SCCU home page 2001-2

WHAT’S NEW on the site?
Archive 2001-2002

Only the major additions are noted here.

31 Aug 2002
  • Open Forum. Gary Kenworthy writes about BCF lists and eligibility rules.
  • BCF Grading again: bad news for Sussex Juniors. It looks as though many of their events 2001-2 have not gone into the list. There's a brief note in the Grading page.
29 Aug 2002
  • BCF Grading: copyright charge. We're surprised by an announcement that has appeared today on the BCF website. See the Grading page.
28 Aug 2002
  • The SCCU Fixture List 2002-3 is out. It includes contact details for match captains, some of whom are new.
  • We'll take that as marking a new season. 2001-2 has been transferred to the Archive. Some recent material is retained in the current pages for reference, but will gradually disappear as the season progresses. The links on the front page which have gone dormant will wake up again when needed.
  • We have also updated the SCCU Calendar to cover the new season. A number of dates are missing, sometimes because we don't know them and sometimes because they're not fixed yet.
27 Aug 2002
25 Aug 2002
  • Open Forum: Grading and the List again. Nick Butland and Kevin Thurlow contribute.
24 Aug 2002
  • We've just noticed that the National Club entry form appeared on the BCF site ten days ago. Prize fund slightly increased. Get your club's entry in early! (Closing date 14th October.)
23 Aug 2002
  • Open Forum: Grading List. Howard Grist answers Bruce Birchall, Jeff Goldberg answers Howard Grist, and Howard Grist answers a question your Webmaster put in a footnote.
22 Aug 2002
  • Open Forum: Bruce Birchall adds to yesterday's comments on the Grading List.
21 Aug 2002
  • Per Lea from Norway has caught up with the football correspondence. See Open Forum.
  • Grading page: we've reviewed the new Grading List. Scott Freeman has already corrected us on a factual point.
19 Aug 2002
16 Aug 2002
  • Open Forum: Mike Gunn queries the new BCF/FIDE conversion formula for grades below 216.
14 Aug 2002
  • Please note that SCCU President Roy Heppinstall's email address is out of action for the next couple of weeks at least because of BT problems with his phone line. His BT phone calls are being re-routed via his mobile.
         Note also that Bruce Birchall's published email address has fallen over and been replaced by bhbirchall@hotmail.com. We won't say who ran the service that's fallen over.
12 Aug 2002
  • Open Forum: Gary Kenworthy describes his own grading experiences (and the British Champion's).
11 Aug 2002
  • Kevin Thurlow writes about the accuracy of grading: see Open Forum.
06 Aug 2002
  • We're sorry if this bores you, and you don't have to go there. But the recent Grading material won't lie down. Another (small) update. This time it's about the BCF/FIDE conversions.
03 Aug 2002
  • BCF Grading again. At the Director's request our report of 24th July has been further updated. This is partly about Juniors and eligibility for grading, but mostly about the plan to charge for publication of local lists.
         We hear that the new BCF List appeared in Torquay on the 1st August.
28 Jul 2002
  • UK Chess Challenge Gigafinal 21/21 July: Mike Basman reports on SCCU successes. See the Junior page.
26 Jul 2002
  • Two updates: there is a new Essex rep in Who's Who?, and the Grading item of two days ago has been slightly expanded. (We'd omitted an item which threatens to be contentious.)
24 Jul 2002
  • BCF Grading: The Director advises new rules next year on eligibility for grading, and a new BCF-FIDE conversion formula for people graded below 216. Your Webmaster does not pretend to understand the reasons for the new formula.
  • National Club Minor Plate 2001-2 has been dragging on for ages, and we publish a statement by the Director of Home Chess.
23 Jul 2002
  • BCF Counties Rapidplay at Gloucester 29th September 2002. It's not this Site's way to advertise events other than SCCU-organised. But we've put this one in the SCCU Calendar, with contact details.
21 Jul 2002
13 Jul 2002
  • Cambridgeshire have a new match captain for 2002-3: Oliver JN Cooley. He's also the new Cambs rep on the SCCU Executive Committee. Contact details in Who's Who?.
  • Non-County reps serving on SCCU Executive: the appointments are now made. See Who's Who?.
  • BCF Schools Championship 2002-3: entry form. Spread the word, if you're a teacher and your school plays in this competition. The BCF sends out many entry forms but has not the resources for a snailshot to every school in the country, and relies quite heavily on web publicity and word of mouth. For this year's results, see the BCF Schools page.
09 Jul 2002
07 Jul 2002
  • To avoid repeating yesterday's summary: all the County Finals 6.7.02 are now present in full in the BCF-Stage page.
06 Jul 2002
  • National Counties Finals at Leicester 6.7.02: bare match scores. Open Essex 9 7 Kent; Minor Counties Norfolk 10 6 Herts; U175 Essex* 8 8 Sussex; U150 Lancs 9½ 6½ Cambs; U125 Warwicks 9 7 Staffs; U100 Kent 8½ 3½ Merseyside. Full details of all matches tomorrow.
04 Jul 2002
  • The SCCU's Open Fixtures 2002-3, published 31st May in the SCCU page, have had to be changed because the 4NCL subsequently changed their dates and introduced a clash. SCCU matches scheduled for 8th March are now moved to 15th March. The fixtures in the SCCU page are updated.
  • The Site's ndo server apologises for being out of action for the last day and a half. It's back now, and fully updated. We hope all our ndo readers had the Freeserve address noted. The Site has not been inaccessible.
         Server problems may not always be apparent to the user. A site can be user-accessible and still refuse to accept updates. If the Site goes too long without updates, check with the other address.
03 Jul 2002
  • Open Forum: Jeff Goldberg questions Tim Spanton's arithmetic of 28th June.
  • On the ECGCF site: ECGCF Finals at Abingdon, 29th June 2002
30 Jun 2002
  • SCCU AGM 29.6.02: an account. Who's Who? has been updated to reflect new elections.
  • Arising out of the AGM, there are some brand new U14/90 Rules in the Rules Section. The section also has updated versions of the General and County Match Rules.
