SOUTH
BIRMINGHAM CHESS CLUB News
Older news can be found in the
Archive section
22nd May 25
Summer League
All five SBCC teams in this year’s Summer League were
Playing at home in a very busy night at Stirchley United, lots of rivalry with the
A playing B in 7400 and 5800 sections,
and 6600 Playing Kynoch.
15th May 25
Div. 3 Play-off
The 3A team Freefold went to play Stourbridge at the Warley
Quinborne venue to decide which one was going to be crowned Division 3 Champions.
A very close Match resulted in a
8th May 25
MEMBERS
PRESENT: Mark
Drugan (President), Tim Lane (Secretary and Treasurer), Terry Walker (Match
Captain, Tournament Secretary, Librarian), Julian Camino Sanchez, Sean Doherty,
Steve Edwards, Robert Glass, Cory Hazlehurst, Paul Heeney, Kevin Hurney, Louis
Maciel, Filippo Montanelli, Aaron Norton, John Pitcher, Asim Qureshi, Derek
Stockhall, David Thomson, David Wilkinson, Alan Woollaston (19)
Apologies
for absence
Apologies
had been received from Joe Kadar, Matt Little, Richard Mycroft and Sean Ralph.
Minutes
of the previous AGM
The
Minutes of the previous AGM, held on 22 May 2024, had already been
circulated. A motion accepting them as a
true record of the Meeting was passed by general acclamation.
Matters
Arising
None.
President's
Report
Mark
Drugan reported that his second year as President had sometimes felt like a
move from “you can’t please all the people all the time” to “you can’t please
any of the people any of the time”. It
had been a year of challenges, especially venue challenges, and he paid tribute
to the members who had put in work looking at candidate alternative
venues. At one time it had appeared that
we were going to move mid-season to the Billesley, but in the end we managed a
full season at MASC and left for our new venue at SUWMC on good terms. He thanked those who had been involved in the
move, whether proving muscle power, transport, or temporary homes for the
library. He additionally thanked the captains who had marshalled the teams
throughout the season, which in some cases had been a particular challenge
because of the large number of reserves that had been needed.
Secretary’s
Report
Tim
Lane reported that he had entered nine teams in the BDCL and one in the
DDCL. 68 players had been registered for
BDCL chess at the start of the season and there were four late
registrations. Seven members had been
entered in the BDCL’s individual events.
The Club’s Executive Committee had met three times, on 28 August (to select
teams for the coming season), 7 October (in the aftermath of the MASC AGM) and
20 March (to reach a decision on proposing a change of venue to an EGM).
The
Executive Committee had identified and evaluated a number of candidate new
venues during the course of the year, including the Billesley, the Loyal
Caledonian Corks, Kings Heath Cricket Club and the Bulls Head. An EGM had than been held on Thursday 3 April
to agree the move to SUWMC, which took place on Saturday 26 April, with a
number of members helping out on the day.
Guidance
from the ECF on safeguarding had become available in recent weeks, and the
Executive Committee would need to review this guidance to ensure suitable
safeguarding provision exists.
Treasurer’s
Report
Tim
Lane presented the Club’s accounts for 2023-24 which showed a small loss as the
year had seen some non-recurring costs (clocks, van hire) he didn’t anticipate
an increase in subscriptions for the coming year.
Terry Walker reported that the season had started with the
annual friendly against Olton, which had resulted in a 10½-4½ victory. Nine teams had been entered in the BDCL, but
the 4B team had been withdrawn mid-season.
The Division 1A campaign started badly when we discovered Pelle
Larsen had returned to his native Denmark.
Despite this, the team finished second with seventeen points, and won
the Homer Trophy.
Sixteen players were used during the season. The best score was
achieved by Elis Dicen with 7/10.
The 1B and 1C teams both managed mid-table finishes, using
fifteen and thirteen players respectively.
The best scores were achieved by Aditha Vaidyanathan (8/10) and Karan
Kukreja (8/10).
In Division 2, captain Rob Glass did a great job in avoiding
relegation by three points. Rob scored
50% and was the only team member who played in every match; 22 players were
used in all.
The Division 3 side finished tied for first place and would meet
Stourbridge in a play-off for the title.
