The Gazette November 2014
Registered Charity Number 263049
BCA Website Address: www.braillechess.org.uk Email: [email protected]
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. CONTENTS Editorial...... 3 Forthcoming Events...... 3 Last Call for Haaksbergen 2015...... 4 All Under One Roof...... 5 Castle Chess Portsmouth Congress, September 2014...... 6 Excerpts from the Trustees Report – 1st October 2013 to 30th September 2014...... 7 Treasurer’s Report...... 8 Membership Secretary’s Report...... 8 2014 BCA Junior Championship, Wallington Chess Club, 23rd August...... 9 Anyone for Coaching?...... 10 Important Additions to the Audio Library...... 11 Chess Coaching on Skype...... 12 Chairman’s Cup – Hodgkins v Gallagher...... 12 A French Comedy...... 14 Game by Mark Kirkham at Sheffield...... 14 International Tournaments...... 15 Correspondence Chess Director’s Report...... 16 BCA Correspondence Tournament Rules – September 2013...... 18 BCA Email Correspondence Tournament...... 19 Report on the BCA’s Team in the BCCL...... 19 ECF Grades of BCA Members 2014-15...... 19 Christmas Crackers...... 20 Chris’s Puzzle...... 21 Millennium Club...... 21 Personalia...... 21 Obituary for Lucy Walsh...... 21
2 Editorial Welcome to another packed issue of the BCA Gazette! This quarter we have a thrilling account of our Junior Championship as well as some exciting games by members who have enjoyed extraordinary successes of late, in BCA and mainstream events alike. There is the customary round up of scores from various correspondence competitions and also a glowing report of an event attended under the Congress Support Scheme. If all this inspires you to enter a tournament, you may wish to check the articles about coaching opportunities and new titles in the audio library to help you brush up your game! Allow me to draw your attention to an oversight in an article of mine in the last gazette. “ECF Masters in Our Midst” reported that Owen Phillips is a County Master, but neglected to say that he also holds the higher ranking title of Regional Master. My thanks to Owen for pointing out this omission, thereby enabling me to correct it. Due to some exceptional circumstances at home, I finished preparing this issue somewhat later than usual and I do apologise to anyone whose copy is delayed as a result. Please help me to do better next time by sending your contributions for the February gazette as early as you can. The deadline will be the 4th of January, but it would be greatly appreciated if articles could be sent before Christmas wherever possible. To get people in the mood for the December festivities, Hans Cohn has sent us some wonderful ‘Christmas Crackers’ in the form of stunning moves found by some of the great players of the 1970s. Such classy play never goes out of fashion! Finally, as this is the last gazette of 2014 I would like to take the opportunity to send compliments of the season to all readers! Julie Leonard Forthcoming Events 13 th - 15 th March 2015: AGM and Chess Congress Weekend This will be held at The Holiday Inn, Solihull. The AGM will take place at 2pm on Saturday 14th March. We are pleased to be returning to this popular hotel with its excellent facilities. There will be two five round chess tournaments. The Open Tournament is open to all visually impaired chess players and associate members of the BCA and the Minor Tournament is limited to those graded 110 or below. The entry fee for both tournaments is £10. The cost of dinner, bed and breakfast for members and associate members is £35 per person per night for Friday and Saturday nights in a single room, and £34 per person per night in a double/twin room. For non-members and those staying on the Sunday night, the cost will be £50 per person in a single room and £49 per person in a double/twin. The closing date for entries is 19th January. Please send your entry fee and full payment for all accommodation to Gill Smith by this date. (See list of BCA Officers for contact details.) Solihull is located conveniently close to Birmingham Airport. For those travelling by train, the hotel is a short taxi ride from Solihull railway station. This is on the Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone line. An alternative route which might be more convenient for some is to get a taxi from Birmingham International railway station. This journey is longer (about 5 miles) but may avoid the need to change stations in Birmingham. Please send any resolutions or other items for inclusion on the AGM agenda to Guy Whitehouse by 31st December 2014. Also, let Guy know if you are planning to attend the AGM without participating in the tournament. Organiser Steve Burnell. Please note that the start time of the AGM and Steve’s contact number have both changed since these details were published in the August gazette. 30 th May to 6 th June 2015 – BCA British Championship, Auckland Hotel, Morecambe Cost of accommodation, including dinner, bed & breakfast: £265 for members and associate members and £340 for non members. [Please note: The concessionary rates will not apply to those booking for 1 to 5 days.] The British Championship will be played over seven days with one game each day. All UK visually impaired players are eligible to enter this event. The entry fee is £10. The rate of play will be 40 moves in two hours for each player followed by an additional 30 minutes for each player for the completion of the game. If there are sufficient entries there will also be a minor event. In recent years, however, there have not been sufficient entries to run a minor event. In 2015 we return to the Auckland Hotel, which was popular amongst those who attended the British Championship in 2013. The Auckland is a comfortable family run hotel, conveniently situated on the seafront at Morecambe.
3 The closing date for entries and bookings is 31st March 2015. Bookings, including payment in full, should be sent to Mrs. Gill Smith. Please refer to the booking conditions for BCA events which indicate the requirements you should include with your booking. For any other information contact David Hodgkins. Please note the change of contact name since these details were published in the August gazette. Booking Conditions and Procedures Those who make payment into the BCA’s account on-line or by direct bank transfer should make sure their payment is cleared by the closing date. When this has happened inform the treasurer your payment has been made and include your booking requirements as outlined below. If paying by cheque, cheques should be made payable to the Braille Chess Association. Building society cheques should have the name of the sender clearly marked. Postdated cheques are not accepted. If paying by BACS transfer, payments should be made to: Braille Chess Association, Sort Code: 40 52 40, Account Number: 00082456 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 by the Treasurer, Gill Smith, or when the money has been received by the BCA bank. Gill’s contact details are in the list of BCA Officers at the start of this gazette. Payments can only be refunded within the time limit set in the terms and conditions set by the various hotels. Members are advised to take out holiday insurance to cover themselves. When sending your payment to the treasurer, please include details of your booking requirements including: 1 Single room, double room or twin room; 2 If you prefer a bath or a shower; 3 If you prefer a room in which you may smoke. Please note many hotels now adopt a no smoking policy; 4 If you will be bringing your guide dog; 5 If you are on a special diet; 6 If you have mobility problems and would benefit from being located in a room near to a lift; 7 If you are a wheelchair user; 8 If you feel you would have any special difficulties in an emergency such as a fire evacuation; 9 Any other special requirements. There is no need to send your requests to the organiser as Gill will do this, but you may, of course, contact the organiser on any point. Please do not make special requests to the hotel as this causes confusion. Please note: BCA reserves the right to refuse or cancel any entry or to exclude any person from any event it runs.
Last Call for Haaksbergen 2015 The 41st IBIS Tournament will take place in the little Dutch town of Haaksbergen from Friday, 17th to Sunday, 19th April 2015. All those wishing to go, whether on the organised trip or by making their own travel arrangements, need to notify me by Friday, 28th November 2014. People on the organised trip will meet at London Liverpool Street Station on Thursday, 16th April 2014 to catch a train, which usually leaves at 18:20, to Harwich International, for the ferry to Hoek van Holland. We would arrive back in London on Tuesday, 21st April 2015 at around 09:30 hours. The total cost of the organised trip is normally around £135.00 to £140.00 per person. However, I cannot confirm the price for definite as Stena Line do not bring their 2015 prices out until January 2015. BCA will be offering a subsidy for this trip of £75.00 per BCA person, whether visually impaired or an associate member of BCA. It would be appreciated if visually impaired people could find their own guide to accompany them on this trip. Obviously if their sighted guide is not an associate member of BCA they will not be entitled to the BCA subsidy. In case anybody is unsure about this tournament, on arriving at Hengelo, we are collected and our host family looks after us thereafter. The tournament is made up of three rounds (two Saturday and one Sunday). Normally, tables consist of players from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium; two sighted and two visually impaired players roughly of the same grades. Obviously, this is not always possible as it depends on number of players from the countries involved. The tournament is of a very friendly nature. If anyone would like more information about the IBIS Tournament please do not hesitate to contact me. I cannot stress enough how vital it is to find your own guide and let me know whether you will be travelling on the organised trip or by your own means by Friday, 28th November 2014. David Hodgkins.
