (In fact again the more active 34. ... Rd1+ would have been preferable i.e. 35. Ka2 Rd4 36. Qf3 Rc7 37. Kb1 Kc8 38. Qc3 Rd1+ 39. Kc2 Rdd7 40. Kb1 Rd4 41. Qe3 Rxa4 would have left me with a winnable game. All very well but my clock was ticking down fast!)35. Qf3 Nb4 (Forcing the minor swap: A strategic error. Better for Black was 35. ... Rc7 36. Bc5 Rd5 37. Qe3 Kc8 38. b3 Ne5 39. Bd4 Ng4 40. Qe4 Nxf2 Allowing the swap-off at a better stage! 41. Bxf2 Rd1+ 42. Ka2 Rd2+ 43. Kb1 Rxf2 All very well but I needed peace of mind in my time trouble and with that dangerous Queen about I felt removing the Bishop had its merits too!)36. BxNb4 axBb4 37. Qe2 (Ka2 was safer)37. ... Rxh4 38. Qe5+ Rc7 39. Qb5 Rg4 (Having got a sound edge I played the wrong option. Better was 39. ... Rd4 40. Ka2 Rd5 41. Qxb4 Rxg5 42. b3 Rf5 when Black has forced significant progress)40. a5 h4 (Steve now had 36 minutes for the rest of the game and I had around 34! This is not a position Black would want to have less than an hour for! I played on but with little confidence that I would win.)41. a6 (Black should have stopped this a6 and axb7 manoeuvre!)41. ... Rgc4 (The rest shows Steve ensuring that there were always checking or rook forking possibilities, making my progress virtually impossible.)42. axb7 Rc1+ (A much better try was: 42. ... Rd4 43. Qe5 Rg4 44. Ka2 h3 45. Qh8+ Kxb7 46. Qxh3 Rxg5 47. Kb3 Rh5 when Black is still better. But things get worse for Black.)43. Ka2 Rxb7 (Again opening White up with 43. ... b3+ had its merits, i.e. 44. Qxb3 Rxb7 45. Qd3 Ra7+ 46. Kb3 Rac7 with still some winning chances!)44. Qe5+ Rc1c7 45. Kb3 Ka8 46. Qh8+ Rb8 47. Qxh4 (Removing what might have been the winning pawn!)47. ... Rd7 48. Qe4+ Rd5 49. Qc4 Rb7 50. Qc8+ Ka7 51. Qc4 Rxg5 52. Qd4+ Rb6 (My last real try was 52. ... Ka6 but I could see that however well I played there would be a long haul here.) 53. Qd7+ Ka6 54. Qc8+ Ka7 55. Qd7+ (With only 13 minutes remaining against Steve's 20 plus the game was agreed drawn. What a tiring game! Well played Steve! What on earth was I thinking by breaking so many principles with the early Queen sortie?)

Round 3: Owen Phillips v Norman Andrews (with comments by Owen)1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 d6 3. f4 (A potentially wild variation if Black replies with an e5 gambit! Safer and more common for White is: 3. g3 e5 4. Bg2 g6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Ne2 O-O 7. O-O Nc6 8. c4 Bd7 9. d4 a5 10. d5 with a slight space edge for White.)3. ... Nc6 (The immediate e5 is harder to spot but is in fact rather good for Black i.e. 3. ... e5 4. fxe5 dxe5 5. e3 with a slight edge at least for Black but a complex position.)4. Nf3 Bg4 (Natural and what I anticipated. Again 4... e5 is a good alternative 5. e3 exf4 6. exf4 Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be2 d5 and Black is standing slightly better again.)5. e3 e5 6. h3 Bxf3 (The only move that makes sense other than a reverse with Be6 when White plays 7. fxe5)7. Qxf3 (I am already happy with my position.)7. ... Qe7 (If 7... d5 8. fxe5 Ne4 9. g3 Nb4 10. Bd3 Nxd3+ 11. cxd3 Ng5 12. Qe2 White stands well according to KOMODO and Fritz.)8. Bb5 (Also good was: 8. fxe5 dxe5 9. Bb5 e4 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. Qf5 Qe6 12. Rf1 with a plus for White)8... e4 (Norman strikes out!) 9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10. Qe2 a6 11. O-O h5 (A likely alternative line was 11. ... d5 but White is better according to KO-MODO after: 12. d3 Qb4 13. a3 Qb6 14. Bxf6 exd3 15. Qxd3 gxf6 16. Nc3)12. Qc4 c5 13. Bxf6 gxf6 14. Qd5 Ra7 (A long term weakness for Black.)15. Nc3 Bg7 16. f5 Kd7 17. Nxe4 c6 18. Qc4. (Tempting instead was 18. Nxc5+ Kc7 19. Qe4 Qe5 20. Qxe5 fxe5 21. f6 Bh6 22. Ne4 with a big plus for White

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but I wanted to keep the Queen's on a tad longer! Norman is now finding it tricky to find positive moves.)18... Rf8 (Not much better would have been 18. … a5 or 18. ... d5. It is difficult to find the best plan for White here. I opted for an attempt to open up the Queenside more.)19. a3 (I felt 19. b4?!! was an unnecessary risk.) 19. ... Re8. (19... Kc8 didn't work either i.e. 20. Nf2 Rg8 21. Qh4 d5 22. Qxh5 Bf8 23. Qf3 Rd7 24. c4 Kb7 25. b4 dxc4 26. Rab1 Kc7 and KOMODO says White is better. If Black plays 26. ... Rxd2 then 27. bxc5+ Kc7 28. Qf4+ Qe5 29. Qxc4 White is “almost won”.) 20. Ng3 Rh8 21. b4 h4 (Little better would have been 21. ... d5 22. Qh4 Bh6 23. bxc5 Bg5 24. Qb4) 22. Ne4 Re8 23. Rf4 Qe5 24. Raf1 (I could have played the immediate 24. Qxf7+, but fancied a quicker kill by retaining the tension a bit longer.)24. … Rh8 (If 24. ... Qd5 25. Qxd5 cxd5 26. Nf2 d4 27. Rxh4 dxe3 28. dxe3 Kc6 29. bxc5 dxc5 30. Rh7 Bf8 31. Ng4 is better for White.)25. Qxf7+ Qe7 26. Qxe7+ Kxe7 27. bxc5 d5 28. Nd6 Bh6 29. Rb4 (I could have played 29. Rxh4 Bxe3+ 30. dxe3 Rxh4 31. Nc8+ Kd7 32. Nxa7 with a “won game” but I preferred the game route that was played.)29. ... Bg5 30. Rfb1 Rd8 31. Rb7+ Rxb7 32. Rxb7+ Rd7 33. Rb6 and Norman politely threw in the towel! 1-0