They also reached the final of the Terrill Trophy. The best result was Claudio Vaduva’s 7/9.
The Division 3B side finished mid-table with five victories and
five defeats. The best result was Junior
Taitt’s 7/10.
The Division 4A team achieved a mid-table finish with fourteen
points. The best score was achieved by
Fillipo Montanelli with 6½/9.
The Division 4B team ran into difficulties with player availability and transport
which led to the team being withdrawn. The best scores were achieved by Chaniru
Ranasinghe 4/5. + 3/4. for 4A. = 7/9.
The Division 5 team finished second with 21 points and had been
promoted. They had also reached the
final of the Barrington Trophy. Captain
Louis Maciel achieved the best score with 7/10.
Steve Cornfield scored 6/6.
In the BDCL’s individual events, Cory Hazlehurst had retained
the Open title. Joe Kadar had shared the
max-1750 title and Louis Maciel had won the max-1450 event.
31 trophies were available during the BDCL season and this year
we had won thirteen of them.
We had entered a single team in the max-1800 section of the DDCL
and had won that event for the third consecutive year.
Beer and curry nights were held in June and December.
Tournament
Secretary’s Report
Terry Walker reported that both events, the David Dunn rapid-play
championship and the Club standard play championship, had attracted fewer
entries than usual, possibly because of venue-related issues. The number of dropouts had also been larger
than usual. Four rounds of each event
had been completed, and both were being led by Adithya Vaidyanathan.
Librarian’s
Report
Terry Walker reported that the bookcases from MASC and all their
contents were currently being housed by Vaidy
Ramanathan and Asim Qureshi. He noted
that Adithya Vaidyanathan was currently studying “My System”.
Publicity
Officer’s Report
Alan Woollaston reported that web costs for the coming year were
unchanged.
Presentation
of Trophies
The Club’s trophies were presented as follows:
Election
of Officers
The Club’s officers were elected as follows:
·
Subscriptions
·
The Treasurer proposed
that subscriptions should be unchanged at £32 (full membership), £22 (“half”
membership) and £7 (junior membership).
Members who played competitively also had to join the ECF. This was seconded by Mark Drugan and passed
by general acclamation.
·
ECF
fees
·
Terry Walker noted that
the cost of ECF Bronze membership for the 2025-26 season would be £21.
·
Summer
League
·
The club had entered two
teams in the max-7400 section, one team in the max-6600 section and two teams
in the max-5800 section. Fixtures were
already available on the web.
·
SUWMC
AGM
·
SUWMC’s AGM would take
place on Sunday 18 May.
·
BDCL
AGM
·
This would be held at Longbridge CC on Monday 9
June. The Fixtures Meeting would be held
at Olton on Tuesday 17 June. Volunteers
for the latter would be notified in due course.
30th April 25
From the Old to the New
Following
38-year tenure at Moseley all service’s Club, South Birmingham Chess Club took
the decision to re-locate, Various options were looked at that had weekly
availability and was within the club’s budget,
Also finding a venue that was not too far from what the players were used to
would be Ideal, although the club’s name does allow for some scope. Eventually
the Executive Committee were able to recommend their choice to the rank and
file.
An EGM was called at the proposed venue and the recommended choice was accepted
unanimously, with Stirchley United Working Men’s Club
being the new venue of choice. A celebratory curry Followed at the nearby Masalla
Merchant Restaurant.
Notice
by letter was given to MASC, with the lack of heating on the first floor and
the sounds of band practice from below, being the main reasons quoted, making
playing conditions difficult for competitive chess.
A
date was chosen after all BDCL home league matches had finished and transport
was arranged. On Saturday April 26th the Magnificent Seven rode into
Moseley, raided the rooms of equipment cupboard, Books, cases and Trophies,
had
one last drink in the garden and rode out again to Pastures new… Stirchley
United WMC, 41 Hazelwell Lane, Stirchley, Birmingham B30 2PR.
Following
the Move the last two Dudley Matches were rearranged at the new Venue, With the
SB Dudley Boyz winning the title for the third year running and 5 out the last
10….... somethings never change…. 😊
The Cupboard now at SUWMC
Casual Chess with J.P. joining
in.
SB Dudley Boyz Vs Warley Quinborne.
29th
April 25
Individual Champ Again.
