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SENIOR International Master (ICCF); Regional Master (ECF). |
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(* denotes new content since the last update.) 1. MONTHLY ARTICLES * Number 1 View now.* Number 2 View now *
2.ARCHIVE OF MONTHLY ARTICLES (from Aug 2003)* Old archive (Aug 1999-July 2003).
5. COVENTRY CHESS CLUB (formerly Whoberley CC) The club has teams with a wide range of strengths in the various local leagues and has won every Cup and League competition at some point in the last few years. Contact details. 6. BOOK AND SOFTWARE REVIEWS (from 2007) Archive of book and CD reviews 1998-2006. 7. DATABASE & TEACHING SERVICE 8. MY STUFF Games, results and chess problems. * 9. LINKS 10. OPENINGS REVIEWS AND OTHER ARTICLES 11. NEW AND
SECOND- HAND CHESS BOOKS
13. MY ARTICLES ON OTHER SITES/ON-LINE MAGAZINES. (a) Correspondence Chess News (CCN). (b) BS-CHESS.
14. PERSONAL TRAINING BCF Regional Master Andy Baruch (formerly Whoberley board 1) is now available for face to face personal training in the Coventry, Warwickshire and surrounding areas. Players ranging from beginner to County level who wish to improve should contact Andy by clicking here
15.WING TSUN
Visitors since May 2001.
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Hello! I little bit about myself: I live in the historic town of Kenilworth (very close to the medieval castle) in Warwickshire, England. I work as a Technical Manager at a biotechnology company that manufactures hydrogels for woundcare, monitoring electrode, and cosmetic applications. Previously I was a research scientist working in a diverse number of scientific areas (publication list). In my spare time I enjoy chess, the culture of the Ancient Greeks, Wing Tsun martial art (currently grade 11), and various types of music.
Over the last decade or so I shifted from playing over-the-board (otb) chess to playing both otb and correspondence chess. The last few years has seen an even greater concentration on correspondence chess (current rating of 2482 ICCF rating history * ). Until recently I occasionally still played some otb chess in the local league (at a somewhat reduced level of approximately 2090 from my highest many years ago of about 2300, grading history ).
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 otb and correspondence play. In addition to more advanced articles I will also occasionally provide articles for beginners to mid-club strength of player. -------------------------------------------------------------- MONTHLY ARTICLES SUMMARIES * This month Ie take a look at the concept of "Misplayed Attacks". Many best games collections frequently show the smooth progress of an opening or early middle game advantage into an attacking position. The attack seems to run itself and often features elegant sacrifices to gain material or leading to mate of the opponents king. In a typical tournament or club game matters do not, however, often proceed so smoothly. A player may build up an impressive looking attacking position but sometimes underestimates defensive resources or tries to finish off his opponent with a spectacular sacrifice that may, in fact, be unsound. In addition, a another frequent occurrence is for the attacker to "burn his boats"-that is go all out for the win and when this fails be vulnerable to a counter-attack. This is especially true if his pieces get side-tracked on the wing that the attack is taking place and the centre is left in control of his opponent. This month Ie present two annotated games where a player seems well on the way to an easy win but does not in the end succeed. Monthly Article 1-is a very complex game by the enigmatic Gerald Abrahams played in the England-Czechoslovakia match of 1947. It is interesting to note that his opponent won every game in this match and also the associated Midlands-Czechoslovakia match.. Emphasis is placed in the analysis on the attacking portion of the game but it should be noted a most difficult ending arose after the result should have been a formality. Monthly Article 2-is a board 1 club game from my own experience. After building up an overwhelming position I suddenly encountered a problem caused by my opponents defensive idea. After missing several difficult wins an unsound sacrifice was excellently defended by my opponent. A final attempt at a trap lead to an amusing finish. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, suggestions for articles and comments to improve this site are welcome: mail me!
Russian Correspondence Chess Association Tournament (Jan 24) : It turns out I have been I have been selected to represent England not in the RCCA Silver Invitational Tournament 2011 but in the Gold Tm. This is a category 11 event, the highest I have played in, with 15 players from various nations. There is 1 GM, 10 SIMs, 1 IM and 2 untitled players with rating ranging from 2616 to 2396 and an average of just over 2500. Quite a few games started on the ICCF web-server before the official start of 30 September. The result table shows quite a few games have already finished just a few weeks into play! An early lead has been taken by IM Valery Lebedev (2396, RUS) with 10 draws and a win versus Lubos Trembecki (2511, SVK) in a sharp attacking game, in second place is SIM Valery Grigoryev (2502, RUS) 3/6 and third SIM Guissepe Pezzica (ITA 2546) and GM Tonu Tiits (EST 2566) with 5 draws each.. I start of with a draw against both SIM Anatoly Isaev (RUS 2521) and IM Valery Lebedev (RUS 2396) both of some theoretical interest. Warwickshire Individual Correspondence Championship 2011 (Dec 24): Is still ongoing with the following entrants: SIM John Carleton (former World Correspondence Championship finalist), Colin Woodford, Peter Ackley, Alan Beresford and myself. Surprisingly I am the only player who currently resides in Warwickshire! Although there are a few games still to be completed they do not effect the first place. SIM John Carleton has just resigned against me hence I win the competition with 3.5/4. My other results are wins with black against Colin Woodford and white versus the 2009 champion Peter Ackley, and a draw with black versus several times former champion Alan Beresford- all of some interest for opening theory. Chess Items for sale (Dec 24): A further range of new and second hand books, CDs and DVDs are offered for sale at low prices and inclusive of post and packaging. Click on the link in section 12 in the left hand column to view. Ward-Higgs 2010-2011 (Nov 24) : Representing Warwickshire on board E1, I played Mickey Blake, the ICCF and BCCF web master, who represented Hampshire. The game has just been adjudicated a win for me with the final position occurring after I sacrificed the exchange to obtain advanced pawns on b6 and a6 (versus one on b7). This is Mickey's first loss in county chess. The results still need adding to ICCF ratings for the next quarter. Warwickshire finished 4th in the Ward-Higgs (Division 1 of the English Counties Correspondence League). New proposals for the forthcoming season are still awaited for the Ward-Higgs. Personal Training (Nov 24): Players wishing to improve should now contact Regional Master Andy Baruch on his new e-mail address (see section 14 of this site). (minor updates may occur during each month) | ||||||
Chess
Pages of Mike Donnelly
Tony
Peterson. Specialist in rare and secondhand chess books and
magazines. Very large stock . 
IM Sergey Bystrov. Specialist in a wide
range of Russian books plus some non-Russian books. Now offering a
greater range.