28 Jun 2002
  • National Club: Mike McNaughton supplies the results of the Major Plate Final 23.6.02. The only thing missing now is the Minor Plate Final, and we'll believe that's been played when it sits up and bites us. It's not Mike's responsibility.
  • Open Forum: Tim Spanton appends a one-line answer to Mick Norris's one-line question of yesterday. Reminder: the SCCU has a meeting tomorrow, and central venues are ON THE AGENDA.
27 Jun 2002
  • Open Forum: Stephen Hart corrects Ken Norman's "central-venue" figures from yesterday, Mick Norris adds a new point, and Stewart Reuben writes about help for the disabled.
26 Jun 2002
  • Central venues: Ken Norman statisticulates in Open Forum.
25 Jun 2002
  • National Club: John Philpott supplies detailed results of the Finals played at Wanstead.
  • On the Richmond Junior site: 42nd Richmond Rapidplay
24 Jun 2002
23 Jun 2002
  • Minor Counties 22.6.02 Herts 8½ 7½ Wilts
  • National Club Finals 23.6.02, courtesy John Philpott. The U125 Plate is in limbo.
  • Briant Poulter (Surrey) Schools League results 2001-2
  • Open Forum: Kevin Thurlow adds to the Surrey board-order correspondence. We'll be having the Surrey Website joining in at this rate.
  • BCF Schools National Championship: Finals 22.6.02. Championship winners Hampton School; Plate winners Bluecoat Oldham. Full details tomorrow.
20 Jun 2002
  • Open Forum again. Carl Tillotson answers Jeff Goldberg on central venues, and Jeff Goldberg answers Carl Tillotson.
         Counties are strongly urged to come along and vote on this at the AGM. We won't get any decisions made in the pages of Open Forum.
18 Jun 2002
  • Open Forum: some responses to yesterday's letters. Chris Rice, Kent Open match captain, agrees with Jeff Goldberg about central venues. Roger de Coverly and Richard Haddrell answer a question Mike Gunn asked.
17 Jun 2002
  • U175 16.6.02 Warwicks 6½ 9½ Essex
  • U100 15.6.02 Kent 7 5 Surrey
  • Open Forum: Mike Gunn responds to some Surrey points made yesterday by Kevin Thurlow. Jeff Goldberg, noting that the Open and U175 Finals are all-SCCU affairs, raises the central-venue question again. (Again? Well, have a look at last year's Open Forum1. The question is on the agenda for the Union's AGM 29.6.02, and the papers for download are still there.)
          1 That's in the Archive. Your quickest way out, if you go there, will be the "back" button.
  • National Club U125. John Philpott and Paul Buswell have picked up a few more results for us. Gaps remain.
16 Jun 2002
  • Open 15.6.02 Warwicks 5½ 10½ Kent
  • Minor Counties Herts v Wilts is postponed to 22.6.02. Something to do with a football match.
  • U175 15.6.02 Sussex 9½ 6½ Cambs; plus bare match score 16.6.02 Warwicks 6½ 9½ Essex
  • U100 15.5.02 bare match score: Kent 7 5 Surrey
  • There's still some detailed results to come. But, as far as bare match scores go, that seems to be all the SCCU's semi-finals except for the one that's not played yet. We make it five SCCU teams in the Finals, and six if Herts win next weekend. The Union is assured of two trophies, and it could be three or four. It was two last year.
  • Open Forum: Kevin Thurlow responds to some things that have been said lately about the Surrey rules.
15 Jun 2002
  • Open 15.6.02 Essex 9 7 Sussex
  • U175 15.6.02 (bare match score) Sussex 9½ 6½ Cambs
  • U150 15.6.02 Essex 7 9 Cambs
11 Jun 2002
08 Jun 2002
  • U14/90. A late result: Berks 6½ 17½ Bucks 9.2.02. You'll have to scroll down for it. The U14/90 page is now complete.
  • Coulsdon Junior GP: overall winners 2001-2
  • Open Forum: Ken Norman adds a historical footnote to an item of three days ago.
  • Papers have gone out for the Union's AGM on Saturday 29th June. If you are a County Secretary or NCM contact or member of the Executive Committee you should have them already, except for the Secretary whose email address didn't work. (His snail copy will catch the post on Monday.) Other reps will need to apply to their Secretary, or can download the papers by clicking here. Zipped rtf, 16K.
06 Jun 2002
  • A Surrey Leak: internal disagreements about time controls?
05 Jun 2002
04 Jun 2002
03 Jun 2002
02 Jun 2002
31 May 2002
  • SCCU Open Fixtures 2002-3 are announced. See the SCCU page.
  • Surrey CCA now have a Secretary, elected at their SGM a couple of days ago. He's David Bryant, 103 Falconwood Road, Addington, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 9BF davebryant1949@aol.com: home 01689 848354; work 0208 314 7667; mobile 07740 717158
28 May 2002
  • Open Forum: Roger de Coverly writes about rules and the disabled.
27 May 2002
  • National Club U160 semi-finals are complete. One more SCCU result.
  • Kent Schools League: all results 2001-2, including Primary Finals 26.5.02
  • On the Bucks site: League & Individual results 2001-2. On the KSCL web page: Kent Schools League results in full.
24 May 2002
22 May 2002
19 May 2002
18 May 2002
  • Boys Brigade National Finals at Tonbridge 18.5.02. If you hadn't heard of this competition, neither had your Webmaster and he's not proud of it.
17 May 2002
  • National Club Open semi-finals: results just in.
  • We think we're now up to date with the BCF-Stage quarter-finals, foreigners included. The one SCCU team we haven't given detailed results for, because the captain hasn't sent them, is Middx U125.
16 May 2002
  • U175 12.5.02 Cambs 9½ 6½ Kent
15 May 2002
  • Open 11.5.02 Gtr Manchester 6½ 9½ Sussex
  • U150 11.5.02 Warwicks 9½ 6½ Sussex
  • U125 11.5.02 Warwicks 8½ 7½ Herts
  • U100 12.5.02 Norfolk 4½ 7½ Kent
  • National Club U160 Plate: an SCCU team crashes out.