Cory Hazelhurst who has supported the club this past two seasons
in 4NCL, League and Internal events. has Retained the League Individual
Open Trophy he won 2024, and again by beating Ian Emery of WQ to Win
the 2025 Final, this is only the third time SB have ever won this.
Joe Kadar agreed to share the Individual 1750max with
Tayeb Kazemi after a drawn game.
Louis Maciel Won the Individual 1450max by beating Stepanovic of
Central Birmingham.
10th
April 25
Trophy Finals
South
Birmingham got to Three of the Four Trophy Finals, which is an amazing feat in
itself, Mixed fortunes was the outcome Central Birmingham 2 overcame South
Birmingham 3A in the Terrill Trophy.
South Birmingham 1A just managed to overcome a 3.5-point handicap to beat
Shirley & Wythall 3 in the Homer Plate by a score of 5 to 4½.
Mercia 4 won convincingly against South Birmingham 5 in
the Barrington Plate.
3rd April 25
Martin to the rescue
Hello Chess Players,
Last night saw our division two team play their last
match of the season at home against Walsall Kipping.
Walsall have been having a bad season and only secured
3 points from 7 matches, and so needed to win their three remaining matches to
stay in division 2.
Our team had 8 points and a draw from this match would
guarantee us staying up in division 2.
When the Walsall team arrived, it was obvious
that they meant business. Their team included former British Champion and
International Master Robert Bellin, former 8 times British Ladies Champion a
Women's Grandmaster Jana Bellin and their son Christopher Bellin (rated 2022).
I think that their strategy was to win on the top boards and draw on the bottom
boards.
As the match progressed Walsall's strategy seemed to be
working. The first result was a draw on board 3 by Captain Rob, Nat had a wild
game and eventually through the towel in giving them a one-point lead. Draws
followed on boards 4, 5 and 6 putting Walsall in the lead 3 - 2 leaving Martin
to play for a win against Robert Bellin.
Martin has his own unique style and this
obviously challenged Robert Bellin who had not encountered such a player
before. Players had castled on opposite wings and Martin had a good attack
going against Bellin's king. With both players running short of time, Martin
went for the kill and Bellin was soon defeated.
Well done Martin whose win secured our teams place in
division 2.
Results below.
1 |
1913 (1900) |
B |
1 - 0 |
G |
2313 (2343) |
2 |
1845 (1859) |
N |
0 - 1 |
G |
2022 (2011) |
3 |
1841 (1845) |
B |
½ - ½ |
G |
1933 (1943) |
4 |
1821 (1808) |
G |
½ - ½ |
B |
1864 (1831) |
5 |
1800 (1860) |
B |
½ - ½ |
G |
1787 (1805) |
6 |
1740 (1754) |
G |
½ - ½ |
B |
1427 (1436) |
Total |
10960 |
|
3 - 3 |
|
11346style |
T.W. Walker
March 10th 25
The League Team Lightning Tournament took place at Olton's venue last night. There were 10
teams in two sections. A very strong entry saw the top section having 4 teams
in a double round all-play-all.
South Birmingham A won with 19½ points. Solihull A were
second with 16½ points the individual prize was shared between Finlay
Bowcott-Terry and Karan Kukreja, both scoring 6 points from 6 games.
Section B featured 10 teams in a single round
all-play-all and was won by South Birmingham C, with 13 points. Second place
was shared by Central Birmingham A and Olton B, with 11½ points.
The Individual
prize was won by Matthew Allen, with 4½ out of 5.
