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I'm kicking this off early this year because we have a lot of potential entrants so there will be 5 rounds to fit in before the end of August if last year is anything to go by. There are eight entrants so far. Last entries will be on the night of the AGM - 16th May, and I'll also probably be at the club next Tuesday (9th) to take entries. I'll try to make the draw on the night of the AGM if it doesn't drag on too long. Provisional final dates for each round (these will vary if there are less than 16 or more than 32 entries). Preliminary Round (to reduce entries to 16) 6th June at the latest. 1st round proper 27th June 2nd Round 18th July Semi-Final 8th August Final 29th August Note that there are only 3 weeks for each round. However, games can take place on any day at any venue. You could even play on a website if you can find one that allows different time limits for each player and you trust each other not to use computers! It's a good idea to arrange your game before the final date if possible, to allow for draws.

Please post here if you would like to play or have anything else to say.

First match is away to Shirley on Thursday 4th May. Team Me (110) Don Curry (105) Paul Evans (102) Tony Taylor (80) Total grade 397. Thanks to Don for pointing out Paul's relatively low rapidplay grade.

I've been struggling to get teams for the last two Dudley 1 matches, but they are now:- Wednesday 12th April v Stourbridge Away 1. Dustin 2. Finlay 3. Pete 4. Martyn Hathaway Thursday 20th April v WQ Away 1. Mark Bethel 2. Dustin 3. Finlay 4. Don

It promised to be an epic night and not a one of us disappointed in that. Mine was the first game to finish. I got an early advantage with a two pawn lead, but it meant my Queen was chased around with Brian gaining development with each move. He played smartly and I missed the way to win, making two inaccurate moves that allowed him back in and I had to settle for a draw. I could have dropped the exchange to keep the game alive but didn't fancy it. I could perhaps have won on time, given he only had half an hour left. I played quickly, finishing in around 20 minutes, hence missing the winning move. I need to learn to slow down. But perhaps it isn't that, I do use my opponents time to figure out variations, so really I used just as much time as my opponent. Here's the game: Excellent 24 25 Good 2 1 Inaccuracy (?!) 1 2 Mistake (?) 1 0 Blunder (??) 0 0 Forced 0 0 Best Move 73.9% 87.0% CAPS 98.63 99.38 Avg. Diff 0.10 0.09 Agh! What a bloody idiot. I knew where I needed to get to, I just didn't see the quick way to get there. I really should have won that, but all credit to Brian, he played brilliantly to stay in. Many would crumble in his position and I played super strong. At least for the first 20 moves. Pete finished next with another draw in an opposite coloured bishop endgame with doubled pawns and one man down. However, to my eye, which is not so good, it still looks like a draw to me. All of Pete's pawns are on the correct squares and his king is active. Try it out. Click the icon with the magnifying glass and go into Stockfish analysis mode. You'll see that the computer shows Mr Short as winning, but engines tend to count material. I've seen plenty of drawn positions shown as winning by an engine just because of an extra pawn. Here's his game: Finlay finished next with another draw after facing a very solid slav-like set up. Finlay should be disappointed with his performance. He didn't play as strong as he usually does. Making two mistakes that certainly cost him the win. e3 was simply terrible. There's no point in sacrificing the c pawn if you're not going to play e4 in response. It seemed to me that Finlay wasn't up for it last night and instead played for a draw He had no need to be afraid as he was the better player on the night - if we take the stats in mind. Here's his game: Excellent 21 15 Good 7 12 Inaccuracy (?!) 1 3 Mistake (?) 2 0 Blunder (??) 0 0 Forced 0 0 Best Move 55.6% 37.0% CAPS 91.46 60.08 Avg. Diff 0.19 0.23 It was looking as though this drawing trend was going to continue but then John Southcote popped up with a win. No sheet to hand, but if you want to send me the moves I'll put the game up. Not sure how the game went, but I was pleased to have a win. Surely John Davis would win too. However, the worst thing happened. John D actually lost! His first loss of the season. I didn't see the game, but I know he was mated, although he resigned a move before the inevitable. So it was all on Windsor. If Windsor lost, so did the whole team. We made the decision not to tell him as he was in a winning position and we didn't want to affect his concentration. According to Finlay, he missed a forced mate in 2, but I suppose he had so many ways to win he was spoilt for choice. He settled instead for winning his opponent's queen and more slowly crushing his will to play on. Eventually he gave in and resigned. We had done it, division 5 champions! Looking forward to division 4 next season. If we keep the same team, there isn't any reason we can't win that too.