Round 4: Owen Phillips v Ernie McElroy (with comments by Owen)1. e4 e5 (This was a surprise as I had expected Ernie to play a Sicilian!)2. f4 (“Let's be brave”, I thought!)2. ...d6 (Another surprise! These days I would have expected either 2. ... exf4 or 2. ... d5?!!)3. d4?! (I decided to avoid the main lines of 3. Nf3, Nc3 or d3 and instead try this rather confusing looking move in keeping with my resolve to have fun and play some illustrative or educational games at the Championship!) 3. ... exd4 (3. ... exf4 4. Bxf4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bg4 6. Be2 Be6 7. Bf3 c6 8. d5 cxd5 9. exd5 Bd7 10. Qd3 Be7 11. O-O-O is sup-posedly somewhat better for White. The “Delayed Damiano” is bad as one might expect 3. ... f6 4. f5 d5 5. dxe5 dxe4 6. Qh5+ Ke7 7. e6 Qd5 8. Qf7+ Kd6 9. Qxf8+ Kc6 10. Nc3 Qxf5 11. Bb5+ Kb6 12. Be3+ mate follows!) 4. Nf3 (I realised that 4. Qxd4 was normal but probably gave Black a miniscule edge.)4. … Bg4 (What I had hoped for. I had feared that Ernie, as a Sicilian player, might strike out with 4. ... c5?!! then I had planned to play: 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bb5+ Nc6 7. O-O Qb6 with a slight initiative for Black. Or if 7. ... Nxe4 8. Re1 d5 9. Ne5 Qd6 10. c4 Be6 11. Qa4 Rc8 12. Nd2 f5 13. cxd5 Bxd5 14. Bd3 with an uphill fight ahead!)5. h3 (5.Qxd4 was also playable, but the text move gains a tempo and a pair of Bishops.)5. ... Bxf3 6. Qxf3 Nc6 7. Bc4 g6 8. O-O Bg7(8... Qe7 seemed a less natural but actually a highly playable alternative. A possible continuation was 9. Bd5 Nf6 10. c3 Qd7 11. Bb3 O-O-O 12. Rd1 Re8 13. cxd4 Nxe4 14. d5 Nb8 15. Nc3 Nxc3 with a slight edge for Black.) 9. Na3 (In keeping with my attitude for the Championships. I felt that 9. Qb3 would have been more correct, but hey ho! I took ages on this Na3 move. For more than 20 minutes I examined the forcing line involving 9. e5?!! but concluded that the simple 9. ... Nge7 would leave Black with good squares for that Knight and a better posi-tion! This was galling as I had nice wins after 9... dxe5 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. fxe5+ Ke6 12. Qf7+ Kxe5 13. Bf4+ Ke4 14. Nd2#!! If instead 11. ... Bf6 12. exf6 d3 13. Nc3 Qd7 14. cxd3 h6 15. Bf4 Rd8 would have left White well placed to win! Still only twenty minutes wasted!!) 9. ... Nge7 10. Bd2 (Caution and development first rather than playing f5 straight away, which might deter Ernie from castling short as I wanted him to!)10. ... O-O?! 11. g4 a6 (I thought this was a bit of a wasted tempo at an important stage. KOMODO prefers 11. ... Qd7 12. Bb3 with a slight edge for Black.) 12. Rae1 Qd7 (Maybe here Ernie should have struck out with 12. ... b5! 13. Bb3 g5 14. e5 d5 15. Re2 Qd7 16. c3 dxc3 17. bxc3 Rad8 18. Nc2 Ng6 and Black seems to stand better!)13. Rf2 Kh8 (This looked like a lost tempo to me which I felt might be vital. I reckoned the key defence would have been 13. ... g5 14. fxg5 Ne5 15. Qg3 c5 leaving White with a lot to prove!)14. Bd3 (Played with some dissonance, aware that maybe I should instead try to get my wasted Queen's Knight into active play by 14. Nb1)14. ... h6 (Things are beginning to get in position for White. Here I thought Black should be counterattacking with the likes of 14. ... b5 15. h4 f6 16. Rh2 h6 17. Kh1 Rab8 18. Nb1 g5 19. e5 gxf4 20. e6 Qe8 21. Bf5 Ne5 when I felt that Black still was more than equal.)

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15. Qg3 Rae8 16. f5 Be5 (Not 16. ... Ne5 17. f6! Qe6 18. fxg7+ and White is material up! However, I thought Black should have played 16. ... f6)17. Qh4 (White side steps and is now winning according to KOMODO.)17. … gxf5 (If 17. ... h5 18. f6 Nd8 19. Bg5 Nec6 20. gxh5 Kg8 21. Bh6 Ne6 22. Bc4 b5 23. Bxe6 Qxe6 24. Bg7 b4 25. hxg6 fxg6 26. Qh8+ Kf7 27. Qh7 Rd8 28. Bxf8+ Ke8 29. f7+ with a winning position!)18. Qxh6+ (18. exf5 was a good option too!)18. ... Kg8 19. gxf5 (Again 19. exf5 also would have worked!)19. ... Nxf5 (Slightly more awkward for White would have been 19... Bg7 20. Rg2 Ng6 although KOMODO still rates that position better for White.)20. exf5 Bg7 21. Rg2 Rxe1+ 22. Bxe1 f6 23. Bc4+ d5 and Black resigned. 1-0A neat finish! With this win Owen went to 3.5 points from 4 games, passing the heretofore runaway train that was Ernie! However, Ernie still had 3 points and was hot on Owen’s heels.

