Sep
18
UK Chess Challenge – tough Terafinals and best of luck for Challengers
The weekend of 4th and 5th September saw the 3rd round of the Delancey UK Chess Challenge, known as the Preliminary Terafinal (online). Our 4 Dorset Chess juniors (Merlin, Jamie, Larissa and Zander) had done exceptionally well to make it into the Preliminary Terafinals against strong competition. Whilst all of them performed well, the opposition proved to be very tough and, unfortunately, none of [...]
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Sep
14
Richard Ursell Wins Southbourne 10 Second Buzzer Tournament
Face-to-face chess is gradually returning, not quite to normal but something closer to it... Southbourne Chess Club held its annual 10 second 'buzzer' 7 round tournament last Friday which proved to be very exciting and great fun for the 18 players who took part. Richard Ursell (pictured below) won the event with an impressive 6.5pts [...]
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Sep
10
Wessex Online Tournaments
Keith Gregory is continuing to run online tournaments once a week at 7:30 pm (day of the week varies). These were originally for people playing in his 4NCL teams but are now open to all local players. The format is: There are 5 rounds, Swiss format Time control is 5 minutes + 5 seconds The […]
Sep
08
4NCL Online season 4 round 2 – Wessex Results and Game
It was an excellent set of results for Wessex last night as they turned in 6 match wins, 1 draw and only 1 loss. The A team won comfortably with straightforward victories from Mark Cleary and Rolandas Lukosius, and draws from Roland Bezuidenhout and Jamie Wilson, the latter being unlucky not to convert a tricky [...]
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Sep
03
Junior Newsletter 12
Junior Newsletter 12 is now available. This newsletter covers: Dorset Junior Team's fine performance versus other counties Local juniors' progress in the Delancey UK Chess Challenge Upcoming junior events And much more! Past newsletters are available here on our dedicated Newsletter page.
DETAIL Aug
28
B&DCL 2021/22 Restart
Below is a message from Martin Simons on behalf of the B&DCL Committee following a meeting held on 12th August 2021. Summary Subject to the ever changing Covid situation and UK Government guidance the B&DCL is hoping to make a restart to over the board league competitive chess in October for those who wish to [...]
DETAIL Aug
25
4NCL Online season 4 starts – Wessex Results and Games
Introduction Season 4 of the 4NCL Online leagues commenced yesterday evening with eight Wessex Some Stars teams in action, all captained by Keith Gregory. The format of the leagues is largely unchanged but there are fewer teams and divisions this season, perhaps reflecting the imminent return of face-to-face leagues. Divisions 1 to 4 each consist [...]
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Jul
20
Southbourne Win Final Team Battle
Last night there was the final Team Battle organised by Martin Clancy. Sadly, Martin could not participate himself because of internet problems. As last time, only 18 players participated but nonetheless an enjoyable evening was had. Having won the previous event on tie-break, Southbourne won this one in clear-cut fashion, seventeen points ahead of their [...]
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Jul
19
Dorset Juniors Shine, Coming Third in Inter-County Junior Chess Tournament
Dorset Junior Chess shine against Hampshire, Devon and Berkshire, coming third in second Inter-county junior chess tournament. The second Inter-county junior chess team battle took place on Saturday 17th July during a weekend of much chess activity across the whole country and the Dorset junior Chess team certainly did itself proud. With a somewhat depleted [...]
DETAIL Jul
10
Wimborne Add Thursday Evening Online Tournament
Wimborne Chess Club are now running an online tournament on Thursday evenings as well as Tuesday afternoons. The tournaments are open to players graded under 125 or equivalent, and are played at the rate of 20 minutes, either with or without increment. Please see the home page for more details.
Jul
06
Southbourne Win Penultimate Team Battle on Tie-Break
Martin Clancy has announced that with chess clubs starting to meet up and life more generally returning to some sort of normality, last night's Team Battle would be the penultimate one that he would be running, with the last one to be held in two weeks time. At the start of the evening, many players [...]
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Jul
06
Gigafinal success for two local junior chess players: Jamie and Merlin
Many congratulations to two local junior chess players who competed in the first round of Delancey UK Chess Challenge Gigafinals this weekend (3rd and 4th July) and qualified for the next stage of the tournament, the Terafinal Preliminaries. Well done to Jamie Doyle and Merlin Cork. In the U14 Mixed section, Dorset junior chess player [...]