  • Open Forum: Bruce Birchall, the new Disabled Members' Representative on the BCF Council, raises some issues he feels the Federation needs to address.
  • It's been an age (eleven months, actually) since we put anything in the Games page. There's a game in it from the Open match Gtr Manchester v Sussex.
14 May 2002
  • U100 12.5.02 Surrey 6½ 5½ Warwicks
  • Open Forum: Carl Tillotson writes again.
13 May 2002
  • U125 11.5.02 (bare match score) Lancs 9½ 6½ Middx. Source: Lancashire website
12 May 2002
  • Open 11.5.02 Yorks 8 8 *Essex. Also (bare match result) Gtr Manchester lost to Sussex. Score uncertain, but not thought to be close.
  • Minor Counties 11.5.02 Wilts 8½ 7½ Oxon; Herts 11 5 Glos
  • U175 11.5.02 Yorks 4½ 11½ Sussex. Also (bare match score) Cambs 9½ 6½ Kent
  • U150 11.5.02 Essex 8½ 7½ Yorks
11 May 2002
  • SCCU Executive meeting 10.5.02: a report
  • Open Forum: Carl Tillotson, a (slightly) displaced Yorkshireman, replies to a recent letter from Mick Norris of Greater Manchester about County matches
  • U175 QF 11.5.02 Essex 8½ 7½ Devon
  • Bare match scores 11.5.02: Open Yorks 8 8 *Essex; U150 Essex 8½ 7½ Yorks
07 May 2002
06 May 2002
  • Counties BCF-Stage Open Quarter-final: Kent win next Saturday's match without lifting a pawn. We are also now up to date with the Preliminary matches of two-and-a-bit weeks ago, largely by courtesy of the EACU website. No SCCU involvement.
04 May 2002
02 May 2002
  • Essex: some league results 2001-2
  • BCF Schools is down to the last four. Final event, for the last four in both Championship and Plate, is in Nottingham on the 22nd June. SCCU representatives will be Hampton School and RGS Guildford in the Championship, and St Olaves GS Orpington in the Plate.
30 Apr 2002
  • U14/90 28.4.02 Middx Girls CA 16½ 7½ MCCA. The local groups are now complete. The Final is on the 1st June at Magdalen College School, Oxford.
  • 2nd Oxford University Congress 27-28 April 2002
29 Apr 2002
  • BCF Council meeting in Birmingham 27.4.02: a report
  • National Club Major and Minor both have new results.
  • BCF-stage Preliminaries: three (non-SCCU) results
  • Open Forum: John Philpott remarks on an aspect of Saturday's BCF meeting, and Mick Norris of Gtr Manchester comments wryly on the Counties Championship. (We've gone further than Mick, in a puzzled footnote.)
  • U14/90 28.4.02 (bare match result): Middx Girls CA 16½ 7½ MCCA. Details tomorrow.
24 Apr 2002
  • Nothing very major, but you'd be wondering why "What's New?" isn't keeping pace with the date on the front page. It's been BCF Schools updates, really. Two schools in the Finals so far, though only one of them SCCU. We should also mention:
  • On the Sussex Junior site: Sussex Juniors v Irish Juniors 13-14 April 2002
16 Apr 2002
15 Apr 2002
  • U14/90 14.4.02 Middx Girls CA 21½ 2½ Herts. This match was academic for qualification purposes. The "girls" had already qualified for the Final.
  • SCCU U180 & U135 Jamborees at Hertford 14.4.02. Both events were won by Middx, but we have no other details. Full report expected shortly.
14 Apr 2002
  • BCF U18 Team Championships at Nuneaton 13.4.02. Only one SCCU winner!
  • While we're about it: we've posted the rules of this event. Or "rules", since they've never been officially ratified. We hear there are some who want to change them again and go back to holding Union qualifiers.
13 Apr 2002
08 Apr 2002
05 Apr 2002
  • Southend Easter Congress: a fuller report. Yesterday's results expanded, and now with results for all the sections.
  • SCCU U180/135 Jamborees 14th April: a reminder from David Smith, County Match Controller. Entries so far are modest: four in the U180 and two in the U135. There's still time to enter. Entry form and info
  • Also a last call for the BCF U18 Jamborees 13th April at Nuneaton. Entries are still being accepted, just. (About eight so far, we think.) Contact Peter Turner prtchess@aol.com 01724 866433 (mobile 07702 853814).
04 Apr 2002
  • Southend Easter Congress 29 March - 1 April 2002: results from the top section. SCCU Champions are Simon Knott and Simon Williams.
  • Open Forum: Trevor Jones adds a postscript to the travel-and-venues correspondence.
01 Apr 2002
  • BCF-Stage matches: the revised draw. Revised and updated. All the nominations are in now.
  • BCF Grading: an important announcement from the Director
31 Mar 2002
26 Mar 2002
  • BCF-Stage draw has been revised, we understand, because WECU are nominating fewer teams than expected at Open and U150. Essex and Sussex are gainers. We've asked the Controller for the revised draw, and in the meantime we give such details as we can.
24 Mar 2002
  • It is confirmed that the SCCU U150 nominations are what we said yesterday, and the League Tables page is now final (apart from all the mistakes you haven't told us about yet). The BCF-Stage page has all the nominations in it we've heard of, but there are still some gaps from the other Unions.
23 Mar 2002
  • U150 23.3.02 Sussex 9 7 Essex. Last match in the SCCU calendar, and it makes a pleasing tie for first place in the division. The way we heard it, no one at the end of the match knew the tie-break rules. But in the Website's opinion the U150 nominations are 1 Essex; 2 Sussex. That is not official and we are prepared to be shot down in flames by the Controller.
  • BCF Schools Championship is down to the quarter-finals. Lots of SCCU schools survive.
20 Mar 2002
  • Open Forum: Angus French attacks the BCF-Membership question. Bruce Birchall writes about Maps, and Tim Dickinson exposes your Webmaster's incompetence in reading them.
