The Merseyside Chess Association is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
.
News
9th June 2008
MCA Team Lightning
Congratulations to Waterloo 1 winners of this year's event with 16pts followed by Atticus 1 with 15½.
Eleven teams, 6 rounds. John Littlewood (Formby), Richard Noonan (Atticus 1), Andreas Vogt (Aigburth 1) and Nick Wall (Atticus 2)
all scored 5½/6.Photos with a report by John Carleton.
26 April 2008
Chess Prodigy tipped to be the best ever.
The UK now has a young chess player who's tipped to be the best the world has ever seen. He's Felix Ynojosa, only 12 years old; his coach is GM Nick Pert.
See a short video by BBC South Today featuring the young talent.
23 April 2008
History has been made in a small but significant way in recent weeks. For the first time ever two GM's competed against each other in a league match in the Liverpool (MCA) league.
Nigel Davies for Widnes played one of England's newest GM's Stewart Haslinger from Formby.
The game was played on Monday 17th April 2008 (match details). Thanks to
Nigel Davies for providing the moves.
16 April 2008 - Skelmersdale Rapidplay 6th April 2008 - Results
'With 98 players attending and our new venue meeting all our needs, Cumbria, Yorkshire, North & South Wales and some Polish visitors enjoyed a
good day’s chess hosted by Skelmersdale Chess Club.
In 2009 we hope to expand the event by including an Open section and feedback about this to our website would be most welcome.
Thank you to all who made this year’s event so successful.' - John Reid
Under 165: 1st. M. Brown 5/6 Grappenhall, J. Wilsa 5/6 Poland
Grading: 165-145 S Hughes 4½/6 Oswestry
144-131 M Burke 4/6 Three C's
130-0 M Coward 3/6 Blackpool
Under 125: 1st. S. Potter 5/6 St Helens, T. Clements Three C's
Grading: 125-116 M. Connor 4/6 Gt Lever, C. Chadwick 4/6 Padgate, G. Laurece 4/6 Chorley,
G. Fairclough 4/6 Chorley
109-92 T. Fielding 4.5/6 Preston
91-0 R Morris 3½/6 Chester
Under 90: 1st. K. Novak 6/6 Poland
Grading 90-72 V. Fisher 5/6 Atticus
71-67 J. Parrott 5/6 Skelmersdale
66-50 C. Reily 4/6 Preston, G. Lea 4/6 Stockport, W. Holligan 4/6 Grange-Over Sands
49-26 N. Cass 3½/6 Aughton St Michael’s
25-0 J Lewis 3/6 Cleveleys, C. Greewood 3/6 Poulton
Skelmersdale Trophy (best adult) shared by J Parrott, V Fisher, S Potter, J Wilsa.
Note: K Novak 6/6 as he was only visiting declined the Skelmersdale trophy
Asda Cup (best junior) shared by M. Brown and T. Clements.
30 March 2008 -
Amber Rapid Tournament
Hotel Palais
The 17th Amber Rapid and Blindfold Chess Tournament took place March 14th-28th at the Hotel Palais de la Mediterranée on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France.
Twelve of the world's top grandmasters played and on offer was a 216,000 Euro ($337,000) total prize-fund. The event was organized by the Association Max Euwe and sponsored by Mr and Mrs Van Oosterom from Monaco.
The line-up was stronger than Wijk aan Zee and Morelia-Linares. The participants: Kramnik, Anand, Topalov, Morozevich, Mamedyarov, Leko, Ivanchuk, Aronian, Gelfand, Carlsen, Karjakin and Loek van Wely.
The games were broadcast live on ICC and Playchess and began each day at 09:30 EST Time, 14.30 Nice, 13.30 GMT.
Official site for details and results including games.
League Rule amendment
Following the 2006 AGM, rule 10
sections d and e, where amended. The new
wording is now included in the relevant
section
here. This
amendment came into effect in September
2006.
Remembering Bobby Fischer – on the Dick
Cavett Show
"Among this
year’s worst
news, for me,
was the death of
Bobby Fischer,"
writes one of
America's great
talk show hosts,
Dick Cavett.
"Towering
genius, riches,
international
fame and a far
from normal
childhood might
be too heady a
mix for anyone
to handle. For
him they proved
fatal. I’m still
sad about his
death. In our
three
encounters, I
became quite
fond of him."
Eulogy and video
on Chessbase.
In his New York Times eulogy Cavett writes:
"Until the advent of Bobby Fischer, my image
of a young chess genius was not flattering.
I pictured a sort of wizened and unpopular
youth, small of frame, reclusive, short,
with messy hair, untended acne, thick
glasses and shirt sticking out in back."
