Registered Charity Number 263049 s1

The Gazette August 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 All Under One Roof...... 5 International Tournaments...... 6 Words from the Whitehouse...... 6 Chairman’s Cup – Report by Richard Harrington...... 8 Chairman’s Cup – Arbiter’s Report...... 8 BCA Junior Chess...... 9 BCA Training Day...... 10 Congress Support Scheme Update...... 11 13th IBCA World Individual Championships, Katerini, Greece 4th -15th May 2014...... 11 IBIS Haaksbergen Tournament – 40th Anniversary 3rd – 8th April 2014...... 16 Correspondence Chess Director’s Report...... 17 BCA Email Correspondence Tournament...... 18 BCA Match Against the International Email Chess Club...... 18 Membership Secretary’s Report...... 19 Personalia...... 19 ECF Masters in our Midst...... 20 Millennium Club...... 20 Chris’s Puzzle...... 20

Editorial Many thanks to the people who contacted me to say they had enjoyed the May gazette. Personally, I was concerned that it was a little light on actual chess content. However, such a remark would not be justified in respect of the Au- gust issue, which is so packed with news and games that I’ve had to keep some material back for November! Sin- cere apologies to contributors whose articles have been edited down in an effort to keep the August gazette to a manageable size. Please do not be deterred from sending in material for future editions! Among many other items, this issue contains reports on the annual Haaksbergen trip, the IBCA World Individual Championships and the Chairman’s Cup, as well as exciting news from Owen Phillips, who is coaching visually impaired juniors in the south east. It was with particular regret that I decided to edit out dozens of smiley face sym- bols from Owen’s report as I was not sure how they could be transcribed into Braille! However, I hope you will find that Owen’s words are more than adequate to convey vividly not only his own enthusiasm but also that of the juniors. 2 The committee is grateful to those who notified us that they have been receiving a gazette in a format that they no longer need. We hope that the updated distribution lists will be in force for the current issue. Please let us know if you continue to receive an unwanted gazette and remember that you can request a change of format at any time, by contacting our membership secretary. Kindly note that the postal addresses of committee officers have been reinstated in the contact details at the start of the gazette and that the email address for the ICT sub-committee has changed. Please send me your contributions for the November Gazette by the 1st of October. Julie Leonard Forthcoming Events 31 st October to 2 nd November 2014 - The Sean and Pat O'Brien Memorial Tournament. The 2014 International Autumn Tournament weekend will be dedicated to the memory of Sean and Pat O’Brien who together contributed enormously to the running of the BCA over many years. Pat died in 1998 and Sean in 2013 (see Sean’s obituary in the August 2013 Gazette). Sean remembered the BCA in his will and left us a very generous legacy. The weekend will provide an opportunity for us to remember two very popular and hardworking members of the BCA. In Autumn 2014 we will be returning to the very popular Hallmark Derby Hotel with its excellent facilities and convenient location, close to Derby railway station. There will be a five round chess tournament open to all blind and partially sighted players and to associate members of the BCA. It will consist of a major open event, and a minor event limited to players whose grade (or estimated grade) is 110 or below. The tournament entry fee will be £10. The cost of accommodation, including dinner, bed and breakfast, for members and associate members is £35 per person per night in a shared room and £39 single. The cost for non-members and for those staying the Sunday night will be £50 per person per night for a shared room and £56 for single occupancy. Please send bookings and room requirements to Gill Smith by 7th September 2014. (See list of BCA Officers for Gill’s contact details.) Mark Hague and Lea Ryan, tournament organisers.

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 2.30pm 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.

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.

3 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. 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 Stan Lovell.

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. 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: the BCA reserves the right to refuse or cancel any entry or to exclude any person from any event it runs.

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 Contact, Mark Kirkham, that you intend to participate and, assuming you have not exceeded the amount you are entitled to claim in a year and that you send in a small report on the tournament afterwards, you could probably offset the vast bulk of any costs incurred by playing in an event. This list of All Under One Roof events 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 26th – 28th September, 6th Portsmouth Congress: Although this is advertised as the 6th Portsmouth Congress, it is in fact being staged in a family-run hotel called the Lysses House Hotel, High Street Fareham. 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. Note: You can subscribe to Tony's newsletter yourself; just email him and you will be added to his list of subscribers. e 2 e 4 events I’m afraid the navigability of the e2e4 website has not improved and once again I have had to rely on Gill’s help to get the few details of the two congresses mentioned here. It’s worth saying that Gill found navigating the website almost impossible even with vision. The contact details seem to have changed again, so I will leave in the mobile number quoted in the May edition and add in the other phone number quoted on the website. I may have to give up mentioning e2e4 events until a more efficient way of obtaining the details I need has been put in place. 5th – 7th September, Sunningdale Congress: I am not 100% sure as to the venue for this congress. The website simply says Ascot, Windsor and Maidenhead, but the postcode quoted is that of the Sunningdale Park Hotel which is near to the Ascot race course. 19th – 21st September, Bedford Congress: The venue isn’t given, though if it is the same as the 2013 congress it will take place at the Park Inn, St Mary’s Street, Bedford. 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. 25th – 30th August, 25th South Wales International Open: Angel Hotel, Cardiff. Very few details are provided other than that the tournament will be a 9-round Swiss. Contact Kevin Staveley. 26th – 28th August, 5th Jorvik Congress: Holiday Inn, Tadcaster Road, York. This is a 6-round Swiss with two rounds each day. Contact Peter Cloudsdale. 31st August – 6th September, 64th DCCA ‘Paignton’ Congress: Livermead House Hotel, Torquay. There will be four sections: an Open, a Challengers (U180), an Intermediate (U150) and a Minor (U125). Contact Alan Crickmore. 13th - 14th September, 2nd Annual Lowestoft Chess Open: Parkhill Hotel, Lowestoft, Suffolk. This is a 5-round Swiss and seems to have just two sections, an Open and an U150. Contact Warren Kingston. 19th - 21st September, Isle of Man Chess Congress: Cherry Orchard Aparthotel, Bridson Street, Port Erin. This is a 5-round swiss with a Major and Minor section (grading sections not specified). Contact Alan Robertson. 19th - 25th October, 40th Guernsey International Chess Congress: Peninsula Hotel, Les Dicqs, Vale, Guernsey. 5 The Open is a 7-round FIDE-rated Swiss and is open to players of any grade. However players with a grade lower than ECF 150 will be encouraged to enter the Holiday tournament (also a 7-round Swiss). A bye can be had in any one of the first four rounds. Contact Fred Hamperl. 14th - 16th November, 48th Torbay Chess Congress: Toorak Hotel, Chestnut Avenue, Torquay. There is a Major, Intermediate and Minor section, though grading limits are unspecified. Contact Ray Chubb. Guy Whitehouse and Gill Smith. International Tournaments 22nd International Anniversary Tournament for the Blind and Partially Sighted: Bolzano / Bozen, Italy. This is an eight round Swiss event taking place from Thursday 20th November to Sunday 23rd November 2014. Entry fee: € 40. Supplementary fee: € 70 for accommodation and full board. Guides and other accompanying persons pay € 180 for a single room or € 220 for a double room. For more details please contact Julie Leonard or the tournament organiser, Herbert Grossrubatscher. Belgian Open: Hotel de Kinkhoorn, Ostend, from Friday 7th November (arrival, dinner and first round) to Tuesday 11th (depart after breakfast). Accommodation costs quoted are € 225 per person for a double, € 245 for a single (an apartment with two single curtained off areas) and € 305 for your own private room. For more details please contact Guy Whitehouse or go straight to Alex Geerinck. IBCA European Championships: France. It has been announced that the dates are 30th July to 10th August 2015. Words from the Whitehouse In the last edition of the gazette I gave a summary of business transacted at the AGM. Since then there has been a committee meeting on 12th April, so here is another article outlining the key points discussed at that meeting. Publicity: Previously we had thought that we should scale down our presence at Sight Village and concentrate our efforts on running a stand at just one of the Sight Village venues. However there was a renewed enthusiasm amongst one or two committee members for exhibiting at Sight Village again. Consequently Chris is in charge of a team who will run a stand at Birmingham and Voldi will try to put together a team of volunteers to enable us to attend the Sight Village event in London towards the end of the year. In fact Voldi has hit the ground running in his role as publicity officer. We enjoyed some success with our publicity surrounding the recent Chairman’s Cup with Steve Bailey from Dorset joining us and with plans afoot to circulate our literature amongst the Dorset Association of the Blind. Voldi has also undertaken to regularly review the news items section of our website. Sub-committees: At the first committee meeting after the AGM, we always review and reconstitute our various sub-committees. The ICT, Technical, Tournament and the Finance and Fundraising sub-committees were all unchanged. However we agreed with Gary’s proposal that there was no longer any need for a sub-committee to run and administer the Congress Support scheme. Instead we decided that there should be a Congress Support officer who would do the financial administration of the scheme. Gary said he did not feel able to take on this role and Mark Kirkham has stepped into the breach. I’m sure you’d all like to join the committee in thanking Gary for the considerable energy he has channelled into the scheme. Mark will receive help in encouraging members to take advantage of the grants available via the scheme; take up has not been all we would have hoped. We decided to stick with last year’s decision not to reconstitute the Publications sub-committee, but I’ve been asked to look into the feasibility of buying a stock of ebooks from a company such as Everyman with the idea of reformatting the files and making them usable on various media players used by members. At the moment I am of the view that the copyright situation might be complicated and the processing of the files will entail more effort than is feasible, and at the Chairman’s Cup John Gallagher was able to get various members to a point where they had several ebooks on their DAISY players which they could read a move at a time. This does suggest that our efforts might be better directed elsewhere, but I will report back on this fully in a later edition of the gazette. Policies: All the policies referred to in the article on the AGM have now been published on the website. We had originally intended only to publish a selection of them, but decided for simplicity’s sake to store them all in one place and full publication on the website seemed the simplest option. In the meantime our insurance policies will be up for renewal at the end of the year. I am working with Gill and Norman to put together a list of questions to be discussed with the insurance company’s renewals team before