DETAIL Jun
22
7 in a row for Poole in Team Battle
After the dip in attendance at the last one, there was a better turn out for the Team Battle this time with 5 teams and 25 players. The overall result was the same, with a Poole, Ringwood, Southbourne 1, 2, 3. Poole got off to a quick start and whilst Ringwood gave a good chase, [...]
DETAIL Jun
08
Poole Win Quiet Team Battle
It may have been the anniversary of the first Team Battle but it was the quietest to date with New Milton and West Dorset Jedi absent. There were just 17 players and four teams involved. Perhaps this is the combined effect of lockdown easing, the nice weather and the partial return of normal chess. [...]
DETAIL Jun
05
Website Changes – New Content Coming…
With lockdown easing a bit and life returning to some sort of normality, there will be a few changes to the extra content we are publishing on this website. The last day of the Daily Quiz will be this coming Monday, 7th June. Starting 12th June, the Saturday content will be a little different: Bulletins will [...]
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May
25
Junior Newsletter 11
Junior Newsletter 11 is now available. This newsletter: summarises some of the recent junior successes (whoop, whoop, applause!) looks forward to upcoming tournaments recommends chess movies to watch and contains fun articles. Past newsletters are available here on our dedicated Newsletter page.
DETAIL May
25
Poole Win Phenomenal Team Battle
Last night's Team Battle saw an incredible and very enjoyable scrap between Poole and Ringwood for first place, with the former prevailing by just two points, the lead having swapped frequently over the evening, making it one of the tightest of these events. Moreover, Ringwood's score of 90 was by far the highest second placed [...]
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May
20
Jim Fox, R.I.P.
Jim Fox, a long term Wimborne Chess Club member sadly died on 18th May. He joined the Club soon after it started in the 70s. He travelled from Blandford and on away matches left his car in Wimborne where we shared transport. For a scotch or a Merlot he would enthral us with amazing stories, [...]
DETAIL May
11
Wimborne-Dartford Thursday evening online events
Graham Hillman sends this report on an interesting tie-up between Wimborne and Dartford chess clubs. For over one year now we’ve had a small forum of players from Wimborne and Dartford Chess club meeting every Thursday evening (Dartfords’s Club night). When the lockdown first started Wimborne like many of its other Dorset clubs struggled to […]
May
11
Poole make it 4 in a row in Team Battle
Poole won it's fourth Team Battle in a row, the first time any team has done this since the battles started nearly a year ago. Once again their star player was Oscar Garcia who won all ten of his games and single-handedly notched up 40 points. Last night the real competition was for second place. [...]
DETAIL May
04
Coronavirus Updates including May 2021 ECF Draft Precautions
July 2021 - ECF / Government Step 4 Guidance / Recommendations As we are now in Step 4 of the government's COVID-19 plan, many legal requirements have been removed but there are still a lot of recommendations in place to help reduce the spread. These are summarised here on the ECF website. May 2021 - [...]
DETAIL Apr
27
Poole win thrilling team battle
Poole won again in the team battle but this time it was a real ding-dong scrap between them and Southbourne, with the lead changing hands a few times through the evening. In the end just 4 points separated them. Poole had the top scorer in Richard Allis who notched up an impressive 37 points, whilst [...]
DETAIL Apr
21
4NCL Online Final Round – Wessex Results, Tables and Game
Results Last night saw the final round of Season 3 of the 4NCL Online. The most critical matches for Wessex Some Stars were those featuring the D and E Teams, so we will start with those. Before the round the D Team were in 7th place, level on match points with Watford Juniors but behind [...]
DETAIL Apr
13
Team Battle: It’s Poole Again
There was an excellent turn-out with 39 players taking part. Whilst not notching up as many points as last time, Poole once again comfortably won the team battle, led by Oscar Garcia who berserked in every game, meaning he got extra points for winning but had only 2 minutes and 30 seconds and no increment [...]
DETAIL Apr
07
4NCL Online Penultimate Round – Wessex Results and Game
Results In round 6 of season 3 of 4NCL Online the Wessex teams had mixed results, winning 2, drawing 3 and losing 3. With one round to go the situation is already clear for some teams whilst for others the final round will be critical. The A team lost 1.5 - 2.5 against the very [...]
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Apr
01
Online West of England County Championship – End of Season Report
Ian Clark has sent the following end of season report on the Online West of England County Championship which ran from January to March 2021. The very first online County championship was efficiently organised by Ian George of Cornwall. The decision for us to play was made after asking Dorset players who wished to take […]
Mar
30
Imperious Poole Pulverise in Team Battle!
It has been a while coming but was always on the cards. Poole's top players all hit form on the same evening and scored a mightily impressive 127 point in the Team Battle, by far and away the highest total so far. It was also good to see that they turned out with eight players. [...]