This fantastic
tournament was held from
11th - 27th
January 2008 in
Wijk aan Zee,
Holland. Five of the top
six in the world
going head to
head. Mickey
Adams played
in the A group
and Nigel Short
in the B group.
Latest(courtesy of
BCM):
In the end,
first place in
the GMA section
was shared by
Magnus Carlsen
and Levon
Aronian. Scores:
1-2 Aronian,
Carlsen 8/13,
2-3 Anand,
Radjabov 7½, 5-6
Ivanchuk, Leko
7, 7-8 Adams,
Kramnik 6½, 9-11
Mamedyarov,
Polgar, Topalov
6, 12-14 Elyanov,
Gelfand, Van
Wely 5.
The
official
website has
all the details , photos
and much more.
The 6th Gibtelecom Chess Festival was held from 22nd -
31st January 2008 at the
Caleta Hotel, Gibraltar, one of
their best hotels. The Masters line-up was very
impressive and included 2007 world championship
contender
Alexander Grischuk,
Viktor Bologan, Kiril Georgiev, Hikaru Nakamura, two
members of the Chinese team that competed in
Liverpool Zhang Pengxiang and Ni Hua plus many other
excellent GM’s. The full list
of
entrants is regularly updated. This year John
Saunders,
BCM editor. All the results and much more can be
found on the official
website.
18 Jan 2008 Robert James
Fischer 9th
March 1943 -
17th January
2008
Hard to believe
but arguably the
world's greatest
chess genius,
Bobby Fischer,
has died at the
age of 64. A
spokesman for
Fischer said he
passed away in a
Reykjavik
hospital on
Thursday 17 Jan
2008. Fischer
became famous
around the world
for beating the
Soviet Union's
Boris Spassky in
1972. He had
been seriously
ill for some
time and died of
kidney failure.
An excellent report with several links, photos and stories is
available on
chessbase
and some additional video footage of Fischer's life (via UTube)
can be seen
here.
Sky News:
Interview with
Kasparov
.
Bobby Fischer
Tribute
.
18th
NovThe
2007
European Team
Championship
For men's (open) and
the women's teams. This took place in Hersonissos, Crete, from 27th
October to 6th November. Both events were of
9 rounds, with a reasonable time controls.
There were 40 teams with
the British teams both much weaker than was
desirable for such an event: England
ranked 16th
(Adams, Jones, N.Pert,
Hebden, Conquest, with Peter Wells as
non-playing captain). Scotland ranked
36th
(Muir, Ruxton, Grant,
Morrison) and Wales (R.Jones, Kett,
C.Morris, Spice, Trevelyan) are 38th.
There were 30 teams in
the women's event: England (Houska,
Ciuksyte, Lauterbach, Chevannes,
Grigoryan-Lyell, with John Emms as captain)
is rated 20th (Ireland have no players
represented). For news and all the latest
scores plus games see the
official site.
18th
NovOrmskirk Rapidplay
This event too place on SUNDAY 28th OCTOBER
2007 Ormskirk Civic Hall Southport Road,
Ormskirk, Lancs.
MAJOR Restricted to players
graded below 161, MINOR Restricted to players graded below 121,
NOVICES Restricted to players graded below 91. Entry form and
further details on the MCA
congress
page. More about
Ormskirk and
Ormskirk Chess Club.
If anyone has
results, details or even photos from this
tournament please email them to the
webmaster.
30th Sept Anand is undisputed World Champion
A straightforward 20-move draw against Peter Leko was
enough to give Indian GM Viswanathan Anand
the title of undisputed World Champion 2007.
The tournament was held in Mexico City.
Kramnik beat Aronian in an excellent game to
move into second place.
The final column of the table below shows the tiebreak
scores, according to
Sonneborn-Berger. A player's SB score is
calculated by adding the sum of the
conventional scores of the players they have
defeated to half the sum of the conventional
scores of those they have drawn against.
According to this system Vladimir Kramnik is
second, beating Boris Gelfand by 0.25 SB
points.
The World Championship 2007 took place from September 12th
to 30th in the Sheraton Centro Histórico
Hotel in Mexico City. Eight players
qualified – the tournament was a double
round robin. The prize fund was US $1.3
million
10th Sept
800th
Anniversary Chess Match
2007,
UK v China and Liverpool International
Open
These spectacular events organised in fabulous style
by David Robertson has sadly ended and life can now
return to 'normal'. The fighting chess, a testament
to the players' willingness and determination
to make the occasions a success, was to be admired.
The Open section, well represented by Merseyside
players, John Carleton, Charlie Kennaugh, Dave
James, John Redmond, Marcus Chard, Brian Ewart, Nick
Hawkins, Ian Campbell, Roger Williamson, John
Littlewood, John Lambert and many more was also
played in fighting style. Full details, photos and
games be seen on the official
website.
