The British Chess Federation's judges have short-listed four books for this year's Book of the Year award. Click on the above link for full details of the books chosen and the judges' assessments. Latest: Kasparov's book is the winner.
 

Staunton Memorial Tournament, Simpsons, 25-31 Aug [01/09/03]

Grandmaster chess has returned to its most famous historical venue with the Staunton Memorial Tournament being played at Simpsons in the Strand, London. This four-player, double-cycle, event is organised by GM Ray Keene and Barry Martin and features grandmaster Jon Speelman, former world championship candidate; grandmaster John Emms, captain of the English 2002 olympiad team; grandmaster Daniel King, well-known TV commentator on chess; and England's most promising young player, FIDE Master David Howell, aged 12. Latest: Final Round results: both games were drawn (Howell ½-½ King, Emms ½-½ Speelman), which means that Jon Speelman made sure of undisputed first place with a draw. Final Scores: Speelman 4½/6, King 3½, Emms 3, Howell 1. The postponed round 5 King-Emms game was played off on Monday, and ended in a draw. Click on the above link for the official website, with full details, photos, PGN file, reports by GM Ray Keene and the games in java windows.
 

UK Chess Challenge Matches, 20 Aug [25/08/03]

On 20 August, the 2002 US Women's Chess Champion, Jennifer Shahade took on two UK Chess Challenge champions, 18-year-old Lorin D'Costa and 17-year-old Aly Wilson, and won. Jennifer played two 15m rapidplay games against each player on a giant chessboard in London's Broadgate.
Jennifer Shahade, who had never played outdoors on a giant set before, won 2-0 against Aly Wilson and 1½-½ against Lorin D'Costa. The event was financed and hosted by the British Land Company PLC
Shahade v Wilson, Game 1, in java window.

Lancashire Chess Festival, 4-9 Aug [25/08/03]

Bill O'Rourke reports: Two international tournaments took place at the Blackpool Hilton. The Hilton Premier was a category 8 10 player all-play-all, featuring the newly-crowned British champion Abhijit Kunte, and fellow GMs Nigel Davies and Colin McNab, while the Ron Banwell Masters was a category 2 all-play-all features three IMs plus the UK's top prodigy David Howell.
Final: Hilton Premier Final Scores - three players shared first place - British champion GM Abhijit Kunte (IND), GM Nigel Davies (ENG) and Scottish IM John Shaw each scored 6/9. Irish FM Sam Collins made an IM norm. In the Ron Banwell Masters, IM Sundararajan Kidambi of India won with 7/9 ahead of Jeff Horner, IM Steve Mannion (SCO) and Gary Kenworthy on 6. No norms achieved. Note, there have been some corrections to the original game scores.
Hilton Premier Crosstable & Scores • PGN zipped • Banwell Masters Crosstable & Scores • PGN zipped
Official Website

Smith & Williamson BCF Congress 2003, Edinburgh [02/08/03]

This year's BCF Congress started on 21 July at George Heriot's School, Edinburgh. The championship tournament is not very representative of British chess, there being very few top English grandmasters in the field and a great number of Commonwealth players. However, the congress as a whole has proved very popular with amateur players, topping 1,007 competitors - a notable achievement for congress director Neil Graham and his team. Click on the title link for commentary on the controversial structure of the BCF Championship, plus reader's feedback. The powers-that-be have finally bowed to widespread opinion. A meeting of national federation representatives was held on 21 July in Edinburgh and agreed that, as from 2004, the British Chess Championship would be open only to citizens or permanent residents of British Isles countries (click here for details).
Last Round: Congratulations to Abhijit Kunte of India, the 2003 BCF Champion. He made sure of the title when he drew with Joe Gallagher and reached 8½/11, while Harikrishna drew with Rowson. Ketevan Arakhamia is the 2003 British Women's Champion and Penteala Harikrishna the 2003 British Under 21 Champion. Scores after Round 11: 1st Abhijit Kunte (IND) 8½/11 (£10,000); 2-4th P Harikrishna (IND), V Kotronias (CYP), P Motwani (SCO) 8 (£3,000 each); 5-9th K Arakhamia-Grant (GEO), J Gallagher (SUI), J Rowson (SCO), A Summerscale, N Pert (both ENG) 7½, etc.
• PGN File (COMPLETE exc for two missing games) • Official Website
 