6 actually renewing the policy. We don’t want just to renew automatically and would like to see if there are areas in which we need or would benefit from extra cover. Junior Development: We were very pleased with the work that Guy Baker and Owen Phillips were doing, and in this gazette you will hear about the success that one of our juniors, Efe Shinwell, is enjoying. Gary has stepped into the role of Junior Development Officer and we all feel he is ideally suited to this with his relaxed and easy-going attitude and because of the enjoyment he clearly derives from following up and sometimes visiting juniors and new members in their homes for a friendly game. We are currently looking into various ideas we’ve had on how to persuade a number of juniors to attend one of our events and strengthen links between them and the association. Tournament Matters: As you will have seen in Forthcoming Events, the dates and venues for our AGM tournament and for next year’s British Championships have been finalised. We’ve noticed that members are increasingly using the talking digital clocks, so a note will be included in tournament programmes to the effect that digital clocks can be used as long as both players agree. We’re also delighted to welcome Roger Edwards to our panel of arbiters and that Geoff Jones has also said he would be happy to help out as arbiter of our events. Over the Board Match: Discussion of arrangements for a challenge match between the BCA and Owen’s club, Wallington, are ongoing. The proposed venue is now the RNIB in Judd Street, London. Haaksbergen: This year’s trip to Haaksbergen was an unqualified success. It was actually my first time on the trip and I enjoyed it enormously. Next year we will be offering all those who wish to go a £75 subsidy. Coaching: Voldi is taking on responsibility for organising coaching by Skype. We did actually hold a coaching event at the RNIB on 10th May and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to organize another funded by a grant from the Mercers Company. Social Media: Chris will continue to work on our Twitter account. We would like to put together a small team of people who could tweet for us. There was a feeling at the committee meeting that we’d like to improve the way we do this and that having Twitter on our home page does make it look a bit cluttered. In the meantime Julie will be looking at establishing a BCA presence on Facebook. Equipment: We’ve taken delivery of a new batch of sets from Chess Baron; 50 small sets and 13 large ones. The spike on the black pieces has now been produced differently and is machined as part of the piece as a whole, rather than being inserted after the production of the piece. ECF Matters: It would appear that some people feel that consultation regarding the new format of the National Clubs Championships was inadequate. I mention this because we were promoting the idea of fielding one or more teams in this event next year. At this writing I’m not aware of any firm decision regarding this; I will keep people posted. In the meantime Bill Armstrong and I have been asked to work together when liaising with the ECF on issues relevant to players with disabilities. I hope you will agree with me that the above brief summary shows that your new committee is working hard to promote the association and to secure a prosperous future for it. Guy Whitehouse.

7 Chairman’s Cup – Report by Richard Harrington The biennial Chairman's Cup took place this year at the Whitehall Hotel in Bournemouth from 31st May to 7th June. The location of the hotel was ideal for shopping and its proximity to the park and sea front. The Mayor of Bournemouth opened the tournament prior to the start of Round 1 and made the first move in Stan Lovell's game. On Sunday the weather was kind with light breezes and sunshine. In the afternoon a small party watched power boat racing near the pier. This was accompanied by a live commentary with the action also being filmed from a helicopter. Also, six people attended a classical music concert at the Lighthouse Theatre in Poole given by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. They listened to music composed by Mendelssohn and Rimsky-Korsakov amongst others. On Sunday evening several players took part in a simultaneous display with Martin Simons. On Monday evening hotel guests were entertained by Barber Shop Southern Union, a group of twenty male singers. Their programme included songs written by Sammy Cahn, Fats Waller and the Beatles. At the conclusion of their concert, eight of their number joined us in the bar for a drink. On Tuesday evening Sheila Milsom ran her ever-popular quiz where five teams battled it out for first prize. The winning team were the Stealers, Tristram Cole, Martyn Wilson, Phil Gordon, Guy Whitehouse and myself. Wednesday lunchtime saw a small group attend a piano recital featuring the music of Chopin at St Peter's Parish Church. On Wednesday evening the Highcliffe Players entertained a large audience in the hotel lounge. There were songs from modern stage shows such as Andrew Lloyd-Webber's ‘Cats’ plus songs by popular jazz artists. After the conclusion of round 7, we had the prize giving ceremony where Clare Gailans distributed these to the winners. This was preceded by votes of thanks for the hospitality of the hotel staff and our stalwart helpers within the BCA. John Gallagher, the tournament winner, thanked everyone and said the BCA continued to go from strength to strength. The raffle organised by Sheila raised £102. The tournament arbiter was Peter Gibbs. This splendid week concluded with our traditional evening concert organised by Joan Shorrock. All participants provided an excellent performance. Richard Harrington Chairman’s Cup – Arbiter’s Report I was again arbiter at this enjoyable tournament for players graded 140 and below. I was ably assisted by Celia at the computer who also helped with the pairings. Tristram was invaluable as the steward and emailed the results to the User Group. It was unfortunate that Guy was not well enough to play his games. However, he stayed for the whole week and seemed to enjoy the rest, even participating in the musical part of Joan's soirée. As to the tournament the new recruit, Steve Bailey, showed promise. I had several chats with him and was im- pressed by his potential. Richard showed resilience in his games, no doubt having gained valuable experience at the annual Windermere Theme Breaks. Dan is a rapidly improving player. Norman played with determination and thoroughly deserved his tie for second place with the experienced Sean. Most days Norman took Steve Thacker out in his wheelchair accompanied by Steve Brown. The ladies took players out when they had finished their games. John Gallagher won the tournament two years ago. This time he was even more impressive, winning all 7 games. No doubt he is benefitting from having Chris as his mentor. I suspect John 's grade in 2016 will prevent him from playing. Here is an impressive win by John from Bournemouth 2014.

