All posts by Ian Whittaker

As part of its bicentenary celebrations Edinburgh Chess Club hosted a Schaakstad Apeldoorn team from the Netherlands over the weekend of July 15 to 17th, 2022. 

The visitors had a very strong 10-man team, led by Team Captain IM Merijn van Delft, which included 2x IMs and 2x FMs!

Edinburgh Team Captain Neil Berry (left) and Event Organiser Henk Bulthuis (right)

We held a Blitz tournament on the Friday evening and then a 10-board match between an Edinburgh Club team and the Apeldoorn Schaakstad Club team on Saturday afternoon followed by dinner.

The Schaakstad Apeldoorn Team
The Edinburgh Chess Club Team

Altogether there were 27 players in Friday’s Blitz (3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move) with most players managing between 8 and 11 games in the evening.

The visitors were on fire with IM Merijn van Delft scoring 10/11 so he was declared the winner followed closely in second place by IM Nico Zwirs with 8/9.  Highest scoring Edinburgh player was Willie Rutherford on 7.5/9.

The match in progress

The 10 board match (1.5 hours each per game plus 30 second increments per move) on Saturday was closely fought with the Edinburgh club eventually narrowly winning by the close margin of 5.5 to 4.5 – final results were:

Match Results

The event was sponsored by Broadex Technologies with Edinburgh Napier University Conference & Events providing a sponsorship discount for the visiting team’s accommodation.

Broadex is a high-tech company with an engineering team and production facility in Livingston Scotland and headquartered in China.

Final comments in the visitors book from IM Merijn and Team Captain Henk!

A most enjoyable weekend for all!

A replay of the original Edinburgh vs London correspondence chess match started last month (June 2022) over 42 boards inspired by the famous Edinburgh – London correspondence match from 1824.

Things are being done a little differently this time!  Moves are being made online, and we are playing individually against a London side using the ICCF web server.  The CC match is running from 2022 (the bicentenary of the club’s formation) through to 2024 (200 years since the original CC match started) with a standard CC time control of 10 days for 50 moves and allowing the use of computers.  On each board we are competing against our opponent twice i.e. as white and black.

Both teams have fielded strong squads with representatives from both the OTB and CC worlds. For Edinburgh Club we are being led by two Scottish Champions and FM’s: Club President Neil Berry is on board one vs SIM Clive Frostick and Graham Morrison is taking up the following three boards playing against IM Jo Wharrier, SIM John Rhodes and GM John Brookes respectively!

Further down the board list we have players such as the current Scottish Correspondence Chess Champion CCM Al Buchan, CCM Peter Bennett and past ICCF President IM Alan Borwell.  We are also delighted that a guest player for the club is chess historian SIM Tim Harding who has utilised the club’s archives for his work in the past.

The London team is being captained by Phil Beckett (who has been described as one of the “unsung heroes” of British Correspondence Chess – see Austin Lockwood’s bio on welshccf.org.uk) and amongst other things he currently acts as International Secretary and British Championship TD for the EFCC and also runs the Handicap Tourney for the BCCA.

The Edinburgh team captain Andre Antunes was pleased to report last week:

“We’re now 2 weeks into the match, and we already have some initial results! That’s incredibly fast for correspondence chess.

James Addison won both his games against Joyce Evans, and I also won one game against David Elwood, making the current score 3-0 in our favour. Still a lot to play, but definitely a good start!”

The club is very grateful for the assistance of Gordon Anderson (International Secretary, Treasurer and ICCF delegate at the SCCA) for helping to organise the event on the ICCF server and to Phil Beckett for arranging the London team.

For the full team list and current results see iccf.com.

Message from Andre about Sunday’s event:

This Sunday we played the 2022 Club Championship. Given the (late) time of the year, we opted for a different format, playing a swiss tournament in Allegro time control.

A total of 14 players took part, with Willie Rutherford taking the top spot with 4.5 / 5.  Tom Leah followed second with 3.5 and David Archibald third with 3.5.

Congratulations Willie !

Next season we hope to resume the usual Championship / Challengers model, I’ll be sending an email after the Summer.

Dear Chess Players,

We’ll be proceeding with the Edinburgh Chess Club Allegro Championship this Sunday (26th of June).

It will be a swiss system, open to all club players, starting at 11 am, at 1 Alva St. The number of rounds will be decided on the day, depending on the number of players (I expect a total of 5 games). Time control will be 25 minutes per players.

I will be organizing the pairing on the same day (registration to the tournament will be done at the club on the day, too).

If you have any questions, feel free to reach me out.

Thanks!

Andre Antunes, Tournament Administrator

We are delighted to give advance notice of some events being organised in the run up to Edinburgh Chess Club’s bicentenary in November:

Schaakstad Apeldoorn

Weekend 15th-17th July 2022: One of the Netherland’s top team, Schaakstad Apeldoorn (www.schaakstad-apeldoorn.nl), is visiting Edinburgh for a chess weekend.  We are planning to hold a Rapid Event on the Friday evening followed by a match against the Edinburgh Club’s team on Saturday afternoon.

She Plays To Win with IM Lorin D’Costa

Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th September 2022: Edinburgh Chess Club, along with International Master Lorin D’Costa (from “She Plays To Win”), is planning to hold a chess weekend in support of women and girls in chess.  We’re running a number of events at the club’s premises over the weekend including: scheduled training sessions for both beginners and experts, 5-round female-only tournament(s) (15 mins each on the clock), simultaneous displays with Lorin and other chess experts.  Attendance can be for one day or both days.

Scotland Civic Trust’s Door Open Days

Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th September 2022: As part of its bicentenary celebrations Edinburgh Chess Club is joining Doors Open Days which is Scotland’s largest free festival that celebrates places, history, and culture.  The general public will be offered access to the club celebrating its history with displays from its library and archives.

Chess plus Simultaneous Display by GM Paul Motwani

Saturday 29th October 2022: Grand Master Paul Motwani, Scotland’s first GM, is delighted to present a great day of chess for juniors and adults alike including a simultaneous display.   Through his games, puzzles and books Paul is admired for making chess more easily accessible for thousands of adults and children.

In all cases further details with be announced in due course on the club’s web site (www.edinburghchessclub.co.uk).

Ian Whittaker, Curator

 

 

Lot 310 is up for sale tomorrow from Edinburgh Chess Club’s sales of surplus chess periodicals – 2 bound volumes of Chess Amateur (volumes IV and V – each containing 12 issues) published from October 1909 to September 1911.  This important and successful periodical was published by Harry Harmer in Stroud with many contributors – notably Carslake Winter-Wood, Rhoda A Bowles, Philip H Williams who conducted the problem pages for many years, Alain C White, T R Dawson (a major contributor), Rev. E Car slake Cunnington, W Moffatt, I Gunsberg and W A Fairhurst!

Bidding can be made online from Thomson & Roddick and is also available on the-saleroom.com and easyliveauction.com.