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Greetings and I hope this post is finding you well. It is an attempt to summarise events of the last few months. Sorry for any duplication – and any omissions/queries shout at mickriding@hotmail.co.uk So….

Following our AGM –

Andy Trevelyan has replaced Chris Goodall as League Conductor. Thank you Chris for all your hard work over the years.
Gradings will now be automated via the ECF League Management system, as will fixture generation. Feasibility work has completed and training material is being produced. Work is also ongoing to migrate fixtures, results and league tables from LMS to NCA Website so that people who are used to referencing the NCA website for this information can still do.
Mike Smith has stood down as Chronicle reporter after 5 years. Tim Wall takes over.
Lara Barnes is now NCA President.

I will publish minutes from the AGM and other Exec meetings in the very near future.

The (over the board) Summer KO is underway and an advanced. Jay Steel is doing a great job organising. The current draw is –

Cup Semi-Final
Gosforth A v Morpeth
Gosforth B v South Shields B

Plate Quarter Final
Jesmond v Leam Lane
South Shields A v Forest Hall C
Forest Hall D v Forest Hall A
Tynemouth v Forest Hall B

All our teams will play in the three sections of the ECF Online County Championships this year. Finals day will be streamed live online and I will advise you of the link when it is set up. A great achievement following last year’s Open win and thanks are due to the 50+ players who have represented us so far.

The North East league has concluded it’s third season. – with 24 teams competing in 4 divisions. Winners this time out were Gosforth Empire (D1), Gosforth Nomads (D2), Durham City C (D3) and Tynemouth and Morpeth Colliers (D4). Teams including Leeds, Darlington and Bishop Auckland competed. A great organisational effort by Tim Wall. I should also add Gosforth’s success was very aided by some strong ‘guests’.

The OTB Forest Hall Rapid Play was held July 31 and a great success. James Moreby (6/6) and Richard Symonds (4.5) were 1 and 2 in the Open whilst Albert Griffiths (10/12) and George Bowman (9.5) in the New 2 Chess event. Again, thanks to Tim Wall for organising this.

The latest NCA Bulletin – 163 – is with proof readers and expected to issue w.c. August 30.

The League will start first week after the Northumberland Weekender (60+ entries to date) https://northumberlandchess.wixsite.com/congress – an event preceded by Tim Wall’s Masters https://northumbriamasters.com/2021/05/. Clubs open to date include Forest Hall, Gosforth, Leam Lane, Morpeth and South Shields. Am I missing any?

A big write up. I will consolidate the above into an NCA update and post it in a file containing links to various items of interest – hopefully this weekend. And remember, if there is anything missing from the above that you believe is important I’d welcome a prompt.

Best – Mick

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Entries are now being taken for the Northumberland Chess Association (NCA) individual over-the-board championships. Entry is open to players who are registered with the NCA and are Bronze or above members of the English Chess Federation (ECF).

There are three sections, each consisting of a seven-round tournament with successive rounds typically starting four weeks apart.

  • Zollner – no rating limit.
  • Sell – ECF rating under 2000.
  • Gilroy – ECF rating under 1700. (If entries permit, this section may be divided into U1700 & U1400).

Ratings are as in the 1 September 2021 publication of the ECF rating list. Unrated players who wish to enter a rating-limited section should provide evidence of playing strength when entering.

Entry is free.

To enter, email championships@northumberlandchess.com with the following details:

  • Name
  • Section(s) to enter (max 2)
  • Email address
  • Telephone
  • NCA club

Entries must arrive before 5 PM on Sunday 26th September 2021.

The draw for round 1 will be published on Sunday 26th September 2021. Entrants will be sent contact details for their opponent to allow them to arrange their game on a mutually acceptable date.

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Entry forms are now available for the Forest Hall Summer Rapidplay on Saturday July 31. The over-the-board event, a 6-round Swiss tournament, will be held at Forest Hall’s new venue – Forest Hall Social Club, Great Lime Road, Palmersville NE12 9DQ.

Entry is open to all players who are members of chess clubs affiliated to Northumberland Chess Association and to residents of Northumberland and Tyne & Wear. ECF Bronze membership or higher is required to enter.

For entry forms, click here. For further information, contact organiser Tim Wall: timpeterwall [at] gmail [dot] com or Tel: 0750 372 2366

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Season 3 of the North East Online League (NEOL) has been completed, and full results are available via this page. A total of 671 games from seasons 1-3 are now available in a PGN file by clicking on the button below. Save the file as a *.pgn if you have software capable of reading such files.

NEOL Season 1-3

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Entry forms are now published for the 2021 Northumbria Masters (August 26-30), which is going ahead over-the-board at a brand new Covid-secure venue, Marriott MetroCentre in Gateshead. The congress, generously supported by Chess in Schools and Communities, includes a GM norm all-play-all and an IM norm all-play-all, as well as the Northumbria Masters (Open to all); Challengers (Under 2000); Major (Under 1750); and Minor (Under 1500).

For more details and to download the entry form, please go to: https://northumbriamasters.com

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The first NCA Individual Online Competition is now complete and the winners in each section are:

  • OPEN: Graeme Oswald
  • U2000: Mark McKay and James Turner
  • U1700: Paul Richardson and Hanif Zaman

Congratulations to them.

Full standings and all games from the competition are available on Chess Results.

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The North East Online League is a new initiative, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, to allow players in the region to continue playing club matches in an easy-to-access league that combines the Northumberland, Durham and Cleveland County Association areas.

Matches are played online on Lichess.org, between teams of 4 players. The time control is 45 minutes plus 15 seconds per move. All matches are played on Tuesday evenings at 7:30pm, with an interval of 2 weeks between rounds. Requiring players to be ECF Members or Supporters before playing their first game in the NEOL enables the games to be ECF Online Rated, and has also helped to boost 2020-21 ECF membership figures from the region. Season 1 – October to December 2020 The first season attracted a total of 20 teams of four players each from 12 different ECF-afffiliated chess clubs throughout the North East: From Northumberland: Morpeth & Tynemouth (playing in combined teams); Forest Hall, Gosforth, Jesmond, Tynedale, Newcastle University and Jesmond. From Durham: Durham City and Bishop Auckland. From Cleveland: Thornaby and Billingham Synthonia. These teams were organised into 3 divisions, with 6 teams each in Divisions 1 & 2, and 8 teams in Division 3. A total of 5 matches were played by all of the teams, and only 3 boards were defaulted out of a total of 200 games.

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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”.