  • U150 23.3.02: Herts have given notice that they are defaulting their last match, against Surrey. That leaves just one match to play in the SCCU Championship calendar, and it will determine who gets the top nomination in the U150.
19 Mar 2002
  • NYCA U16 Team Championship 16.3.02. It was in Birmingham, not on our patch exactly, but there were plenty of SCCU teams there and one of them won it.
  • Open Forum: we're still on Maps. Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell gives a pointer to an internet one he's adapted for the SCCU U180/135 Jamborees, and your Webmaster says why he'd have preferred a sketch map.
18 Mar 2002
  • U125 16.3.02 Herts 12½ 3½ Surrey
  • Three results all at once, like buses, in the National Club U160 Plate. Two of the matches were played side by side yesterday at Syston. The other, unknown to anyone at Syston, was simultaneously going on on the south coast. Three SCCU semi-finalists, and we give the pairings.
  • Open Forum: Angus French, Chris Rice and Graham Stuart add to the Maps correspondence. Mike Gunn in one brief letter embraces venues and football and buses and the BCF, and Tim Spanton answers him on one of these.
  • In the Junior page: a Girls friendly between Essex and the MGCA
17 Mar 2002
  • U175 16.3.02 Surrey 10½ 5½ Kent
  • U125 16.3.02 (bare match score) Herts 12½ 3½ Surrey. Details later.
  • Arising possibly from one of the above, Kent U175 match captain Mark Finch has made a suggestion about maps in Open Forum. Roger de Coverly and Tim Spanton have already added footnotes to it, and Tim has asked a question of his own about BCF Membership.
16 Mar 2002
  • U175 16.3.02 Middx 9 7 Essex
  • U14/90 16.3.02 Herts 24d 0d MCCA
  • Open Forum: Pat Aarons replies to Chris Rice (see 13th March) on the U14/90 competition.
15 Mar 2002
14 Mar 2002
13 Mar 2002
  • This one's been going on in semi-private emails for months, and it was only a matter of time before it came up here. Chris Rice in Open Forum makes some remarks on the U14/90 dispute we reported the other day.
12 Mar 2002
  • U100 9.3.02 Kent 6½ 5½ Essex
11 Mar 2002
  • Open 9.3.02 Herts 11½ 4½ Bucks
  • U150 9.3.02 Herts 6 10 Sussex
  • U100 9.3.02 Middx 5 7 Surrey
  • BCF Management Board meeting 9.3.02: David Smith reports. There's an important item here for Counties wishing to enter the BCF U18 Team Championships to be held 13th April.
  • It had to happen. Someone complains about a venue before we've even heard the match result. See John Cannon in Open Forum. Nick Butland, visiting captain in another match alongside it, adds his own remarks.
  • National Club: one more SCCU result in the U160
10 Mar 2002
  • Open 9.3.02 Oxon 6 10 Kent. Kent are Champions. They already were, when Cambs announced their default against Sussex on Tuesday, but this makes it real.
         We have inserted some of the known positions in the League Tables page, but have not had time for all of them. Bear with us.
  • U14/90 9.3.02 Oxon 23 1 Berks. That's two groups complete now, won by Oxon and Sussex.
  • British Championship qualifying places. The Union has three places in its gift and awards them annually to congresses in the SCCU area. Applications are invited from congresses interested in places for the 2003 Championship. Contact the Secretary by the end of April.
  • BCF Yearbook 2002. The Union has a few spare copies and offers them for sale @ £5 plus post and packing. Hurry while stocks last. (Contact the Secretary.)
09 Mar 2002
08 Mar 2002
  • National Club Open: quarter-final results, and semi-final pairings.
07 Mar 2002
05 Mar 2002
  • Open 9.3.02 Sussex 16d 0d Cambs: match conceded today. This means Kent are Champions.
  • U14/90 2.3.02 Hants 8 16 Surrey
03 Mar 2002
  • U175 2.3.02 Sussex 10 6 Surrey; Kent 10 6 Middx
  • U125 2.3.02 Surrey 13 3 Kent; Sussex 7½ 8½ Herts
  • U14/90 3.3.02 Herts 7½ 16½ Middx Girls CA
  • Open Forum breaks free from football. Trevor Jones suggests a new way of scoring County chess matches.
02 Mar 2002
  • U175 2.3.02 (bare match score) Sussex 10 6 Surrey. Details tomorrow.
  • U125 2.3.02 Middx 9 7 Essex
  • U14/90 3.3.02 (bare match score) Herts 7½ 16½ MGCA
  • Open Forum: The football won't go away. The Director himself has written, twice, and John Philpott contributes again.
28 Feb 2002
  • SCCU U180 Jamboree is Sunday 14th April 2002 at County Hall, Hertford. There will also be a six-board U135 Jamboree alongside it. Full details shortly.
  • Open Forum: A new fact emerges in the football debate. John Philpott and Chris Rice agree the kick-off time. We thought that might terminate the correspondence, but then Mick Norris of the MCCU joined in.
  • On the Richmond Junior site: 40th Richmond Rapidplay 24.2.02
26 Feb 2002
  • Open Forum: Chris Rice contributes to the football debate
24 Feb 2002
  • Open 23.2.02 Kent 9½ 6½ Cambs
  • U175 23.2.02 Essex 10½ 5½ Kent; Middx 9 7 Sussex
  • U14/90 9.2.02 (bare match score) Berks 6½ 17½ Bucks. Bucks finish on 50%. Match details when available.
  • National Club: a foreign result in the U125, and some semi-final pairings in the U160
23 Feb 2002
  • U175 23.2.02 (bare match score) Essex 10½ 5½ Kent. Essex, with a match to spare, take the Montague Jones for the sixth time in a row.
  • U14/90 23.2.02 Middx 4½ 19½ Middx Girls CA
  • Kent Primary Championships 16.1.02
  • BCF Schools Championship update: pairings for rounds 1 and 2. Plenty of SCCU schools.
21 Feb 2002
  • Open Forum again. Jeff Goldberg responds to Ken Norman's letter of four days ago.
