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 1950-2000 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, and for the Christmas period through to February 2025, this web site features the 18^th in the series of “Brevities”. These are games of 25 or less moves that typically demonstrate some of the most common errors by players of all levels below IM/GM standard Four such games from 2023 and 2024 are annotated in detail with several part or whole other games presented in the annotations.

(Please note this web site will resume the usual monthly articles in February 2025).

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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 (December 19).

1. In the Leamington Legue Division 1, Banbury A have ground their way to the top of the League with 11 points from 7 matches. Kenilworth A are currently in second place with 8 points from 6 matches. After a flying start at the beginning of the season Kenilworth B, rather that the highly rated A team, led the way for a long time. However, the B team, after an unnecessary match loss due to a board order infringement, drop down to third place with 7 points from 7 matches. In the Second Division of this league Kenilworth D currently leading with 10 points from 9 matches, with Kenilworth C in second with 9 points from 6 matches, making it a distinct possibility a third Kenilworth team will enter the top division.

Full details of these and other Kenilworth matches, plus some well-chosen music clips, can be found at the Kenilworth Chess Club Web Site: kenilworthchess.blogspot.com

2. Billy Fellows, a rising star of Kenilworth with a great potential, has won the U12 section of the Terafinal (UK Schools Chess Challenge). Jude Shearsby, already a CM was fourth in the U-14 section above several very highly rated players.

3. Ben Graff’s latest article in the magazine CHESS investigates the complex matters of chess talent. Copies, in paper or pdf format, of this and Ben’s earlier articles in this magazine may be obtained from chess.co.uk ).

Local Players (December 19).

1.Reviews of Mareks Soszynski’s latest books are now available in section 6 of this web site together with a link for their purchase from Amazon. The books are

“Hate the English? Play the Anglo-Scandinavian” and “The Black Knight Repertoire” (1.e4 Nc6)

2. An over-the-board Memorial Congress for Keith Escott, with £3000 in prizes, has now just been completed. Details may be found at https://congress.org.uk/congress/469/home

Some results are just available for the very strong Open Section which had many entrants of high rating. First was K.Kanyamaraia on 4.5/5; in second were A.Nawalaniec and I.Maliovski on 4/5 . Amongst numerous players on 3.5/5 was GM M. Hebden. Kenilworth players did not do as well as expected with J.Shearsby on 2.5/5, K. Patel on 2 and B,Baer on 1.5.

Keith was a very fine player, former editor of the magazine CHESS, and an outstanding organiser for the game, in particular for the club Sutton Coldfield, and the Warwickshire County Correspondence Team which under his guidance won the coveted Ward-Higgs Trophy several times. Two of his games, annotated in detail, may be found in the Recent Archive section of this web site for May-June 2024.

3. The ICCF have organised another type of Memorial event for Keith that is for Correspondence Chess. Play has just begun with entrants being a LGM, an IM, and 15 players with the CCM or CCE title and many players rated above 2300 elo.

Peter Gibbs Memorial Correspondence Events (December 19).

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.

Both events are preceding swiftly with a much higher than normal occurrence of decisive results which is contrary to many recent correspondence chess events. This type of play would have I’m sure pleased Peter.:

Section A- Significant changes have taken place in recent weeks so that CCM Campani wins with the fine score of 10/14 including no less than 6 wins and no losses. Currently in second are Billington and Wnuck on 9.5 both having completed all games. However, CCE Spanton and Baxter are on 8.5 points, but both have a game left to complete.

Section B- Lopez is currently in the lead having completed all games with a score of 9.5/14.but Hall has 8.5 points with a game left to complete. In third is Flude on 8/14 also having completed all games.

The British Chess Problem Society (December update of November post).

The web site of the BCPS has continued to evolve and is now a fine example of what can be achieved for Chess on the Internet. Numerous editions of their world-renowned magazine “The Problemist” can now be view and downloaded as well as collections of the chess problems of several World-class composers. A range of quality chess problem books are also available for sale at reasonable prices. It can be noted that several of the strongest English GMs such as J. Nunn and A. J. Mestel are involved in the chess problem world and regularly represent England in chess problem solving competitions. The BCPS web site is at https://www.theproblemist.org

A very recent further developments is to update the navigation of The Problemist archive to be in line with the Problemist Supplement and the Fairy Chess Review.

Two over-the-board games of the World-class problemist Norman Macleod featured in the articles on this web site for November 2024 and a review of his collection of chess problems (Chessboard Adventures of Norman Macleod) has been posted in section 6 of this web site..

Next main update due on or about February 20, 2025.

(minor updates may occur during each month)