Round 4: Steve Burnell v Philip Doyle, Baltic Defence1. d4 d5 2. c4 Bf5 3. Nc3 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bf4 e6 7. e3 Bd6 8. Bg3 Rc8 9. Bd3 Bg6 10. Bxg6 hxg611. 0-0 Bxg3 12. hxg3 Nf6 13. Re1 Ke7 14. e4 dxe4 15. Nxe4 Qd5 16. Neg5 Rcd8 17. Qd2 Rh5 18. Rac1 Rdh8 19. Kf1 Rh1+ 20. Ng1 Ng4 21. Nf3 Nh2+ 22. Ke2 Qb5+ 23. Kd1 Nxf3 24. Nxf3 Rxe1+ 25. Qxe1 Qd3+ 26. Qd2 Rh1+ 27. Ne1 Qxd2+ 28. Kxd2 Kd6 29. Ke3 Rg1 30. Nd3 Rxc1 31. Nxc1 Kd5 32. Nb3 b6 33. f4 a5 34. a4 Kc4 35. Nd2+ Kb4 36. b3 Kc3 37. Nc4 Nxd4 38. Nxb6 Nxb3 39. g4 Nc5 40. g5 Kb4 41. Kd4 Nxa4 42. Nc4 Nc3 43. Nxa5 Ne2+ 44. Ke3 Nxf4 45. Nc6+ Kc5 46. Ne5 Nxg2+ 47. Kf2 Nf4 48. Kf3 Nd5 49. Nxf7 Kd4 50. Nd8 Ke5 51. Nf7+ Kf5 52. Nd8 e5 53. Nf7 e4+ 54. Ke2 Kf4 55. Kf2 e3+ 56. Ke2 Nc3+ 57. Ke1 e2 58. Kf2 Kg4 59. Ke1 Kf3 60. Ne5+ Ke3 61. Nxg6 Ne4 62. Ne5 Nxg5 63. Ng4+ Kf4 64. Ne3 Kf3 65. Nf5 Kf4 66. Nd4 Nf3+ 67. Nxf3 Kxf3 0-1

IBCA 15th OlympiadLast June the United Kingdom played in the 15th IBCA Olympiad at Lake Ohrid (pronounced Okrid) in Macedo-nia. Our party, Chris Ross, Steve Hilton, Bill Armstrong, Graham Pennington (accompanied by his wife Kath), Phil Gordon and our three guides and coaches GM Neil McDonald, IM Chris Beaumont, and Owen Phillips gathered at Luton airport at 6 a.m. Our journey to the venue from Luton took nearly thirteen hours including a long wait at Skopje and a four hour bus trip to the resort. Returning was slightly quicker but involved leaving Ohrid at 11 p.m. and arriving at Luton a little travel-weary the following morning. Those discomforts were con-trasts to the pleasures of a comfortable modern Macedonian hotel, its helpful staff and beautiful location on a quiet lake, food well above the average for this kind of event, a wonderfully relaxing excursion (a boat trip to a World Heritage site on a typically warm sunny day), and nine days of intense chess competition.27 nations from four continents took part and being ranked 16th we played the third seeds, Serbia, in round 1. Though all games left us outgraded, Chris secured a point on top board despite playing against an FM who was rated 190 ELO points above him. The game was a fine blend of patient strategy and decisive tactical skill.Ross v Dimic {B30: Sicilian} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg4 6. h3 Bxf3 Black, giving up the bishop pair, leaves himself with a poor pawn structure and White now has the easier game.7. Qxf3 g6 8. O-O Bg7 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Be3 Nd7 11. Qg3 Here White chooses an active plan with a potential threat of f4 that requires an active response from Dimic.11... e5 12. Kh1 Re8 (a move which misplaces the rook and also weakens f7) In contrast some patient improvement to the placing of the white pieces during the next 7 moves prepares for tac-tical chances when Dimic falters.13. Rad1 b6 14. Ne2 Nf8 15. c3 Ne6 16. f4 exf4 17. Nxf4 Qd7 18. Ne2 Nf8 19 a3Although Black still has a solid position, Dimic, perhaps frustrated by White’s methodical build up, tries to assert himself and loses the vital control of d4.19... c4? 20. dxc4 Qe6 21. Bd4! Qxc4 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 (22.....Qxe2 is better but leaves White controlling the dark squares and still in the stronger position.)23. Nd4 Kg8 24. Nf5 Qxe4 25. Nh6+ Kg7 26. Nxf7 Qe3 27. Qh4 Re4 28. Qf6+ Kg8 29. Qh8# 1-0Despite losing the match 3-1 we felt that no one was going to crush us 4-0 while Chris was in this form. Events proved us right. In round 2 we lost 3-1 to Turkey who had taken some liberties with their team order, fielding a lowly graded player on board 1. In round three we faced Romania ranked above us but also on zero points and the