20 Feb 2002
19 Feb 2002
  • Open 16.2.02 Oxon 5½ 10½ Sussex
  • U100 16.2.02 Kent 4½ 7½ Surrey
  • Stop press. Maidstone win Kent Summer Quickplay 2001
17 Feb 2002
  • Open 16.2.02 Bucks 7 9 Essex; Kent 11½ 4½ Herts. Also (bare match score) Oxon 5½ 10½ Sussex
  • U150 Essex 11½ 4½ Herts
  • U100 Essex 6½ 5½ Middx
  • U14/90 16.2.02 Bucks 15 9 Oxon
  • BCF Semi-Finals: a football fan laments. See Ken Norman in Open Forum.
16 Feb 2002
  • Open 16.2.02 Cambs 11 5 Surrey. Also (bare match score: details tomorrow) Bucks 7 9 Essex
  • U150 16.2.02 (bare match score: details tomorrow) Essex 11½ 4½ Herts
  • U14/90 16.2.02 (bare match score: details tomorrow) Bucks 15 9 Oxon
14 Feb 2002
  • U14/90 9.2.02 Hants 4½ 19½ Sussex
  • On the Sussex Junior site: 4-Counties U11 team friendly in Berks 10.2.02
12 Feb 2002
  • Open Forum: John Philpott on the suggestion to change the U175 grading limit
11 Feb 2002
10 Feb 2002
  • SCCU U18 Jamborees 10.2.02 at St Pauls School: Open 1 Surrey; 2 Essex; 3 Sussex; 4-6 Cambs, Herts, Middx; 7 Oxon; 8 Berks. Girls 1 Surrey; 2 MGCA; 3 Kent. Details later.
  • U175 9.2.02 Middx 7½ 8½ Surrey. Details later.
09 Feb 2002
  • Now it's got started again, Open Forum won't stop. Trevor Jones writes about the publication of grades on the BCF site (and elsewhere).
  • On Neville Belinfante's Junior site: South of England Junior Championships February 2002. Plenty of SCCU winners.
08 Feb 2002
  • Open Forum: Bruce Birchall responds briefly to the suggestion (see 6th February) about the U175 grade limit.
07 Feb 2002
  • U175 2.2.02 Surrey 9 7 Middx
  • Open Forum. The Mobiles question has broadened its scope: correspondence from Bernard Cafferty (again) and Stephen Hart. Kevin Thurlow writes about the Criminal Records Bureau.
06 Feb 2002
  • National Club U160. More SCCU results; more foreigners tumble.
  • If you looked at the BCF-Stage draw yesterday, have another look. It's changed.
  • "Suggestion made: to raise the [BCF Counties Championship] U175 limit to 180. Any comments?" - Cyril Johnson cyriljohnson@yahoo.co.uk, Controller. The Website invites comments as well.
05 Feb 2002
  • Open Forum: Bernard Cafferty, Tim Spanton and Scott Freeman respond to Angus French's letter of yesterday.
  • U175 2.2.02 (bare match score): Surrey 9 7 Middx
  • County matches: BCF-Stage draw is out. SCCU gets an extra place in the U175.
  • On Neville Belinfante's Junior site: Yateley Manor International January/February 2002 (well, it's nearly in the SCCU)
04 Feb 2002
  • Open Forum has woken up. Angus French writes about Mobiles.
03 Feb 2002
  • U175 2.2.02 Sussex 6 10 Essex
  • U125 2.2.02 Herts 9½ 6½ Essex; Kent 10 6 Sussex; Surrey 5½ 10½ Middx
  • National Club U160: two SCCU teams beat foreigners, one of them by default.
02 Feb 2002
01 Feb 2002
  • BCF Schools Championship. The Zones don't finish for another week, but some of the results are in and this page has woken up again.
30 Jan 2002
  • National Club U125: all the round-1 results, plus pairings for the next round
29 Jan 2002
28 Jan 2002
  • U14/90 26.1.02 Sussex 14½ 9½ Surrey
27 Jan 2002
  • Open 26.1.02 Herts 9 7 Oxon; Essex 9 7 Kent
  • U100 26.1.02 Middx 2 10 Kent
26 Jan 2002
  • Open 26.1.02 Bucks 7½ 8½ Cambs;
  • U14/90 26.1.02 Berks 7½ 16½ Oxon
23 Jan 2002
22 Jan 2002
  • National Club U125: one more (SCCU) result. Round-1 deadline was the day before yesterday.
         Note that, in the Open and U125, we get results from the Controllers only at the end of a round. Matches reported in real time have come direct from the clubs. Captains: please send your results.
  • U14/90 19.1.02 (final score) Essex 10½ 13½ MGCA: Essex draw claim fails. Essex have formally requested, but not for that reason, that the match should not count in the competition.
  • Sad news for Kent players. AJ (John) Smith of Medway has died. See the Club & County page.
20 Jan 2002
  • U14/90 19.1.02 Essex 10½ 12½ MGCA, plus one game in which Essex claim a QPF draw.
19 Jan 2002
  • U150 19.1.02 Herts 6½ 6½ Surrey (three double defaults)
  • National Club Open: all the round-1 results are now in, plus pairings for the next round.
  • SCCU U18 Jamborees 10th February 2002. We've added a list of entries to date. Six in the Open, and maybe more to come. Six is already twice last year's figure. Three in the Girls (also an increase).
16 Jan 2002
15 Jan 2002
  • U14/90 12.1.02 (bare match score): Oxon 15½ 8½ Bucks
14 Jan 2002
  • U14/90 12.1.02 Middx 9½ 14½ Essex
  • National Club Open: three results. All SCCU, but in the Open what isn't. Final date for round 1 was yesterday.
         We hear that one club in the U125, unaware that the rules had changed, fielded a team entirely under 125 and was disconcerted to find that the opponents had a 154 on board 1.
13 Jan 2002
  • U175 12.1.02 Kent 5 11 Sussex
  • U125 12.1.02 Sussex 11½ 4½ Surrey; Middx 7 9 Herts
  • Reminder to match captains from David Smith, County Match Controller. Ungraded players - however weak - cannot play in the grading-limited divisions unless cleared with him in advance. There have been a few breaches of this rule lately. Be careful. Offending teams lay themselves open to defaults and penalties. It's in Rule 5(d), and it was mentioned in David's pre-season notes.
