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Today David’s wife Sue called with the very sad news David passed away yesterday after an 18-month battle with leukaemia. Many of us will have memories of David – mine is one of admiration for a man who carried on as if his illness was a million miles away, no bad words for anybody and always a smile and a friendly word.
If anybody wishes to post a personal Condolence card I have the Baynes’ home address – just post mickriding@hotmail.co.uk.

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Because of the current problems with over-the-board games, the NCA has decided to organise an online competition to allow local players to compete against each other at a standard play time rate.

There are three sections:

  • Open
  • Under 2000 ECF rating
  • Under 1700 ECF rating

Players must be current or former residents of Northumberland or Durham. They must also be ECF members at Supporter level or above.

The competition has 7 rounds, starting 24 October 2020 and finishing by 2 April 2021. Games will be played on lichess at a rate of 60 minutes per game plus a 15 second increment.

For more details, see this document:

NCA-Online-Rules-i1Download

For free entry, email championships@northumberlandchess.com with the following details. Closing date for entries is 23 October 2020.

  • Player name
  • ECF membership number
  • Email address
  • Telephone (optional)
  • Lichess handle
  • Section entered

UPDATE 7 November 2020:

Pairings and results are now available on Chess Results – click on the relevant section next to “Tournament selection”.

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OPEN Semi Final – Northumberland 7.5 Middlesex 4.5. A fantastic result against a super strong team. Well done lads and good luck for the final against Lincolnshire on the 22nd.

U150 – Semi Final. Northumberland 5.5 Essex 6.5. A wonderful campaign comes to and end with the very last game to finish. No regrets, there have been some wonderful individual and collective efforts – well done all.

ECF100 – Northern Raiders 7.5 East Saxons 8.5. A regional competition, our guys lose their first match by the tightest of margins. Plenty still to play for!

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A brief and positive update.
North Tyneside Council have agreed our use of a 32m x27m hall for the 2020 event. In pre-Covid times the hall can accommodate 1,000 people. Our target is 120. So I am writing now to urge you please, get your entry prepared and share these updates as far and wide as you can.
By the end of next week I will issue a document that makes clear what preparations/protocols will be in place to protect your well-being.
Of course the situation might change but that’s out of our hands. What’s in our hands is getting the players required to make this weekender another success. And to this end I/we are very dependent on your support.
If you are going to enter now regardless great. Some already have. But remember to caveat your booking so that if the event has to be cancelled due to Covid then you will get any hotel deposits refunded – or at least your booking carried over to a date that suits you. Any issues with hotels alert me and I will address them on your behalf.
For now that’s it. I am very excited about this and need to share asap to get some momentum kicked in. More in a week’s time.
By all means post queries but try not to advise how stupid I am please. Thank you mickriding@hotmail.co.uk

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There won’t be any more action in the 2019-20 league season, since it’s clear clubs won’t be in a position to welcome guests before the ECF memberships expire at the end of August.

Our constitution says we must hold a League Meeting in September to decide the composition of the leagues for 2020-21, and that proposals for rule changes be submitted a certain time in advance, league delegates be elected, etc.

Notice is hereby given that, unless a cure for the virus is found within the next fortnight, the business of the League Meeting will be held over to the next Extraordinary General Meeting, whenever that may be. An EGM may be called at 21 days’ notice for a purpose stated in advance.

The question of who finishes in the promotion and relegation places is moot, because the 30 teams won’t all be back up and running at the same time. My light pencil sketch of the 2020-21 season involves a 5-match fixture list starting in December or January, with teams allocated to divisions of about 8 on the basis of average grade (Open, U170 and ???) No team will be penalised for declining to play league games while CoViD restrictions are in place.

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Latest ECF Online County Championships
 
Open – Northumberland 8 Beds & Herts 4
 
U150 – Lincolnshire 4 Northumberland 8
 
Both teams go through to the semi-finals as group winners with a game to spare – well done team 🙂 Meanwhile……
 
The ECF are launching a North/South/East/West team tournament for ECF players rated U100. Interested please email mick.riding@hotmail.co.uk – come on, we can we must 😀

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Because of the current uncertainty surrounding resumption of over the board chess, I have decided to conclude this season’s county championships without further play.

Round 6 games already played in the Zollner and Sell will still count, with all other competitors awarded a half-point bye for round 6. There were no round 6 games played in the Gilroy, so final standings will be as at the end of round 5. This means that the county championship winners are as follows:

  • Zollner – Yichen Han.
  • Sell – Darren Laws and Martin Seeber.
  • Gilroy – Jeff Baird.

Congratulations to all of the winners.

The complete final standings are as shown below.

David Walker, tournament organiser.