DETAIL Mar
24
4NCL Online Round 5 – Wessex Results and Game
Results It was a return to normal service with a good set of results for the Wessex teams last night as they won six matches and lost only two. With just two more rounds to go there is a lot to play for. The A team won again against strong opposition. It is now not [...]
DETAIL Mar
22
Western Counties Championship – Dorset & Wilts beat Somerset in the final round
Dorset & Wilts finished the Western Counties on a high, beating Somerset 9-7 in the final round. The match was decided on the bottom boards: the top 8 boards were level on 4-4 but Dorset and Wilts won the bottom 8 boards 5-3. Once again Allan Pleasants acquitted himself very well, having the better side [...]
DETAIL Mar
16
West Dorset Jedi win Team Battle
There were new winners in the team battle last night as West Dorset Jedi walked away with the event. Congratulations to the Jedi who had the night's top scorer and joint second top scorer in Allan Pleasants and Kevin Goater. This is only the second time either Poole or Southbourne have not won. Poole did [...]
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Mar
10
4NCL Online Round 4 – Wessex Results, Tables and Game
Results Having had a good Round 3 two weeks ago the Wessex teams had a pretty terrible Round 4 last night. Starting with the good news, the A team won again and in style, 3.5 - 0.5. Antonio Matinez-Sykora's win on board 4 is given at the end of this report. The OK news is [...]
DETAIL Mar
08
Western Counties Championship – Dorset and Wilts lose to Devon
Dorset and Wilts went down 12.5 - 3.5 to Devon. Ian Clark, captain of the Dorset and Wilts team, comments that, "The result was very good and we have had the best result against Devon! The result of this match means that if we can beat Somerset in the last round on 21st March we [...]
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Mar
02
Purbeck Chess Club on The Radio – Thursday 4th March at 6pm!
The Netflix show The Queen's Gambit has certainly stirred up some interest in chess. Having seen the show, Andrew Bordiss, who does a sports show on Purbeck Coast Radio, wanted to cover chess in the Purbeck area. So on Monday he interviewed Steve Peirson from Purbeck Chess Club for 15 minutes. The interview will be [...]
DETAIL Mar
02
Poole Win Latest Team Battle
It was Poole's turn to win again at the team battle and they did so in style with Mike Duggan alone notching up an incredible 35 points. The Highcliffe team had a good night too, with steady scoring reaping them second place. Ringwood were down to just two team members but still managed to finish [...]
DETAIL Feb
27
4NCL Over The Board Tournament !?
In light of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown, the 4NCL management team has made the confident (or brave) assumption that there will be over the board chess soon after the 21st June. It has already booked the 4-star conference centre hotel Woodland Grange in Leamington Spa for its 25th 4NCL Congress on 9-11 July […]
Feb
27
Coronavirus Update
Here is the UK government’s link to its Roadmap out of lockdown including its 4 steps announced this week … Covid-19 Response Spring 2021 As the dates are indicative and subject to change, it’s too early to be definitive but with a significant relaxation of measures and restrictions for meeting up indoors scheduled for 21st […]
Feb
24
4NCL Online Round 3 – A Good Evening for Wessex Teams
Overall it was a good set of results for the Wessex Some Stars teams in round 3 of the 3rd 4NCL Online season. The B, C, D, and F teams all won, the G team drew, whilst only the A and E teams lost. In the A team suffered a couple of short losses with [...]
DETAIL Feb
22
Western Counties Championship – Dorset & Wilts narrowly lose to Cornwall
Dorset and Wilts put up a tremendous fight and very nearly pulled off an upset against Cornwall who outrated them on 15 of the 16 boards. In the end the score was 7.5-8.5 Two games in particular stood out for completely different reasons. Firstly, Allan Pleasants was playing no less than John Nunn. After 34 [...]
DETAIL Feb
16
Wimborne vs Chandlers Ford match
Graham Hillman reports that Wimborne and Chandlers Ford played a friendly match on Friday 12th. It was conducted at the very civilised speed of 45 minutes plus 15 seconds increment and was held on lichess. The match ended in a draw, reflecting two well balanced teams. Options for future matches, possibly involving other clubs, are […]
Feb
16
Chandlers Ford join team battle, Southbourne win.
An excellent night in the team battle as Chandlers Ford joined in for the first time. The consensus before the battle started was that it could be a close run evening. In the end Southbourne romped it, winning by a clear 18 points. That did not stop it being exciting as the contest for second [...]
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