  • U14/90 12.1.02 (bare match score): Middx 9½ 14½ Essex
  • National Club U125. Two results: one SCCU, one foreign
12 Jan 2002
  • U175 12.1.02 Essex 9½ 6½ Surrey
  • U125 12.1.02 Essex 9 7 Kent
  • Coulsdon Blitz 12.1.02
  • On the BCF site: a Grading questionnaire you may care to answer
07 Jan 2002
  • U150 6.1.02 Essex 12 4 Surrey (six Surrey defaults)
  • SCCU President Chris Majer is out of the country during the week, with effect from today, and may not always be back at the weekend.
31 Dec 2001
  • SCCU Individual Champions from the Andersen London Junior 27-30 Dec 2001: Under 18 Lorin AR D'Costa (Royston) 4½/6 and = 1-2 in the U21/18; Under 18 Girls [incorporated in LJCC U16] Sarah N Hegarty (Ashtead) 3½/6; Under 11 [incorporated in LJCC U12] Selina Khoo (Surrey) 6½/9; Under 11 Girls also Selina Khoo. Slightly fuller details in the Junior page; cross-tables, all tournaments: LJCC site.
28 Dec 2001
  • National Club. No new results, but we've found out who's in the Handicap Rapidplay, and we list them. Eight teams (11 last year). Six are SCCU; nothing from north of Bedford, and only two from north of London.
22 Dec 2001
  • Grading: a few up-to-date statistics, gleaned from the BCF's Grading CD (just arrived)
18 Dec 2001
  • SCCU U18 Jamborees (Open and Girls) 10th February 2002. We publish fullish details, but Pat Aarons pataarons@hotmail.com can answer specific enquiries.
         Please bring this to the attention of your County Junior Organiser(s) if you're not them. All known organisers are being informed, but organisers change and it is sometimes hard to keep track of them.
  • National Club U160: the detail's filled in, along with pairings for the next round. Thanks go to Mike McNaughton, the Controller, for his prompt information.
17 Dec 2001
  • Coulsdon Congress 15-16 December 2001
  • National Club U160: The last SCCU result. Rd 1 is now complete, give or take a detail. We've not heard any results from the other sections, but they do have later deadlines.
16 Dec 2001
  • SCCU Individual Champions from the Andersen London Junior 15-16 Dec 2001: Under 14 Robert J Heaton (Sutton GS/Richmond) 5/6; Under 14 Girls Sarah N Hegarty (Guildford) 4, retaining her 2000-1 title; Under 9 [incorporated in LJCC U10] George E O'Toole (Temple Sutton Southend) 6½/7 and =1st in the tournament; Under 9 Girls Sheila J Dines (Old Palace Surrey) 3½. All four received brand-new SCCU trophies, the gift of an anonymous donor. Slightly fuller details are in the Junior page.
15 Dec 2001
  • U175 15.12.01 Essex 10 6 Middx; Kent 8½ 7½ Surrey
13 Dec 2001
  • U150 8.12.01 Sussex 11½ 4½ Herts
  • National Club U160: three more results, including two SCCU
  • Default time in SCCU County matches. The County Match Controller issues this ruling, in response to a request. The default time is after the expiry of one hour on the chess clocks.
         Naturally the hour includes any time by which one side's clocks may have been advanced at the start in accordance with Rule 17. But if the clocks are simply started late, with both sides' acceptance, the default time is delayed accordingly.
         There hasn't been a dispute about this. It arose from last weekend's Burst Water Main incident, where the captains agreed to start 30 minutes late because of traffic chaos. They took it that the default time was also 30 minutes late, and the Controller agrees. The same applies to any match that starts late, for whatever reason, if both sides accept the delay.
12 Dec 2001
  • National Club U160: the season's first batch of results (including three with SCCU involvement)
11 Dec 2001
  • County matches: BCF Stage 2001-2. We are asked to draw attention to some changed dates. The changes were made a month ago but not, we think, widely publicised. The new dates are at the bottom of the SCCU Fixtures page, and in the SCCU Calendar.
  • Also added to the Calendar: BCF U18 Team Championships 13th April 2002 at Nuneaton.
  • On the ECGCF site: MGCA Team Tournament 9.12.01
09 Dec 2001
  • Open 8.12.01 Surrey 5½ 10½ Oxon; Herts 8 8 Essex; Sussex 7½ 8½ Bucks (and the defaults were true)
  • 150 8.12.01 bare match score: Sussex 11½ 4½ Herts
  • U100 8.12.01 Surrey 7½ 4½ Middx
  • Birmingham & District Schools Rapidplay 24.11.01. Wouldn't mention this, except an SCCU team won it (and another came 4th).
08 Dec 2001
  • Open 8.12.01 bare match score (unofficial): Sussex (16 players) 7½ 8½ Bucks (12 players)
  • The Website is three. Thanks for the birthday card, Michael, especially as you're not even from the Southern Counties.
04 Dec 2001
  • U14/90 1.12.01. Not exactly a result, but Middx have defaulted their away fixture v Essex. As far as we know, there are no more matches arranged before Christmas.
02 Dec 2001
  • U175 1.12.01 Surrey 8 8 Sussex; Middx 7½ 8½ Kent
01 Dec 2001
29 Nov 2001
28 Nov 2001
  • SCCU U18 Jamborees 2001-2, as already announced, will be on Sunday 10th February. Pat Aarons now confirms the venue as St Pauls School, London SW16. St Pauls is one of the country's leading chess-playing schools.
27 Nov 2001
  • National Club Handicap Rapidplay. Can't say we know who's in it, but we are informed that the entry is insufficient for the regional qualifiers that were to have been held this weekend. Everyone goes forward to a Final Swiss.
26 Nov 2001
  • Open 17.11.01 Cambs-Herts: Controller's ruling on a claim by Hertfordshire. It's appended to the match and you'll have to scroll down.
