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 1920-2000 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 we feature two annotated games in the first of a series of articles entitled “Family Chess”. These are games played, for example, by siblings of the same family or by a father and son or other close relations

The difficult question of how a player achieves a very high level of playing strength will not be attempted to be answered in these articles in any detail. Two extremes are apparent. Firstly, the ability to play Chess at a high level might be inherited largely from pertinent characteristics of a family’s DNA- that is one is “born” with such an ability. At the other extreme this ability can be learned or simply taught from absolute scratch to a willing recipient within a suitable environment. Possibly an example of the latter situation is the case of the famous Polgar sisters who, without the distraction of the commonly utilised wide ranging and often lacking in depth conventional education, each attained a very high level of playing strength indeed by focussing on Chess from an early age.

Probably in most cases of how more than a single player evolves into a good player within a family group, especially for non-professional players, this most likely arises somewhere mid-way between the above extremes. A family with members who exhibit, for example, the ability to concentrate, have good memories and so on and where Chess is viewed as a worth whilst past-time and are also willing to contribute time and money for transport and lodgings can produce an environment that encourages more than one member to achieve proficient playing strength.

This month a game each is provided by two members of the Wise family of Middlesbrough in the North-East of England. Tom was a Maths lecturer at the local Polytechnic, won the locsl County Championship many times and played in the finals of the British Championship. At his peak he was in the top 20-25 or so players in the country. His son David played for the Middlesbrough team, one of the strongest in the Country in the 1970s at a very young age and withing a few years achieved a very similar playing strength to his father. Having come across some games in the magazine Correspondence Chess it appears that this form of chess ie traditional correspondence chess without databases or computer input played some part in homing their chess playing abilities. The concepts played and openings used, only now decades later explains some of the encounters experienced by opponents, including myself, at the time.

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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 (March 25).

1. As reported last month Kenilworth A team, despite leading by a wide margin, experienced several “titanic moments” in their efforts to secure the Leamington and District League Division 1 title. A further disaster struck when, a first for this season loss versus lowly placed Olton, occurred which failed to cleanly make the title safe. However, an emphatic win versus arch-rivals Banbury A only days later has now secured the title.

Kenilworth B are currently still in third place in the Leamington League (to their own A team, with Warwick University A in second place). Although the most recent match saw the B team struggle to secure a draw with Stratford A they have a game in hand over the University so can still compete for the runners-up spot in the last few matches of the season.

In the Coventry and District League (Division 1) Kenilworth led pre-Christmas but after several reversals fell to third place. This lowly place was confirmed when the team could only just manage a draw, despite massively outrating all opponents, against bottom of the title Daventry A.

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

2. Ben Graff has assisted James Essinger in an article for the famous magazine CHESS. This explores the link between writing Fiction and playing Chess noting that Ben has written books on both Chess and Fiction.

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

After 18 years at their high profile Baker Steet Shop in London, Chess and Bridge is moving to an as yet undisclosed new location. The other link with Baker Steet and Chess is the nearby WW2 location of the SOE buildings. The SOE having close links with the code-breakers at Bletchley Park which included famous players such as Alexander, Golombek and Milner-Barry.

3. In the recent Birmingham Rapid play Bruce Baer finished equal second to Finlay Bowcott-Terry in the Open whilst occasional Kenilworth player Rhys Edwards finished in sole second place in the intermediate section.

Local Players (March 25/Feb 20).

(a) In the above-mentioned Birmingham Rapid event Maung Latt (Coventry) and Damirali Magzumov (Warwick University) finished equal second in the Open section whilst the Intermediate section was won by Francis Sagyaman.

(b) Marek Soszynski has extended his high-quality opening books range with publications not only in paper format but now in digital format. The latest “Smashing the Spanish, Stunning the Scotch” can now be obtained from Forward Chess.

He has also just published a book entitled “Carlsen goes Ape-A World Champion plays 1. b4”. An on-line database check today shows a bevy of top players dabbling in this opening which has now also been observed in several games in local leagues in recent weeks. (One game from this moths web-site article shows David Wise pre-empted this trend some whilst ago).

(c) Digital copies of the magazine “Rabbits Review” are now available to be downloaded on the Michael Basman Legacy web site. IM Basman was well known, if not somewhat notorious, for proving moves such as 1…h6 and 1…g5 were in fact playable even against strong opponents. The magazines contain a wealth of useful and interesting material for players of beginner to mid-club strength covering a very wide range of chess topics by numerous different writers, including myself.

(d) Keith Escott Memorial Correspondence Event.

After a long delay the ICCF completed organisation of a Correspondence Chess Event in Keith’s Memory and play, after proceeding briskly is now close to finishing. This event has comprised no less than 17 titled players (LGM, IM or CCM).

CCM Jones wins with 9.5 points and second is CCM Hooker on 9 points both players securing an SIM (Senior International Master) norm Untitled Bowley, CCM Schirmer, CCM Smith, CCE Rosales, and CCM Rozanski, in equal third all scored 8.5 points and an IM norm. Lower in the table, and the only game left to complete, is CCM Graham versus LGM Williamson. Both have 7 points hence are fighting for seventh place.

Keith Escott was the Captain of the Warwickshire Correspondence chess team which won the prestigious Ward-Higgs event several times, editor of the famous magazine CHESS and did much for both otb and correspondence chess locally and nationally. It is pleasing that this Memorial, contrary to many other recent events, had a high number of decisive games and that a number of players have achieved, title norms.

(e) 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^st2024, and features players from a wide range of countries and included nine 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.

Section B- Lopez is confirmed as winner with a score of 9.5/14 and Hall as runner-up on 9 points. Verneulen has moved rapidly to third place on 8.5 points having now completed all games. Heidtmann is in fourth with 8 points. Only one game is left to complete in this tournament which is Quirk on 7.5 points versus Illingworth on 6 points. A win for the former would mean a share of 3^rd place.

British Chess Problem Society (BCPS) March 25)

The BCPS has once again efficiently organised the Winton British Chess Problem Solving Championship. The final of the 2025-26 event held in Harrow School was narrowly won by GM John Nunn over previous winner David Hodge. The event was decided only by the final problem!

The Society has also organised a Memorial tournament for IM Barry Barnes who edited the Problemist magazine for an impressive 38 years. Entrants need to compose a Direct mate in 2 moves a field of composition which was a forte of Barry for many years and for which he won many prizes.

The web site of the Problemist continues to be updated and now back issues of the magazine, even up until quite recently, can be viewed on line as well as increasing numbers of past awards problems.

Next main update due earlier than usual on or about April 25 2026.

(minor updates may occur during each month)