4th Sept
Sad news
Many of you will
have known or even played Mike O'Hara from Atherton who died
suddenly and recently at home at the age of 57. He was a strong
player and a long-standing member of the British Chess
Federation Management Board as an NCCU Delegate.
ECF Obituary
11th August
Stewart Haslinger
achieves GM title
Congratulations to
Stewart Haslinger from Formby. His excellent performance (=4th,
7½/11) at the British Championships with wins against several
other GM's including the eventual winner Jacob Aagaard and
second placed GM elect Stephen Gordon, means he has achieved his
milestone 2500 Elo target required for the title. Stewart is
planning to compete in the forthcoming Liverpool Open next
month. For more news, downloads and results from the British
Championships click
here. A photo report about the event can be seen
here.
15th July
800th Anniversary Chess Match 2007, UK v China
'The proposed Liverpool 800th Anniversary match will now
take place, on the dates originally stated (Sept 4-9, 2007)
and with the squad format as previously announced, between
'Team UK' and 'Team China'. In
addition, I'm pleased to announce we will also run in
parallel with the match a Liverpool 800th Anniversary
International Open (Sept 3rd-9th) of nine rounds, with two
days of double-rounds. Prize fund in the region of £10,000 -
£12,000. Further details to follow' - David Robertson.
Atticus 2 came first
scoring 17½
pts with Prescot and Atticus 1 joint 2nd with 15½.
Twelve teams competed over 6 rounds. Photos and further details
here. See a nice game played by Luke Boumphrey from Atticus
CC in round 6
here.
22nd May
MCA Prize Winners 2007
(presented at the
2007 AGM)
.
Roger
Williamson (left) with Dave Pearcey from Aigburth
Chess Club. Proud winners of the MCA Division 1
Silver Rook and
John Ripley KO Trophy 2006/7.
Out-going MCA President Jim Wiseman (left) presents
the Division 2 Championship Trophy to Andre Eagle
from Formby Chess Club.
Ed
Taylor from Wallasey Chess Club collects the Knotty
Ash Cup. Wallasey beat Prescot 4-1 in an exciting
final in April.
Dave
Hurley accepts the Division 5 Championship Trophy.
Atticus 5 lost only one match during the season
winning with a total of 20pts.
.
Other
winners include Widnes 2 who took the Division 3
Championship with 19pts and Waterloo 2 who did
likewise in Division 4 winning with 14pts.
Silver Rook Trophy
Peter Inward from
Hoylake Chess Club has written an excellent
article about the history of this famous trophy - many
thanks to Peter.
Merseyside Chess Association Division 1
2006/07 Season Report
The 2006/07 season
made up for the lack of drama of the previous season. At
several points I predicted that certain matches would be key
to the outcome of the table. This certainly proved to be the
case, but not quite in the way I expected. None of the top
teams were able to dominate the division and it was only the
final round of matches that resolved both the top and bottom
positions of the table.
Aigburth
started the season where they left off last season, just
trailing the leaders. Was it going to be another “almost but
not quite” season? Not this time. A five round winning
sequence saw them take or share the lead for most of the
rest of the season. However with two losses, one
unexpectedly against Widnes, and a postponed match, the top
of the table was delicately poised right up to the final
round. With Atticus 2 in a very strong second position and
ready to take the Championship if Aigburth faltered, all
that was needed was a draw against Liverpool. This was the
final result in a nail biting finish and so Aigburth have
finally broken Atticus 2’s grip on this division with their
first Championship win since my records begin.
Atticus 2
did not start the season well, with a narrow loss to their
club’s first team. However they were then unbeaten for the
rest of the first half, and also gained their revenge
against Atticus 1. This sequence allowed them to draw level
with, and then take a narrow lead over Aigburth. But a loss
to Aigburth and a couple of draws let Aigburth regain the
lead. Despite a relatively easy sequence of wins to finish
the season, they were dependent on a final trip up by
Aigburth to take the Championship for the fourth year
running. This was not to be, so they end up with the same
scoreline as last year but only in second place.
Atticus 1
started the season well with three wins, but as seen in
previous years were unable to maintain this run. Although
remaining in touch with the leaders for most of the season,
they ended up with too many losses and finished in third
place.
Wallasey,
Liverpool and Widnes all finished exactly in the middle of
the table with the same number of points and only “goal”
difference separating them. Wallasey started the
season poorly and for most of it did just enough to keep out
of trouble. It was only towards the end that they hauled
themselves into fourth place with three wins. The
Liverpool team appears to make a habit of starting well
and then fading badly. This year was no exception with them
leading the division after three rounds, and then not
winning again until the New Year. This cycle was then
repeated in the second half and so they finished the season
in fifth place. Widnes’ second season in the top
division has seen them hold their own against some difficult
opposition, including notable wins against both Atticus 1
and Aigburth, and they managed a 50% win rate by the end.