4 All Under One Roof I've been asked to highlight the fact that members can claim support for attending any of these congresses from the Congress Support Scheme. You would just have to flag up with the new Congress Support officer, Mark Kirkham, that you intended 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 any costs incurred by playing in an event. This list should not be treated as definitive and is only as complete as I can make it whilst complying with gazette deadlines. You would be well advised to keep an eye on the ECF calendar yourselves. The quickest way to find the calendar is actually to go on to www.google.co.uk and type, for example, ECF calendar May 2014 into the search box. The following events all take place in hotels, meaning that the accommodation and the tournament itself are at the same venue. Castle Chess These are organised by Tony and Barbara Corfe. Tony and Barbara are well 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. Tony has been talking to me about holding events in the north of the country, specifically the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate. He’s keen to schedule these at a time which would not clash with the BCA’s calendar. I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything, though no doubt any such events will appear on his website or in his newsletter, to which you can subscribe by emailing Tony at one of the addresses quoted above. 2nd – 4th January 2015, 3rd Winchester Congress, the Holiday Inn, Telegraph Way, Winchester. This is a six-round Swiss tournament. At this year’s event participants were allowed to take byes in two rounds; I don’t know if that will be the case in the 2015 event. The usual grading bands for each section apply, so there’s an Open which also has an U180 section, the Major is for those under 160 with an Intermediate section for U140s, and a Minor section for those with a grade less than 125 with a Challengers section for U100s. 20th – 22nd February 2015, 7th Portsmouth Congress, Lysses House Hotel, High Street, Fareham. Like the Winchester Congress this is also a six-round Swiss tournament, though previously it’s only been possible to take a half-point bye in just one of the rounds. 14th – 15th March, 7th Hereford Congress, Green Dragon Hotel, Broad Street, Hereford. This is a five-round Swiss tournament held at a venue in which the legendary Blackburne supposedly played. e2e4 Events The e2e4 website is not showing any future events at the time of writing. Other Events Please note that telephone numbers are hardly ever given on the ECF calendar where I find these events, and sometimes they don’t even appear on tournament entry forms. Some of the numbers I quote are those I have found elsewhere, typically on county association or chess union websites which, in my experience, are not always kept up to date. 3rd – 7th November, 15th Royal Beacon Seniors’ Congress, Royal Beacon Hotel, the Beacon, Exmouth. There is actually a “Juniors” event for those aged between 50 and 64 (age as at 1st November 2014). The main event is for those aged 65 and above. The rate of play is given as 40 moves in two hours and an hour for each player to finish the game. Contact R.H. Jones. 14th -16th November, 48th Torbay Chess Congress, the Toorak Hotel, Chestnut Avenue, Torquay. There is a Major, Intermediate and Minor section, though grading limits are unspecified. Contact Ray Chubb. 6th – 8th March, 39th Blackpool Chess Conference, the Imperial Hotel, North Promenade, Blackpool. There are five sections: an Open, a Major (U181), Median (U155), Intermediate (U135) and a Minor (U115). Email [email protected] (no telephone number given on the entry form). 15th – 20th March, Rothay Manor Chess Holiday, Rothay Manor, Rothay Bridge, Ambleside. Most of you will be familiar with the format of this chess holiday run by Peter Cloudsdale; it’s a seven-round Swiss with tutorial sessions on openings, the middlegame, the endgame and tactics. There’s an opportunity to go through games you’ve played and also famous games played in the past. Guy Whitehouse
5 Castle Chess Portsmouth Congress, September 2014 Held at the Lyssess House Hotel, Fareham. Castle Chess events are perfect for anyone who wishes to try a mainstream event for the first time. They are run by Tony Corfe, his wife, Barbara, and a chap called Mark Shaw, all of whom are very welcoming and happy to assist when needed. When he attended our AGM in March, Tony undertook to look after the interests of VI players at- tending Castle Chess events and he has certainly done so. When booking through Tony for these events VI players are offered rooms which are easier to find and are also given the same table for each round in the chess room. After discussions with the VI players at Fareham, Tony and Barbara printed out lists of the file names to be placed on each table so that sighted opponents could use them during games, thereby avoiding mishearing problems. Castle Chess events attracts regulars, and so over the years I have got to know many of these people and made many friendly acquaintances and I would even go as far as to say friends. The Lysses House Hotel is a small family run establishment, which I think was once an old Georgian mansion. It has lifts and so there is wheelchair access. The chess room is perfect as it is spacious, and because the hotel is only small, it is quiet. In fact, I think all the rooms were taken up by chess players. They even have a second room which is used as an analysis room for players to discuss and relive their victories and defeats. My room had a bath, a shower and all the other mod cons such as TV, tea and coffee etc. As for the staff, I couldn’t have wished for better. They were always happy to help whenever needed, but would always ask first and never impose their help if it wasn’t required. This meant that I could walk around getting my bearings without the fear of someone constantly wanting to rescue me. However, when I first arrived and struggled to find the dining room, the staff were always happy to take me to my table. The hotel is a little bit of a rabbit warren but having such wonder- ful staff this was never a problem. In short, a perfect hotel and a perfect congress. If only my chess playing mirrored the event! As for the chess, the Portsmouth Congress is always a six round tournament: one game Friday evening, three on Saturday and two on Sunday with the option of taking up to two half point byes. Time control for all Castle Chess events is 36 moves in 90 minutes with a 15 minute allegro finish. Sections include Minor, Major and Open, with sub sections of Challenger and Intermediate (although double check with regards to Open as not every Castle Chess event I’ve attended has had an Open). However, Castle Chess seems to cater for everyone from grassroots upwards. I would highly recommend this event. If you have not been to a mainstream congress before, try Castle Chess and I will guarantee you will be a regular. To find out more please refer to the All Under One Roof report. Gary Wickett
6 Excerpts from the Trustees Report – 1st October 2013 to 30th September 2014 Editor’s Note: Sadly, Guy’s excellent report is too long to be reproduced in full here. Therefore I have trimmed it down to the following few paragraphs, which I hope are sufficient to give a flavour of the original, while avoiding too much repetition of news that is elsewhere in this Gazette or has already appeared in earlier editions. Mission Statement To enable blind and partially sighted people to enjoy the game of chess, to improve their chess playing techniques, and to have their voice heard in the world of chess. What's been happening? I. We are particularly pleased to report that for the first time in several years, we were able to run a BCA Junior Championship. Owen Phillips has put a lot of energy into running coaching sessions for visually impaired juniors and their sighted friends in his area and the championship is really the culmination of all that work. The association plans to build on the success of this event and run the championship again next year. The next step is to persuade some of our juniors to attend one of our regular events, and Owen is working together with our new junior development officer, Gary Wickett, on a fuller plan to cover junior matters in general. II. Some of our players have enjoyed notable successes in mainstream events. We were especially pleased to see one of our juniors, Efe Shimwell, win the U10 Kent County Championship. Mark Kirkham retained his Sheffield Congress Minor title with a 100% score of 5-5, and followed this up with a similar win at the Manchester Congress. John Gallagher won the Jorvik Congress held at the end of August and Chris Ross and Colin Crouch continue to play for a team in Division 1 of the country’s most prestigious club championship, the 4NCL. III. Meantime our usual domestic programme proceeded over the year, offering competition for players of all levels of ability. Three over-the-board competitions have been held since the publication of the last Trustees’ Report. It is worth noting that we took the decision to dedicate the 2014 Autumn International Tournament to the memory of two deceased, but highly-valued members of our association, Sean and Pat O’Brien. Both gave our association many years of service and Sean left us a very generous donation in his will. Turning to correspondence chess, we have started email tournaments for our members and our inaugural tournament started in April. The number of entrants was gratifyingly high and we have no doubt that this will form a regular part of our activities from now on. The BCA also entered a team into the British Correspondence Chess League and ran our usual internal correspondence championship and league. IV. The BCA has enjoyed some success in international competitions this year. Perhaps our greatest success was at the Six Nations tournament held in Belgium in December 2013. Our team won Bronze. We enjoyed more success at the friendly IBIS event held at Haaksbergen, the Netherlands in April 2014. Finally we sent two participants to the World Individual Championships held in May 2014 in Greece. V. Once again the BCA has put some considerable effort into publicising the association, and our new publicity officer, Voldi Gailans, has certainly hit the ground running! He has started supplying some small regular news items for the website and taken on full responsibility for managing the publicity for our tournaments. He has also given a talk on chess and the BCA to a visually impaired organisation in London. Meanwhile we exhibited at Sight Village, Birmingham in July this year. Chris Ross, Mike Murphy and Gary Wickett ran our stand for both days of the event and we certainly received expressions of interest from people who said they might join our association. Voldi Gailans and Mike Murphy will form the basis of a team at Sight Village, London in November of this year. VI. The BCA continues to provide coaching to its Juniors thanks to the efforts of Owen Phillips, and we sometimes offer financial support to members in order to help them receive coaching by Skype. As well as this Stan Lovell helped organise a coaching day at the RNIB in London where Owen gave a day’s tuition to a group of mixed strength, primarily to non-elite players. It is planned to hold similar sessions in the future with a grant from the Mercers Company, and Voldi Gailans is taking the lead on this. What we aim for We in the BCA aim to bring our members competitive and friendly chess experience together with the comradeship of a close-knit Association. Catering for players of all strengths is fundamental. Essential to this aim is the BCA’s quarterly Gazette. Thanks to generous sponsorship the Gazette has grown recently with space for lots of contributions from members. And talking of support we would like to pay tribute to
