Chess Pages of Mike Donnelly

12. NEW AND SECOND- HAND CHESS BOOKS Tony Peterson. Specialist in rare and second-hand chess books and magazines. Very large stock. Contact details.

IM Sergey Bystrov. Specialist in a wide range of Russian books plus some non-Russian books. Now offering a greater range. Contact details.

Hello!

I little bit about myself: I live in the historic town of Kenilworth (close to the medieval castle) in Warwickshire, England. I have just retired (this time certainly!), after several years as a Scientific/Technical and Regulatory Advisor, from full time work as a Technical Manager at a biotechnology company that manufactures hydrogels for wound-care, monitoring electrodes, and cosmetic applications. Previously I was a research scientist working in a diverse number of scientific areas (science publications, committees, science journal refereeing etc). In my spare time I enjoy chess, the history and culture of the Ancient Greeks and their Modern counterparts, various types of music, and until recently Wing Tsun Martial Art (achieving grade 11).

Over a decade ago I shifted from playing over-the-board (o.t.b) chess as well as correspondence chess to playing only correspondence chess (peak average rating 2492, final average rating of 2454 (ICCF rating history 1993-2018). In 2016 I returned to some relatively regular o.t.b chess in local leagues currently playing at about 1940-2000 elo (a somewhat reduced level from that of a decade or more ago (approximately 2100 elo) and also from my highest many years ago of about 2275 (grading history). After some 25 years of playing National and International level Correspondence Chess I completed my last few games at the end of 2018, annotated these games in detail for presentation in correspondence magazines in early to mid-2019, and now just play o.t.b chess.

I will attempt to offer a wide range of chess material on this site including game and opening based articles, games for downloading from famous players I have known or competed against, chess problems and some current and past results. This will include both o.t.b and correspondence play. A major part of the web site is the presentation of annotated games in the "Monthly Articles" section of the site. Often these include annotations by players other than myself.

In addition to more advanced articles, I will also occasionally provide articles for beginners to mid-club strength of player also on a very wide range of chess topics.

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MONTHLY ARTICLES SUMMARIES (section 1 of web site) *

This month, in the second of the series “The Enigma of high level “Blindfold Chess”, two games are presented by legendary players Blackburne and Breyer. Both these games show great imagination and skill when playing without sight of the board. Much can be learned from these quality games. This is also true of the first article in this series (Section 2 Archive for April 2025) which featured games from the Schlechter v Mieses Blindfold Match. These sorts of events seem to have occurred more often in past times but resulted in lesser players and the general public being in awe of such abilities.

Later in this series some games will be presented from more modern times. Although showing incredible skill and again are useful when studied in developing a player’s ability, they do not seem to have had such an impact on other players or the public.

Modern trends seem to include attempt to play chess as fast as possible via for example playing Bullet Chess on the Internet. Its not clear what can be learnt from such games, as many are of very low quality and feature dreadful blunders or loss on time in an otherwise easily winning position at a more normal time limit,

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All material for downloading from this site is zipped. Use WinZip, or similar, to extract. Monthly articles are in .pgn format (from May 2000, previously in .txt format) whilst games for downloading are in .pgn format (or .cbv occasionally).

Contributions (preferably one or two annotated games), suggestions for articles and comments to improve this site are welcome: mail me!

	SCCA Magazine
	The SCCA magazine is published quarterly and consists of 24xA4 pages packed with correspondence chess news, articles, reviews and games.
	SCCA members receive the magazine as part of their annual subscription (£8). This entitles them to download pdf files (the e-mags) from a secure area of the SCCA website.
	If you prefer to receive a printed copy of the magazine, an extra £5 per annum covers print costs and UK postage and you get the four issues mailed directly to you.
	The SCCA magazine is unbeatable value! You can try a complimentary copy by contacting the membership secretary.

NEWS AND NOTICES *

Kenilworth Chess Club (KCC) Individuals and Teams (October 24).

1. Kenilworth teams have made a good start to the season: Kenilworth currently lead the Coventry and District League Division 1 with a 100% score. In the Leamington League (Div 1) Kenilworth A are in second place just behind Banbury A but the latter have played one more match. Kenilworth B are in third position in this very strong league with several CM and IM titled players participating. Newly promoted Kenilworth C are currently struggling with the difference in strength between Division 2 but have a number of talented and incredibly rapidly improving players so may well make a good showing later in the season.

More details on the above events and league results can be found at kenilworthchess.blogspot.com

2. Ben Graff continues his fine series of interesting articles for the famous magazine CHESS. The latest reported on playing in the British Championships in Liverpool and also meeting and interviewing outstanding GMs such as Michael Adams and Keith Arkell as well key organisers such as Dipal Patel.

(Incidentally, whilst awaiting the slightly delayed November Edition, Ben’s last article demonstrates that he is almost certainly the most photographed club player in the long history on this magazine)

This article, and Ben’s earlier articles, in paper or pdf format, can be obtained from chess.co.uk.

3. Final placing in the Kenilworth Chess Club “Speed Championships”, which included Blitz and Rapid events, with all final positions by very narrow margins indeed, were 1^st Javier. Valdenpas, 2^nd Mark Page, 3^rd Keatan Patel, 4^th myself, 5^th Ben Graff, (Rating Prize), 6^th Dave Ireland etc.

Local Players (October 24).

(a) Keith Escott Memorial Correspondence Event.

After a long delay the ICCF has completed organisation of a Correspondence Chess Event in Keith’s Memory and play is proceeding at a great pace.

This event comprises no less than 17 titled players (LGM, IM or CCM) and results are coming in rapidly.

With a small number of games left to complete the final positions and qualification for titles is becoming clearer.

CCM Jones (with one game left), untitled Bowley, CCM Schirmer and CCM Rozanski, with these 3 players having completed all games, lead the table and have scored the 8,5 points necessary for an IM norm. Currently lower in the table CCE Rosales has secured a CCM norm and with a won in the last game would achieve an IM nor, Similarly for CCM Hooker who required a final game win to achieve an IM norm.

Knowing Keith for many years I’m certain he would have been pleased at the relatively high number of decisive games in this event and the fact a number of players have, or may achieved, title norms.

(b) Peter Gibbs Memorial Correspondence Events

Some details of Peter’s enormous impact on both over-the-board and Correspondence Chess are detailed in the Recent Archive section of this web site (Section 2-article for August-September 2023 inclusive of two annotated games).

The English Federation for Correspondence Chess (EFCC) has under the auspices of the International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) organised two 15 player events in memory of Peter. These started on May 1^st, 2024, and features players from a wide range of countries and includes 9 Correspondence Chess Experts.

Section A- CCM Campani wins with the excellent score of 10/14 including many wins and no losses. CCE Spanton finishes second on 9.5. There is one game left to complete in this event, but it does not affect the leading scores

Section B- Lopez is confirmed as winner with a score of 9.5/14 and Hall as runner-up. Verneulen has moved rapidly to third place on 8.5 points also having completed all games. Heidtmann is in fourth with 8 points having just defeated Quirk who if he had won both his last games could have finished second. However, Quirk still has one game left to complete hence could achieve 3^rd equal place with a win.

ICCF/EFCC (October 24))

I was saddened to hear to news of the death of Andrew Dearnley at the age of only 61. Whilst I never played Andrew, he was always “about” in the world of correspondence chess both as a player and organiser and achieved his IM and SIM titles, as well as becoming an IA, over all the years I was active in this form of the game.

A Memorial Event is scheduled to start in 2026.

Next main update due on or about November 25 2025.

(minor updates may occur during each month)