John Gallagher - Sean Loftus, Barry Attack 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Bf4 d6 5. e4 0-0 6. Qd2 Nbd7 7. 0-0-0 a6 8. e5 Ne8 9. Ng5 e6 10. Qe3 d5 11. h4 c6 12. h5 h6 13. hxg6 hxg5 14. Bxg5 Qa5 15. Qh3 fxg6 16. Qxe6+ Rf7 17. Qxe8+ Nf8 18. e6 Bxe6 19. Qxa8 Rxf2 20. Qxb7 Bf5 21. Rd2 1 – 0

8 Final standings: 7 points John Gallagher (1st Prize) 5 points Sean Loftus, Norman Andrews (Shared 2nd Prize) 4.5 points David Hodgkins 4 points John Jenkins (Grading Prize B), Dan Rugman (Grading Prize C), Stan Lovell 3.5 points Phil Gordon, Eamonn Casey, Steve Brown, Steve Thacker (Phil Gordon, Eamonn Casey and Steve Brown shared Grading Prize A) 3 points Voldi Gailans, Gary Wickett, George Phillips, Steve Bailey 2 points Denis Warren 1 point Richard Harrington Guy Whitehouse took a bye in Round 1 but withdrew thereafter, finishing with 0.5 points. Peter Gibbs, ECF Arbiter Editor’s note: Readers can look forward to two more games from this event in the November issue. BCA Junior Chess The BCA is great for juniors! Not only is it free for juniors to join the BCA, but the BCA also sends out free sets and boards to schools upon application. It can supply chess clocks too. The BCA encourages junior members to enter its tournaments by offering free entry and even free accommodation, which in some cases can be extended to the guides of those junior playing members. I am encouraging juniors to enter the main BCA events! The BCA further stimulates its juniors by arranging for lessons from high level coaches. I have been coaching at the Godstone Primary school and at the Oxted Grammar School in Surrey and can extend my visits into the Kent, and Essex areas if required. I have also sent free advice on openings and other aspects of the game to a coach to help with a keen blind junior in Scotland. In the primary school I have taught up to 7 pupils and 3 or 4 regularly in its VI Unit. Whilst at the Oxted Grammar’s VIU I have regularly coached and helped with games, again for up to 7 pupils. Numbers depend on availability due to exams or off site visits, etc. All the pupils are very enthusiastic, and the teachers have noted that some have seemingly benefitted from their coaching in other aspects of their school work too! The pupils benefit greatly from a mix of lessons, one to one coaching and consultation games between the pupils with me advising in one on one encounters. They have been taken through a lot of great games and have learnt about pawn structures, many different openings, the importance of piece activity and how to avoid weak pawns and creating weak squares. They are becoming increasingly aware of different tactics and strategies and now appreciate how to plan and when to attack. Last year’s highlight was a match between the two schools held at Oxted School, with the 5 best players from each school VI Unit participating. The Primary school shocked Oxted somewhat in the first 5 games by leading 3-2, but when the colours were reversed Oxted managed to fight back and honours were even in the end in a tight 5-5 match! Perhaps a moral victory for the youngsters! But the main thing was that the 10 chess players and their accompanying teachers had enjoyed themselves and had a highly entertaining and competitive few hours of chess. Memento medals were awarded to all participants, as well as prizes for the best two games! A number of the juniors have joined the BCA, several more are expected to do so and some are expected to play in future BCA events. In addition to school coaching visits the BCA also encourages its junior and adult members to have Skype lessons. Efe Shimwell (9) of Tunbridge Wells is a particularly promising Junior BCA player to whom I have been giving extensive Skype coaching. He has won and come second in a series of inter schools and county junior tournaments participating against fully sighted opponents, and has now even qualified for the Junior National Gigafinals, which he greatly looks forward to participating in. Who knows he may even qualify for the National Terafinal, with major prizes and England junior team places on offer! Indeed it looks like ‘Rossie’ may have some stiff competition emerging from amongst the BCA Junior ranks in years to come! I am looking into the possibility of arranging not only a rematch between Godstone and Oxted schools, but also an event for all interested BCA Junior members, probably to take place in or around Wallington, Surrey. This event will have some good prizes on offer. To whet the appetites of Junior Members and also perhaps to impress senior BCA Members I now attach two of the best games which I have recorded from amongst the many played at Oxted and Godstone schools during my coaching sessions there. 9 Game 1: Jonny v Charlie, played at Godstone Primary School in May 2014: 1. Nf3 g6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. 0–0 {It’s nice to see that Jonny had taken the idea of castling asap to heart! He calls this his ‘Castle of Solitude’ line!} 4 … h5 {Charlie still likes to adopt a “caveman-esque” style at times! His favourite is a six pawn attack similar to the Austrian attack but on steroids! It can prove surprisingly effective, but other times results in large gaping holes in his defences! He knows this but enjoys a quick attack style! And believe me he has now tempered his natural flair and desire to play h5 and Rh6 Rg6 at an early stage! Or even more amusingly a5 and Ra6 across the 6 th rank if allowed to!} 5. d3 c6 6. c4 e6 7. Nc3 {White looks better now, but there is still all to play for!} 7 ... Ne7 8. Bg5 f6 9. Bd2 0–0 10. Qb3 Nd7 11. Rfd1 Ne5 12. Nh4 g5 13. Nf3 N7g6 14. cxd5 exd5 15. Nxe5 fxe5 16. e4 Kh7 17. exd5 Qf6 18. Be1 h4 19. dxc6 bxc6 20. Ne4 Qd8 21. Bd2 hxg3 22. Nxg5+ {Ouch!} 22 ... Kh8 23. Nf7+ {Yep! At this point Charlie who likes directing his games announced, “Take Two!”, which made both Jonny and myself laugh!} 23 ... Rxf7 24. Qxf7 gxh2+ 25. Kh1 Nh4 26. Qh5+ Kg8 27. Bg5!! And unfortunately it was time to end the lesson, so I adjudicated a win for Jonny, but it was a good game and as Jonny said his ‘Castle of Solitude’ (?!) opening line had paved the way! Although the loser, Charlie, had pronounced during the game, “This is better than ice cream!” Game 2: Joshua (BCA Member) v Cameron, Oxted School, March 2014: 1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 h6 {Nc6 looked marginally preferable, but Cameron likes his Hippopotamus!} 6. 0–0 d6 7. Nc3 {Looking good space-wise for White!} 7 ... Nd7 8. Be3 e6 9. Qe2 {Maybe f5 now was better, although Joshua was sticking impressively to my previous coaching advice of finishing one’s opening off, before going for the big attack! So, “Nice one Josh!”} 9 ... Ne7 10. f5 g5 {Looking dodgy!} 11. fxe6 {Opening up some nice white holes in the black camp!