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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 whilst the A team won the 2007 Division 1 title, the 2007 and 2008 KO Cup, the 2006 and 2007 Divisional Cup . 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
12. MY ARTICLES ON OTHER SITES/ON-LINE MAGAZINES. (a) Correspondence Chess News (CCN). (b) BS-CHESS.
13. 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
14. MUSIC!
15.WING TSUN
Visitors since May 2001.
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Hello! I little bit about myself: I live in the historic city of Coventry, England and 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, WingTsun martial art, and various types of music but especially "Classique" and "Passion" events (hard dance and trance music) at the local Careys and Emporium Clubs.
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 2489 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 * Some years ago I did an article on the concept of retreating ones king to obtain a winning position (cf old archive article for July-August 2001). Considering this concept further has led me to believe it is more generally useful than initial impressions may have indicated. However, we are all so used to the idea of advancing towards our opponent that the idea of retreating does not always come easily to a players mind in considering moves and plans. The problem is likely reinforced by the usual need to make numerous moves initially and often throughout a game by pawns (which never retreat) and by the fundamental idea of most frequently development towards the centre ie generally towards the opponent. The illustrative examples given as this months articles are simply two of my games that come to mind. But interestingly each feature a winning retreat where a piece developed many moves earlier returns to its original square at the start of the game. In both cases my opponents commented they did not foresee these winning moves in their analysis. Monthyl Article 1: Is a game that shows retreating the queen back to d8 can have a devastating effect especially when a White rook is stationed in an advanced situation on e7 and even when there is tactical play along the d8-h4 diagonal. Monthly Article 2: Is an example where retreating the queens bishop back to c8 can suddenly turn a game due to this piece being able to reinforce a king-side attack via additional control over h3. Note: Databases of games for downloading and which are associated with the main games of the monthly articles will resume when articles are published that involve significant opening theory features. .---------------------------------------------------- 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!
"Chess" Magazine (Jan 24) : Following some recent purchases from second-hand book and magazine specialist Tony Peterson, and pending a thorough audit of the occasionally erratic early numbering system of "Chess", it is now believed I have a complete run of what originated as B.H.Woods magazine from the first edition of 14th September 1935 (priced at 1 shilling) to the current day. 7th European Team Championship Finals (Jan 24): Is now in full swing in which I represent England on board 2 facing 2 GMs, 10 SIMs and 2 IMs (plus one untitled player) in a category 11 event. Current leaders are : IM Scherer (SUI, 2505) 7/13; SM Cesetti (ITA 2543) 6.5/10 etc. 15 players. My latest result are two further draws-both somewhat disappointing games. Against GM G.Kuhnel (GER 2574) I managed to sacrifice material several times to drive my opponents king from g8 to a7 and back to f6. However no mating opportunity could be found. Against SM V.Hefka (SVK 2569) a two pawn advantage was insufficient to win in an ending due to the strength of my opponents last passed pawn on d3. These results bring my current score to 3/6 all drawn but all against much higher rated opponents. Slade Milan Memorial International Invitation Web Server Tournament (Jan 24) : Slade Milan won the British Correspondence Championship no less than 6 times in the 1950s and 60s. He resided in Stockport where he also played otb chess at a high level for instance on board 1 for the incredibly strong Stockport club. This memorial is a category 9 event (suggested by SIM John Vivante-Sowter also of Stockport) and features 3 GMs, 9 SIMs and 3 IMs from Europe, Central and South America and Russia. The average rating is 2471 and ranges from 2329 to 2603. Current leaders (with just 2 games remaining) are : GM Muller (GER 2606) and GM Raykin (RUS 2523) 8 (final scores); SM Klausen (NOR 2486) 7.5; GM Haugen (NOR 2556) 7 etc 14 players. I conclude my remaining games in quick succession with a win versus SM Williams (ENG 2509) in which I finally win against Chris's KID; a loss to GM Muller (GER 2606) in which I was quietly outplayed in all departments, a draw against SM Firnhaber (GER 2518) in which I save the game unusually a pawn down with bishops of the same colour, and a draw against SM Asquith (ENG 2426) in which I hold a slightly inferior Alekhine defence for nearly 50 moves. This brings my final score to 6.5/13 which is very slightly under par at an IM norm for this Tm. Coventry and District League web site Jan 24): Continues to expand and is rapidly developing into a very good web site indeed. Check out the link in section 9 (chess sites). Ken Messere Memorial International Invitation Web Server Tournament (Jan 24): Commemorated a major figure in British Correspondence Chess who played in the finals of the 5th World Championship. This is another category 11 event in which I'm playing featuring 2 GMs, 6 SIMs and 4 IMs from nations all over the world. This event was played on the ICCF web server and the TD was Alan Rawlings. This event has just finished with the final places resting on the results of adjudications of unfinished games of the late Alfredsson. These results fell in the favour of Serradimigni (a win ) and not Velasco (a loss) so the former wins the tournament but both players obtain GM norms. Nicely Alfredsson scores a SIM norm. Final leading scores: SIM Serradimigni (FRA) 9.5 ; SIM Velilla Velasco (ESP) 9; SIM Fenwick (NZ) 8.5 ; myself (ENG) on tie break from SIM Klausen (NOR) 8 (both SIM norms); IM Rhodes (ENG) and GM Haugen (NOR) 7.5 etc (15 players). ICCF rating (Dec 23): After an additional 6 reported results my rating in the latest list just issued remains unchanged at 2489. Cleveland Chess Association (Dec 23) : I attain the grand status of having a chess profile on this web sites hall of fame for deeds done nearly 40 years ago! Details are at: http://www.clevelandchessassociation.org.uk/cca/hall_of_fame/dr_mj_donnelly.htm (minor updates usually occur at several points during the prior 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.