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loser likely to bear the shame of the bye in round 4. Chris achieved his third win and everyone else (Hilton, Arm-strong and Gordon) contributed a half point to give us our first match points. Here is one of these draws.Armstrong v Dima1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. d4 b6 7. Nc3 Bb7 8. Ne5 Nbd7 9. Qc2 c5 10. Nxd7 Qxd7 11. Rd1 cxd4 12. Rxd4 e5 13. Rd1 d4 14. e4 Rfe8 15. Qe2 Ba6 16. b3 Rad8 17. Nd5 Nxd5 18. exd5 Bc5 19. a4 f520. Qd2 Qe7 21. Qa2 e4 22. Ba3 Rb8 23. Rxd4 Qf6 24. Bxc5 bxc5 25. Rdd1 Qc3 26. Rab1 e3 27. fxe3 Rxe3 28. d6 Rd3 29. Bd5+ Kh8 30. Qf2 Rxd1+ 31. Rxd1 Qxb3 32. Re1 Bxc4 33. d7 Bxd5 34. Re8+ Bg8 35. Rxb8 Qxb8 36. Qd2 Qd8 37. Qd6 c4 38. Qc6 c3 39. Qc8 c2 40. Qxd8 c1=Q+ 41. Kf2 Qd2+ DrawAfter this morale boost we put up a good fight against Macedonia (losing 1.5 to 2.5) then won 4-0 against both Denmark and Moldova. Here is Graham’s win from the Moldova match.Craciun (Moldova) v Pennington1. f4 d5 2. d4 Bf5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 Nbd7 6. Nf3 e6 7. O-O Ne4 8.c4 c6 9. Ne5 f5 10. Nc3 Ndf6 11. Nf3 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 Ne4 13. Qd3 Be7 14. cxd5 exd5 15. Qe2 O-O 16. Nd2 Rc8 17. Nb3 Qb6 18. Qh5 g6 19. Qd1 Bd6 20. a4 Qc7 21. a5 g5 22. fxg5 Bxh2+ 23. Kh1 Ng3+ 24. Kxh2 Nxf1+ 25. Kg1 Ng3 26. Nc5 Rce8 27. Qf3 Ne4 28. Qh5 Qf7 29. Qh4 Qg7 30. b3 Nxg5 31. Kf2 f4 32. Nd7 fxe3+ 33. Ke1 Qxd7 34. Qxg5+ Qg7 35. Qxg7+ Kxg7 36. g3 e2 37. Bf4 Rxf4 38. gxf4 Kf6 and Graham went on to win an ending which probably should have been shorter than it was.Now the bye was no longer a threat: our win against Slovenia took us to 8th place in the rankings. The draw with Italy included a useful half point gained by Phil against a player with a much higher ELO rating of 1818 to his 1561.Gasperoni (Italy) v Gordon1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e3 b6 4. c4 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Qe7 6. Be2 Ne4 7. O-O Bxd2 8.Nfxd2 Nxd2 9. Nxd2 Bb7 10. Bf3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 c6 12. a3 d5 13. Qg3 O-O 14. cxd5 exd5 15. Rac1 Rd8 16. Rc2 Rd6 17. Nf3 Rg6 18. Qe5 Re6 19. Qf5 Nd7 20. Rfc1 Rc8 21. b4 b5 22. Ng5 Rg6 23. h4 h6 24. Rxc6 Rcxc6 25. Rxc6 hxg5 26. Rxg6 fxg6 27. Qxd5+ Kh7 28. hxg5 a6 29. e4 Nb6 30. Qc5 Qe6 31. f3 Nc4 32. Qc7 Ne3 33. Qc3 Nc4 34. d5 Qe7 35. Qc1 Qe5 36. Kf2 Qd4+ 37. Kg3 Kg8 38. Qf4 Qd1 39. Qb8+ Kh7 40.Qc8 Qe1+ 41. Kh2 Qe3 42. Qh3+ Kg8 1/2-1/2This drawn match took us to 9 match points and a pairing with the eventual silver medallists, Ukraine. Chris drew but the other three games went to Ukraine. Despite this loss, we improved on our initial ranking of 16th , finishing 13th and qualifying for the World team championship next year.The individual star was Chris who was unbeaten and scored 7.5 from 9 games against strong opposition. He should have had a medal and would have done so in previous Olympiads. But this year the medals were awarded on rating performance, a system favouring those who had existing high ratings and gained disproportionate credit for results against opposition much weaker than themselves. In ECF terms a 195 who beats a 130 has a rating based on beating a 155. The IBCA system for individual medals was similar to this. The gold medal for board 1 went to Nikac of Montenegro. Once he established a high personal rating from 6 wins in the first 6 rounds he re-tired from the fray altogether. Not a very satisfying system.On board 2 Steve was also a stalwart of the team. Playing on a monstrously large board, he began with only a draw in the first three rounds but then reeled out five consecutive wins before a loss to the high rated Wassin of Ukraine in the last match. Here is Steve’s win from round 5.Bogatu (Moldova) v Hilton1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3 Be6 9. Bf3 Nbd7 10. h3 Nb6 11. Nd2 Rc8 12. O-O O-O 13. Re1 Qc7 14. Rc1 h6 15. Bxb6 Qxb6 16. Na4 Qa5 17. Nc3 b5 18. Nb3 Qb6 19. Qd2 b4 20. Nd5 Nxd5 21. exd5 Bf5 22. Qd1 Bg5 23. Nd2 Qd4 24. Re2 Qxb2 25. Be4 Bxe4 26. Rxe4 f5 27. Re2 a5 28. h4 Bf6 29. Nb3 Qa3 30. g3 Bd8 31. c4 bxc3 32. Rcc2 Bb6 33. Kg2 f4 34. Re4 fxg3 35. fxg3 a4 36. Nc1 Qc5 37. Ree2 Rf6 38. Kh3 Rcf8 39. Qh1 Rf1 40. Qg2 Rg1 41. Qe4 Rff1 42. Nd3 Qc8+ 43. g4 Qf8 44. Rg2 Rh1+ 45. Kg3 Bd8 46. Rh2 Rhg1+ 47. Rcg2 c2 48. Rxg1 Rxg1+ 49. Rg2 c1=Q 50. Nxc1 Rxc1 51. Qf5 Qxf5 52. gxf5 Rd1 53.Rc2 Kf7 54. Rc8 Be7 55. h5 Rxd5 0-1Board 4 was shared by Graham Pennington scoring 1.5 from 4 games and Phil Gordon scoring 2 from 5 games. Bill Armstrong on board three played poorly in the latter stages and scored only 2.5 from 9. The final team pla-cings after tie breaks mainly reflected expectations: 1st Russia 16 points; 2nd Ukraine 3rd Poland both on 13 points; 4th Serbia 5th Germany both 12 points. The most spectacular risers were a young Indian team ranked 19th