} 11 ... fxe6 12. e5 Qb8 {Quite an impressive find really!} 13. Bxg5 {Or exd6!} 13 ... hxg5 14. Nxg5 Rh6 15. Qf2 Nxe5 16. dxe5 Kd7 17. Nf7 Rh5 18. Be2 {White starts to go wrong now 18. exd6!} 18 ... Rxe5 19. Nxe5+ {Maybe it was better to retain the tension with Bc4.} 19 ... Bxe5 20. Rad1 Qh8 {Black is surprisingly still well in the game!} 21. g3 Rg8 22. Bf3 Ba6 And unfortunately the double period lesson ended, so I adjudged this one a draw seeing as it was so unclear and, given how well Black had fought to stay in the game, it seemed fairest! This was an impressive game in its own way from two as yet ungraded juniors! Normally games are completed, but sometimes, particularly with second games I naturally have to adjudicate. I shall be again encouraging the Godstone and Oxted pupils to join the BCA. So far I have been told three have done so. Hopefully this article gives BCA members a further insight into what is going on in the junior ranks of the BCA and in an effort to recruit new BCA members! Hopefully after his appearance in the Gigafinal you can see at least one of Efe’s efforts too! Owen Phillips, 9th June 2014 Editor’s note: Since Owen wrote this report, the BCA Junior Championship has been organised for Saturday 23rd August. Parents of interested juniors should contact Owen as quickly as possible if they have not already done so. A report on the BCA Junior Championship will appear in the next gazette. BCA Training Day A BCA training day took place in London on 10th May, with five participants being coached by Owen Phillips. We met for a ten o'clock start at RNIB Judd Street and the session lasted until about 3.45pm, with a 40-minute break for lunch. We discussed chess principles and went through some positions and games together. Owen's insight and instruction proved very interesting and useful, as did comments from the other trainees, and Owen subsequently provided, for those not familiar with his training methods, a list of useful phrases as aids to recall best principles when at the board. 10 For me, a measure of the success of the day was that time seemed to race by and, although some of the positions were complicated, fatigue was never an issue. Some of us met for a meal and drinks in the nearby pub afterwards and this rounded off a very successful day. It is hoped that we will be able to look at the prospect of running similar events in future in other parts of the coun- try as well as London. Whether or not this happens will, of course, depend on the degree of members' interest and the availability of coaches. Our hope would be to run sessions for small groups of roughly the same chess standard. I for one can certainly recommend attending a coaching session such as this and would ask that anyone interested in a possible future event should contact me so that we can ascertain the level of interest. Voldi Gailans Congress Support Scheme Update You will have read in the May gazette of some slight changes to the Congress Support Scheme - namely that eligible members are now able to claim for an extra £75 across the BCA financial year over a maximum of four mainstream congresses, increasing the total annual allowance to £300 per member. I am now responsible for coordinat- ing your claims, so I want to hear from as many of you as possible. Since the BCA committee meeting in April we have also agreed that anyone in receipt of more than £300 of funding from the BCA to participate in an international event should only be barred from the congress support scheme for a single financial year following the one in which that international event took place. Previously anyone in this position would in effect have had to wait for more than two years before being eligible again, whereas now they may resume using the congress support scheme after only one complete financial year has elapsed. If anyone wishes to have clarification of the terms of this scheme, please contact me and I will be happy to send you a copy of our updated congress support policy document. In the meantime, I wish everyone the best of luck in their over-the-board activities. Let's hope to be reading about more BCA members' successes in mainstream events in future gazettes. Mark Kirkham Editor’s note: Mark definitely practises what he preaches! The 2014 Sheffield Congress was held from 27th to 29th June and Mark played in the Minor section, where he finished in first place with an extremely impressive 5 out of 5. What is more, this is the second consecutive year in which Mark has won this event on a 100 percent score. Con- gratulations Mark! One of Mark’s games from this event will be annotated for the November gazette. 13th IBCA World Individual Championships, Katerini, Greece 4th -15th May 2014 The BCA sent two representatives to the 13th IBCA World Individual Championships; Bill Armstrong, as the British Champion, having taken the title in Morecombe 2013, and me as the second representative for the association. Steve Hilton was also in attendance as IBCA Secretary. There were 94 representatives from 31 countries and based on the FIDE ELO ratings, I, with 2202, was ranked as 12th seed, ultimately ending up in joint 5th place, but placed 22nd on tie-break. Bill was 62nd seed and finished in 62nd place. Steve was 52nd seed and came in on 48th place. Our final scores were myself with 5.5/9, Bill on 4/9 and Steve on fifty percent, 4.5/9. I would conclude that it was a satisfactory performance from me, although it was below what could have been projected based on my potential and ranking. In saying that though, my opponents offered a tremendous amount of resilience, especially so in the final 4 rounds, where I only racked up 4 draws. The victories were just too elusive due to my opponents’ constant stubborn reluctance to yield. Both Bill’s and Steve’s opponents also played well and I would not view any of our play to have been sub-standard considering our relative rankings and playing strengths. Indeed, I have found many of the games played by the sub- 2000 ELO-rated players ever so entertaining and I would encourage all readers to take time in playing through a lot of the games, especially those by the UK BCA members, three of which are annotated here. The final winner of the tournament was FM Jacek Stachanczyk from Poland, who scored 7.5/9, and having reviewed his games, my honest opinion is that he is a worthy winner of the tournament, as he took out the top and second seeds with relative ease and played excellently, aggressively and determinedly throughout the tournament. Many plaudits have to be given to him, and he walks away with the International Master title as well as World Champion status. Second place went to FM Oliver Müller from Germany and 3rd to Rustam Kasimov from Russia, who both scored 7/9.

