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 third of the series “Whom the Gods Love…” some games of Henri Weenink are annotated in detail.

Weenink was not only a strong Dutch player but also a World famous chess problem composer who won numerous prizes, including numerous firsts, in problem competitions and published widely in famous chess columns.

As a player he had several high places in Durch events in the early part of the 1900s, which often included, and just as often were won, by Richard Reti. In 1930, however, Weenink won finishing above both Spielmann and soon to be World Champion Max Euwe. In the 1920s and early 1930s, as Euwe emerged as a World Class player, he often faced Weenink in some very tough games and did in fact defeat him on occasion.

Despite serious illness for years Weenink represented Holland in no less than four Olympiads with very decent scores.

The two games annotated this month shows he had an attractive measured attacking style.

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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 (September 24).

1. Final placing in the Kenilworth Chess Club “Speed Championships”, which included Blitz and Rapid events, 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.

2. Kenilworth A team made a good start to the season with 2 powerful team match wins producing a 6.5/1.5 for and against score. The A team decisively revenged last year’s loss to the Kenilworth B team by an emphatic 3.5/0.5. The B team bounced back with a win by the same score against Solihull. More details on the above Speed events and league results can be found at kenilworthchess.blogspot.com

3. Ben Graff continues his fine series of interesting articles for the famous magazine CHESS. This time he reports 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. This article, and Ben’s earlier articles, in paper or pdf format, can be obtained from chess.co.uk.

Local Players (September 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.

Once more positions have rapidly changed. By winning 2 games recently CCM Jones now heads the table on 9 points and has achieved an IM norm. With one game left he may achieve an SIM norm. Currently in equal second, just half-a-point behind, are Bowley, CCM Schirmer, and CCM Rozanski. All 3 players have finished all their games but have all achieved an IM norm, Women’s GM Williamson , whilst still at the foot of the score table, has the reasonable score of 5/11. With just a single loss to the current leader, but with no less than 5 games left to complete, may well move substantially up the score table.

Knowing Keith for many 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 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.

British Chess Problem Society (August 23)

Earlier this year this web site has featured several posts highlighting developments for the British Chess Problem Society’s own web site. This Society was formed in 1918, hence is the oldest of its type in the World but has found the Internet to be an ideal mechanism for the promotion of composing and solving Chess Problems.

The developments have continued in recent months, originally initiated by Brian Stpehenson and now continued by David Shire. Several novel ideas have been introduced such as a Youth Composing Challenge, a Society E-weekend attended by problemists from all over the World, and an International Solving Contest (with the UK heat being held at “Sheffield Flourish”). Work has also continued in building the Problemist Magazine Archives, the ability to download numerous problems for solving by problemists such as Michael Lipton and other famous composers, whilst the Winton Capital British Solving Championship continues into 2025/26.

It is well known that very strong GMs such as John Nunn and Jonathan Mestal are interesting in chess problems, but it has also been discovered that GM Suetin in an older acclaimed book (3 Steps to Chess Mastery) has advocated solving chess problems as part of the means to significant improvement in playing ability.

Next main update due on or about October 25 2025.

(minor updates may occur during each month)