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but finishing 7th on 11 points and Azerbaijan ranked 24th but reaching 8th place with 10 points. India created a sensation with a first round victory against Germany and will be a team to watch in four years’ time. As for the UK we can rely on Chris and Steve. We can be happy with achieving our target of exceeding expectations and giving Phil and Graham greater international experience. But we do need a trio of players who can make a greater contribution on the lower boards. Finally as team captain I could not wish for a more helpful guide than Kath or a more supportive group of players and coaches than those who accompanied me to Macedonia. Many thanks.Bill Armstrong

Coaching InitiativesThe return of our successful team from Macedonia has caused me to reflect upon all the hard work that has gone into the achievement of this good result. The coaches who attended the event worked very hard to prepare the players, who themselves put in a lot of effort to achieve what they have. Most if not all of us need to put in efforts to improve our game and I'd like to remind everyone about our coaching initiative which aims to help all members to improve their chess. In the past we have run group coaching sessions from time to time and in the last year or two we have found coaches willing to train individuals via Skype or by phone. All UK-based members are en-titled to six hours of coaching per year, paid for by the BCA. Clearly most of the work we do to improve will be by our own efforts, either by studying at home or playing in tournaments or club games, but even a few hours of individual coaching per year can be enough to spur us on to greater things, to inspire us with new ideas which we can then try out in our games or by altering our study habits. I for one have certainly benefited from this and would most heartily recommend it to others.If anyone is interested in coaching of any kind, please get in touch and I will do my best to arrange something suit-able. If you have never considered coaching before, why not try it? It could revitalise your attitude to chess study and bring you greater success both over the board and in correspondence play.Voldi Gailans

Correspondence Chess Director’s ReportThe three Divisions of the BCA League 2016-17 are approaching completion. Opportunities to play in the next League, starting on 1st January 2018, are there for you. For further information contact the Correspondence Chess Director, details given in the Officers section at the beginning of this Gazette.44th BCA CORRESPONDENCE TOURNAMENT 2017-18Premier - Group Leader Les WhittleCrombie 1 - 0 Phillips, Owen's, 23.Mike Hague 0 - 1 Crombie, Caro-Kann, 33.Whittle 0 - 1 Crombie, Dutch, 34.Whittle 1 - 0 Mike Hague, Queen's Pawn, 26.Scores: Alec Crombie 3-3, Les Whittle 1-2, Ernie McElroy 0-0, George Phillips 0-1, Mike Hague 0-2.Challenger Group A - Group Leader Denis WarrenGailans 0 - 1 Whitehouse, Dutch Defence, 25.Gallacher 0 - 1 Whitehouse, Slav Defence, 14.Greatrex 0 - 1 Warren, Giuoco Piano, 12.Scores: Denis Warren 2-2, Guy Whitehouse 2-2, Eric Gallacher 0-1, Arthur Greatrex 0-1, Voldi Gailans 0-2.Challenger Group B - Group Leader Gary WickettNo update.Scores: Derek Heyes 2-2, Gary Wickett 1-2, Jim Cuthbert 0-0, Geoff Patching 0-0, Eleanor Tew 0-2.BCA LEAGUE 2016-17Division 1 - Group Leader Norman WraggMcElroy 0.5 - 0.5 Crombie, Ruy Lopez, 36.Final scores: Ernie McElroy 2.5-3, Alec Crombie 2, Mark Hague 1, Derek Heyes 0.5.Congratulations to Ernie McElroy on winning League Division 1.Division 2 - Group Leader Denis WarrenMike Hague 1 - 0 Patching, 46.The game already awarded as a win by default to Mike Hague was completed;Mears 0 - 1 Mike Hague, French, 31.Scores: Mike Hague 3-3, Geoff Patching 1.5-3, Denis Warren 0.5-2, David Mears 0-2.

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Congratulations to Mike Hague on winning League Division 2.Division 3 - Group Leader Jim CuthbertFinal scores: Voldi Gailans 3-3, Eric Gallacher 2, Jim Cuthbert 1, Eleanor Tew 0.FRIENDLY LADDER TABLENo update. Anyone wishing to play a friendly game on the Ladder should contact Denis Warren, details given in the Officers section at the beginning of this Gazette.Leading ladder scores as at 29 June 2017: 9 Gary Wickett; 8 Roger Bishop; 7 Jim Cuthbert; 5 Stan Lightowler.In closing, to those about to start a game: Break a peg!Paul Benson

New Correspondence RulesThe Tournament Subcommittee (TSC) has drafted some small amendments to the correspondence rules in order to make them more workable and fair. Please find below. The new rules have been agreed by the TSC, main Committee and all of the current participants of the BCA League and Championship. Let me take this opportunity to thank all those who have given feedback and contributed in drafting the new rules, which if agreed by the membership as a whole will be brought into effect on 1st January 2018.As you will see, most of the changes are cosmetic: a slight tidying up of the wording and adding clarity where we considered this to be lacking. The two main changes are amending the closing date and removing the restriction for when unfinished games can be sent for adjudication.With regards to changing the closing date, currently the Correspondence League and Championship conclude on 31st October, which means that the final results often don’t get published until the February Gazette when it is stale news. By bringing the closing date forward just one month this would make it more likely for these results to be published in the November Gazette when the news is still fresh. In addition, the BCA Financial year also concludes on 30th September and it just makes logical sense to conclude on this date. However, games will still commence on 1st January to allow time to set up each new tournament.In the same regard, it also makes sense that the Friendly Ladder table also concludes on 30th September.The other main amendment concerns when unfinished games can be sent off for adjudication. Currently games must have reached 35 moves or 30 moves in special circumstances before they can be sent for adjudication. As we already have rules to ensure games are kept moving and players can’t sit tight on favourable positions, the reason some games do not make the current required amount of moves is due to serious matters such as illness or sadly death etc. It therefore seems wrong to penalise such players. Obviously, no rules will cover every eventuality and discretion can be used if needed.The most serious problem the correspondence tournaments face is the decline in participants. Do not be put off joining by the rule which says that “where possible moves should be returned within two days of receipt”. Note the words, “where possible”, I know for my part I am away most weekends and work in the week and this is often not possible. However, I have been playing for many years with no complaints, so don’t let that put you off joining in the fun. Correspondence Chess is unique in that it is a great way of making good friends as well as enjoying some great games of chess.If on reading these new rules you have any strong feelings then please do not hesitate to contact the Correspondence Chess Director who will pass on your concerns to the Tournament Subcommittee.