11 The rest day during the tournament was spent in the supposed birthplace of Alexander the Great. The tomb of his father, Philip 2nd of Macedonia, is also believed to be there and Alexander the Great’s only son, Alexander 4th, is thought to lie there too. The venue of the tournament was excellent; a spacious hotel, yards away from a beautiful beach and the lapping Aegean Sea, in which some of us had an enjoyable paddle. The weather remained pleasant for the duration and although not scorching hot, it was certainly shorts and short-sleeve shirt time for the duration. Food was plentiful and the playing room expansive, if somewhat noisy during the early stages of the games. No major upsets appeared to occur during the tournament and Grandmaster Neil McDonald, who was elected onto the appeals committee, had no duties to perform in that role. Speaking of Neil, much gratitude has to be given to him for accompanying me as my official second and guide. I devoted nigh on 12 hours a day to considering, playing and analysing chess. Half of that time was spent with Neil. His extensive knowledge and insightful thoughts, proved to be an influential factor in my performance. Neil also offered extensive advice and assistance to Bill Armstrong, the BCA’s official representative. Bill’s wife, Pat, was also extremely helpful in guiding, offering support to the players, and giving general assistance throughout the trip. Our sights are now set on the future as we focus on the next major IBCA international event, which will be the European Individual Championships in France in 2015. For a full overview of the tournament, visit this link: http://www.chess-results.com/tnr128264.aspx?lan=1&wi=821&turdet=YES For a PGN download of the tournament’s games, go here: http://www.braillechess.org.uk/games/ibca/worldindividuals2014.pgn Chris Ross, June 2014 Gangolli Kishan – Chris Ross, Round 4. 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O exd4 {There are various lines in the King’s Indian Defence, but our pre-match preparation indicated to us that this would be the most testing for my opponent, as he had faced it before with difficulties. We had various lines prepared accordingly. This particular line focusses on the d4 square and Black strives to fight for it as best as he is able. The dark squares become very important in this particular structure, but note how the d4 square is the focal point for most of the game.} 8. Nxd4 Re8 {The f8 square is vacated for a future knight manoeuvre. The white E-pawn is attacked and White must take time out to defend it. In doing so, he puts yet another pawn on a light square, thus weakening the dark squares even more. The light-squared bishop on e2 is becoming a particularly poor piece.} 9. f3 Nc6 {Once again, Black develops his pieces to focus on the d4 square. Doubled pawns do not concern Black, as the central squares along the D-file can be protected. Any capture on c6 allows b7xc6, and then a further advance c6- c5, controlling the d4 square. The c7-pawn can then be used to defend the d5 square if need be by c7-c6.} 10. Be3 Nd7 {The knight re-routes itself to concentrate its focus on the d4 square. The logical route is via f8, but there is also another very subtle possibility.} 11. Qd2 Nc5 {Offering White the opportunity to completely disrupt the black pawn structure. Although aesthetically very unattractive, positionally it is extraordinarily strong for Black. {12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bxc5 dxc5 would leave Black with tripled C-pawns. These are, in fact, the spring-board for a very big advantage for Black, since he can use the d4 square at will and launch operations from there without any hindrance. White, naturally, declines this offer.} 12. Rad1 Ne6 {The fight for the d4 square is now such that White must yield control. He has the tough choice of either exchanging on c6 or e6, helping Black in his development, or the meek retreat, which he chooses.} 13. Nc2 a5 {Black holds up the white advance along the queen-side. b2-b4-b5 would be very inconvenient for Black. The outpost on c5 is secured and Nb4 ideas could be flicked in at an opportune moment if required.}

12 14. Kh1? {Such luxuries are not necessary in similar positions. The king is in no immediate danger along the g1-a7 diagonal, so such prophylactic moves are a simple loss of tempo. White should be concentrating on the expansion of his queen-side to gain space there, or directly playing through the centre with a future f3-f4 and e4-e5 or f4-f5. The “waiting” move just allows Black to complete development without hindrance.} 14... Qe7 {The black queen seeks a more active square. Finding this active square is not easy. The reasoning behind this manoeuvre is that White’s active push is f3-f4-f5. Black wishes to meet f4 with f7-f5, thus holding up the white pawn advance and securing the e4 outpost. For that reason, the black queen unpins the d6 pawn and seeks shelter away from the central files.} 15. Nd5 Qf8 16. f4 f5 17. exf5 gxf5 {Black is accepting a loss of tempi to secure good outposts on e4 and potentially d4. He is also saying that the half- open G-file could be of use to him in the future. This is a careful and calculated plan, for Black, correctly, judged that White would not be tempted in playing the most accurate moves here, to strive for any kind of advantage.} 18. Bh5 Rd8 {Black has permitted this loss of tempi, judging that he can re-group his pieces. White should now strive forward and make every attempt to disprove Black’s strategy. Instead, White becomes concerned by the loose pawn on b2 and takes yet more time to defend it.} 19. b3 {19. g4! Makes things very sharp indeed. With the white king on h1, White should be striking out down the G-file himself.} 19... Bd7 20. Bf2 {White manoeuvres to strike again at the slightly misplaced black rooks. This rerouting of pieces is too slow and offers Black the time to re-group, with effective play. Again, 20. g4! should be tried.} 20... Be8 {Black is now fighting for the e8 square and intends to place his rook back on the open file. The least effective black piece is now being shifted around to a better square.} 21. Qe2 Bf7! {A move that had to be seen well in advance, as otherwise, the black pieces would be hopelessly entangled. With this clever little defensive move, the black pieces begin to work in utter harmony.} 22. Bh4 Re8 23. Qf3 {Surprisingly, all of the tactics now begin to favour Black due to the better placement of his pieces and how effectively they are coordinated. Nf6+ ideas now simply lose a piece and Nxf4 tactics are serious enough to force White on the defensive. White goes into “retreat” mode.} 23... Bg6 24. Bxg6 hxg6 25. Bf2 Qf7 26. Rfe1 Nc5 {Striking out for the e4 square. Once the knight lands on e4, it will be a very dominating piece, since the light- squared bishops have been exchanged.} 27. Bxc5 {Played with a draw offer. After this exchange though, White is simply lost. It is only a matter of technique to convert this endgame. Black has control of his desired d4 target-square, and to boot, he has the e4 outpost.} 27... dxc5 28. Qg3 Nd4 {Finally outposting a knight on the target square. White has one last tactic up his sleeve, but once this is thwarted, the final desperate lunge to save the game is easily refuted.} 29. Nxd4 cxd4 30. Qg5 {With the very annoying Ne7+ tactic to solve. A quiet move here nullifies all of the white threats.} 30... Kf8! 31. h4 {White has nothing left in the position. The knight on d5 is stranded and will soon be hit with c7-c6 and it will only have the b6 square for flight. The open E-file is where the rooks belong, so Black simply doubles on that file.} 31... Re4 32. Rxe4 fxe4 33. f5 {The last desperate trick. Cool calculation will convert this advantage easily enough, as the central passed pawns can march inexorably forward.}