7 all friends of the BCA, be you sponsors, guides, associate members, arbiters, stewards, readers - or just plain good friends! We are truly grateful to you all! Guy Whitehouse, Secretary Treasurer’s Report Our financial year-end was at the end of September by which time Julia Scott, our fundraiser, had raised nearly £32,000. Julia’s impressive results enable us to continue to subsidise both accommodation at our tournaments and adapted chess sets and clocks. Julia’s work has allowed us to keep the membership fees down and to plan our programme of events well in advance. Last year Sean O’Brien left the BCA a very generous legacy in his will. BCA members have continued to raise funds with various projects including gifts, raffles and bring-and-buy sales and also through our Millennium Club. This all means that our association is in good financial health. I have just finished calculating totals for our last financial year and have a couple of interesting statistics: o For every £1 we spent on fundraising, £4.87 was returned in income. o For every £1 we spent, 80p was spent directly on supporting chess players and 20p was spent on fundraising and governance. I think we should be proud of these figures. Gill Smith, Treasurer Membership Secretary’s Report Well hopefully you have all now received your Membership List and in the correct format. If anybody has not yet received it or have received it in the wrong format, please let me know and I will send you another copy and update my records accordingly. The production of the membership list is very much a team effort and I would like to take this opportunity first of all to thank Julie Leonard for producing and sending out the print and email copies. What is more, Julie’s keen eye and Miss Marple prowess has rectified a few long standing small errors such as the odd post code having the wrong number etc. Let me also extend my appreciation to Rebecca Blaevoet and her company Valley Wordworks for producing what I consider to be an excellent Braille version. As we have had no new members since the publication of the 2014 membership list, I won’t take up precious pages by duplicating addresses. Thanks to Owen Phillips, “Junior BCA” has been given the breath of life and seems to be thriving. In fact this may be a first, as all the new members this time are juniors. Owen has not only been coaching these juniors but his energy and enthusiasm have obviously been important factors in inspiring these youngsters to see chess as an enjoyable and challenging hobby, and of course it is a double pleasure to know that many of his students are choosing to join the BCA. The Committee and I get frequent reports from Owen, and these juniors certainly sound like they would put me to shame on the chess board. You can read all about the BCA Junior Championship in Owen’s article elsewhere in this Gazette. However, before I introduce our new budding young stars, let me correct a small error in my last report. This error was my mistake and was a simple case of crossed wires. I do like to squeeze as many new members as possible into each Gazette, which always means that my reports are generally written in a bit of a rush. My apologies therefore go to Gregory Yu, who has actually joined as an associate junior and not as a VI junior as stated in the August Gazette. Well without further ado I would like to warmly welcome five new members. As all these new members joined back in mid July or early August, and as I am a mean Membership Secretary and am not interested in birthdays but only interested in expiry dates! So, as dates of birth are not on my database, and so as not to risk short changing anyone a year from their age, I won’t list ages, suffice to say that all of the following new members, apart from Jacob Wright who I hear has since moved on to Oxted Grammar School, attend St. Stephen’s Primary School in Godstone, Surrey, and fall between the ages of eight and eleven. Let me start the ball rolling therefore by extending a very warm welcome to Charlie Wicks, who has joined as a VI Junior Member. Charlie was hoping to come to the BCA Junior Championship but in the end was unable to attend. However, as a member of “Junior BCA” there will be plenty of opportunities to attend other events and you and your parents would be made very welcome if you’re able to come. 8 It also gives me great pleasure to welcome Jonny De Ste Croix and Jacob Wright, who have both joined as associate junior members. Jonny and Jacob, otherwise known as ‘The Defensive Avenger’ and ‘The Crusher’, both attended the BCA Junior Championship. I hear you both had a great time and hopefully you will be inspired to attend more of our events. Last but not least, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Ehteshaam Bhutta and younger brother Shehroze, who have also both joined as Associate Junior Members. Ehteshaam and Shehrize, like Charlie, were also hoping to come to the BCA Junior Championship but in the end were unfortunately unable to attend. It goes without saying that you and your parents would be made very welcome if you wished to come along to any of our events in the future. If anyone else has any changes to their home or email address, or if any errors are spotted in the current membership list, please do not hesitate to contact me. Gary Wickett
2014 BCA Junior Championship, Wallington Chess Club, 23rd August Tournament Controller, Owen Phillips, writes: This enjoyable and very sporting event was held in the United Reformed Church in Wallington. The participants included Jacob Wright and Jonny De St Croix, both from St Stephen’s School, Godstone; Efe Shimwell from Claremont School in Kent; plus Henry and Gregory Yu, two associate BCA members from Sutton. Henry is in fact a regular pupil of mine and the current British U8 Champion. Due to there being five players the event became an all play all, which of course can have the merit of giving a fairer result than a Swiss event. Unfortunately the odd number of players meant that one person would have to sit out each round, but a rest can do a player good in the heat of battle! The time rate was 25 minutes per player per game. There were BCA trophies and medals to play for, and also a Best Game Prize, which I donated to add a little extra interest. Refreshments were served to all players and their parents before Round 3 and continued to be available for the rest of the afternoon. The game of the Championship in my view was the Round 1 clash between Efe ‘The Stealth Bomber’ Shimwell, with a rapidplay grade of 79 but estimated to be 100 on recent tournament results, and Gregory ‘The Terminator’ Yu, with an estimated rapidplay grade of 60. (The players each chose an alias, which added to the razzmatazz!) This was a cut and thrust game, which fairly quickly moved towards a middle game that slightly favoured Efe with the black pieces, active rooks and centralised King, despite the fact that Gregory had come out of the opening a pawn to the good. Eventually, after a very tough struggle where the players used more of their time than in all of the other games combined, the game was drawn when Gregory had to sacrifice his rook for Efe’s last pawn, which he had just promoted to a Queen, thereby forcing a draw as there were no pieces left on either side! I have to say that I watched most of this game and thought, “If this is anything to go by, we are in for a rare treat!” Meanwhile in the other opening match, after a level opening Henry ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Yu, quickly gained the ascendency and won by checkmate against Jonny ‘The Defensive Avenger’ De St Croix. So under the points system of 3 for a win and 1 for a draw to add spice, the early lead was held by the British U8 Champion on 3 ahead of Efe and Gregory on 1 each and Jonny on 0, with Jacob ‘The Crusher’ Wright yet to enter the fray! After three rounds and many lively encounters, the scores were; Jacob on 3, Jonny on 6, Efe and Gregory on 7, and Henry on 9. Everyone received three points for their default win. With Henry beating his older brother Gregory in Round 4, Gregory subsequently winning against Jacob, giving him 10 points to Jacob’s 3 and Jonny, who lost his last game, staying on 6 points, it meant that the last round game between Henry ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Yu on 12 points and Efe ‘The Stealth Bomber’ Shimwell on 10 points would decide the event: A win or draw would give Henry the first prize and the Championship Trophy; whilst a win for Efe would secure him the Championship, and a draw would ensure he finished second, thereby demoting Gregory to third. The tension was clearly mounting and both players had an extra rest before doing battle. Efe even went out with his lovely guide dog, Chipper, for a quick walk and a chat! Chipper, was much liked by all the players, parents and me! He was fantastically well behaved, as you would expect for a guide dog and was really friendly to all too!
9 Henry opened somewhat cunningly with Van de Kruyt’s 1.e3! Efe was clearly not in the mood for taking prisoners and quickly essayed 1..e5! Henry then played 2.b3 and we soon had a Classical Larsen position with pressure put on the black e5 pawn. Whether sacrificing or just making a mistake after 8 moves, Efe had shipped his e pawn, and later sacked another pawn in favour of immediate development! Soon Henry came under some pressure when Efe played Qb4+ forcing Henry to self-pin his Knight in order to defend his Bishop on b5. Efe then waded in with a pawn move and a knight hopped in also to attack the c3 ‘hopper’. Henry showed some confusion for the first time in the Championship and lost the exchange some four or five moves later. Technically, with best play, Efe had a won ending as White’s bishop on a1 was poor, blocked in by a double pawn, and Efe very assiduously created an open file for his a rook by sacking his b pawn! An outright win for Efe and the scalp of the British U8 Champion were very much on the cards! Both players had some 14 minutes left so Efe was the clear favourite! However in ‘Part 2’ of the game Efe started to rush his moves instead of planning how to make maximum use of his extra rook. He appeared to lose a piece for a pawn, but his rook, in combination with a brilliantly centrally placed knight hemming in the white King, was so menacing that Efe could win back the piece or win the other rook with a back rank skewer! Yet again the awareness of tactics was reaping rewards! Henry was in serious trouble, and shipped the piece back and headed for the kingside and an escape square on f3 with his King! Sadly for Efe this game was not one of two parts, but of four! In part three Efe was to play too quickly and fall foul of a well-planned knight fork, leaving Henry with a favourable ending. That said, Efe was not about to go down without a hard fight and swapped off his final knight so that he had four pawns, two of them passed, against a knight and one set of doubled pawns! Unfortunately for Efe, Henry now showed his twice UK Chess Academy Terafinalist credentials, stayed calm and under pressure came and defended his pawns, and then made Efe run out of moves. He then promoted his c pawn by using the extra tempi available by virtue of his double pawn to offside Efe’s King! After a few more brave moves Efe was mated and the British U8 Champion was victorious again (15/15). They don’t call this guy ‘The Dark Destroyer’ for nothing! Yet Henry knew he had escaped somewhat luckily from this bruising encounter with Efe! And he clearly held his young blind adversary in much higher regard! Well with two players tied for 2nd place and a silver Medal at stake, Efe had a brief rest and then had to take on Henry’s brother, Gregory ‘The Terminator’ Yu, yet again. This time Efe had the white pieces. Efe was on fire in this game. He appeared hardly to need to refer to his board, seemingly having memorised his own and his opponent’s piece placements. Soon, Efe got on top and converted in style for a middle of the board mating net! It was a very nice finish for Efe and bad luck for a bruised, but not bowed Gregory! This was clearly Efe exacting revenge for having lost in unfortunate circumstances against Gregory’s brother! ‘Hell hath no fury like a Stealth Bomber scorned!’ So we had the final placings:- Henry Yu won the BCA Championship Trophy, the Gold Medal and first prize. Efe Shimwell won the BCA Junior Champion title and trophy, the Silver Medal and second prize. He also picked up the Phillips Best Game Prize! Gregory Yu won the Bronze Medal, the third prize, and an extra medal as a memento of taking part in the Best Game of the tournament! In 4th place came Jonny De St Croix, who was awarded a medal for playing and being a good sport, and in 5th place was Jacob Wright, who was also awarded his medal for being a jolly good and very sporting participant. Everyone seemed to have a good day, and we would like to all thank the BCA for funding the event. In a very handsome gesture Debbie Yu; Henry and Gregory’s mother donated the prize money won by associate members, Henry and Gregory, back to the BCA. All the parents and children thanked the BCA and me for funding and running the event, and also for laying on the refreshments! Anyone for Coaching? Having taken over responsibility for organising coaching from Stan, I would like firstly to thank him very much indeed for all his efforts and I very much hope that I can carry on the work with his enthusiasm and efficiency. One of the aims of our organisation is to improve the playing strength of those members who are interested in pursuing BCA training activities and, to this end, I hope to encourage more of the membership to take up any coaching opportunities which may arise. When sending our teams abroad for world events we provide coaches to
10 help to maximise their chances of success. Now if our top players can benefit from such coaching it must be true that the rest of us can also find it helpful, not only in improving our game, but in making it more enjoyable by improving our understanding of chess through examples and by teaching us the principles which make it easier to find good moves rather than flounder in a wealth of possibilities each time it is our turn to move. There are plenty of books and articles available from the BCA library and elsewhere which enable us to study chess by ourselves and this is clearly an immensely valuable resource. However, it is easy enough to fall into bad habits or become lazy and coaching is a good way to revitalise our efforts when sitting down at the chess board. For anyone joining the BCA, particularly those who have never taken part in tournament chess, the experience can be very daunting. The intensity of a weekend's competition may be something quite unfamiliar to a beginner. Coaching can be a great source of inspiration to such players, providing access to learning in a non-pressured situation, a means by which any questions or concerns can be addressed to give confidence and insight to any beginner and a friendly environment in which to participate and get to know other members in pursuing a shared interest. For those of us who are experienced but not necessarily particularly good players coaching can give us a lift, provide us with new ideas and even completely change the way we think about the game, providing us with fresh ideas to try when we play our next game. Over the years we have organised coaching events in small groups in various locations. In recent times Skype has become an additional way to provide coaching. For those not familiar with it, Skype is a program which can be downloaded onto a computer, free of charge, and used to hold conversations directly with another person who has the same program. Skype calls to other computers are also free of charge. It is possible to host more than two people in any conversation and so it would be feasible to have a coach and a group of trainees on one call. Setting- up and familiarisation with Skype may be an initial concern, but I believe we have enough expertise in our organisation to help with this. Coaching events require organisation and require certain factors to be borne in mind when undertaking them. From time to time we receive donations specifically for coaching purposes and sometimes these donations are for coaching in specific parts of the country. Finding suitable venues and matching coaching groups to relevant experience can be a problem and finding a suitable coach to match the ability of the group is another factor. Providing appropriate coaching for as many as possible requires long term planning in order to be as efficient as possible and I would therefore ask any member to write to me giving details of any coaching requirements: 1. Would you be happy to attend group coaching events? 2. How far would you be willing to travel in order to attend such an event? 3. Would you be prepared to stay overnight close to a coaching venue? 4. Would you prefer coaching via Skype? 5. Would you prefer one-to-one coaching in some other form if this can be arranged? I am compiling a list of those BCA members who have attended coaching since May this year and those who have expressed an interest in receiving coaching and I am hoping to add many more to the list in the coming weeks and months. My great hope is that this will make it easier for us to provide better coaching for all our members in the future. Voldi Gailans Important Additions to the Audio Library 1. “Middlegame Strategy and Tactics” is a subject with which many chess players are at sea. This recording from the German chess press covers most aspects, and is what the majority of members asked for, when consulted. Rather than launch into a critical discussion, I let the titles speak for themselves. The recording covers twenty compact cassettes. You may not want all of them at once, but there is sure to be something that excites your curiosity. I understand, our Audio Librarian is keeping the recording in a form from which individual items can easily be supplied. 2. “Practice-based Endgame Studies” Endgames are a part of the game which is most often neglected, probably because in most competitions one never gets to them. Nevertheless, their study can teach you an important aspect of chess and add to your all-round knowledge of the game. These books provide a quick-fire guide, covering the basic knowhow for each type of ending by giving you the basic rules governing each type, followed by a judicious
11 selection of examples. The endgames covered in two to three hours’ listening each are: pawn endings, rook and pawn endings and queen and pawn endings. Hans Cohn
12 Chess Coaching on Skype While all on the BCA email list will be aware of the contents of this article, not all with computers are on the list. Chess coaching has been taking place on Skype for over 18 months now. Johannes Grib, now a BCA life member, started the process by inviting speakers to present a chess talk of their choosing to the Gauteng Blind Chess Club. Chris Ross gave the first talk, a smooth win for him with the black pieces in a Nimzo-Indian Defence. This was soon followed by one of my best IBCA games from the Segovia World Cup 1990. From that date on I have been contributing in two distinctly different ways. Study: Initially the games studied were my own email games, but this was a finite supply. Soon Master games were placed under the magnifying glass, games being anything from a few weeks to more than 150 years old. Recent studies include wins by youthful versions of Capablanca, Fischer and Anand. While the coach/host does much talking, participants are requested to answer questions, permitted to ask questions or make suggestions. Geographical location is no boundary, in recent sessions four continents have been regularly represented. The host room is one of the salons of the open-aurec project located in France. Sessions can last between 3 and 4 hours. Spoken Thought Games: A game is played between a volunteering group member and myself, surely nothing unusual there? There are four differences between these encounters and a standard game. Firstly, my inner strategic thoughts and tactical analysis on how both players can proceed are spoken out loud. This is an opportunity to witness how a player of my strength approaches each move during the various stages of the game. The opponent is listening to all the shambling ramblings on offer from me and is allowed to take full advantage of the spoken inner thoughts. The opponent is not committed to offering inner thoughts, though some choose so to do. Secondly, again this is a group session, contributions from all present are encouraged. Suggestions from the kibitzers have frequently proven to be better than the proposals from the players. Thirdly, there are no clocks and so no time controls. Lastly, since this is essentially a consultation game resembling a rugby loose scrum, the result is of no consequence. The game is instead an opportunity to tune-in to the private thinking in real-time play. It is quite common for an opinion on a particular move played earlier to be retrospectively reversed during play, with the advantage of experiencing no pain over the previous decision. The Skype id of the room is salon-echec. Skype contact must be established before entrance to the room is permitted. Sessions are on Sunday afternoons starting at 14:00 GMT which is 14:00 UTC. Anyone wishing for further information should contact Paul Benson Chairman’s Cup – Hodgkins v Gallagher Readers will recall that earlier this year John Gallagher won the BCA Chairman’s Cup at Bournemouth in fine style with seven points from seven games. His round 5 game against David Hodgkins is below, with annotations by Chris Ross, as requested by John. Hodgkins v Gallagher, Pirc Defence 1. d4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. e4 d6 4. Be2 Nf6 {Although the text move is not bad in itself, Black’s intention was to play a “Modern” defence. This immediate de- velopment of the king’s knight is a branch line into the Pirc. There are subtle differences though. In the main line Pirc, Black has often castled, allowing the king’s knight to retreat to e8, if with the central thrust e4-e5. If Black is wishing to adopt the Modern defence, it is best to delay this knight’s development, otherwise, it becomes a target to the thrust e4-e5, which will gain a tempo for White.} 5. Nbd2 {White may wish to attempt to exploit Black’s inaccuracy in the move order here by playing 5. e4-e5. The knight does have the d7 retreat, so it is not as effective as it appears. The text move is slightly unusual as the knight in most Pirc lines settles on c3. It is curious that both players are adopting hybrid systems. White is treating the position as a sort of King’s Indian Defence, which is not strictly valid, as White has not played c2-c4, effect- ively making it an e4-opening.} 5... a6?! {Here, Black clearly demonstrates that he has mixed up his lines. Playing Nf6 and a6 in tandem is not ad- visable. There are many positional reasons why Black delays the development of this king’s knight in the Modern, but one of the principal ideas is that the double fianchettoed bishops on g7 and b7 will exert pressure on the white centre from afar. In the setup adopted by Black, the knight on f6 is left vulnerable.} 6. c4?! {White aims for a King’s Indian setup, but is failing to exploit Black’s slow development. The other point is that the queen’s knight for White has already been developed to d2, and if c2-c4 is to be played, then this knight belongs on c3. 6. e5! Putting a big question to Black is the way to go. 6... Nfd7 could be met with 7. e6 with complications, which will favour White.}