BRAILLE CHESS ASSOCIATION CORRESPONDENCE TOURNAMENT RULES

1. All correspondence tournaments will normally start on 1st January. All games must be completed by 30th September of the following year.

2. Using the algebraic notation, moves may be transmitted in the formats of Braille, cassette, email or any other method mutually agreed by the two players concerned. If cassette is the chosen medium, moves should be announced twice using the phonetic chess alphabet as to avoid any confusion. Should there be a dispute between two players concerning the format to be employed, the matter should be brought to the attention of the Correspondence Chess Director, who will judge accordingly the most appropriate method and whose decision will be final.

3. Whichever form of communication is used, it is essential that both players keep a record of the game. Should there be a dispute over the position of a game, and only one player’s score is available, that record of the game

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will be taken to be the correct position. If there is a dispute and no record of the game has been kept, the game will be deemed a draw. If a player makes an illegal move, said player must replace the move by moving any piece legally.

4. All moves must be preceded by the date of receipt and dispatch. Where possible moves should be returned within two days of receipt unless time has been accrued in lieu. However, it is appreciated that players may need to take a break from their games due to holidays, guide dog training, illness or other valid reasons. In such an event, it is important that the player concerned should normally notify his/her Group Leader who can then inform the other players in the group.

5. The onus is on the player with the white pieces to start the game and provide either the plastic envelope or cassette and wallet. On the completion of the game, these should be returned to their rightful owner. Should the plastic envelope, postal wallet or cassette be lost or damaged, the player who did not provide these in the first place will be expected to provide the replacements.

6. Where a player beyond the British Isles is involved in a postal game it is important that such games should take priority and moves should be sent by airmail.

7. Where games are unfinished by the closing date of the tournament, and the players concerned have not reached agreement as to the result, the game will be sent for adjudication. If appropriate, both players shall be required to send their score of the game together with their claim to the result to the Correspondence Chess Director, either directly or via their Group Leader. The game will then be sent to an Adjudicator whose decision shall be final.

8. If a player does not hear from his/her opponent within 7 days (or 14 days for an overseas game) then the player should seek to contact said opponent in order that the game may be resumed or to ascertain any problems. If this fails to resolve the issue, then the Group Leader should be informed who will look into the matter and endeavour to re-establish contact. Should this fail, the Group Leader shall inform the Correspondence Chess Director, who will investigate the matter and take appropriate action.

9. The use of chess engines to assist players to work out moves is not permitted.

10. Ties for first place or in any position involving promotion or relegation will be resolved by the tie-break system as follows:(a) Sonneborn-Berger – sum of scores of those beaten and half the scores of those drawn against.(b) Kashdan - 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 1 point for a loss.(c) Result of the game between the players involved.(d) Examination of Results from top downwards. Example, for two players finishing joint first, result of their games against player in third place and working downwards until a deciding game is found.(e) Number of games with black pieces.

11. All players involved in a particular tournament will be asked by the group leader whether they wish to enter the next tournament. However, the Correspondence Chess Director has the right to refuse a member’s entry, or indeed to disqualify any such player from a current tournament, if in his/her opinion that member has failed to observe the correspondence rules. In such cases, the Correspondence Chess Director will notify the player concerned. However, players have the right of appeal to the Committee in any circumstance where a decision of the Correspondence Chess Director is felt to be inappropriate.

12. The Correspondence Chess Director may appoint group leaders whose responsibility it will be to:(a) Send out fixture lists together with addresses and a copy of the rules to all members of the group.(b) Receive results or games which need to go for adjudication and send these on to the Correspondence Chess Director.(c) Re-establish contact between players where necessary.(d) Inform players of any relevant information. (e) Refer major problems to the Correspondence Chess Director.

13. Participants are expected to adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of these rules in order to ensure the smooth running of BCA correspondence tournaments.

Last modified 28 April 2017

Gary Wickett20

E-Chess News6th BCA Email Tournament By Eamonn Casey and Philip Doyle: The 6th BCA Email Tournament concluded on the 31st of May. Once again, it went very smoothly, and from a controller’s point of view, it couldn’t have been easier. We had an initial entry of seventeen players, which we divided into four divisions, with five players in the top group and four in the lower three divisions. Unfortunately, just as the tournament started, Robert Grimwood withdrew for personal reasons, leaving Division 2 with only three players. It was agreed that the three would play each other twice, reversing colours. All four divisions were keenly contested, with no player obtaining a perfect score. The entry was slightly down on the previous event, and we would encourage people to seriously consider participating in this extremely enjoyable way of playing a game of chess. You don’t even have to turn off your mobile phone! Our next tournament is due to start on September 1st so watch out for entry requests from early August.