SECTION A - DOUBLE ROUND |
|||||||||||
|
S.B'ham A |
S.B'ham B |
Solihull A |
Olton A |
S.B'ham A |
S.B'ham B |
Solihull A |
Olton A |
Totals |
Pos |
|
1 |
S.B'ham A |
xxxxxxxx |
4 |
2 |
4 |
xxxxxxxx |
3.5 |
3 |
3 |
19.5 |
1st |
2 |
S.B'ham B |
0 |
xxxxxxxx |
0.5 |
2.5 |
0.5 |
xxxxxxxx |
0 |
2 |
5.5 |
|
3 |
Solihull A |
2 |
3.5 |
xxxxxxxx |
3 |
1 |
4 |
xxxxxxxx |
3 |
16.5 |
2nd |
4 |
Olton A |
0 |
1.5 |
1 |
xxxxxxxx |
1 |
2 |
1 |
xxxxxxxx |
6.5 |
|
SECTION B |
|||||||||||
|
C. B'ham A |
S. B'ham C |
Solihull B |
Olton B |
S.B'ham D |
C. B'ham B |
Totals |
Pos |
|||
1 |
C. B'ham A |
xxxxxxxx |
1.0 |
1.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
3.5 |
11.5 |
2nd= |
||
2 |
S. B'ham C |
3.0 |
xxxxxxxx |
2.0 |
1.5 |
3.5 |
3.0 |
13 |
1st |
||
3 |
Solihull B |
3.0 |
2.0 |
xxxxxxxx |
0.5 |
3.0 |
1.0 |
9.5 |
|
||
4 |
Olton B |
1.0 |
2.5 |
3.5 |
xxxxxxxx |
1.5 |
3.0 |
11.5 |
2nd= |
||
5 |
S.B'ham D |
1.0 |
0.5 |
1.0 |
2.5 |
xxxxxxxx |
2.5 |
7.5 |
|
||
6 |
C. B'ham B |
0.5 |
1.0 |
3.0 |
1.0 |
1.5 |
xxxxxxxx |
7 |
|
Feb 1st Feb 25
South Birmingham Division 3A Win Promotion
With two Games to go Matt Littles Freefold have secured
Promotion back to Div.2 with at least a top 2 finish. Matt Writes…
Hi everyone,
We played our 8th game of 10 this week, Tuesday at
home. A win guaranteed us promotion so we took nothing for granted. I’d had a
bad weekend so decided to sub myself, I knew I’d assembled a team to do the
business though, here’s the lineups.
Decimator vs Kazemi
Junior vs Evans
Bruno vs Archibald
Tricky vs Lynus
Claudio vs Gillespie
Steve vs Mulrey
I was marking some maths papers in the big room, so
limited knowledge of the games.
Bruno was first to finish, super speedy had taken out
Archibald leaving him zero chance at counter play, he was done by 9 a real
return to form. Great to have him back in the team too. 1-0.
Junior finished second I think, I tight game where he
did what was required, no drama and a solid draw, 1.5-0.5.
The boards then stated tumbling… Steve won a piece with
a nasty temporary queen sac with night fork following, Mulrey just extended his
hand… 2.5-0.5
Claudio had to wait for his win, Gillespie getting set
up solid early, but i told him just to wait and the
mistake would come, and sure enough, it did. He was able to win a pawn, and
then just squeezed until Gillespie had no juice left. 3.5-0.5.
Decimator finally finished against an under graded
Kazemi… it was a tight game on board one. Decimator kept it super solid and a
draw was agreed. 4-1
Tricky, who continues to play better under 2 minutes
again ran his clock down to almost nothing… playing on increment, he
outmanoeuvred Lynus in great style and eventually played the winning move. Once
in the board, the match was over 5-1.
Big win, just two games left. still unbeaten and
promoted… but will we win the title?
Match cares attached
Have a nice weekend all 😀
☘️Threefold☘️ and TC
28th August 24
Pre-Season Annual friendly match
This year’s Annual friendly match
took place at Olton over 14 Boards,
Pre-Season-Friendly-Match
(southbirminghamchess.club)
27th August 24
Club Champions
Each Year South Birmingham run Internal Club Tournaments.
The club Championship was run as a standard play Swiss over 7 rounds with the
winner holding the title as Club Champion
This Year Adithya Vaidyanathan became SBCCs youngest ever
Club Champion. The Club Championship Trophy was presented by current SBCC
President Mark Drugan at the Annual Friendly match.
SBCC Std Play Champ 23-24 | ECF League Management System (englishchess.org.uk)
This year’s SBCC rapid play Swiss over 7 rounds was won
by Cory Hazlehurst and wins the David Dunn Trophy, presented President Mark
Drugan at the Annual Friendly match
SBCC Rapid Play Champ 23-24 | ECF League Management System (englishchess.org.uk)
Preesh Gandhi was this year’s winner
of the Performance Cup which is awarded to the Player with best score graded
under 1600. 8 wins and 4 draws.