13 6... Nbd7? {Once again, Black plays in a true King’s Indian style, but is failing to realise the perilous danger faced by his king’s knight. The purpose of the move is to facilitate e7-e5, but as in many KID lines, e7-e5 can be played without this supporting move, as the tactics will favour Black if White were to try to steal on e5. The tactics do not work in these lines as the knight on d2 blockades the D-file and prevent timely queen exchanges.} 7. O-O {7. e5! would embarrass the knight on f6 as it has no good retreat. After this opening misjudgement by Black, he manages to consolidate his position and things begin to turn for the better for him.} 7... e5 8. d5 Nc5 9. Qc2 a5 {A clear indication that Black’s opening move order was all wrong. He has now lost a full tempo in the main line KID, but it is not so easy to exploit that slight time differential. White’s queen is on a slightly awkward square. White’s main objective here is to expand on the queen-side and to evict the well outposted knight on c5. The classical b2-b3, a2-a3, and then b3-b4 is the route to go, once the rook on a1 has been defended with, say, Bb2. Playing a2-a3 first, only allows Black to clamp down on the queen-side with a5-a4, so the prophy- lactic b2-b3 needs to be played first.} 10. Ne1 {This is not strictly necessary. White’s idea is to try to exchange the knight on c5 for his less effective king’s knight. Although valid, this plan is slow. The aforementioned queen-side expansion should be White’s plan here.} 10... O-O 11. Bf3 {This bishop is very awkwardly placed here. The e4-pawn may have required protection, but f2- f3 had to be the choice of defence. With the bishop off the f1-a6 diagonal, Black gleans hopes of tactics along that line.} 11... c6 {Although this is a perfectly acceptable plan, to strike at the centre, the awkward placement of the light- squared bishop on f3 suggests that a king-side attack may be in the offing. Black can play Ne8/Nfd7, f7-f5 and a potential g6-g5-g4. All of that would have to be carefully timed though.} 12. Nb3 Nxb3 13. Qxb3 a4 {Although this gains tempo, the pawn on a4 is not well placed. Indeed, the pawn may require defending later. More importantly though, is that the b4 square has become a safe place for a white knight to land.} 14. Qc2 Qc7 15. Bg5 Bd7 16. Qd3 {16. Qd2 has to be the preferred choice, as it supports the bishop on g5. Also, the queen is not exposed on the f1-a6 diagonal, as she now is. Black has sudden tactics in the offing, which will gain him either an exchange or a pawn.} 16... cxd5 17. cxd5 {probably best, for after 17. exd5 a3 18. Qb3 e4 Black is already gaining a sizable advantage.} 17... Qb6 18. Qd2 Bb5 {Black has played this well. The bishop emerges onto a powerful diagonal. The white pieces are not working harmoniously and there is going to be an inevitable collapse. Surprisingly though, the game now begins a very tactical phase.} 19. Nd3 {White can escape the loss of a pawn here, but only by the expense of giving up the bishop pair. 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Be2 is clearly uncomfortable for White, but may be his best option.} 19... Qd4 {Black’s queen now penetrates with devastating effect. The weaknesses are beginning to tell and more so, the e4-target pawn.} 20. Rfd1 {Again, White had to exchange as many pieces as possible, in an attempt to alleviate his difficulties. 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 [20... Bxd3 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Rfd1 is not so clear] 21. Rfd1 Rfc8 is still a big plus for Black.} 20... Nxe4 {Black snaffles a pawn. After this pawn’s disappearance, the opening up of the “Dragon” bishop is go- ing to prove very challenging for White. The open lines will begin to tell for the long-ranging black bishops.} 21. Bxe4 Qxe4 22. Nb4 Rfe8 {Black was concerned about Be7 ideas. Although a valid concern, he may do best to challenge the open C-file immediately with 22... Rfc8. See how the a4 pawn has given the knight a square on b4 and is a potential target in the endgame.} 23. Rac1 Rac8 24. a3 Qe2 25. Qxe2 Bxe2 26. Re1 Rxc1 {Black voluntarily gives up the open C-file, with the explicit intent of hoovering up the queen-side pawns, to open up the way for the advance of the A-pawn. This decision is very complicated and as the players began to enter into time-trouble, tactics and cool calculation were of the utmost importance.} 27. Rxc1 e4 28. Rc7 {It was only natural for White to seize the 7th rank, but a subtle re-routing of his minor pieces could have made life that bit more awkward for Black. 28. Na2! With the idea of returning to c3, blocking up the a1-h8 diagonal and pressurising the e4 pawn is a neat way to hold up Black’s progress. This may even give White drawing possibilities, as both e4 and a4 - that loose A-pawn again - cannot be simultaneously defended.} 28... Bxb2 29. Rxb7 {Activity was the key component in both players’ minds here, and it is tough to judge play in a time scramble, when the position is very complicated. 29. Nc2 b5 30. Bf4 Rd8 is a calm way to play the position, but not what White is looking for.}
14 29... Bxa3 30. Nc6 {30. Bf4 to ask the question of the D-pawn is the best way for White here. After all, Black has a passed A-pawn now; can White establish a passed D-pawn?} 30... Ra8 {Keeping it simple. The A-pawn requires protection, but this gives White a hope for a mating possibil- ity. 30... Bc5 31. Be3 Bxe3 32. fxe3 is White’s best.} 31. Ne7+ {White seeks more activity. The obscure 31. Nd8 can be coolly met by 31... Ba6 when 32. Rc7 is forced. There is little for White in that position.} 31... Kg7 32. Bd2 Bc5 33. Bc3+ Kh6 {With White in very severe time-pressure, Black plays more outlandishly than strictly necessary. Arguably, this is a cunning trick, as White was under the illusion that a mating net was be- ing created around the Black king. There were certainly scary moments for Black here. He could have avoided all of this though by calmly playing 33... Kf8 when 34. Nc6 Bc4 35. Nb4 is very strong for Black.} 34. Bd2+ Kh5 35. Nc6 {Surprisingly, there is no good way in which to ensnare the audacious Black king.} 35... a3 36. Rxf7 e3! {After which, White’s game is up. Black cleverly cuts out all of the lines towards the black king, thereby ensuring it’s safety. The A-pawn can now march home without any hindrance.} 37. fxe3 a2 38. Bc3 Bxe3+ 39. 0-1 After an opening disaster by Black, he played calmly to exploit the slightly awkwardly placed white pieces. The strike at the centre was well timed and the tactics flowed when the tension was at its peak. The combination of the bishop pair in the endgame was well utilised and illustrated what a potent force it can be. This victory aided Black to a very convincing tournament victory, and as demonstrated here, it was a very well-deserved one. A French Comedy Could this be the worst game of the Chairman’s Cup 2014? The following is the tragic tale of what happens when you try out an unfamiliar defence and thus bumble in the dark, making one faux pas after another. I have submitted this game for both its brevity and amusement factor. Let it also be a portent and a warning! Gary Wickett – Philip Gordon 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 (I normally play e5 but thought I would try the exchange variation) 3 … exd5 4 Nf3 Bd6 5 Be2? Bf5 6 0-0 Ne7 7 Nc3 c6 8 Bg5? f6 9 Bd2 Nd7 10 Qc1 (hoping to exchange bishops) 10 … Qc7 11 h3? g5 (help!) 12 a3 (looking at Na2 followed by Bb4 but time was shorter than I thought) 12 … h5 13 Na2 g4 14 hxg4 hxg4 (ouch!) 15 Ne1 (Hobson’s choice) 15 … Bh2+ 16 Kh1 Bf4+ 17 Kg1 Bxd2 18 Resigns Gary Wickett Game by Mark Kirkham at Sheffield In the August gazette, notice was given of the fact that I managed to win the Minor section of the Sheffield congress with a clean sweep of 5 out of 5 for the second year in a row. Back in 2013 I didn't feel I was being too modest when I pointed out to some congratulators that I had benefited from some very large elements of good fortune - rounds 1 and 2 saw my opponents incorrectly executing a move of mine on their board, while in round 5 I offered a draw to an ambitious young lad who went on to regret his decision to decline in a position that was surely harder for him to find winning chances than it was for me. I was keen therefore that if I was to retain my title this year, I would not have any of the same reservations about accepting the inevitable warm congratulations offered by those attending the event and by others afterwards. I have to confess that, prior to these successes, learning to win with good grace wasn't something at which I had had much experience. I was taking nothing for granted, as my results in the meantime had been moderate to say the least, and I was under no illusions about the size of the task ahead of me if I was to emulate last year's success. I was easily in the lower half of the draw, meaning that in round 1 I came across a player who had won second prize at Doncaster earlier this year. I decided that I was just going to do my best and not worry about results. Last year's fluke was almost certainly a one-off. After all, the Sheffield congress is held at the end of June, and I had not played a competitive game for well over three months. Event: Sheffield Congress 2014, Round 1. Minor section under 125 Mark Kirkham v John Grasham 1. d4 b5 2. e4 a6 Earlier this year a member of our association requested information on the mirror opening from the white perspective. Unfortunately due to its unusual nature we didn't have anything on it in the library, but this led me to do some investigations into filling in the gap, so I would be better equipped to help members in future. At the time I did find an old cassette entitled 'Play the Polish' but it turned out this was on the Polish Defence, an opening for black. While I won't pretend I listened to it all the way through, it did capture my interest as I wanted to familiarise myself with the title in the library catalogue so I would know whether to recommend it to others. I will argue, 15 therefore, that I was rather better prepared for this game than I would have been otherwise, because this is an opening I rarely have to face as white and have been clueless in the past about how to handle it. 