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In another topic, Nigel expresses his concern with apathy. Not being involved in the League I have no knowledge of this but I think it should be sorted out (without scapegoats)

Has anyone noticed an entry on the BDCA website signed Andrew Wainwright, President (Idle Chess Club)? Maybe Ihor's abuse of Rule20 has led to his resignation.

there's a chance that we could host a simul v Nigel Short at a decent venue, October this year - who's intersted?

If any Bradford league players fancy some Monday evening chess then Courier in the Calderdale league need one or two new players - grade unimportant! Just need to be able to travel around Halifax area and not already playing for a Calderdale team. can message here or my email is davecoll33@hotmail.com

Anybody seen the game between daz & chris? 38...Kc6 39 Qb6 mate 38 ...Kc8 39 Bf4!!

Back in February the BDCA Executive granted BDCA Knights £150 to enter the 4NCL Northern Division. I was against this as I did not see how it would improve chess in Bradford. After last weekend I see BDCA Knights A are joint top. The BDCA have not published any minutes for meetings since July so is there any more expenditure? If not, maybe the BDCA can make a profit if they win the £1000 First Prixe. Maybe this is a good time to think about what to do with that profit?

White's claim draw Black's claim win Any opinions?

Now that the first online Championship is over, I thought we might analyse our favourite games, so here's my attempt.

I thought I would post a chess story of mine from a fews years ago. A comment made in one of the chess team matches either for Bradford v Luxemburg, or Yorkshire Terriers v Luxemburg, I cannot remember which one, has reignited my memory from 17/18 years ago. When I was at Hull university, studying for a maths degree, I played for our Hull university team, board 2 or 3 normally as our captain was an England player at the time. We used to play in the annual Hull speed chess tournament, and the first time I played, I was ungraded. This meant I could play in the UG up to ECF grade 100 group. The first player I was drawn against had a grade of 66, and I knew from the league games that I had played, that this grading would not cause me any great worries. As I approached the table I was to play on, this chap happily strolled over to the table I had sat down on, and uttered the words "pffff, ungraded player, this won't take long"!!! I just looked at him, stone cold in the face and said nothing, as I knew I would not let him beat me. It was not long before I had this chap by the short and curlies, and every time I gained an advantage, either positional or material, I looked at his face and saw that he was getting more and more upset. In the end, I won, easily as well, and I thought I shouldn't do this, but I was young and impetuous. I stood up, took my game sheet and turned it round for him to sign, then I uttered the words "pffff, a 66 grade, why play in a tournament like this, when it is clear you have no chance of winning a game let alone the group. Your game was one of the worst I have ever played.", I then walked off in a very self-satisfied manner. It is my perception that chess is a gentlemans game, one of experience and intelligence. To simply belittle someone who has no official grading, is not only disrespectful to your opponent, but would put off anybody starting off with the game of chess, and it is also very dangerous as you leave yourself open to ridicule. Any thoughts on my story would be welcome, or any other chess stories of your own would also be worth reading. I will never forget the look on his face as I put the poor chap in checkmate.....

I know its not in the county but Crusaders Club in Bolton are arranging a 30 board simul against Nigel Short in december. If anyone fancies a pop at a super GM, let me know ( £25 / board though)

Hi All I have set up a tournament for the Bradford group to find out who is The online Bradford Champion, Sounds serious but its just a bit of fun. Max 12 Players, League format, 1 winner, First come first serve. Follow link below http://www.chess.com/tournament/1st-bradford-online-chess-championship

I just want to post my game from last nights Simul with GM Stephen Gordon, this result represents my greatest acheivement in chess so far. I have not had chance to analyse the game yet but your feedback is appreciated.

I seem to have accepted a Vote Chess game against Team Britain on your behalf. Have a look and lets give it a go! Chris

Chess Grandmaster Daniel Gormally is coming to Leeds Chess Club to give a simultaneous. This will take place sometime in July/August depending on when the North Leeds Working Men's Club have a free slot. The event will take place on a Saturday and will start at around 2:30pm. You will have the black pieces as you can't expect Danny to take black when he's playing at least 20 people simultaneously! Danny is more expensive than Richard Palliser but I will again charge just £5.00 entry in the hope that we can get enough entries to cover the costs, if I do end up putting the price up, I will let you know in advance and can guarantee that it wont be any more than £7.00. You can enter the event here. About Daniel Gormally: Daniel is currently rated 2491 and is currently ranked 18th in the country according to the FIDE rating list, Richard Palliser is 27th so this is a huge leap up for the next simultaneous event! He is about 34 years old and his peak rating was 2573 back in January 2006 which today would have been high enough to place him at 5th in the country! Danny was in fact ranked number 4 in England when he competed for his country in the 37th olympiad! If you haven't entered and are still wanting to, please apply using the entry form on this website.

please could you all post detils of local tournaments on ths website as well as any other outlets they have. As an organaniser of a local tournament (the Brighouse Quickplay) it would be good to see all local tourneys listed as often as possible, on as many sites as possible, as we need all the publicity we can get for all our events.

On Saturday 17 April, Yorkshire U140's play Staffordshire in Newcastle-under-Lyme. I have received a call from captain Steve Burton this evening requesting assistance in finding players for a 16 board team. Currently Yorkshire are 6 players and 2 cars (expenses paid) short of a full team. At the minute I am the only Bradford player offering assistance; which, out of a large number of potential players, is a poor turn-out (and even more staggering considering that I'm due to play the following day in the ECF National Club semi-final for Crazy Horses). Certainly, I remember a time when if you were asked to represent Yorkshire, it would be hard to get in the team!!! Yorkshire have never, to our knowledge, defaulted a match - and I'm sure you'll all agree it would be a shame on us all if this happened in our era. If you are able & willing to play in a national competition for your county & have a grade under 140, please get in touch as soon as possible. If any of you know others not on this site who would be interested in representing our great county, please pass this invite on and in either case contact Steve or myself direct. On behalf of Steve, thanks for your assistance, John Holliday.

For those of you interested, 'Team England' are looking for more players to bolster efforts in the official Chess.com World League & European League. For those of you not yet involved, click on the link and join up - and what could be better than representing your country at the highest levels? http://www.chess.com/groups/home/team-england As ever, no obligations, just play when you are able. And for those of us who play for 'England', there is no conflict - playing for both teams is ok. John Holliday.

Without taking it away from my oponent, this is not the best game I have ever played!!! Sorry about the brackets, they were actual moves and not thoughts...

Ok, we got this group started intending to host / start a city league of some kind. Initially the thought was a UK league, but it seems only ourselves & Bristol have put any effort into this. Looking further afield, Europe has a few more - but may probably only work if everybody agreed to play. So how does everybody feel about trying to get a world city league started? I have a shortlist of around 30 decent sized groups representing cities (or areas that may be considered one) who could be invited - there may be more... So your input would be appreciated to work out what format things should take: 1. League setup (all play all) / knock out / swiss (how many rounds?) or mini groups, like in the Football World Cup? 2. How many of you would be interested in playing? 3. How many games could any of us play at a time? (say 3 days / move). Any other input would be fantastic... John Holliday.

I need to get views on all my games if I am to improve. So if any of you could have a look and tell me wher I went wrong. Thank you