The groups and final scores were as follows:

Division 1 Final Scores: Peter Gibbs & Rod MacDonald 3.5, Steve Burnell & Colin Chambers 1.5, Stan Lovell 0. Gibbs beat ChambersGibbs beat BurnellChambers drew with BurnellMacDonald beat LovellLovell lost to ChambersBurnell beat LovellGibbs drew with MacDonaldMacdonald beat ChambersLovell lost to GibbsBurnell lost to MacDonald

Division 2 Final Scores: Philip Doyle 3, Eamonn Casey 2, Derek Heyes 1 Heyes beat DoyleCasey beat HeyesDoyle beat Heyes Heyes lost to Casey Doyle beat Casey Casey lost to Doyle

Division 3 Final Scores: Michael Meaney and Steve Thacker 2; Voldi Gailans and Denis Warren 1Gailans beat WarrenWarren lost to ThackerThacker lost to Meaney Meaney lost to WarrenThacker beat GailansGailans lost to Meaney

Division 4 Final Scores: Gill Smith 2; Tony Lawton and Nicholas Ireland 1.5; Anthony Borg 1 Lawton lost to BorgSmith beat IrelandBorg lost to SmithSmith lost to LawtonBorg lost to Ireland Ireland drew with Lawton

Inaugural BCA Junior Email Chess Championship 2017/18: This event, organised by Owen Phillips, is now underway and two results are already in. Jijjith Thukaram beat Efe Shimwell on time and Nishad Patil beat Sanjay Rajkumar.

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Chris’s PuzzleMay Puzzle: FEN: 5/K1k/6p1/5N1b/4N2b/6R1/8/8/8White: King f8, Rook g4, Knights e5 and f6 Black: king h8, bishops h5 and h6, pawn g7 White to play and mate in two. Solution: 1. Rg6!A. 1... Bxg6 2. Nxg6# B. 1... gxf6+ 2. Rxh6# C. 1... other bishop moves 2. Nf7#August Puzzle: FEN: 8/B7/2KQ4/8/8/7p/4P1kp/8White: King c6, Queen d6, Bishop a7, Pawn e2 Black: king g2, pawns h2 and h3White to play and mate in two. The solution will appear in the November issue.Chris Ross

Millennium ClubRecent Millennium Club winners:

May: Paul Benson, number 57.June: Derek Spink, number 9, prize sent to Derek’s son, Keith.July: Stan Lovell, number 36.

The Millennium Club raises funds for the BCA by holding a monthly draw at £12 per number per year. Each month a lucky winner receives £35. If you wish to enter the draw, send a cheque made payable to “Braille Chess Association” to the treasurer or make an online or telephone payment to the BCA.Gill Smith, Treasurer

PersonaliaWe have heard that our old friend Alec Crombie has been re-elected as Town Mayor for a second, and he assures us final term of office. Alec tells us:--"So, I've made it to the time-control having avoided poisoned pawns and zugzwang despite the occasional flank-attack from a couple of Councillors who are not out for easy draws!"Right now I'm preparing for our town's Annual Feast which kicks off with my Mayor's Walk, a modern version of beating the bounds. As this year's theme is Alice in Wonderland you can (try to) picture me leading the parade in my Mad Hatter's top hat!"So you may want to know what it's like to be a visually-challenged Mayor. Chairing the meetings is not too hard, schooled as I am in the exacting arena of the BCA; but some of the events such as civic receptions, armistice services and so on can be more of a challenge. While the mayoral chain is useful, the white cane can be equally helpful! Happily I have an extremely good working relationship with both my Deputy and our Town Clerk, and of course my fellow BCA member, my wife Caroline is unfailingly supportive."Anyway, ask me again in 12 months’ time to check I've survived, and after that I might actually get to see you guys again!”

Obituary for Andy LeeIn memory of my friend, Andy Lee, by Steve Peters.Andy Lee from an early age, unknown to him or his family or teachers, had Retinitis Pigmentosa, the commonest form of blindness. Because of this he had a difficult childhood at school where he had to wear thick glasses and struggled to see. Only in his late teens was he finally diagnosed with “R.P.”. Andy was never bitter about his sight loss or the fact that eventually he would lose all sight but accepted it with the courage that he showed throughout his life and enjoyed life to the full. Andy had travelled widely from India, Nepal and Israel to America, Jamaica and throughout the Mediterranean. One of the gifts Andy had acquired without realising was being a great listener and he had a great sense of humour.I only met Andy about 5 years before he passed away, after I had lost most of my sight through having a brain tumour. When we met we instantly clicked and I admired his positive, outgoing spirit. I remember once he invited me to go with him for a meal in St. Ives in Cambridgeshire and had to get a mini bus to take us with our guide dogs. When we arrived the restaurant had had a power failure and could not serve food and so we ended up

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in a pub in the centre of town with our guide dogs and a gathering of locals around us and had a great time. I introduced Andy to the “BCA” and Andy had been a few times and had enjoyed it. What I will take away from my time with Andy is to make the most of what you have and not to let your disabilities hold back your ability to live life to the full. Sadly Andy Lee passed away on the 10th of March, aged 51, but he fitted a lot in to those 51 years and he will be sorely missed. Rest in Peace Andy. Our thoughts and prayers are with you brother.

Editor’s note: Andy joined the BCA towards the end of 2012 and played in his first BCA event in the spring of 2013 where he scored 3/5 and attained a grade of 65 later that year. He returned in the autumn of 2015 and won a grading prize! We shall miss him and his enthusiasm for chess.