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. Bd3 {Of course now 4. Nc3 allows Black to play 4...b4, poking the knight and winning the e4 pawn.} 4.... -e6 5. a4 c6 {Giving his b5 pawn extra protection but blocking in his strong b7 bishop in the process. 5... b4 seems more sensible. Now there's no need to take on b5.} 6. O-O d5 {Allowing White to open up lines before Black has either developed or castled seemed rather risky to me, and I began to wonder if Black was already guilty of underestimating a lower graded player, or if he just didn't know the opening as well as I'd assumed he must.} 7. exd5 exd5 {Perhaps Black had had a long day at work and was prepared to live dangerously. The next few moves for White suggest themselves without too much thought going into them.} 8. Re1+ Be7 9. Bf4 {I could attack the dark bishop with Bg5 but Black might push me back with his f pawn at some point, so I just develop and keep Black guessing.} 9... Nd7 {Now I could safely put the bishop on d6 and tie Black down. However, as Black's king is still in the centre I decide an aggressive and simple attack is called for.} 10. Ng5 {Black may have been reluctant to commit his king's knight to f6 as it renders his dark bishop defenceless, but this is probably better than the move he chose.} 10... h6 {It's understandable that Black wants to kick my knight away. Unfortunately for him, he has already lost too much of a tempo, and the tactics now work nicely for me.} 11. Qh5 {We are often discouraged from playing so crudely but in a position like this, the most direct option is also the most effective. Now Black looks in big trouble.} 11... g6 {He has to stop checkmate, but yet another kingside weakness is fatal.} 12. Bxg6! {Now if Black takes this he gets mated.} 12... hxg5 {The only real option.} 13. Qxh8 Kf8 14. Bh7 {Renewing the mate threat.} 14... Nf6 {Black has to defend his undeveloped king's knight with his other one.} 15. Bxg5 Qa5 {Black decides to go for a final desperate attempt at checkmate himself.} 16. Re5 Bd6 {And now Black very obligingly allows a quick end by taking the bait and attacking the rook. Black isn't necessarily losing immediately in all variations, where he can try running his king to the queenside if White misses an opportunity, but more fun would have been 16... Qb4 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Qxg8#} 17. Bh6# This win against one of the top seeds provided me with all the momentum and confidence I needed to go on and take the spoils. I ought to add that I had the luxury of pampering from my parents with regular lifts to and from the venue only a few miles from home, but I can take credit that this was made possible by none of my games lasting much longer than a couple of hours. It looks as though social pressure will force me into a higher section next year, even if my grade does not! Mark Kirkham International Tournaments World Senior Team Chess Championship 12th -22nd July 2014, Vilnius, Lithuania: BCA member, Steve Hilton, played for Scotland in this high-powered international event. More than a dozen players with the title of Grandmaster or International Master competed! Scotland’s team put in a fine performance and were placed 12th out of 18; one place above its seeding. Steve himself finished on 2.5 out of 9; a very respectable score in such formidable company! Steve Hilton writes: I was honoured to be selected to play for my country in such a prestigious event. I was not the only visually impaired competitor as Boris Rositsan was playing for one of the Lithuanian teams. It took me two days to travel to the venue because there was a technical problem on the first part of my journey to Amsterdam, which meant that I had to fly to London, stay overnight, and go to Vilnius via Frankfurt on the Sunday morning! I did not arrive until after 2pm, by which time the matches were due to have started. Fortunately for me, there was an opening ceremony underway so I was on time for the start of play. Unfortunately, our first match was against the Russian Women's team, the members of which were all WGM's! We also played against Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, New Zealand, England 3, a local Lithuanian team, a Lithuanian Women's team and Moldova. It was a tough introduction to Seniors Chess, especially as my first opponent was Valentina Kozlovskaya, the widow of Igor Bondarevsky, who was Spassky's trainer! 16 I hope that my participation in this tournament will encourage more visually impaired players to enter such events. IBCA teams at the 41st Chess Olympiad, 1st – 15th August 2014, Tromsø, Norway: (Extracts from material provided by Owen Phillips and Chris Ross and a game selected by Colin Chambers.) In the Open event, the IBCA team was made up of three IMs, Marin Pulvett (Venezuela), Piotr Dukaczewski (Po- land) and Yuri Meshkov (Russia) and two FMs Jacek Stachanczyk (Poland) and Oliver Mueller (Germany). Sadly, the top board was unexpectedly unable to participate so the remaining four players had a difficult task on their hands. Nevertheless, they finished 78th out of 177 teams; two places above their seeding. At the top of the table the results were China - Gold, Hungary - Silver and India - Bronze. In the Womens event, the IBCA was represented by WIM Lubov Zsiltzova-Lisenko (Ukraine), FM Teresa Debow- ska (Poland), WCMs Anna Stolarczyk (Poland) and Shafiga Valner (Russia), and Irina Zarubinskaya (Ukraine). This team also gave a fine account of themselves and finished 82nd out of 136 teams. The medal winning teams were Russia – Gold, China – Silver and Ukraine – Bronze. Colin Chambers writes: I played Piotr Dukaczewski at the BCA 60th Anniversary Tournament in Oakham in 1992 and have been an admirer of his play ever since. At Oakham, I found myself a pawn up, in a reasonable position. Knowing Piotr was a stronger player than me and, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, I offered a draw. Piotr considered my offer but declined. He then went on to win the game. Another example of his fine play follows: Round 8: GM Zambrana, Oswaldo 2472 (Bolivia) v IM Dukaczewski, Piotr 2288 (IBCA) (Sicilian, Labourdonnais-Loewenthal variation) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 a6 6. Nd6+ Bxd6 7. Qxd6 Qe7 8. Qd1 Nf6 9. Nc3 d6 10. Bg5 Be6 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. exd5 Nb8 13. Qf3 Nbd7 14. O-O-O h6 15. Be3 O-O 16. g4 e4 17. Qg3 Ne5 18. g5 hxg5 19. Bxg5 Nf3 20. h4 Nxg5 21. Qxg5 Qe5 22. Qxe5 dxe5 23. Bh3 g6 24. Rhg1 Kg7 25. Rg5 Rh8 26. Rxe5 Rxh4 27. Bf1 Rf4 28. Re7 Rxf2 29. d6 b5 30. a4 g5 31. d7 g4 32. c4 Kf8 33. Re5 Nxd7 34. Rxd7 Rxf1+ 35. Kd2 Re8 36. Rxe8+ Kxe8 37. Rd4 f5 38. cxb5 axb5 39. axb5 Rf2+ 40. Kc3 Rf3+ 41. Kb4 Rd3 42. Rc4 Rd7 43. Rc5 e3 44. b6 Re7 45. Re5 Rxe5 46. b7 Re4+ 47. Ka3 Kf7 48. b8=Q e2 49. Qc7+ Kg6 50. Qd6+ Kh5 0-1 IBCA European Championships, France 2015: The dates for this event have been changed to July 23rd - August 2nd 2015. However, please wait for the official invitation before making travel arrangements as the dates could be subject to further change. Correspondence Chess Director’s Report It is unfortunate that Gary Wickett has decided to stop playing competitive correspondence chess at present. He hopes, I think, to return in the league starting in 2016. However, for now Gary, I thank you for acting as group leader in the various competitions. At present in the 43rd Championship we will have 18 players as Steve Hilton and Eleanor Tew have entered. I wish you both success. I think it is unlikely that we will have any more new entries before the deadline of 31st October that appeared in the last gazette, so I have decided to publish the groups for the 43rd Championship in this edition. Obviously, if we do receive any further new players I will re-publish the groups for the February gazette. Although a few results are still outstanding in the 42nd Correspondence Championship they will not affect promotion or relegation. Also as is the norm, the correspondence rules appear at the end of this report. If anybody has any comments on the rules please do not hesitate to contact me. (See my contact details at front of the Gazette.) Now on to the results. 42nd BCA Championship – Premier Group: Group leader – David Hodgkins Cohn – McElroy – 0.5-0.5; (Ruy Lopez) 39 Mark Hague – Whittle – 0.5-0.5; (Queen’s Pawn) 85 Whittle – McElroy – 0-1; (no opening given) 45 Final scores: Alec Crombie 5.5-6; Ernie McElroy 4-6; Mark Hague 4-6; Les Whittle 3.5-6; David Hodgkins 2.5-6; Hans Cohn 1.5-6; Mike Hague 0-6. Congratulations have already been given to Alec Crombie upon winning this competition some time ago. Congratulations also go to Ernie McElroy on second place, winning on the Sonneborn-Berger tie-break by 0.5 from Mark Hague. Relegated to the Challenger groups are Hans Cohn and Mike Hague. 42nd BCA Championship - Challenger Group A: Group leader – Gary Wickett 17 Patching - Wickett - 0-1; (Queen’s Gambit Declined) 58 Mears – Patching – 1-0; (King’s Pawn) 33 Couchman – Mears - 0-1; (King’s Pawn) 33 Final scores: David Mears 3-3; Gary Wickett 2-3; Derek Couchman 1-3; Geoff Patching 0-3. Congratulations go to David Mears who, with a perfect score, has gained promotion to the Premier Group starting 1st January 2015. Gary Wickett finished as runner-up. 42nd BCA Championship - Challenger Group B: Group leader – Guy Whitehouse Scores: Guy Whitehouse 5-5; Stephen Brown 4-5; Denis Warren 1.5-5; George Phillips 1-3; Eric Gallacher 0.5-3; Jim Cuthbert 0-3. Congratulations have already been given to Guy Whitehouse for winning this group with a perfect score and gaining promotion to the premier group starting 1st January 2015. Stephen Brown will finish as runner-up. The participants in the groups for the 43rd BCA Championship are as follows: Premier Group: Group leader – David Hodgkins Alec Crombie, Mark Hague, David Hodgkins, Ernie McElroy, David Mears, Les Whittle, Guy Whitehouse. Challenger Group A: Group leader – Denis Warren Stephen Brown, Derek Couchman, Jim Cuthbert, Eric Gallacher, Denis Warren. Challenger Group B: Group leader – David Hodgkins Hans Cohn, Mike Hague, Steve Hilton, Geoff Patching, George Phillips, Eleanor Tew. BCA League Division 1: Group leader – David Hodgkins Crombie - Mark Hague - 1-0; (Danish) 28 Phillips – Crombie – 0-1; (Caro-Kann) 30 Scores: Alec Crombie 2.5-3; Guy Whitehouse 0.5-1; Mark Hague 0-1; George Phillips 0-1; David Hodgkins and Ernie McElroy 0-0. Once again Alec Crombie is looking like the one to catch. BCA League Division 2: Group leader – Denis Warren Stephen Brown – Gallacher – 1-0; (Sicilian) 29 Warren – Stephen Brown – 0-1; (c3 Sicilian) 34 Stephen Brown – Mike Hague – 1-0; (King’s Gambit) 37 Warren – Gallacher – 1-0; (Giuoco Piano) 34 Scores: Stephen Brown 3-3; Derek Heyes 2-2; Mike Hague 1-3; Denis Warren 1-3; Eric Gallacher 0-3; Mike McGuigan 0-0. Stephen Brown and Derek Heyes both have perfect scores at present. Thus, it appears that the game between them could be a crucial one. Mike McGuigan, not having finished any games at present, might also have something to say about this group. BCA League Division 3: Group leader – David Hodgkins. Unfortunately, Jim Cuthbert has decided to resign his games due to the ill health of Mary Cuthbert. However, he will compete in the championship commencing in January. Couchman – Cuthbert – 0.5-0.5; (no details given) Tew – Mears – 0-1; (Stonewall) 35 Cuthbert – Mears – 0-1; (no details given) Patching – Cuthbert – 1-0; (no details given) Cuthbert – Tew – 0-1; (no details given) Scores: David Mears 2-2; Derek Couchman 1.5-2; Eleanor Tew 1-3; Geoff Patching 1-1; Jim Cuthbert 0.5-5. David Mears has a perfect score. Geoff Patching is also on a perfect score at present. Thus, the game between them could be the crucial one in this group. Derek Couchman also might have something to say about this group, standing just half a point behind David at present. Ladder Tournament Mears – Warren – 0-1; (Queen’s Gambit Declined) 28 Patching – Bryant – 1-0; (Queen’s Gambit Declined) 25 Scores: Denis Warren 11, Stephen Thacker 9, Roger Bishop 8, Jim Cuthbert and Gary Wickett 7, David Hodgkins 5. David Hodgkins
