Welcome

Welcome to the website of the Nottinghamshire Chess Association (NCA). The NCA administers chess in Nottinghamshire.

If you are a new or experienced chess player looking to join a club in Nottinghamshire contact one of the club secretaries shown on the list of clubs. New members are always welcome.

If you need to contact any NCA officer then please visit the information page for their details.

Latest news

For older news items see the news page.

14th Mind Sports Olympiad (15th Aug)

The 14th Mind Sports Olympiad will be held at the Soho Theatre, London from 21-30 August. The chess events running are the Chess Olympiad Championship (20 mins), Exchange Chess (Siamese / Bughouse - 5 minutes blitz) and Chess 960 (20 min + 5 sec inc). See the official web site for further details.

Chess column in Nottingham Post (15th Aug)

From September onwards David Levens will be writing a regular chess column in Saturday's Post.

Thetford Rapidplay (15th Aug)

The Thetford Rapidplay chess tournament is taking place in September. If you are interested in playing then download the entry form. For further details please contact Kevin Moore.

British Championships (9th Aug)

The 97th British Chess Championships recently took place in Canterbury, Kent. While the Championship and Major Open run over the full 2 weeks there are several other competitions which go on including weekenders, rapidplays and 5 day opens.

The 2 best results for Notts players were Peter Mercs (Gambit) coming 2nd place in the 5 day morning event in the 2nd week and winning £75 prize money, and Alex Combie (Newark) coming equal 2nd place in the first week rapidplay and winning £23.33 prize money. The leading Notts player in the Championship was Paul Cumbers (Grantham) finishing on 6/11.

A selection of games is now available for replay.

Some photos (taken from the BritishChess10 web site):


Peter Mercs (right) against Andrew P Smith


Paul Cumbers playing in the British Championship

Summary

NAG Challenge (29th Jul)

This year's NAG Challenge was held on 15th July. Nomad won easily and were 5 points ahead of their nearest rival Ashfield. Drag Sudar reports.

County Championships - U140 Final stages (19th Jul)

The U140 team drew 8-8 with Hampshire but conceded the title on board count. The team have had an excellent run this season and will hopefully mount a similar challenge again next season. A summary of the match is available.

Best Game Prizes 2008-10 (19th Jul)

The games submitted have been assessed by Mike Barnes, whose decision is that the two winners are Pablo Padilla for his game vs Jon Tait in the league in 2008-09 and Richard Myers for his game vs Phil Morgan, also in the League in 2008-09. Andy Walker thanks everyone who entered and to those who added interesting commentary on the circumstances of the game, and to Mike for his adjudication.View Games.

Sad news regarding Ben Hobson (13th Jul)

Benjamin Lewis Hobson, 1934 - 2010

Ben died on 12th June 2010 aged 75 years and his funeral took place at Wilford Hill on Tuesday 29th June. The mourners included Mike Barnes, Dorothy Blampied, Steve Foster, Alan Groves, Brian Hayward, Ken Heath, Peter Mercs, Derek Padvis, Simon Parham, Keith Roper and John Swain.

Ben was born in Yorkshire, and after leaving school, worked on fairgrounds, where he met his future wife. They did not consider a fairground lifestyle appropriate for their three children and they decided to settle in Nottingham. Ben and his wife ran a café in Netherfield for a number of years before Ben re-trained as a welder, and latterly he worked as a maintenance fitter for Chettles.

Gambit Chess Club was founded in 1967, in the Blue Bell Public House, in the centre of Nottingham. It is not known when Ben first joined the club, but Paul Kemp remembers joining Gambit in 1970 and captaining the first team from the start of the 1971/72 season. Ben was a regular, playing in all 12 matches and scoring nine wins and three draws, by some way the team’s highest scorer. Ben continued to play regularly for the first team in the following season, and (as the club got stronger) more occasionally thereafter.

Alan Groves remembers an occasion when Ben was in the City Hospital where he was being treated by a consultant surgeon who also played for Gambit. Being keen to field their strongest team, the consultant surgeon collected Ben from his hospital bed, took him to the match, and returned him safely back to the hospital ward afterwards!

Ben regularly played in the League for Gambit and in Congresses both locally and further afield including Scarborough, and he also played regularly for the County. His style of play usually involved sharper or tactical positions and he had a strong will to win. Ben was a very polite, reliable, and sociable player, the type of person that is a great credit to any club. Gambit and Notts chess have greatly benefited from his enthusiasm for the game, and he will be remembered with very fond memories.

(Brian Hayward, Secretary Gambit Chess Club)

AGM Reminder (30th Jun)

This is a reminder that the AGM will be held at the Gambit CC from 7.30pm on Tuesday 13th July.

Sad news regarding Cliff Potter (24th Jun)

Clifford Potter, Ashfield Chess Club player, passed away at the Sir John Eastwood Hospice on the 7th, June.

Clifford played for the Club since 1968, making his debut as a 12 year-old. He has been battling against cancer for the last year, and did not play in the 2009-10 League season.

Although not one of the strongest players at the club, Cliff was capable on his day of defeating very strong opponents. In the early 1980’s he defeated Canadian Grandmaster, Biayisis, in a simultaneous display. He showed that this was no fluke in the next year by defeating Paul Littlewood, IM and then British Champion, also in a simultaneous match.

Opponents underestimated Cliff at their peril and from time to time Cliff pulled off some startling victories.

Cliff had great enthusiasm for chess. For several years, he ran a juniors section of the club.

Cliff played in the Ashfield team which won the inaugural Handicap K.O. competition. His last game in the League came at the end of the 2008-9 season. He very nearly pulled off a surprise win against former club-mate, George Murfet, before succumbing to a narrow defeat.

Cliff was always a polite and courteous player, who thanked and shook hands with opponents even after friendly games in the club. He was a great trier, who visibly concentrated very hard to try to work out positions on the board.

Cliff maintained the same positive, battling approach throughout his illness. Cliff will be missed at Ashfield chess club. He demonstrated that you don’t have to be a top player to leave your mark in chess or to encourage and inspire youngsters.

(Phil Morgan, Ashfield Chess Club)

County Championships - Semi Final stages (21st Jun)

The U180 team beat Essex on board count after the score was 8-8. They reach the national final and play Warwickshire. There was similar success for the U140 team who beat Yorkshire 9-6. The score was originally 8-8 with Yorkshire to go through but this was overturned after it was discovered that Yorkshire had fielded an ineligible player and were correctly penalised. The U140 team either face Suffolk or Hampshire in the final. The finals take place on July 10th.

Sunningdale Congress (14th Jun)

Ian Kingston (West Notts) came equal first in the Major section with a score of 5½/7 and won £166.50 prize money. Despite getting off to a slow start he finished strongly by winning 4 games in a row. David Coates (Grantham) played in the Open section and scored 4/7. Also, Stephen Thacker (West Nottingham) scored 3½/7 in the Minor and won the Best Slow Starter prize which is free entry to the next e2e4 competition.

County Championships - Quarter Final stages (1st Jun)

The U180 team narrowly beat Bedfordshire 8½-7½ to progress through to the semi final stage. Unfortunately for the U160 team they were beaten 9-7 by Suffolk in the quarter final stage. The U140 team had a good win over Surrey, beating them 8½-7½ and progress to the semi final stage. The semi finals are due to take place on June 19. Results are available for: U180, U160, u140.