  • U125 24.11.01 Kent 5½ 10½ Herts
  • U14/90 17.11.01 Bucks 11½ 12½ Berks
  • Berkshire Junior Congress 18.11.01
  • On the Richmond Junior site: 38th Richmond Rapidplay 18.11.01
25 Nov 2001
  • U125 24.11.01 Surrey 6½ 9½ Essex; Sussex 7½ 8½ Middx
  • National Club Minor U125: first-round pairings. (We've also put the Nat Club Rules on the site.)
22 Nov 2001
20 Nov 2001
  • U14/90 17.11.01 Surrey 11½ 12½ Sussex
  • On the ECGCF site: SE Regional events from the weekend
19 Nov 2001
  • The people who follow BCF Council meetings will both have been wondering when and if the SCCU President is going to decamp. We publish a statement from him in the SCCU page.
18 Nov 2001
  • Open 17.11.01 Cambs 8 8 Herts; Essex 12 4 Oxon; Kent 11 5 Sussex; Bucks 7½ 8½ Surrey
  • U150 17.11.01 Herts 5 10 Essex (with one double default)
  • U14/90 17.11.01 Essex 20 4 Herts; Herts 5½ 18½ Essex
  • BCF Management Board meeting 17.11.01: David Smith reports.
17 Nov 2001
  • Open 17.11.01 (bare match scores) Cambs 8 8 Herts; Bucks 7½ 8½ Surrey
  • U100 17.11.01 Essex 8 4 Kent
  • U14/90 17.11.01 (bare match scores) Essex 20 4 Herts; Herts 5½ 18½ Essex. Yes, both matches played same day. Details next day, we're afraid.
  • National Club Open Championship: first-round pairings from Philip Clemow
14 Nov 2001
  • U150 10.11.01 Sussex 11½ 4½ Surrey (seven Surrey defaults)
13 Nov 2001
  • SCCU U14/90 Final is now fixed for Saturday 18th May 2002 at South Hampstead High School.
11 Nov 2001
  • U14/90 (belatedly) 6.10.01 Sussex 20½ 3½ Hants
  • BCF Schools: we've added a complete list of entrants. About half are from the SCCU.
09 Nov 2001
  • National Club Major U160: first-round pairings from Mike McNaughton. We will publish details from the other sections when we have them.
06 Nov 2001
  • Sidcup Junior 3.11.01
  • And another one. Our ndo site, in its turn, was out of action overnight on the 5th-6th November. It really isn't a common problem, and having both servers fall over in the space of a week was a bit unlucky. They were never out of action simultaneously. It's not every site that offers you the luxury of a backup address. They're independent sites which happen to be identical. Do make sure you've got both addresses noted, for the next time one of them fails. They're on the front page.
05 Nov 2001
  • U125 3.11.01 Middx 9½ 6½ Kent
  • U14/90 3.11.01 Middx 12 12 Herts
  • On the Richmond Junior site: Richmond Junior Congress 4.11.01
04 Nov 2001
  • U175 3.11.01 Sussex 14½ 1½ Middx (and, depressingly, six Middx defaults)
03 Nov 2001
  • U175 3.11.01 Kent 8½ 7½ Essex
  • For those who follow such things: Berkshire, though playing only in the U14/90, have resolved to remain a full Member County this season, with the Executive and Council representation that goes with it. Your Webmaster welcomes this.
01 Nov 2001
  • U150: Kent have withdrawn, having lost their match captain. Other captains in the division have been, or will be, notified. But readers may like to know that that's a couple of Saturdays they can unbook.
30 Oct 2001
  • U100 27.10.01 Middx 6 6 Essex; Surrey 8 4 Kent
  • Our Links page has a new entry: Berkshire CA. Of the ten Counties on the SCCU patch, six have sites now. We've even heard stirrings from two of the others. Needless to say, eight of the ten have Junior sites already.
  • Server problem. We were unable, between Sunday evening 28th October and Tuesday morning 30th October, to upload material to the SCCU's Freeserve address. Freeserve readers missed one match, now uploaded, and we are up to date again.
         This problem does not occur very often. Unfortunately, when it does, it is invisible to the user. If you suspect that there should be new material which you're not seeing, it's worth trying the site's other address. This is always your answer if one address is not working at all. (That, as far as we know, has happened once. It's a better fault, because you can see it.)
         A complicating factor is that, with some ISPs at least, there can be another reason why new material does not always appear straight away. See About the SCCU Website on browsing and ISPs.
28 Oct 2001
  • Open 28.10.01 Oxon 10½ 5½ Bucks
  • Open 27.10.01 Sussex 8½ 7½ Herts; Cambs 8 8 Essex; Surrey 5½ 10½ Kent
  • U150 27.10.01 Surrey 7½ 8½ Essex
27 Oct 2001
  • Open 27.10.01 (bare match scores) Sussex 8½ 7½ Herts; Cambs 8 8 Essex. Details in hot pursuit.
  • Ashford (Kent) Junior 6.10.01
  • On the BYCA site: Bucks Junior Congress 13.10.01
21 Oct 2001
  • Open 6.10.01 update. Herts 7½ 8½ Surrey; Surrey QPF claim rejected.
  • U125 20.10.01 Essex 11½ 4½ Sussex
20 Oct 2001
  • U175 20.10.01 Essex 11 5 Sussex
  • U125 20.10.01 (bare match score) Essex 11½ 4½ Sussex
  • Coulsdon Junior (?)20.10.01
19 Oct 2001
  • National Club: We are officially informed that the entry deadline is extended to 5th November. A lot of clubs have apparently not received entry forms.
  • Please don't send us the latest hoax Virus Warning. We've had it.
18 Oct 2001
  • The SCCU U18 Jamborees are now fixed for Sunday 10th February 2002, at a venue to be announced.