18 BCA Correspondence Tournament Rules – September 2013 The BCA runs two correspondence tournaments: (A) The BCA Correspondence Championship - lasting for 22 months and commencing in odd-numbered years. It is open to all visually impaired members and has a premier division and one or more challenger groups. (B) The BCA Correspondence League - lasting for 22 months and commencing in even-numbered years. Open to both visually impaired and associate members with several divisions. 1. All games will normally start on the 1st January and may run until the 31st October in the following year. In games played by post involving overseas players, all moves must be transmitted by airmail. 2. Moves may be transmitted in Braille, on tape, by email or any other method agreed by both players. If the players do not agree on the method of communication to be used the matter shall be referred to the Correspondence Chess Director who will resolve the issue. Where moves are transmitted by cassette, it is recommended that players use the algebraic phonetic notation. 3. Whichever form of communication is used, both players are expected to keep a record of the game. Should there be a dispute over the position of a game; and only one player can produce a score of the game, that score of the game shall be taken to be the correct record. 4. All moves must be preceded by the date of receipt and dispatch. Moves should be transmitted as soon as is practical, to keep all games moving and reach their natural conclusion by the closing date. (Players should note: that the date of dispatch is the date the move is collected). 5. If, during a game, a player makes an illegal move, the move must be replaced by a legal move. Any dispute between the players caused by the making of an illegal move shall be referred to the Correspondence Chess Director for a ruling. 6. The onus is on the player with the white pieces to start the game and provide either the plastic envelope or the cassette and cassette wallet. Should these be lost or damaged, the player who did not provide them in the first place will be expected to provide replacements. On completion of the game, these should be returned to their rightful owner. 7. Where games are unfinished by the closing date of the tournament; and players concerned have not reached agreement as to the result, the game shall be sent for adjudication, provided at least 35 moves have been completed. In exceptional circumstances, however, the Correspondence Chess Director is empowered to send games for adjudication after 30 moves. Each player shall be required to send his/her score of the game, together with their claim, to their Group Leader who will send it on to the Correspondence Chess Director, who will pass it on to the BCA Adjudicator whose decision shall be final. 8. If a player does not hear from his/her opponent within 14 days without any knowledge of absence, a reminder should be sent repeating the move. If no response is received within a further 7 days, the matter should be referred to the Group Leader who will endeavour to re-establish contact between the players. Should this fail, the Correspondence Chess Director should be informed; and he/she will take appropriate action. Where a player persistently offends, the Correspondence Chess Director is empowered to award the game to the offended player, or if it is felt appropriate, to disqualify the offending player from the tournament. 9. It is recognised there may be periods when players are unable to continue play due to holidays, training courses, medical reasons, etc. In such cases, players are expected to notify their opponents or Group Leader. It is accepted that this may not always be possible in the case of sudden illness, etc. 10. Tiebreaks: Ties for first place or in any position involving promotion or relegation shall be resolved by the tie- break system as follows: 10.1. Sonneborn-Berger - sum of scores with those beaten and half the score of those with whom drawn. 10.2. Kashdan - 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 1 point for a loss. 10.3. Result of the game between the players involved. 10.4. Examination of the results from top downwards. 10.5. Number of games with the black pieces. 11. All players will be asked by the Group Leader whether they wish to enter the next BCA Correspondence League and/or Championship. However, the Correspondence Chess Director has the right to refuse a member’s entry if in his/her opinion that member has shown a reluctance in observing the BCA Correspondence Rules. In such cases, the Correspondence Chess Director will notify the player or players concerned. However, players have the right of
19 appeal to the Committee in any circumstances 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: 12.1. Send out fixture lists together with addresses and mediums for all players within the group, a copy of the BCA Correspondence Rules, etc. 12.2. Receive results and send them on to the Correspondence Chess Director. Send unfinished games together with claims received, to the Correspondence Chess Director who will pass them on for adjudication. 12.3. Re-establish contact between players where necessary. 12.4. Refer major problems to the Correspondence Chess Director. 12.5. Ask players involved in their group if they wish to participate in the next BCA Correspondence League and/or Championship. 12.6. To keep the group informed of any relevant information that may not otherwise be known. 13. Members are asked to adhere to the spirit of these correspondence rules in order to ensure the smooth running of the BCA Correspondence Tournaments. David Hodgkins, Correspondence Chess Director BCA Email Correspondence Tournament All games are now complete. Congratulations to the section winners, who are as follows;- Group A: Peter Ellinger and Jacek Stachanczyk are joint winners on 3.5 points Group B: Birgit Dietsche on 3 points Group C: Dan Rugman on 3 points Thank you to everyone who took part, and most especially to Steve Thacker for controlling the tournament. Report on the BCA’s Team in the BCCL As usual the BCA entered a team into the BCCL competition. This year the competition was split into two sections, an online event which seems to have attracted by far the largest number of players and a much smaller traditional type of correspondence event. There were in fact only five teams in the division in which we played and teams consisted only of six players instead of the usual eight. Competition was unusually strong this year and all of our players felt they had been in a battle. We only managed 2.5 points out of a possible 12 and finished bottom of the division. Individual scores were Colin Crouch 0.5-2, Peter Gibbs 0.5-2, Les Whittle 1-2, Michael McGuigan 0-2, Alec Crombie (team captain) 0-2, Guy Whitehouse 0.5-2. Alec has asked me to take over as team captain and expressions of interest from those keen to play are always welcome. I'd like to congratulate Alec on the excellent work he's done as captain; he led us to victory in the premier group once, and it's an honour to follow in his steps. Guy Whitehouse. ECF Grades of BCA Members 2014-15 A new grading list was published by the English Chess Federation in July and revised in September. Here are the new grades of BCA members, with Rapidplay grades also noted in parentheses where applicable. Andrews, Norman 145 Cuthbert, Jim 77 Kirkham, Mark 110 Armstrong, William 158 (144R) Fisher, Colin 161 (131R) Lilley, Graham 172 Bailey, Stephen 65 Gailans, Voldi 80 Loftus, Sean 134 Blencowe, Ian 130 (138R) Gallagher, John 143 Lovell, Stan 133 Brown, Stephen 111 Gibbs, Peter 155 Lowery, Michael 23 Burnell, Steve 157 (137R) Gordon, Philip 118 McElroy, Ernie 151 Carr, Matthew 150 (112R) Graff, Ben 145 (152R) Mills, David 143 Carroll, John 85 Hague, Mark 85 Murphy, Richard 113 Casey, Eamonn 116 Harman, Kenneth 178 Osborne, John 50 Chambers, Colin 143 Harrington, Richard 0 Patching, Geoff 46 Chapman, Gordon 104 Hilton, Steve 157 Phillips, George 88 Clayton, David 109 Hodgkins, David 130 Phillips, Owen 170 Cloudsdale, Peter 140 Jenkins, John 103 Prasath, Malola 185 Crouch, Colin 200 Keffler, Peter 119 Ross, Chris 200 20 Rugman, Daniel 83 Thacker, Steve 108 Wickett, Gary 87 Ryan, Lea 15 Warren, Denis 46 Willis, Graham 133 Shimwell, Efe (79R) Waters, Roger 112 Wragg, Norman 139 Smith, Gill 49 Welch, David 142 (134R) Yu, X Henry 113 (113R) Stephenson, Norman 186 Whitehouse, Guy 108 Tew, Eleanor 0 Whittle, Les 153 (146R) I have tried to make this list as complete and accurate as possible, but please do let me know if your ECF grade is missing or incorrect. Julie Leonard Christmas Crackers Diagram 1: Tal-Uhlmann, Moscow 1973 White: King g1, Queen d1, Rooks a1 and f1, Bishops b5 and g5, Knight d4, Pawns a2 c2 f2 g2 h2 Black: king e8, queen c3, rooks a8 and h8, bishop d7, knights c6 and g8, pawns a7 b7 e6 f7 g7 h7 White to move. There were any number of special prizes for grabs; Tal won the one “For the Best Attack in the style of Alekhine”. How did he respond to the black queen’s greedy foray? Diagram 2: Uhlmann-Smyslov, Moscow 1973 White: King g1, Queen e2, Rooks c1 and e1, Bishops e5 and g2, Knight f3, Pawns a2 e3 f2 g3 h2 Black: king g8, queen d8, rooks c8 and e8, bishops b7 and c5, knight e4, pawns a6 b6 f7 g7 h7 Black to move. Wolfgang Uhlmann had to bite the dust a second time: Vassilij Smyslov won the Best Game Prize. Can you find the twist that turned the game in his favour? Diagram 3: Panno-Larsen, Palma de Mallorca 1971 White: King g1, Queen d1, Rooks d4 and e1, Bishop f6, Knight a4, Pawns a2 b2 e5 f2 g2 h2 Black: king d7, queen a7, rooks a8 and d8, bishops d5 and e7, pawns a6 b4 e6 f7 g6 h6 White to move. Oscar Panno, Junior World Champion in 1953, always did well in Spain. With what ramrod did he effectively bring Black’s wandering king to grief? Diagram 4: Feldman-Zeitlin, Leningrad 1973 White: King g1, Queen d4, Rooks b1 and e1, Bishops c1 and f3, pawns a2 c2 c3 d5 f2 g3 h3 Black: king e8, queen a6, rooks a8 and h8, knights d7 and f6, pawns a7 b7 c6 d6 e7 f7 g6 h7 White to move. How did White continue after 1 Rxb7 c5? Solutions Diagram 1: Witnesses reported that Black took 110 minutes over his reply to 1 Nf5! without finding a satisfactory defence. There is no compensation for Black’s backward development and dark-square weaknesses: 1-exf5 (Later 1-Qc5 was suggested, but 2 Nd6+ Kf8 3 Nxb7 Qxb5 4 Qxd7 Qxg5 5 Qxc6 is not convincing because both 3 Nxf7! Kxf7 4 Qxd7+ Nge7 5 Bxc6 bxc6 6 Bxe7 Qxe7 7 Qxc6 and 3 Be3 Qd5 4 Nxb7 Qxb5 5 Qxd7 Nf6 6 Qxf7+! are good for White.) 