Jun
27
Monday puzzle / game
Black to play and win This position is from Lutz-Kramnik 1995. Can you find the 3 accurate moves for Black that finished the game? Solution
Jun
24
Dorset Closed – Games of the Champions
Bruce Jenks and Allan Pleasants were joint winners of the Dorset Closed Championship. They drew their head-to-head encounter and won their remaining games to score 3.5/4 each. Below is a game from each of them. Games from the other sections will follow over the next week. Firstly, a win from Allan against the tenacious Ian [...]
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Jun
23
B&DCL AGM 2022 Summary
23 members attended a lively and warm B&DCL AGM at Tuckton Social Club on Tuesday 21st June 2022 which lasted 3 hours. Officers gave their reports and all team and individual winners were presented with their trophies. The photos of the winners can be viewed here. Key Points arising from the meeting: General A period [...]
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Jun
23
Thursday puzzle / game
White to play and mate in 2 A very simple puzzle that nonetheless took me a couple of minutes to solve. Susan Polgar would probably set a target time of 10 seconds for this one! Solution
Jun
15
Braille British Chess Champ’ship & Chairman’s Cup – B’mouth, 19-26th June
Pictured above, the Bournemouth Mayor, Cllr Derek Borthwick about to make his first move at the last Braille Championship held in 2018. Local players will be interested to hear that the 2022 Braille British Chess Championship and Chairman's Cup (for players rated less than 1750) will be held in Bournemouth from Sunday 19th to Saturday [...]
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Jun
09
Thursday puzzle / game
White to play How does White secure a decisive material advantage? Solution
Jun
06
Monday puzzle / game
White to play and mate in 10 There is more than one sequence of moves that leads to mate in 10 but there is only one method that mates that quickly. Solution
Jun
04
Southbourne Platinum Jubilee Open Blitz Report and Results
22 players took part in yesterday evening's exciting 6 round swiss blitz (8 minutes + 2 second) tournament at Tuckton Social Club (the home venue of Southbourne Chess Club) to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. These included 13 players who were not from Southbourne chess club and also 6 juniors. Everyone enjoyed the free snacks, cakes, [...]
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May
23
Monday puzzle / game
White to play and win This superbly elegant puzzle was kindly sent in by Anton Vann. Solution
May
09
Monday puzzle / game
White to play and mate in 2 There are quite a few options to consider here which is what makes the problem tricky. Solution
May
05
Thursday puzzle / game
White to play After a series of mate in X problems we are back to the real world. This position is from Miles-Gligoric. How did Miles force the win of material? Solution
Apr
29
David Fuller Annotates
David Fuller has kindly sent us the following game from the recent Poole vs Dorchester in the KO Handicap Cup. It is annotated in his usual entertaining style with plenty of self-flagellation in this case! You can view the game below or in full width on the Poole Chess Club website.
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Apr
21
Thursday puzzle / game
White to play and mate in 5 Still eminently doable but personally I found this quite a bit harder than Monday’s mate in 5. Solution
Apr
18
Monday puzzle / game
White to play and mate in 5 Not too hard as the main lines are forcing. Solution
Apr
08
Allan Pleasants Annotates
Allan Pleasants has kindly sent in one of his games from a recent Dorset League match. It features Allan's annotations which, as usual, reveal his thought processes during the game and are a pleasure to read through. You can play through the game below or, if you prefer the full screen board, it is also [...]
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Mar
14
2022 B&DCL Team Handicap Knockout Cup – First Round Draw
The 2022 Team Handicap Knockout Cup is about to start, with teams vying to wrest the cup from Highcliffe. Martin Simons sends the following information and first round draw. Format I am pleased to announce we now have 12 teams and we welcome a new club, Yeovil, into the competition. Yeovil has a good local [...]
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Mar
07
2nd Dorset Online Rapidplay 2022 – Report and Results
Martin Simons has sent the following report on the 2nd Dorset Online Rapidplay Championships, held on Sunday 6th March. On behalf of everyone who played in the event, many thanks to Martin for his significant effort in organising it. Tournament Report The 2nd Dorset Online Rapidplay Championship proved to be successful with 34 players taking [...]
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Feb
25
Coronavirus Update – self-isolating no longer compulsory but Still Advised
February 2022 - Latest Government Regulations and Guidance. A summary of the latest UK government update following last week's announcement, which covers the removal of the legal requirement to self-isolate following a positive test, can be found here ... https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus However, adults and children who test positive are still strongly advised to stay at home [...]
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Feb
03
2022 B&DCL Team Handicap Knockout Cup – Starts Soon!
This cup competition normally starts at around this time of the year but as the priority is to complete the league fixtures, and to avoid congestion, the cup competition will start in the Spring to be completed either in the Summer or perhaps at the start of next season similar to the 2020 competition which, [...]
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Jan
26
Dorset Juniors WIN Inter-County Team Battle – Full Report!
In a very exciting and epic battle, the Dorset Junior Chess team have triumphed over junior chess teams from Hampshire, Devon and Berkshire and WON the third Inter-County team battle! Huge congratulations to the team. Our Dorset Junior team amassed a staggering total of 224 points, beating Hampshire by 9 points in what was a [...]