Hilton Ron Banwell Masters, 3-9 Aug 2003 [03/07/03]
Staunton Memorial Tournament, Simpsons, 25-31 Aug [11/07/03]
4th Joe Soesan Memorial Cup, Coventry 2003 [21/07/03]
Coulsdon Rapidplay, 19 Jul [21/07/03]
Central London Rapidplay, 13 Jul [21/07/03]
Monmouth Congress, 11-13 Jul [21/07/03] Kevin Staveley reports: The Monmouth Open was won by GM Julian Hodgson with 4½/5 ahead of D Gormally, J Sherwin, D Buckley, L Cooper and M Ferguson on 4. The Welsh Women's Championship ran as part of the open and was won by Debbie Evans-Quek.
1,800 Turn Out for British Land National Gigafinal, 12-13 July 2003 [21/07/03]

BCF Website of the Year 2003 [31/07/2003] The Essex Chess Association website has become the first recipient of the British Chess Federation's new website of the year award. It had some tough competition from the growing number of excellent British chess websites out there, but it thoroughly deserved the award. Check it out - the URL is http://www.essexchess.org.uk/

13th Smith & Williamson Young Masters, Millfield [21/07/03] Richard Palliser reports: The 13th (and final) Smith & Williamson Young Masters takes place again at the excellent venue of Millfield School, Somerset from 9-17 July. Final: GM Evgeny Prokopchuk (RUS) and FM Craig Hanley (ENG) finished 1st= with 6½/9. 3-4th Gawain Jones & IM Karl Mah (both ENG) 5½, with six players on 5. Every game bar one was drawn in the last round. The exception was the extraordinary game between back-marker Thomas Nixon and Gabor Pinter. Nixon's first win of the tournament came courteous of some beginner-like play from the Hungarian IM: Pinter,G (2376) - Nixon,T (2226): 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nxc6 bxc6 6 Nd2 Bc5 7 Bd3 d6 8 a4?? Ng4 9 0-0?? Qh4 10 Nf3 Nxf2 0-1. A FIDE-Rated event ran alongside and was won by J Ezra Lutton with 8½/11 ahead of Charlie Linford 8 - click below for a complete crosstable, prizes and games download. Sadly, this is the last time the tournament will be sponsored by Smith & Williamson, who must be thanked for their great generosity over the years.
Final Crosstable (Young Masters) • Official website • Complete PGN file - Young Masters (Zipped) • Final Crosstable (FIDE-Rated) • Complete PGN File - FIDE-Rated event (Zipped)
'Chess in Pieces - 21st Century Art': Chess on UK TV [08/07/03]
Scottish Youth Team versus House of Commons, 30 June 2003 [30/06/03]
UK Education Minister Gives Chess a Boost, 30 June 2003 [30/06/03]
BCF National Club Finals, 29 June [02/07/03]
Central London Rapidplay, 29 Jun [03/07/03]
Swansea Rapidplay, 29 Jun [21/07/03]
Manchester Summer Congress, 27-29 Jun [03/07/03]
48th Richmond Rapidplay, 22 Jun [21/07/03]
9th Heywood Congress, 21-23 Jun [03/07/03]
Frodsham Rapidplay, 1 Jun [08/06/03]
Central London Rapidplay, 25 May [27/05/03]
47th Richmond Rapidplay, 18 May [28/05/03]
28th Nottingham Congress, 25-27 Apr [18/05/03]
GM Clock Simultaneous at Bury Chess Club - Keith Arkell, 29 Apr [02/05/03]
Central London Rapidplay, 27 Apr [02/05/03]
3rd Oxford University Chess Congress, 26-27 Apr [02/05/03]
Jersey v Guernsey Match, 26 Apr [02/05/03]
49th Welsh Championship, 18-21 April [27/05/03]
56th West of England Congress & Championship, 18-21 Apr [02/05/03]
Bolton Easter Congress, 18-20 April 2003 [02/05/03]
Six-Nations Visually-Handicapped Tournament, 14-16 Apr [27/05/03]
Durham Congress, 11-13 Apr [02/05/03]
110th Scottish Championship, Edinburgh, 5-13 Apr [21/04/03]
Coulsdon Rapidplay, 5 April [02/05/03]
Braille Chess Association (BCA) AGM Tournament, 21-23 Mar [02/05/03]
British Blitz Championship, 23 Mar [02/04/03]
121st Varsity Match, 15 Mar 2003 [15/03/03]
14th Nottinghamshire Rapidplay, 23 Feb [29/03/03]
Portsmouth Congress, 21-23 Feb [29/03/03]
Jersey International, 16-22 Feb [24/02/03]
Central London Rapidplay, 16 Feb [20/02/03]
Dorset Championship, 7-9 Feb [20/02/03]
4th Yateley Manor International (YMI) 24-26 Jan & 1-2 Feb [20/02/03]
Cleveland Congress, 24-26 Jan [29/01/03]
Nigel Short Simul, 20 Jan [28/01/03]
Friends of Hastings International Chess Congress [13/01/03]
8th Heywood Rapidplay, 12 Jan [13/01/03]