2 Re1+ Be6 3 Qd6 a6 (After 3-Nf6 4 Rad1 h6 5 Bxf6 gxf6 6 Rxe6+! fxe6 7 Qxe6+ Kf8 and White’s greater mobility wins through.) 4 Bd2! Qxc2 5 Bb4! (Avoiding 5 Rac1? Qc1! 6 Rxc1 axb5 7 Rxc6 Rd8!) 5-axb5 6 Qf8+ Kd7 7 Red1+ Kc7 8 Qxa8 wins, for if 8-Qa4 9 Ld6+ Kb6 10 Qf8 Qh4 11 Bc5+ Kc7 12 Rab1 b4 13 Bd6+ Kb6 14 Bxb4. The Riga magician in his element. Diagram 2: Here Black won material with 1-Nf2! White looked for counterplay with 2 Qxf2 Bxf3 Bh3!?, since 3 Qxf3 Rxe5 4 Kh1 Qd2 is hopeless. Relying on the strength of his bishop pair, Black played 3-Rxe5! 4 Bxc8 Bc6 and increased his advantage with 5 Bh3 (5 Bxa6? Qd5!) 5-Qe8 6 Bg2 Rxe3 7 Kh1 Bxg2+ 8 Kxg2 Qe4+ 9 Kh3 Qe6+ 10 Kg2 Qd5+ 11 Kh3 Re6 and won. Diagram 3: White continued with a powerful action in the centre: 1 Rxd5! exd5 2 e6+! fxe6 (2-Kc8 3 Qc1+ Kb8 4 Be5+ Bd6 5 Bxd6+ Rxd6 6 e7 or 2-Kc6 3 Bxe7 Qxe7 4 Qd4 Rab8 5 Rc1+ Kb7 6 Qb6+) 3 Bd4 Qc7 4 Nb6+ Kc6 (4-Ke8 5 Qg4!) 5 Nxa8 Rxa8 6 Rxe6+ Kd7 7 Rxg6 Qc4 8 b3 Qb5 9 Rb6 1-0. Diagram 4: White gets a comfortable advantage after 1 dxc6 e.g. 1-bxc6 2 Qxd6 0-0 3 Rxe7 or 1-Ne5 2 Rxe5! Qxe5 3 cxb7, but he opted for a daring manoeuvre which was rewarded: 1 Rxb7! c5 2 Qxf6! 0-0-0 (After 2-Nxf6 3 R1xe7+ Kd8 4 Bg5! Ng8 5 Rbd7+ Kc8 6 Rxf7 Qa5 7 Bg4! White cashes in)
21 3 Rxe7! Qxb7 4 Bg4! Qxb5 (After 4-Kc7 5 Qxf7 Qc8 6 Bf4 Rhf8 White keeps up the pressure with 7 Qxh7 or winds up with 7 Bxd6+Kxd6 8 Re6+ Kc7 9 Rc6+ Kb7 10 Qxh7) 5 Rxd7 Rxd7 6 Qh8+ with a quick win. Hans Cohn
22 Chris’s Puzzle August Puzzle: White: King d7, Queen f3, Rook h3, Knight e7; Black: king e5, pawn f4; fen: 8/3KN3/8/4k3/5p2/5Q1R/8/8 White to play and mate in two. Solution: 1. Rg3! A. 1... fxg3 2. Nc6# B. 1... Kd4 2. Qd5# C. 1... Kf6 2. Qxf4# November Puzzle: White: King b8, Queen h6, Rooks d2 and g7, Bishops c4 and h8, Knight a3, Pawn h7 Black: king a1, bishops b1 and g1, pawns c5 and g2 fen: 1K5B/6RP/7Q/2p5/2B5/N7/3R2p1/kb4b1 White to play and mate in two. The solution will be published in the February issue. Chris Ross Millennium Club Recent Millennium Club winners: August: Colin Fisher, number 11. September: Graham Lilley, number 40. October: Richard Murphy, number 43. 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 Gill Smith, or you can pay using the following details: account name Braille Chess Association, sort code 309620, account number 00296072, make Millennium Club the reference. Gill Smith, Treasurer Personalia Congratulations to Gerry Walsh, who has received an Award for Long Service as a FIDE Arbiter. To qualify for this award, Gerry had to have officiated at various types of events, including a World Championship and a Euro- pean Championship. These requirements were fulfilled by his work at two events organised by the BCA: The IBCA World Individual Championship in Hastings, 1982, and the IBCA European Championship in Durham, 2007. In addition to these, Gerry has controlled at many other prestigious events, including FIDE Olympiads and the annual Hastings International Chess Congress, so all in all, he is a most worthy recipient of this award! Warmest wishes to Celia and Peter Gibbs, who will be celebrating fifty years of marriage on the 7th of November. The BCA is very fortunate to have this popular and hardworking pair among its members. Over many years, ei- ther individually or as a husband and wife team, their involvement with the BCA has included activities such as organising, controlling, coaching and guiding. They have also helped with fundraising in unique and innovative ways. Celia’s crocheted blankets have often featured as sought after raffle prizes and anyone who has attended a BCA Bring & Buy Sale, may have been fortunate enough to witness Peter’s humorous approach to auctioning the higher value items! So what shall we bid this wonderful couple on the occasion of their Golden Wedding? Let’s offer them wholehearted congratulations and best wishes for many more happy years together! Last but not least, Gerry Walsh deserves another mention as he will turn 70 years of age on the 29th of December. Many of Gerry’s BCA friends will no doubt wish him many happy returns on this milestone birthday! Personally, however, I am unsure whether to do so, because, to my great embarrassment, I sent a 70th birthday card to Gerry last year, on his 69th! I am relieved to report that Gerry saw the funny side of my error and is still speaking to me! Julie Leonard Obituary for Lucy Walsh Co-written by Gerry Walsh and Julie Leonard. On the evening of June 19th, shortly before the final whistle in the England v Italy World Cup match, the BCA lost a much loved associate member when Lucy Walsh (Gerry’s Mam) passed away quietly at home. Active until the last, Lucy had put out her shoes and coat at half time ready to take the dogs for a walk when the football finished. Alas it was not meant to be. Her heart simply stopped beating and she departed this life peacefully, holding Gerry’s hand. When asked her age, Lucy’s favourite retort used to be, “Come to my funeral and look on the lid!” She was blessed with a long life of 94 years and she lived it to the full. Her family and friends were of paramount importance to her. It was during the war, while serving drinks in a social club, that Lucy met the love of her life, Jim. Shortly after that, Lucy took a job at a local theatre, serving in the artists’ bar, where she met some of the great names of the day, including Old Mother Riley and a very young comedy duo by the name of Morecambe and 23 Wise. Lucy was so highly regarded at the theatre that when she and Jim married in 1941 the members of the orchestra offered to play at their wedding reception. Many people had little to celebrate during those bleak war years, but Lucy and Jim’s wedding stood out in people’s memories as a truly joyful occasion. Lucy and Jim worked hard and raised their family. In 1969 they moved to the house which would be Lucy’s home for the remainder of her days. By the early l970s, Jim’s work at the local steel works had taken its toll and he retired due to ill health. In order to top up the family income, Lucy began a college course in English, Business Studies and Typing. She proved to be a model student and passed the final exam with an unprecedented 100%! British Steel happened to be looking for a new secretary at the time and contacted the college to find a suitable candidate. On hearing of Lucy’s success, they lost no time in offering her the position. In 1978, tragedy struck when Lucy’s beloved Jim died, aged just 63. The pain of this loss never left Lucy, but she did not allow it to dampen her spirits for long. She remained vivacious and was always busy, even after her own retirement in 1980. Lucy’s many interests included lawn bowls, which she played at county level. She relished new challenges and tried her hand at a wide range of artistic pastimes such as painting, and making porcelain dolls. She was exceptionally talented when it came to her handicrafts and among her many beautiful creations were some exquisite eggs, intricately decorated in the style of Fabergé. Unusually for a teetotaller, Lucy loved her Gin and Tonic. However, Lucy’s Gin and Tonic came not in a glass, but on the end of a lead; they were her two pet dogs! When the original pair passed away Lucy missed them so much that she replaced them with two new dogs, named after their predecessors. The cycle was repeated so it could be said that Lucy was on her third Gin and Tonic! Lucy’s first BCA event was the Golden Jubilee in Hastings, April 1982. She had been to the town on previous occasions for the annual international Grandmaster tournament, where Gerry officiated as an arbiter. Those events always started just after Christmas, when the temperatures were often extremely wintry, and Lucy had been looking forward to visiting Hastings in better weather. She loved the fortnight and soon afterwards began to attend BCA weekend events on a regular basis. Overseas travel was something that Lucy enjoyed immensely, so on a number of occasions she took the opportunity to go to Haaksbergen and Dublin to attend events where BCA members were taking part. During Lucy’s first visit to a Dublin tournament, there was a memorable night when two Braille chess friends and Gerry were up late sampling some whiskey in Lucy’s room while she was sitting in bed putting in her hair pins! After returning home, Lucy delighted in joking with her friends that she had had three men in her bedroom! On subsequent visits to Dublin, Lucy took great pleasure from the lively singsongs in which many of our talented Irish friends participated. It was during a Dublin tournament that Olly Leonard drove Lucy and Gerry to Sligo with the intention of finding the hamlet where Lucy’s father had grown up in the late nineteenth century. By the end of the day, not only had the exact house where Lucy’s father spent his childhood been located, but a first cousin of Lucy’s had been traced and found living in a nursing home nearby. Until that day, the two cousins had been unaware of each other’s existence. When they met for the first time, they shared their recollections of family stories passed down over the years and it was a very moving encounter. Lucy especially approved of the way in which BCA events are held in different towns from year to year, as it provided her with many shopping opportunities! A particular favourite was a hotel in Grantham, which laid on a bus service to and from the local shopping centre. Lucy also enjoyed the BCA Bring & Buy Sales, where she was always on the lookout for a bargain! Not being a chess player herself, Lucy valued the social side of the BCA and she made a great many friends in the association. A number of times, Lucy remarked to Gerry that he would probably be the only mourner at her funeral. However, it was clear that she was much dearer to people than she herself realised so it was no surprise that her Requiem Mass was very well attended. A lifelong devout Roman Catholic, Lucy would have felt honoured that not one, but three priests presided over the occasion. The mourners included BCA friends Julie Leonard, Stan Lovell and David Welch. The service ended with a recording of “The Last Rose of Summer”, played by André Rieu. Lucy had enjoyed listening to this piece of music every evening in the months leading up to her passing. Therefore, it seems fitting to conclude with a couple of lines from the poem by Irish poet, Thomas Moore, for which the music was composed: “Since the lovely are sleeping, Go, sleep thou with them.” RIP Lucy, reunited with Jim after 36 years.
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