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Jan
24
Monday puzzle / game
White to play and mate in 3 This is the end of an online game between Firouzja (White) and Carlsen. Can you spot the mate in 3? Solution
Jan
16
Mike Waddington Annotates
Mike Waddington kindly sent in this short game which he played in 1997 against the very sadly departed Steve Shutler. The game is an excellent example of the importance of time in the opening and early middlegame. You can play through the game below or click here if you prefer to see it in full [...]
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Jan
01
Wessex Online Tournaments – Review of 2021
Keith Gregory sends the following review of the enduringly popular Wessex Online 5 minutes + 5 seconds tournaments. 4NCL Wessex (and friends!) – a 2021 review As we move into 2022 and our 3rd year of “4NCL Wessex Online” chess, with the official 4NCL Online season 5 starting 25th January, it seems a good time [...]
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Dec
31
The Presidents’ Double Jab Review of Covid-19 Year 2021
Alan Dommett, President of the B&DCL, and Ian Clark, President of the DCCA, have jointly produced the following review of the year. 1st Jab Any upbeat assessment of this remarkable year for Dorset chess can only be made because we had two exceptionally talented people in the right place in unprecedented times, just when they [...]
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Dec
28
Christmas 2021 Puzzles Solutions
We hope you enjoyed the puzzles! Here are the solutions... 5 Christmas Puzzles Santa has had a very long day delivering presents and has forgotten which way round the board is in this puzzle. So White can be playing up or down the board. Either way it is mate in 3! Can you find both [...]
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Dec
27
Jonathan Penrose – World Champion Beating Amateur
Penrose playing Euwe in 1960. Photo by Dguendel (wikimedia). CC BY 3.0 Jonathan Penrose passed away last month aged 88. Despite being an amateur he was by some margin the strongest British player of his generation. Some of his achievements... he won the British Championship a record 10 times he was the first British player [...]
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Dec
20
Southbourne Christmas Fun Handicap Tournament Results
As is traditional, the Southbourne Christmas Fun Handicap Tournament was held on the last available Friday before Christmas. Last year, for the first time in almost 30 years, it was not held and this year we chose not to organise it on Christmas Eve as we understand Santa might be very busy! So the tournament [...]
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Dec
20
Monday puzzle / game
White to play A 17 y.o. Garry Kasparov is playing White. His rook on a1 is en prise and his opponent also has d4 threatening mate on h1. How did Kasparov strike first to demolish his opponent? Solution
Dec
18
Mike Waddington Annotates The British Over 50s
As previously reported, Mike Waddington won the British Over 50s Championship in October. Here is his interesting fourth round game from that tournament. His opponent sacced a pawn for an attack which Mike met with calm defence before turning the tables on his opponent. You can play through the game with Mike's commentary below, or [...]
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Dec
16
Thursday puzzle / game
White to play and win This is a fairly gentle study by Aristide Dall’Ava. Solution
Dec
13
Monday puzzle / game
White to play This is from a game between Spassky and Larsen. Black’s pieces look awkwardly placed but only one sequence leads to an advantage for White. Solution
Dec
04
Christian Westrap Annotates
Christian Westrap has kindly sent in his interesting game against Martin O'Neill from the Wessex vs Poole match in the 4NCL weekend 1. Christian says, "It was an enjoyable game, albeit quite hard work for me! I was pleased to defend well and take my chance when it arrived." You can play through the game [...]
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Nov
30
Dorset Juniors Success at 2021 British Junior Rapid & Blitz Championship
The 2021 British Junior Rapid & Blitz Championship took place on 13th and 14th November at Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes. Four Dorset juniors - Jamie Doyle, Larissa Cuthbert, Florence Spirling and Zander Booth - took part and all performed very well. The weekend was intense with the juniors playing, on average, between 18 and [...]
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Nov
29
Hampshire Junior Open Chess Tournament – great wins for Dorset Juniors
Hot off the press! Three young Dorset junior chess players took part in the Hampshire Junior Open Chess Tournament on Sunday 28th November: Leo Camopy in the U10 section, with Harry Mercer and Zander Booth in the U12 section. All played very well and special gold congratulations to Leo and Zander who won their respective [...]
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Nov
29
Monday puzzle / game
White to play and win There is only one move that wins here whilst everything else loses. Can you find it and the critical second move follow up? Solution
Nov
25
Nov
22
Allan Pleasants and John Weatherlake At The European Team Championships
As previously reported, Allan Pleasants and John Weatherlake represented Wales at the European Team championships last week. Before play had even commenced Allan said it was "Going to be tough for both of us". So it proved for John (pictured above) who played in four rounds, facing a GM, an IM, an FM and a [...]
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Nov
12
Your New Monthly ECF Rating Explained
Introduction The ECF grading system was the method formerly used by the English Chess Federation (ECF) to indicate a player's strength. It was first published in 1958 and was devised by Richard W. B. Clarke, father of politician Charles Clarke. The 3 digit ECF grades were updated on a six monthly cycle, based on results [...]
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Nov
11
Allan Pleasants & John Weatherlake Represent Wales
The European 23rd European Team Chess Championship is taking place in Slovenia from Friday 12th to Sunday 21st November. Allan Pleasants (Weymouth and Wimborne) and John Weatherlake (Poole) are representing Wales. Allan is a seasoned international but this is John's debut for his national side. If you want to follow the action, here are some [...]
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Nov
11