13 33... Qxf5 34. Nxc7 Qxg5 35. hxg5 {The clinching move here is very cute in its appearance. So much so, that White wished for the move to be repeated, as it did not seem correct. Essentially, the target-square, d4, needs to be maintained. It is that square which needs protection and the pawn must not fall.} 35... Rd8! {Voluntarily permitting a fork, but there is a further point to the tactic.} 36. Ne6+ Ke7 {Calmly defending the rook on d8. 37. Nxg7 would be coolly met by 37... Kf7, since the knight has no flight squares!} 37. Nxd8 Kxd8 38. Kg1 d3 {The pawns, supported by the bishop and king, cannot be stopped.} 39. Kf2 Bd4+ {The white king must not be permitted to come anywhere near the pawns. Cutting the white king off is essential.} 40. Kg3 Be3 {Thus sealing the king out. White could easily resign now.} 41. Kg4 Kd7 {The black king marches up the board to support the D-pawn home.} 42. Re1 d2 43. Rd1 Kc6 44. Kg3 Kc5 45. Rh1 Kd4 46. Rh7 Kd3 {And befittingly, the d4 square is used for the final time. If 43. Rd7+ Bd4 shields the black king and allows promotion.} 43. 0-1 Bill Armstrong - Teemu Ruohonen, Round 9. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 d6 5. b4 Bb6 6. a4 a6 7. Qb3 Qd7 {A typical position has arisen from the Giuoco Piano. White has gained space on the queen-side quickly and has refrained from playing through the centre. The attack on f7 renders the position of the black pieces temporarily awkward, but this should not cause Black much discomfiture. The light-squared bishop on c4 is White’s most potent piece, so Black should be seeking to rid himself of it as soon as possible. 7... Qe7 should be preferred, for then Be6 ideas by Black could be in the offing.} 8. O-O Nf6 9. d3 h6 {This weakening of the king-side will ultimately come back to haunt Black, especially so when White whips up an attack against the black king. Black should not concern himself with Bg5 ideas as the queen is not on the d8-h4 diagonal and effectively the knight on f6 would not be pinned, so could retreat if necessary. Black does best simply to castle on move 9 and put the question to White as to how he wishes to proceed.} 10. Na3 {White begins a knight switch, heading ultimately for the d5 outpost. Since it can be exchanged easily by Black, it may be best to keep the tension on the centre. The knight could wander its way around to g3, with ideas of Nf5, as in lines in the Ruy Lopez. 10. Nbd2 keeps the tension somewhat and allows Bb2 and possibly d3-d4.} 10... O-O 11. Nc2 Qe7 {Amending his previous mistake. Black though could consider 11... Ne7 with ideas of c6 and d6-d5. The e5 pawn may need protection, but the tactics would make things interesting for Black and complications may ease his cramped position.} 12. Ne3 Be6 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. exd5 Nb8 15. a5 {White gains space on the queen-side, but by doing so, he releases the potential break b4-b5. However, White is not too concerned with operations on the queen-side, as a king-side attack is his ultimate objective.} 15... Ba7 16. Qd1 Nbd7 {Black should strike out at the centre here, since White has gone slightly into “retreat” mode. 16... c6 would certainly make White reconsider whether 17. Qb3 would be his best move.} 17. Nh4 {White now initiates operations on the king-side. The knight is headed for the f5 outpost, from where it can aid in the king-side attack. If h7-h6 had not been played by Black, he could have considered g7-g6 here. As it is though, the h6 pawn is a target and the flood of white pieces into the king-side is difficult to prevent.} 17... Rfe8 18. Nf5 Qf8 19. Bb3 {A very subtle retreat. The bishop makes way to permit the white pawns to advance, thereby closing up the centre and limiting the scope of the dark-squared bishop on a7. The light-squared bishop also gives itself the option of switching diagonals.}

14 19... b5 20. Bc2?! {A tactical inaccuracy. 20. axb6 Bxb6 21. c4 has to be tried. The text-move drops a pawn, but White’s intention is obvious enough. He wishes to relocate the light-squared bishop and makes the b1-h7 diagonal a point of focus. This also allows tactics against the black king that are more potent.} 20... Kh8? {A meek retreat, which does not help Black’s cause. 20... Nxd5 has to be tried.} 21. c4 Ng8 22. Ra3 {The rook is lifted onto the 3rd rank to join in the fun. The white forces are now gathering real momentum in the attack.} 22... Ne7 23. d4 Nxf5 {This exchange only eliminates a defender. 23... bxc4 prevents White from shutting in the dark-squared bishop, as occurs in the game and opens up lines for play along the B-file.} 24. Bxf5 Nf6 25. c5 Nxd5? {After which, Black’s position is on the verge of collapse. Black has to open up lines to create space and options for his pieces. 25... exd4 is the only move here. Captures on c5 are also then possible. With the text move material is going to drop off.} 26. Bd7 Re7 {Black may consider giving up the exchange here to break down the white pawn chain. 26... dxc5 is certainly an option.} 27. Bc6 Nxb4 {Black’s attempts to break down the pawn chain now come too late. He should have played very tactically here and tried 27... Rd8. 28. Bxd5 dxc5 creates complications which is what he is seeking. 29. Be4 cxb4 and it is game on.} 28. Bxa8 Qxa8 29. cxd6 cxd6 30. dxe5 Rd7? {There is no reason for this and it only allows White to gain more time on the loose rook. 30... dxe5 is the only reasonable recapture, although Black’s position is nearly resignable.} 31. Qg4 Rd8 32. Rh3 {32. Bxh6 is simple and strong. The black king-side collapses very quickly and there is no resistance left.} 32... Nd3 {There is no saving move here. The finish is simple enough for White to find. A clear classical king-side attack is concluded in a true tactical fashion.} 33. Bxh6 g6 34. Bg5+ Kg8 35. Bf6 Bxf2+ 36. Rxf2 Qa7 37. Rh8# 1-0 Gokhan R Gungor - Steve Hilton, Round 6. 1 e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3 Be6 9. O-O O-O 10. f4 {A very theoretical position has been reached in the Nadjorf variation of the Sicilian Defence. Many plans have been attempted here for Black. Indeed, captures on f4 have been successfully tried for Black in the past, with the idea of utilising the e5 square. Black could even consider expansion on the queen-side as his development is already well under way. Black has though, an idea of exchanging the light-square bishops, but this permits White to push forward on the king-side without resistance.} 10... Qc7 11. f5 Bc4 12. Bxc4 Qxc4 {In this indirect way, Black pressurises the weak e4 pawn, the true vulnerability in White’s position. Any expansion on the king-side will inevitably lead to this pawn’s demise.} 13. Nd2 Qc6 14. Qf3 Rd8 {In true classical style, Black counterattacks. The break d6-d5 will release all of Black’s difficulties.} 15. Rad1 Nbd7 16. Kh1? {White does not have this luxury. Since the black queen stands on c6, it is more dangerous to put the king on the same diagonal, especially so when d6-d5 is soon to be played. Black, correctly, strives for this break even more now, despite putting his knight on a slightly awkward square.} 16... Nb6 17. g4? {White has no true perception of the danger inherent in his position. The king-side attack is doomed to fail from the outset. The vulnerable white king is far too exposed and Black achieves his counterplay without any difficulty.}