Obituary for Derek SpinkDerek’s son, Keith, writes: Dad passed away on the 23rd of May, aged 80. Throughout Dad's life, including to the end, he was a fighter. He would never let disability, blindness and in later life dementia, stop him enjoying the life he wanted to lead. He was certainly an inspiration to many, in particular to myself.In addition to Chelsea FC, I would say that chess was a real passion of Dad's. He played loads of cassette based chess games, and loved it. It was his nightly routine once home from work. Dad also attended BCA tournaments and had a talking chess computer, just in case he ran out of cassette chess games!Sadly, the loss of my Mum, Joan, in February 2010 was the turning point in Dad's life. He lost interest in everything, including chess and never recovered from this. In February 2013 Dad started suffering from dementia.About fifteen years ago Dad made an audio recording in which he spoke about things that he had done in his life up to that time. Here is what he said about chess and the Braille Chess Association: “In 1976 I helped to get the steering committee together for the Greenwich talking newspaper. A woman on the committee said a chap at Eltham wants to teach blind people chess. I was just coming up to 40. So I went along, and this chap said, do this, do that, do this, do that. I didn't have a clue whatsoever what to do. But he said I was doing really well. I went to work next day, got a Braille book and a printed book and a colleague and I went through it every day until I eventually started beating him at chess.“Then I joined Barclays staff. A woman accountant said to me after a few months there, that I should play in the inhouse chess tournament. I entered the bottom section, the no-hopers section, and I won it on 3.5 points out of 4, and I got a nice trophy. Since then I have won three trophies. “The Braille Chess Association goes to Holland every year and I've won several medals in that tournament. “I joined the Braille Chess Association in about 1980 and I have been around the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, France, Ireland. I play in sighted tournaments as well. I'm not the greatest of standards as I took it up too late, but I enjoy the game.”BCA member, Martyn Wilson, writes: On the 14th of June, myself, Richard Harrington and Jim Cuthbert from the BCA attended Derek Spink’s funeral at the Eltham crematorium in South East London.It was a humanist celebration of Derek’s life presented by his son Keith. It opened with the Chelsea song Blue is the colour. Many of you will know that Derek was a massive Chelsea fan to say the least. Then Keith spoke for a few minutes about his dad, then there was a recording made by Derek about 15 years ago in which he spoke about things he had done in his life so far. Keith concluded by summing up his feelings about his dad and thanked us all for coming and wearing something blue as requested.Afterwards we attended the wake at the local Harvester where there was a buffet and drink at which we met other friends we hadn’t seen for a while and also met some members of Derek’s family. About 30 people came to the event and I am sure we all recalled our own memories of Derek.I used to work with Derek in Barclays Bank for a couple of years until he took early retirement in 1993 and I knew him before that when he used to organise the London social events for the Association of Visually Handicapped Telephonists back in the 1980s. He introduced Richard Harrington to the BCA in 1991.

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Obituary for Jan LovellJanet Isabel Burdin, known as Jan, was born in the historic market town of Pontefract on 9th December 1932. Shortly afterwards the family moved to the nearby town of Knottingley. Whilst she was still young it was discovered Jan had an eye defect which left her with very restricted vision. Jan went to a local school, where she passed her 11 plus to the local grammar school. The head mistress, however, decided she could not cope with a pupil with so little sight in her school. This left her parents with the uncomfortable decision to send her to a special school for the blind where she was required to board. Jan went to Chorley Wood College for blind and partially sighted girls in Hertfordshire. She was very unhappy there, and after two attempts at running away her parents removed her. She then went to the Royal National College for the Blind in Shrewsbury, where she settled well and created many friendships, some of them she sustained for the rest of her life.

Jan passed an RSA diploma in shorthand typing and secured employment with Remploy, whose aim was to assist disabled people into employment. From there she moved on to work at Wakefield’s architect department doing similar work. Around her late 20's Jan felt she wanted to do something more fulfilling so she trained for the home teachers course at Headingley Castle College in Leeds. She gained the CTB qualification, which gave her similar status to today’s social workers. She worked in this capacity in Wakefield where, at that time she was living with her first husband, Desmond.

Jan met Stan in 1969 when she was a delegate at the annual delegate conference of the National Federation of the Blind, which Stan was coordinating. A friendship formed which, in time, developed into a relationship, and saw them set up home together in 1972. At this time money was scarce, so Jan obtained work in her original capacity as a shorthand typist at British Petroleum in Harlow, where Jan and Stan had relocated.

Jan crammed lot into her life, and she enjoyed a number of roles, including: Being a presenter on BBC Radio Leeds, hosting a programme for visually impaired listeners. For many years she assisted Stan organising many tournaments for the Braille Chess Association, both at home and abroad. She was awarded for her commitment by being made an Honorary Life member of the BCA. Another of Jan's passions was her work on the RNIB's holiday homes committee, where she was instrumental in helping to upgrade and modernise their holiday venues. She would visit the various holiday homes, later known as ‘hotels’, reporting back on how they could be improved. Another notable example of Jan's pioneering work involved her going into Wakefield prison to teach the long term prisoners Braille, so they could, in return, transcribe printed material into Braille. It was one of the first units of its kind in Britain.

In 1977 Jan and Stan went on a small cruise around some of the Greek islands. This was the beginning of their love of Greece. They returned many times, often twice a year. In the mid 1990’s they discovered the little island of Tilos, which became their favourite holiday destination. Thereafter they became regular visitors.

Jan had many interests including music, reading, the theatre and doing crosswords. She enjoyed listening to the radio rather than watching television, but she always looked forward to Wimbledon and she enjoyed quiz programmes and travel and nature programmes. Her favourite radio programmes were the last night at the proms and she loved the New Year’s Day concert transmitted live from Vienna.

Jan and Stan enjoyed cooking and shared the duties. Jan enjoyed her G & T before her meal and a generous glass of red wine or Retsina with the meal.

Stan received dozens of emails, many having similar themes, touching on how popular Jan was, her love of life, her sense of humour, her infectious laugh and love of people and her pleasure in helping them.

Jan was a special person who could relate to people regardless of age, culture or background. She will be missed by her family and friends, but she will be remembered with love and affection.

Jan was admitted into hospital on 6th June, after a short illness. On 12th June she was transferred into St. Catherine’s Hospice where she died peacefully on 15th June. The funeral was held at Woodlands Crematorium, Scarborough on Monday 3rd July. Around 80 people, including 11 BCA members, attended the funeral ceremony and the tea provided at Plaxton Court afterwards.

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