Author: Alan Page

Alan at the British Chess Championships 2015 Rapidplay

At the first weekend of the British Championships at Warwick University the Rapidplay competitions were held. There were several sections and I had entered the U-150 tournament.  The format was over two days, with 11 rounds and 20 minutes on each player’s clock, plus an additional 10 seconds added after each move. Hopefully this would help me practice playing faster after many time-troubled games last season!

The first day was quite tough, with three losses in a row after long, close finishes which left me on 1.5/5. However, I started better on Sunday morning, and ended with 6.5/11 including a quick draw in the last round with most players suffering mental exhaustion by then!

An enjoyable couple of days at an excellent venue and good luck to Alex, Jack and Jon in the rest of the Championships at a more leisurely pace!

I’ve included an interesting game from Saturday where I reached a winning position only to see this disappear over the horizon as the moves got faster and faster…

Oliver at Birmingham 2015

Thanks to Oliver McCoan for this nice finish to one of his games in the recent Birmingham U-135 tournament

William wins Norwich Mega Final

Congratulation to William Stoppani who won the u-11 group  of the Norwich Delancey Schools Mega Final held in Norwich on the 2nd May.

He won his first five games, which meant that he was the only player to go into the sixth and final round with more than four points –  so he had effectively won his age group before the sixth round games took place!

Although William lost the final game and commented – “I was not careful enough when sacrificing my queen!” – the game was exciting with just 1 minute left on the clock.

William now heads to the Giga Final in Manchester. Two years ago, he arrived in the sixth round of the Manchester Giga Final with 4.5 points and had he won that game then he would have been crowned champion. Best of luck for this year William!

William wins Norwich Mega Final

En Passant

The Acclaimed Norfolk Chess Magazine

En Passant is the monthly Norfolk chess magazine. It is immensely popular – nearly 100 subscribers for a single county must be some kind of record, and it is probably read by far more than that number. It is also highly acclaimed, having been named BCF Magazine of the Year in 2004 and ECF Magazine of the Year in 2007 and 2009, the only years in which it entered the competition. Norfolk chess magazines have been produced on and off for several decades at least – one collection has them going back to 1964. Its current incarnation grew out of the results bulletins that the Norfolk League Controller, John Charman, sent regularly to club secretaries. That turned into the monthly En Passant in November 1995, and it has been published every month ever since.

For more information, or to subscribe to the magazine, please follow the link below:

En Passant (Norfolk County Chess Association site)