15 17... d5! 18. exd5 Nbxd5 19. Nxd5 Nxd5 20. Ne4 Nxe3 21.Qxe3 Bc5! {Black instigates some very clever tactics to exploit his advantage. The vulnerable h1-a8 diagonal is being exploited to its maximum. The knight on e4 is fatally pinned against the king. The other pleasing feature of this tactic is that the flight square, g1, to unpin the knight, is no longer available to White.} 22. Qf3 Bb6 23. Nc3 Rxd1 24. Nxd1 e4 {Black is now intent on material gain and not the endgame, unless there is substantial compensation.} 25. Qc3 Qd6 {Black not only pins down the white king with aesthetic tactics along the h1-a8 and g1-a7 diagonals, but now, irritatingly for White, his back rank is chosen as a point of weakness. The accumulation of all these small advantages must provide dividend for Black.} 26. Ne3 Bc7 27. Rf2 Rd8 28. g5 {White is still under the illusion that a possible king-side attack is on the cards. Black soon rids White of this hallucinatory ray of light. White should retreat his queen to the back rank and hope to cling onto his precarious position.} 28... Bb6 29. Qb3 Qd4 30. Re2 Qc5 31. g6 hxg6 32. fxg6 Rd1+! {A well-executed, build-up of advantages by Black. The classical counterattack through the centre was completely justified by the fine positioning of his pieces and the tactics completed a well-played game by Black.} 33. 0-1 IBIS Haaksbergen Tournament – 40th Anniversary 3rd – 8th April 2014 This year the British party attending the IBIS Tournament in the little Dutch town of Haaksbergen consisted of twelve BCA members, up considerably on last year. Four members made their own way to Haaksbergen; Geoff and Margaret Brown accompanied by John Gallagher, who travelled by car and ferry, and Steve Hilton, who went by plane and train. The number on the organised trip was eight which comprised myself, Mark Hague, Guy White- house and Phyllis Hodgkins, accompanied by guides Sally and Baz Kenealy, Mike Murphy and Norman Andrews. Those on the organised trip all met at London Liverpool Street station on Thursday, 3rd April around 16.30 hours and caught the train to Harwich International where we then picked up the overnight ferry to the Hoek van Holland. We arrived at Hoek van Holland on Friday morning and caught several trains arriving at Hengelo around 13.00 hours where we were met by some of our host families, who transported us to our appropriate host family if they were not available at Hengelo. On Friday evening most of the British party met at the De Kappen where there was a social evening to meet and greet all those competing in the chess tournament, other host families and tournament organisers and to renew old friendships plus make new ones. We were also hoping to find out who our opponents were and on which table we would be playing. However, due to some people having entered by the closing date in March and having with- drawn at the last minute it was difficult for the tournament organisers to put up the board with this information. Eventually, towards the end of the evening the pairings for the tables were put up so we did learn which table we were on and who our opponents would be over the three rounds of play. On Saturday, 5th April the tournament was opened with the usual speeches by the Chair of the IBIS Board. During his speech he informed us that two Dutch members (one a player, the other part of a host family, Verti Blokhuies) had died during the last 12 months. A silence was then held in memory of these people. Steve Hilton presented an engraved shield to the Chair of IBIS on behalf of FIDE commemorating the 40th anniversary of the IBIS tournament and a person from the Dutch Chess Federation officially opened the tournament by making the first move on table one. Unfortunately, two of our members, Geoff Brown and John Gallagher, had been paired on the same board and played each other in round one. This has not happened for many years. Geoff Brown won the game. The usual lunch on Saturday was held at the restaurant just up the road from the De Kappen. The British players had done quite well in the first round. After lunch it was back to the De Kappen for round two. On Saturday evening a buffet and music entertainment had been arranged to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the IBIS Tournament. All of our British party attended and a good time was had by all with even some of our con- tingent getting up and dancing. 16 On Sunday, 6th April it was back to the De Kappen for round three, and all of us were in with a chance of winning a table prize. This year there were 58 players and 14 tables, the bottom table having six players competing on it. This meant that numbers were also slightly up from last year. Final table positions and scores of the British players were as follows: Table 1 - Steve Hilton - 2.5 from 3. Outright winner of his Table. Table 2 - David Hodgkins - 1 from 3. Third on my Table. Table 3 - Geoff Brown - 2.5 from 3. Outright winner of his Table. John Gallagher - 1 from 3. Joint third on his Table. Table 4 - Norman Andrews - 2 from 3. Joint first on his Table. Table 5 - Guy Whitehouse - 1.5 from 3. Second on his Table. Table 9 - Mark Hague - 1.5 from 3. Joint third on his Table. Table 10 - Mike Murphy - 2.5 from 3. Outright winner on his Table. Out of a possible 23 points the British team scored 14.5 points, incredibly only suffering two defeats against our foreign opponents. Our score was made up of 8 wins, 13 draws and 2 losses. The closing ceremony commenced at 13.30 hours and included the prize giving. During this, one of the German players presented the Chair of IBIS with an engraved plaque commemorating the 40th anniversary of the IBIS Tour- nament. The prize this year was a tea plant with some tea (a bigger plant and more tea for a Table winner than for second). The prizes were presented by guest of honour, Jan-Herman Scholten, (Alderman of the municipality of Haaksbergen). Due to it being the 40th anniversary of the IBIS Tournament everyone competing in the tournament was also given a special prize in memory of this. All players had a look at the shield and plaque that had been given to the IBIS Board. After the closing ceremony we went back to our host families to spend the remainder of the day and those on the organised trip met the following day at Hengelo Station to start our journey back to Hoek van Holland to catch the ferry back to Harwich. During the entire trip our ferry crossings and train travel went mainly to plan, the ferry crossings on the whole being quite smooth. Upon arriving at Harwich International we caught the train to London Liverpool Street and then went our separate ways home. The 2015 IBIS Tournament will take place from Friday, 17th to Sunday, 19th April 2015. This would mean that those on the organised trip by ferry would depart on Thursday, 16th April and arrive back in England on Tuesday, 21st April 2015. Obviously, this year the BCA offered a considerable subsidy to our associate members. In 2015 the subsidy for all those attending the trip will be £75.00 per person. Thus if Stena Line keep the same price the cost to BCA visually impaired members and associate members would be £85.00 per person. Unfortunately, prices from Stena Line will not be available until January 2015. Finally, I would like to thank Sally and Baz Keneally, Mike Murphy and Norman Andrews, our associate members on this trip, for all their help and assistance. Without them the organised trip to Haaksbergen would not have gone as smoothly as it did. David Hodgkins. Correspondence Chess Director’s Report The 43rd Championship will commence in January 2015 and if there is any BCA visually impaired member who is not already playing in the championship and would like to participate in the next one, please contact me so I can make sure your entry is ratified. Please do this by 1st September at the latest. David Hodgkins. Now on to the results. 42nd Championship - Premier Group Group leader - David Hodgkins. Hodgkins – McElroy – 0-1; (Coles) 27. Whittle - Hodgkins - 1-0; (Pirc) 43. Scores: Alec Crombie 5.5-6; Mark Hague 3.5-5; Les Whittle 3-4; Ernie McElroy 2.5-4; David Hodgkins 2.5-6; Hans Cohn 1-5; Mike Hague 0-6. Congratulations on winning this group go to Alec Crombie. However, there remains a battle for second between Mark Hague, Les Whittle and Ernie McElroy.

17 42nd BCA Championship - Challenger Group A Group leader - Gary Wickett. No further results to report. Scores: David Mears 1-1; Gary Wickett 1-2; Derek Couchman 1-2; Geoff Patching 0-1. 42nd BCA Championship - Challenger Group B Group leader - Guy Whitehouse. Phillips - Whitehouse - 0-1; (Dutch Defence) 24. Stephen Brown - Whitehouse - 0-1; (French) 29. 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 go to Guy Whitehouse for winning this group with a perfect score and gaining promotion to the premier group which will commence next January. BCA League Division 1 Group leader - David Hodgkins. Crombie - Whitehouse - 0.5-0.5; (French) 25. Scores: Alec Crombie 0.5-1; Guy Whitehouse 0.5-1; David Hodgkins, Mark Hague, George Phillips and Ernie McElroy 0-0. BCA League Division 2 Group leader - Denis Warren. Heyes - Mike Hague - 1-0 (Latvian) 37. Gallacher – Mike Hague – 0-1; (English) 16. Heyes – Warren – 1-0; (King’s Gambit) 22. Scores: Derek Heyes 2-2; Mike Hague 1-2; Eric Gallacher 0-1; Denis Warren 0-1; Stephen Brown 0-0; Mike McGuigan 0-0. BCA League Division 3 Group leader - David Hodgkins. No further results to report. Scores: Derek Couchman 1-1; Eleanor Tew 0-1; Jim Cuthbert, David Mears, Geoff Patching 0-0. Ladder Competition Phillips – Warren – 0-1; (English) 25. Warren – Cuthbert – 1-0; (Giuoco Piano) 44. Scores: Stephen Thacker 9; Denis Warren 9; Roger Bishop 8; Jim Cuthbert 7; Gary Wickett 7; David Hodgkins 5. David Hodgkins BCA Email Correspondence Tournament The current BCA E-mail correspondence tournament which started in April is well under way, with Group C already completed. This group of 4 was won by Dan Rugman with a maximum score of 3 out of 3. As at 28th June, the Group B leader is Birgit Dietsch with 2.5 out of 3 and 1 game to complete, followed by Casey on 2 out of 3. Group A joint leaders are Ellinger and Stachanczyk with 2.5 out of 3 and 1 game ongoing, followed by Gibbs on 2 out of 2. It is hoped that similar tournaments will take place in future. Voldi Gailans BCA Match Against the International Email Chess Club The BCA has recently been trying out some email matches. In the current match against IECC, one of the strongest email chess clubs, our eight player team is heavily outgraded on all boards. Current score, with three results outstanding is IECC 10.5 BCA 2.5. Draws were scored by IM Colin Crouch in his two games on board 1, Rod Macdonald in each of his games on board 2 and one by Steve Hilton on board 3.