Best draw against 1944 at Rapid-play, Best win 1752 at
Standard play, these are rated games so no freebees here… Well Played Preesh.
28th July 2024
Summer League
SBCC
Entered 5 teams in the BDCL Rapid Summer League this year, 1 in the Open
section, 2 in the7400max and 1 in each of the 6600max 5800max sections.
three titles have been won…. 7400max 6600max and 5800max,
The below first picture is after the final 6600 match
at Warley Quinborne
Left to Right: Louis Maciel, Darren
Whitmore, Derek Green, Steve Edwards, Rob Glass …… other contributing players
not in the picture
Sean Doherty, Sean Ralph, Milenko Walner,
Mark Drugan, Sathya Vaidyanathan, Junior Taitt and yours truly…
From the winning 7400max team who
have retained the title. With the table showing South Birmingham in 1st
and 2nd Place
Hello
chess friends.
This
is the final email from the targets… as you are aware we won the 7400 rapid
summer league, for the second year running! It’s way
we did it that even surprised me, just look at the team I assembled, basking in
their own glory. I’m not sure how we did so well, but the team definitely
played for each other, it’s the only way to get these results in a very
competitive division. It is incredible, played 14, won 13, drew 1. You could
call us the invincible’s? Just look at the final
table
.
We
destroyed everyone, no other way to say it. The only team to take us close were
our own B team, the Druge with the Vaiders… it was
our toughest and closest game of the season, and they were absolutely brilliant
and pushed us all the way to the last match.
The
players..
Dazzler -
my word what’s he been doing ?! Only Magnus Carlsen
could have known how he felt, winning 12.5/14 points over the 7 matches. He’s been
playing rapid online but sets the board up, it really shows how’s been able to
condense his thinking for this time control, and bring his classical game to
the rapid board. He played every match, we can only
dream of such greatness.
Claudio -
after I was forced to play game 1, I knew we needed an extra player. I was able
to draft in Romania’s premier chess streamer, and it was so good to have him
back in the fold. He beat a GM online over the weekend, as you do, and he
played that way all season, just ripped through people. He was a little board
rusty at first game leaving a piece en prix for no
return, but after that he didn’t lose a game. Just took out trash on board 4
all season long.
Nat - I
think Nat is a little like me over the board with regards his emotions, feeling
good he is awesome! And he felt good playing summer league, which was nice
after he had to miss a chunk of the winter season. If there was one game that
told me we had this season, it was when he took out 2111 rated Lambourne, and
it wasn’t time trouble or a blunder, he just outplayed him in both games, my
season highlight. He looked healthy and happy, he did the business, the man.
Cory -
Couldn’t believe it when the classical open champion was available for the
team, what a board one. He delivered all season and blunted the other teams attack. So solid, very technical play, I watched fully
both his games last match, you can feel the class it’s just a next level thing.
Big thank you and congrats on a great season, only loss of the season was to
Adithya, he smashed the rest.
Tim - I
had to have Tim in the team else we wouldn’t have been the A team, which after
2 seasons as B team meant a lot to me. Tim’s always in the 7400A, and so it had
to be. Mr super solid got a respectable 4/8 and made sure we had what we
needed, a lot of draws as I recall.. careful play and
a great anchor for any team. Another awesome player.
TC -
ok so I only played one game, but I beat Sathya who went 10/10 (!!) after our
match for the rest of the season, which meant we won the first game against our
biggest rivals, the B team. My illness, reactive arthritis, is quite energy
sapping, only Samson could know how I feel after losing hair, getting better
though pretty sure… the boys carried me and I thank them for it.
Just
look at these season stats, unbelievable!
Takeaways
The
B team were excellent, and with Singerman on the verge of securing the 6600 title, and Terry already securing the 5800, now we’ve added
the 7400 South Birmingham are considered the rapid chess powerhouse of the
midlands.
This
team has been lovely every game, always buzzing and happy, it’s been a real
pleasure.
We
win three years running, we call it a dynasty.
If
a picture could some up the season, this would be it. Targets
7400 Champions 2024
Left to Right: -Nat Kasifir, Iulian Valduva, Matt Little, Tim Lane, Cory
Hazlehurst and Darren Whitmore.
TC
and the targets
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