However with goal difference working against them they only
achieved sixth place.
The bottom of the
table has been a battle between Prescot and newly
promoted Southport. Would it be another bounce back
for Southport, or would they manage to force another long
standing first division team down to the second division.
For most of the year there was nothing between them except
for Prescot having the goal difference advantage. For a
brief period late on, Southport displaced Prescot with a
draw against Liverpool, only to go bottom again with
Prescot’s win over them. However it was still possible for
Southport to save the day, with a win over Widnes in the
very last match of the season. But it was not to be their
day, so Prescot finished in seventh place and Southport
occupying the relegation slot.
The Player of the
Year emerged from the pack at Xmas and despite a couple of
hiccups managed to just hold on to his lead. This was an
improvement on last year where in almost identical
circumstances he just failed to capitalize. That person is
the Atticus 2 captain John Carleton who achieved his
position with a score of 11/14. His closest rival was his
fellow club mate and Atticus 1 captain David James
who came very close to displacing John. His score was
10½/14, the same score that he achieved winning the P.O.T.Y
last year! Commendations should go to Roger Williamson
and Ian Campbell, both of Aigburth, who remained
unbeaten for the whole season. Top drawers were Roger
Williamson and Graham Lilley with nine draws each.
Once again this
has been a trouble free year, with only the odd rearranged
match adding to the uncertainty of the table outcome. The
number of defaults this year was 9. This compares with 10,
7, 9, 5, 14 & 12 for the last few years.
May I therefore
finally offer congratulations to Aigburth for winning The
Merseyside Division 1 Championship, and to John Carleton for
taking the Player of the Year award.
Dave Whitby
MERSEYSIDE CHESS
LEAGUE Division 4
2006/2007 Season
Newsletter
No. 4
30th April 2007
Friends,
As seemed likely
from the outset, the season 2006/2007 has seen a thrilling
battle for the Division 4 title. The final outcome was only
decided on the very last evening of the season when Waterloo
2 travelled to Hoylake, taking
their heavy artillery for a “winner takes all”
confrontation. Crucially, Waterloo 2 needed only a drawn
match to secure the title; this they achieved. The match was
drawn, the title was theirs. (Waterloo 2 14 points; Hoylake
2 13 pts). Playing on the same evening, Skelmersdale 2
narrowly beat Prescot 3 and thereby joined Hoylake 2 on 13
points and moved into second place on game difference.
Having completed their fixtures some time ago, Southport 3
missed out on all this last minute excitement, but will be
consoled by finishing in fourth place and sharing with
Hoylake 2 first place in the “Kings of the Drawn Match”
Competition. The final League Table is shown below.
Congratulations
to Waterloo 2, who were worthy winners and to team captain
Graeme Solomon.
The “Player of
the Year Competition” resolved onto a competition between
the Kelvin Matchett and Graeme Solomon of Waterloo. Kelvin
had held the upper hand for a long time and ultimately won
convincingly by 1.5 points. Graeme, with 6.5 points was
closely followed by a host of players from many clubs. A
list of players achieving 3.5 points or more is shown below.
Congratulations to Kelvin, who is a long-serving member of
the Waterloo Chess Club.
Congratulations
once again to League Champions Waterloo 2 and the best of
luck in Division 3! Thank you to all team captains who
contributed to the smooth running of the Division throughout
the season. You have all earned your summer break!
Kindest Regards,
Peter Inward
30th April
Div 5:
Atticus 5 promoted
Following their
run of successive wins in Division 5, Atticus 5 have secured
promotion with 20pts. Congratulations to
all the 5th team players.
28th
April
Div 3: Widnes
promoted, Southport relegated
Widnes 2 take the only promotion place winning Division 3 with
19pts. Southport 2 are relegated
[tables].
28th
April
Div 3: Widnes
promoted, Southport relegated.
Widnes 2 take the only promotion place winning Division 3 with
19pts. Southport 2 are relegated.
27th April
Aigburth win
the John Ripley Trophy
Congratulations to Aigburth. They have won the John Ripley
Trophy by beating Skelmersdale
5-2½
in the final. (1½pts
to Skelmersdale on the handicap rule)
26th April
Wallasey 1 win
the Knotty Ash Cup
Congratulations to Wallasey 1. They have won the Knotty Ash Cup
beating Prescot 1, 4-1 in the final.
25th April
Div 2:
Formby 1 promoted
Following their recent victory over Waterloo 1½-5½, Formby have
finished top of Division 2 and are promoted. Congratulations to
all at Formby CC.