When all is said and done, the thing that wins most chess games is tactics. In chess there are certain tactical patterns that will occur in game after game. Unless we've seen the pattern before, the chances are we will miss it during play. Almost certainly dropping rating points we don't need to be dropping. Chess.com have a tactics trainer. There is also one at Lichess. Don't worry about your rating, as you may at first not do so well. But just like a game of Trivial Pursuits, when played often enough one can memorise every single question and answer. You'll be in the middle of a game (chess, that is) and from the depths of your memory a tactical pattern will emerge, one remembered from your training here at the site. Simply scroll your mouse over the Learn tab on the left hand sidebar and click Tactics. You'll be taken to a trainer that will put your skills to the test. A year ago today, Finlay's tactic rating was around 1400, as of today it stands at 2162. Being over 100 greater than my own rating, it is very hard to get that high... but when training every day it is certainly achievable by any one of us. Good luck.

Every six months we Brummies and, sometimes not-so-local, friends gather together to play 7 rounds of Rapid Chess in a Swiss Style tournament. It used to be 6 rounds but had been extended this year to 7, perhaps in the hope that it will make the winners more distinguishable. If that was the intention then it didn't really work, but that isn't to suggest that it won't do next time, either. This year there were 118 entries with Nick and Daniel Arkell customarily arriving late and, as a result, entering five minutes into the first round. It was a great day for some and not so for others which is always the way with rapid chess. We know full well what we're getting into. Winning positions lost through time trouble, losing to players we just shouldn't and also realising, in some cases (Jeremy Fallowfield), that we don't get time to eat our lunch before the next game starts. It promised to be an epic tournament and I'm sure everyone wanted to see the two GMs, Mark Hebden and Halesowen's very own, Keith Arkell, meet over the board. But it wasn't to be. Other greats in attendance were, Henrik Stepanyan, Jeremy Fallowfield, Tomasz Sygnowski, Stewart Fishburne, Nick Arkell and Nathanael Paul, to name but a few. In the end, the Open was won very easily by GM Mark Hebden with a clean sheet - meaning 7 out of 7 wins. His final game was pitted against Halesowen's, Stewart Fishburne who battled bravely but eventually succumbed to the GM's masterful play. Although Stewart still had an excellent tournament, playing above his grade with a performance rating of 208, also making him Halesowen's top performing player of the day. It doesn't really matter what position we finish in (especially when we know we're not in with a chance of the prizes anyway), all that matters is that performance grade - that's where one will learn the true horror of their 'bad day'. GM Keith Arkell knows this all too well, I haven't worked out his PR, as I'd rather save his blushes. But let's just say he's had better tournaments and this one will be consigned to history. Although, perhaps his brother, Nick Arkell, will help keep the memory alive as, finishing ahead with a fine performance, he now has bragging rights till the next tournament. I was in the Major Section and, being the only one from our club representing, I felt as though I needed to perform. Unfortunately, I didn't. I lost the first game through a blunder after obtaining a winning position. The second game I lost to another blunder in a drawn position and the third I lost due to being outplayed. I then won the 4th, despite blundering again but, luckily, my opponent didn't see it. I got a bye in the 5th so won a free point and then promptly came back to lose in the 6th. I then finally won without any blunders or mistakes in the 7th and final round. Ouch. A final performance rating of 137 is not how I wanted the day to end. My current grade is 143. Finlay, my 11-year-old son, played in the intermediate and also had a fairly bad day, dropping 2 games and therefore his chances of winning the section this time around. He also had three wins and two draws with a total performance rating of 128, which he isn't happy about at all considering his grade is 134. He's determined to win the section when he returns in October. Silas, my 8-year-old son, played in the minor Section and made a very decent account of himself this time around. His normal grade is 70 and he had a performance rating of around 90 (hard to be specific given he played a couple of ungraded juniors. He's certainly one to watch over the next two years. He could well win the minor Section in October. The Minors was a tough battle with several people in contention. It looked at first as though my good friend, Pete Banks was going to win after beating my other good friend and title contender, Windsor Peck, but it wasn't to be. Pete flagged in the final two games, perhaps tiredness finally getting the better of him and he had to settle for 4th place having won the first 5 games and losing the final two. Despite losing to Pete, Windsor went on to win his final three games and finished in second place. Daniel Arkell, son of Nick and nephew to GM Keith, managed to win the grading prize after a fine performance in the Minor. He seemed far more confident than I've ever seen him and I'm sure his chess will take off this year. Thankfully he plays for my local club so I won't have to suffer one of the beatings. It was also refreshing to see a lot of the u9 and u11 Warwickshire Juniors in attendance, many of the children are friends with Silas, and their parents now friends of mine. Most of which will be in attendance at the Warwickshire Junior Open Tournament next week where instead of being teammates they will be pitted against each other to find the winner in each age section. This will also help better determine board orders for when they're playing alongside each other in the team again. There may also be some new faces to help strengthen the squad. All will be revealed in due course. Silas is hoping to win the u9s and has an excellent chance, likewise, Finlay has an excellent chance of winning the u12s. I can't leave this little story without writing something about Alex Holowczak who devotes a lot of his time to organising and arbitrating these events. Cheers, mate. I dread to think what would happen to English chess if you weren't around.

