Nigel Short vs Mike Wiltshire - play through the game

Below is the game the Kent County Chess Association Chairman played against Nigel Short..... Mike played very well and I think that he will get his revenge next time!

Club Championship results - week 1

There were lots of games played to kick off the Club Championship this week:

Group A
Steve Giddins (198) 1 vs 0 Jason Boyes (14)
Bob Fenn (133) 1 vs 0 John Simons (89)
Matt Gazes (125) 0.5 vs 0.5 Nick Allen (118)

Group B
David Lettington (132) 1 vs 0 Tyrone Jefferies (117)

Group C
Zibby Koncki (170) 1 vs 0 William Patch (52)
David Fowler (136) 0 vs 1 Hugh Broadbent (99)

Group D
Ben Spink (191) 1 vs 0 Richard Mallery (34)
George Hollands (133) 1 vs 0 Neil Miners (85)
Douglas Smith (126) 0.5 vs 0.5 John Brown (110)

Congratulations to Hugh Broadbent who not only beat a much higher graded player but has now won eight games in a row at the club.

The position shown above occurred in one of the games in this week's club championship.

Here, black played the innocent looking 1....Nc4, but white then plays 2. Be6! Ne3 3. Rxf7! Rxf7 4. Rxf7 Rb1+ 5. Rf1+ black resigns.

Dinner with Garry Kasparov

Two members of Snodland Chess Club, David Lettington and Steve Giddins, were lucky enough to have dinner with Garry Kasparov yesterday ....... along with 200 other people at the Staunton Memorial Dinner at the historic Simpsons-in-the Strand.

The event was held to raise money for charity and also for Anatoly Karpov's bid to become President of FIDE, the world chess federation. There were many chess luminaries there and the Chairman of the Kent County Chess Association, Mike Wiltshire, was lucky enough to get to play against former World Championship challenger, Nigel Short (pictured above).

In addition to Karpov, Kasparov and Short, other top players in attendance were Michael Adams, Luke McShane, David Norwood, Raymond Keene, Nicholas Pert and Jonathan Speelman. The evening was organised by CJ de Mooi, of Eggheads fame, who is the President of the English Chess Federation.

2nd Len Hammond Memorial match

Congratulations to Maidstone Chess Club for winning the Len Hammond Memorial match for the second year running.

It was a well deserved victory for Maidstone, who managed to win 5 out of the 8 games.

The Snodland players Matthew Bunn, Tyrone Jefferies and Hugh Broadbent all played extremely well to get draws against higher graded players.

A special mention also goes to Zibby Koncki who defended for a very long time before turning a cramped position into a strong attack which threatened to breakthrough. However, both Zibby and his opponent got into severe time trouble just as the game became extremely complicated and David Munford won a rook, forcing Zibby to resign.

The photo above shows Snodland Captain David Lettington presenting the trophy to Maidstone Captain Bob Fenn.

Snodland success at British Chess Championship

Snodland player David Fowler (pictured) is the new British Chess Champion for players graded under 140. David scored 4.5/5 and achieved a grading performance of 162, which is 26 points above his new grade.

Congratulations go to David for his success, which is well deserved. David's experience in tournament play enabled him to win his final round game with a strong attack after a lot of manoeuvring in a tense middle game.

Another Snodland player, Matthew Bunn, also excelled himself and was the runner-up in the U160 section and the Afternoon Open. Matt scored 4/5 in both competitions, with respective grading performances of 171 and 198.

Ben Spink scored a creditable 5.5/11 in the extremely competitive Major Open, which features many internationally rated players.

Club Championship 2009-10 Final Positions

The Club Championship 2009-10 finished with Bob Fenn as clear winner of the A-league and Hugh Broadbent as clear winner of the B-league.

There were some excellent games played this year, including a nice win from Doug Smith over the pre-tournament favourite Norman Blake.

The Most Improved Player was Pete Hickey who started the season with an estimated grade of 92 but had a tournament performance rating of 116.

Mayor's Presentation Evening

After a busy and rewarding season for the club, the traditional Presentation Evening was held on the 10th June.

Deputy Mayor Cllr Brian Luker presented all the awards, and stayed on for the whole evening. David Lettington set the tone for the evening with the presentation of a game nominated for "Game of the Season", after which all the presentations were made.

Jason Boyes and Charlie Palmer both received Bronze level chess coaching certificates, and Jason and Charlie were also joined by Richard Mallory and William Patch in receiving awards for competing in the B-League competition. This season's B-League was very competitive, with John Simons and Neil Miners tying for runner up and each receiving Runner's Up certificates. Hugh Broadbent was the eventual winner of the B-League, and was presented with his trophy.

Ben Spink was unrivalled in quickplay events this year, and was presented with two trophies for winning both the Speed Chess and the Challenge Cup, with Matt Bunn and Peter Turner receiving Runner's Up awards for each of these awards respectively.

Jason Boyes received an award for his unique achievement of scoring 100 % against other clubs this year, while David Lettington received a certificate for the most points scored against other clubs in all competitions. Matt Gazes was the best-placed junior player, while Peter Hickey received the award for best grading performance in the club competition.

David Fowler, Tyrone Jeffries, Nick Allen and Matt Gazes received certificates for competing in the A-League. Peter Hickey and Doug Smith tied for third place in the A-League, with Norman Blake receiving the Runner's Up prize. Bob Fenn was the clear winner in the A-league - Bob was undefeated in all his A-League matches! The photo shows Bob receiving his award from Brian Luker.