18 Voldi Gailans

19 Membership Secretary’s Report Let me open this report by saying a few words about the membership list. Although I did say in my last report that I would try and get this sent out before August, we are now looking at getting this produced by 1st September. As you will no doubt appreciate, there are quite a few people involved in the production and distribution of the membership list and the trick is trying to find a date that suits all. Although by the time this Gazette goes out we may have a number of new members, as I am led to believe there are a few in the pipeline, for this Gazette I have three new members to introduce. First of all let me extend a very warm welcome to two new members of our “Junior BCA”: Gregory and Henry Yu. Both children attend St. Stephen’s Primary School in Godstone, Surrey, and are two of the young prodigies of our junior coach, Owen Phillips. Gregory is ten years old and has partial vision and his brother Henry is seven and fully sighted. I have to say that it thrills me with a sense of awe that even in the 21st century this ancient game is still inspiring the imaginations of the young. Long live chess! It also gives me great pleasure to extend a very warm welcome to Steve Bailey, who became a member whilst playing in the Chairman’s Cup in his home town of Bournemouth. Steve, who is partially sighted, initially very kindly joined the tournament at the last minute so that the tournament would have an even number of players. Steve only played five rounds out of a possible seven, having to default one game and take a half point bye due to playing in a cricket match. Despite this, Steve still managed to come away with three points, an excellent achievement for his debut tournament. I say debut, as like many who attend our tournaments, he caught the chess bug and decided to become a member. DECEASED As many of you may already know, on 19th June we lost one of our longstanding loyal associate members. Lucy Walsh passed away peacefully whilst in the faithful care and company of her devoted son Gerry. I am sure Gerry won’t mind me sharing that he told the e-group that they were watching the football together when Lucy took hold of his hand and her heart simply stopped beating. Although due to ill health Lucy wasn’t able to attend any of our recent events, Lucy had been attending our tournaments with her son, Gerry, since 1982, and although as far as I am aware she never participated in the game itself, like many of our non-playing associate members, Lucy was a much loved and integral part of the BCA. A lively character with a great sense of humour, she will be greatly missed. Editor’s note: An obituary for Lucy Walsh will appear in the November issue. It is also my sad duty to inform those who haven’t already heard that we’ve also lost one of our newer members. Maurice McLoughlin joined us last year, and literally days after joining, attended the AGM event at Derby. He was so keen to come along that apparently Stan had to give him a crash course in chess notation. Maurice flourished at the tournament and came away with a grading prize. Unfortunately, however, ill health prevented Maurice from attending any further events. However, In October 2013 his wife, Eileen, very kindly came along to a fund raising event organised by one of our sponsors, the Derby Lions. After recently speaking to Eileen, I learned that Maurice really enjoyed his chess alongside his other passion of playing the mouth organ, and he and Eileen, also a musician, were regular players at a local folk club. As anybody who has been to a BCA event will testify, chess and music seem to go very much hand in hand, and it goes without saying that Maurice will be very sadly missed. Personalia Get well wishes to Mary Cuthbert, one of our valued associate members, who fell and broke her leg on the 2nd of May. After a spell in hospital, during which a metal plate was inserted into her leg, Mary returned home to be looked after by husband, Jim, and visiting healthcare workers. Mary’s accident meant that the Cuthberts were un- able to travel to the Chairman’s Cup, where they were both greatly missed. Let’s hope Mary will be back on her feet before too long and that she and Jim will soon be able to attend BCA events again. In other news from the Cuthbert family, guide dog Oakey is now enjoying his retirement after many years of loyal service. Meanwhile, in the Hodgkins household, David has completed training with new guide dog, Ice, who may accompany him to the Sean and Pat O’Brien Memorial Tournament this autumn. Congratulations to Michael Delaney, one of our overseas members in Ireland, who took part in a Para-Triathlon in Athlone on 5th July, where he completed a 750m swim, 20km cycle ride and 5km run in just 1 hour, 23 minutes and 2 seconds to finish in first place! Belated birthday wishes to Stan Lovell, who reached the age of eighty on the 11th of July. For the benefit of new members, it should be pointed out that Stan is undoubtedly one of our association’s hardest working and most loyal

20 members. During his eight decades he has devoted a tremendous amount of time and energy to furthering the inter- ests of the BCA, which has benefitted greatly from his endeavours. Pat and Bill Armstrong, celebrated fifty years of marriage on the 31st of July. Mr and Mrs Armstrong are marking the occasion with a family trip to Paris. Many Golden Wedding congratulations to them both and best wishes for a wonderful anniversary holiday! August 1954 was an especially propitious time for the BCA due to the arrival into the world of two babies, who would both go on to become British Braille Chess Champions! It doesn’t take a mathematician to calculate that these highly esteemed individuals will turn sixty this very month, so let’s send wholehearted 60th birthday congratulations to Paul Benson for the 6th of August and to Graham Lilley for the 19th! Julie Leonard ECF Masters in our Midst Congratulations to Gordon Chapman who was awarded the title of County Master under the ECF Master Points System on 14th May. This scheme offers ECF members the chance to apply for a title which reflects the highest ECF grade they have achieved to date. There are six categories ranging from Chess Maestro (minimum ECF grade 95) up to National Master (ECF standard-play grade of at least 200 in two successive seasons). Gordon’s title of County Master indicates that he has achieved an ECF standard-play grade of at least 170. For details of fees, benefits and how to apply for titles under the Master Points System, please contact the ECF. While researching the scheme I couldn’t help noticing that some other BCA members also hold titles; Owen Phillips is a County Master and Peter Gibbs is a National Master. Apologies to anyone whose name I may have missed. Julie Leonard

Editor’s note: After the August gazette had been published, it was brought to my attention that in addition to being an ECF County Master, Owen Phillips also holds the higher ranking title of ECF Regional Master. A correction will be issued in the November gazette.

Millennium Club Recent Millennium Club winners: May: Sheila Milsom, number 3. June: Celia Gibbs, number 68. July: Les Whittle, number 80. 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 (See list of BCA Officers for contact details.) Chris’s 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. The solution will be published in the next issue of the gazette.