It's been an amazing season so far with us dropping only one match to a draw and then only after fielding a deliberately weakened squad. Completely my fault. I wanted to give some of the reserves a game and figured that Kynoch B would be the perfect team to do it against. However, it almost bit me on the arse as we went down to a draw and could so easily have lost. Losing would have meant that we would need to beat Lichfield just to draw with them for the championship top spot. With just one point separating us and being the last match of the season it promises to be an exciting event. Tickets are on sale from your usual retailers. Be quick though, I hear Carlsen's bought twelve. Nakamura will surely not want to be undone. We've already qualified for promotion so we can relax, safe in that knowledge. However, we started the season with the belief that we should top the table and Lichfield are trying to take our dream away from us. We can't let that happen. In our penultimate match-up of the season we had to face bottom of the table and relegation battlers, Mutual Circle. We expected to win the match and the team didn't disappoint with 6 wins, one of them coming from a defaulted board. Unfortunate because it happened to Windsor who had just travelled 30 miles to get there. He seemed fine about going back home, perhaps he had a hot cocoa and a film in mind. Whatever he had in mind, I hope his evening went well. The rest of us slogged it out over the board. I was on table 1, facing a 108 graded player. He started with a London set-up that I faced down with a Dutch. Here's the game: Finlay played on table 2 and was extremely lucky to win his game. He earned the win then almost threw it all away with a silly blunder. Instead, his opponent blundered a certain checkmate and lost her Queen. A QG Declined versus a very solid Slav. I'll let the game do the rest of the talking: If you engine check Finlay's game you'll find that he didn't make a single inaccuracy until the blunder at the end. His opponent also played a very strong game. Incredibly, she's only graded around 100. John Davis was on board 3 and it was a relief to have him back in the team. I don't have the game to hand, but he played very solidly and won easily. Pete Banks on board 4 offered his opponent a draw that was refused only to then go on to win with his superior endgame technique coming to the fore. Board 5 was defaulted by their team. Board 6 was played by John Southcote and he wiped the floor with his opponent. In his own words, he just had so many things he could do to win, it was difficult to know which way to go. Just a matter of time before his opponent gave up. I'll be back with a Lichfield update or to post some of the other games if I can get hold of the sheets.

The bdcl first team played its last match of the season last night, away at Walsall. The result was a slightly disappointing draw. There were early draws on boards 2, 3 and 6 (Stewart, Malcolm and Dale), which seemed sensible match-planning as that left Keith and Nick (who have both scored heavily all season) and John Edge to battle for 2 points from the remaining 3 games. Unfortunately John had drifted into a poor position and his attempts at a tactical recovery didn’t work. Nick levelled the score with his 10th (yes, tenth, to go with 2 draws) win of the season. So we all stood around seeing if Keith could first equalise and then convert a draw into a win on top board. Time and material was short (R and 3 v R and 3) but we were hopeful that a way would be found. Congratulations to Darren Wheeler who kept his cool and found a draw. So the team finishes the season with 20 league points from 24. A sterling effort. We are guaranteed at least the runners-up spot (and there’s a trophy for that) and must wait to see if Sutton Coldfield can overhaul us. They have 3 matches left and need 5 points to be champions. Four points would see a play-off match for the title and 3 would see us champions! It will be tense for them and a tense wait for us. Match reported by Stewart Fishburne. So, a nail biting end to the season as we await Sutton's fate. Can they keep a completely clean sheet and win the Birmingham League? It will be well deserved if they do. Our first team have played exceptionally well and help make us all proud to be part of such a prestigious club. Whatever happens, we can give them all a pat on the back for a season hard fought. I'm hoping to get hold of Nick's notation sheet. I'll share it here if I do.

It's been a while since I posted here... in fact, I really haven't, but have decided to increase the activity of this the live site. Especially given that we are now the best team in pretty much the Midlands. Certainly, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Worcester. Perhaps we should move into the Coventry league next and conquer that one too. Probably be too much though, we already have to run two nights at our glorious location The Lighthouse so that we can play the many games we already have to play. We've also only had one defaulted table this season and, as luck would have it, the opposing team also defaulted the same table so there was no harm done. In fact it led to the Junior Dudley Division 3b's first result of the season. They got the bug because they then won their very next match giving them 3 points and lifting them off, albeit momentarily, the bottom of the table. We're on target to win most of the leagues, having already won Wolverhampton with Worcester. and Birmingham in our sights. In terms of the other divisions, we're still on target to win Dudley 2 with a second in Dudley 3. We've won Wolverhampton division 3 with promotion also secured from Division 4. So we'll have a team in every Wolverhampton Division next season. In Worcester 2, we're on course for a first and second finish. The Birmingham Division 2 team have done brilliantly this season finishing mid-table. Considering their target is to simply survive they've done amazing this season and far better than expected. Birmingham 5 is still winnable. So that's it for now. Stay tuned for more updates. I'll also be uploading games and would love to get hold of other members' sheets so that I can put them up with analysis if you want to share the sheets with me.