  • We are asked by the BCF to put out the following appeal. They often get enquiries from people looking for somewhere to play chess, and they are updating their Club Database. Do you know of any Club not listed in the Yearbook? If so, details please to the Home Director Cyril Johnson cyriljohnson@yahoo.co.uk
16 Oct 2001
  • U14/90 13.10.01 Surrey 17  7 Hants
14 Oct 2001
  • Open 13.10.01 Oxon 10½ 5½ Cambs
  • U175 13.10.01 Surrey 6 10 Essex
13 Oct 2001
  • Open 13.10.01 (bare match score) Oxon 10½ 5½ Cambs
  • U175 13.10.01 Sussex 10 6 Kent
  • We have a new entry in the U14/90 Championship: Middx Girls CA. Some details in that page. It's starting to look as though Kent are not entering, unless there are developments we haven't heard about.
11 Oct 2001
  • U14/90 6.10.01 (bare match score) Sussex 20½ 3½ Hants
09 Oct 2001
  • U100 6.10.01 Essex 4 7 Surrey (adjusted score). An Essex player turned out to have been ineligible.
  • The SCCU has a new Junior Organiser: Dr Patricia Aarons (contact details in Who's Who?). Pat is a very experienced chess parent and organiser, and we're delighted to have her aboard.
08 Oct 2001
  • Open 6.10.01 Essex 7 9 Sussex
  • U100 6.10.01 Kent 8 4 Middx
07 Oct 2001
  • Open 6.10.01 Kent 12 4 Bucks; Herts 6½ 8½ Surrey (and Surrey claim a QPF draw). Plus (bare match score) Essex 7 9 Sussex
  • U100 6.10.01 (bare match score) Essex 6 6 Surrey
  • Not that there's much in it yet, but we've reactivated the League Tables page.
06 Oct 2001
  • We're under way. U150 6.10.01 Essex 9 7 Sussex
  • The SCCU Calendar is at last updated. It's not comprehensive, and "tba" appears more often than we'd like. Please tell us if you spot errors.
05 Oct 2001
  • David Smith, County Match Controller, asks us to draw Counties' attention to the amended eligibility rules. We've already reported on this in the BCF page, and we've now added a note to the Fixtures page as well. It affects players whose only qualification to play for a County is membership of a club in (or affiliated to) the County. They must now actually have played for the club in either the current or the previous season.
         The change has immediate effect, and the rule applies at the SCCU stage as well as the BCF one.
  • SCCU AGM 2002 has been fixed for Saturday 29th June. Considering the miserable attendance on the corresponding Saturday in 2001, and the 100% improvement at the replacement meeting on a Friday, the Union will listen carefully if anyone wishes to propose Friday 28th June instead. This is not a joke.
30 Sep 2001
29 Sep 2001
  • SCCU U14/90 2001-2. No results yet, but it was time we re-opened this page. There's a fixture list, and a few other details.
  • Interested in a questionnaire on what motivates people to play chess? Chris Bourne of York is doing some research. See Open Forum.
26 Sep 2001
  • New SCCU Jamboree? Chris Majer, President, writes:
    I wonder whether there would be any interest in an SCCU event similar to the current U180 Jamboree but with a lower grade limit (say U135). Given the new NCMs and the wider number of available players, it ought to be a viable and successful event. Perhaps counties and NCMs would like to say whether they would play in such an event?
    Answers to CEMAJER@aol.com. And/or the Website.
22 Sep 2001
  • Annual Capes Trophy Team Lightning 21.9.01
  • The Links page has picked up three new sites in the last three days, all in the Southern Counties. Have a browse.
21 Sep 2001
  • CCF Chess Shield Rapidplay 15/15 17.9.01.
  • Will the above be graded? The BCF grading rules contain what seems to be an anomaly. See our note in the Grading page.
19 Sep 2001
  • Russell Trophy Jamboree at RGS Guildford 14.9.01
  • Oxon have a new SCCU rep, George Spalding. See Who's Who? (or Notices). Lester Millin, his predecessor of very long standing, has been made an Honorary Life Vice-President of the Union.
16 Sep 2001
  • Jeff Goldberg in Open Forum has his own view of handicap tournaments.
15 Sep 2001
  • Dates: just fixed. SCCU Executive next meets Friday 8th March 2002, then Friday 10th May. AGM to be fixed when we know the date of the County Finals.
14 Sep 2001
  • Tim Dickinson (see Open Forum) adds some remarks to our Handicap comments of two days ago.
  • There's a lot of it about. We hear Berks had a crashed AGM last night. (They were quorate but ran themselves into time trouble, or something.) So that's another SGM in the offing. Wonder if MCCU have had theirs yet?
12 Sep 2001
  • A National Club entry form arrived on the Website's doormat this morning. Chase the BCF if you haven't got yours. Entry deadline 17th October. Prizes are generous. You will know about this year's changes, or can find a summary on our NC page if you didn't. We fear you will also find some criticism of the new Handicap rules, though we've relegated the meat of it to the Comment page.
  • Essex KO Final 2000-1: result just in. Ilford 11 1 Chelmsford A 11.9.01
  • On the Richmond Junior site: results of 37th Richmond Rapidplay 8.9.01. You may also wish to look at the European Youth Championship results on the BCF site. Two SCCU juniors won medals.
10 Sep 2001
08 Sep 2001
  • The SCCU held a Special General Meeting and an Executive Committee meeting last night. Both were quorate. See the SCCU page. The Union has lost an Officer and gained four NCMs: for new contact details, see Who's Who?. The SGM amended the General Rules, and the copy on the site is updated.
05 Sep 2001
03 Sep 2001
  • BCF Counties Teams Rapidplay 30th September at Stevenage: closing date 23rd September. We put an Entry form on the site a while back. It's still there. We are now asked to do the same for the Rules of the event. They explain the handicap system, among other things. Both files are downloadable zipped rtf (2K each).
02 Sep 2001
01 Sep 2001
  • It's September, so it must be spring cleaning time. The bulk of 2000-2001 has been transferred to the Archive. Last season's County and National Club results have gone there, and their deactivated links on the front page will spring back to life as the new season wants them. Elsewhere, recent material has been retained for reference. It will disappear progressively, but it's in the Archive as well. The SCCU Calendar, not quite out of date yet, is last year's.

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