Division 1 is complete. Nomads 1 and Newark 1 draw their final game. Nomads end their campaign in good heart, with a points haul of 4, all gained in their last three fixtures. West Bridgford 1 defeat Gambit 2, who finish in a relegation spot. Tim Walker, whose last League game was over 3 years ago, makes a winning appearance […]
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4NCL Weekend 4 – Rounds 7 & 8 Division Four
Round Seven “CSC/Kingston 3 (1815)” – “Ashfield 2 (1872)” – 3½ – 2½ On paper we could have anticipated a win but unfortunately although Benjamin won, we were unable to score anything else on the upper boards. Ashfield’s rating advantage was on the three lower boards but where we might have expected wins the results were three draws as we […]
Continue readingWeek 29 Highlights – Mansfield win Division 1
Congratulations to Mansfield, League Title winners for the fourth consecutive season, after defeating Gambit 1 by a commanding 4-1 score line. Mansfield were ruthless and efficient against an under-strength Gambit 1 team. They decisively collect the three wins needed to clinch the title, and are content to agree draws on the two remaining boards. Over the course of the season, […]
Continue reading4NCL Weekend 4
Ashfield 1 went into weekend four hoping to pull away from the relegation battle before the final three rounds. In Saturday’s match against the Masceteers Justin scored a quick win to get us on track. I then followed up with an uncharacteristically early result after my opponent allowed a mating attack. David lost to a promising junior, and the top […]
Continue readingWeek 28 Highlights
Two matches produce fireworks at the foot of the table in Division 1. Gambit 2 win at Newark 2 to catch them on points. The top four boards draw. A Peter Gorecka-Marshall win is decisive. It’s good to see a thoughtful third team regular seize his day in the sun in Division 1 in such an important game for his […]
Continue reading4NCL On-Line Round 6
Salopians & Friends 1 – 2-1 – Ashfield Anonymous A Ashfield “A” won all seven of their matches in Division Two last year; this year they are well on course for exactly the opposite -seven losses. This match should have been drawn as Alex beat GM Keith Arkell on Board One – in Keith’s own words he “went to pieces” […]
Continue readingBarry T. Redburn (1946 – 2025)
Barry Redburn, long-time member and officer of Radcliffe and Bingham Chess Club, has passed away. He died suddenly earlier this month. Barry was a stalwart of Club, League, County and Congress chess for many decades. Over the years he fulfilled many of the officer duties at Radcliffe & Bingham Chess Club, including many years as treasurer. He was also an […]
Continue readingWeek 27 Highlights
Grantham 1 seal top 4 finish with win at West Bridgford 1. A wide gap now created between top and bottom four teams… In D2 pace-setters Radcliffe & Bingham 1 slip up with home defeat against West Nottingham 1. Ashfield 1 overtake them with narrow, cliff-hanging win over West Bridgford 2. Ashfield 2 keep alive faint hopes of avoiding relegation with […]
Continue readingHistorical NCA Bulletins
Drag has supplied the collection of NCA bulletins (ex-Rob Richmond) from 1982-2003. These provide a wealth of detail such as individual game scores predating the ECF ratings database. We estimate the number of bulletins as over 60. These are going to be scanned and added to the website. You can view scanned copies of the NCA Bulletins via this page. […]
Continue readingWeek 26 Highlights
Mansfield 1 defeat West Bridgford 1 4-1. A win in their final match, home to Gambit 1, will retain the League title. A draw would not be enough to overhaul University 1. Nomads 1 are up and running, securing their first point of the season against Gambit 2. Grantham 1’s victory over Newark should ensure a top half of the […]
Continue reading4NCL Online Round 5
Ashfield Anonymous A 1½ – 2½ Hebden Bridge 1 Ashfield lost by the same score for a fourth consecutive Game Week. All these matches have featured desperate defending coupled with unforced errors. In this match Alex won a nice endgame, Justin fought for ages to try and save a lost one, Steve had a solid draw, and Richard blundered a […]
Continue readingWeek 25 Highlights
University 1 slip to defeat in final game. Their 2-3 loss to Gambit 1 reopens the title race. Mansfield 1 will retain the title if they can win their two remaining games… In D2 Ashfield 1’s promotion chances slip after loss to West Nottingham 1. Grantham 2 boost their survival hopes with a 3-1 win over Nomads 2. In D3 Gambit […]
Continue readingGeorge Harper
George Harper passed away peacefully this week at the age of 92. Until about 3 years ago George had been a member of Newark Chess Club for many years and attended club nights regularly. George was an important part of the club and acted as treasurer for several years before taking over as chairman for a few more years. He […]
Continue readingWeek 24 Highlights
The title race remains open. Mansfield comfortably defeat Newark 1. University 1 are held in a battle royal and nail-biting finish against West Bridgford 1. They needed to come from behind to secure the team draw with a win on top board. In D2 Radcliffe and Bingham 2 comfortably defeat Ashfield 2 to regain top spot. Beeston 1 move into […]
Continue reading4NCL Online Round 4
After promotion in Season 10 with seven wins from seven games, “A” are finding Division One tough going with four successive losses; the last three by the same margin of 2½-1½. Board One was drawn with plenty of material left on the board, whilst the next two boards were also halved in classic endgames where neither side could make any […]
Continue readingNotts Primary School Age Individual County Championships
The Nottingham Primary Schools Chess Association held the Individual County Championships, combined with Under 11 England Trial Nottingham Rapidplay tournament on 1st March 2025. Full details can be found on the NPSCA website here.
Continue readingWeek 23 Highlights
University 1 defeat Newark 1. The League title may be clinched next week. Grantham 1 defeat Gambit 1. Congratulations to Grantham on re-establishing their first team in Division 1. With teams well spread in the table, current League positions seem unlikely to change much in the final weeks of play. In D2 Ashfield 1 win narrowly at Nomads 2 and […]
Continue readingWeek 22 Highlights
West Bridgford 1 and Newark 1 draw. Mansfield 1 narrowly defeat Gambit 2. Despite this battling defeat, the tenure of the only club second team in D1 seems under clear and present danger In D2 Ashfield 1 defeat leaders Radcliffe & Bingham 1 and are now on their heels Wins for Gambit 3 and Radcliffe and Bingham 2, the top […]
Continue reading4NCL On Line Round Three
Ashfield Anonymous A 1½ – 2½ Wessex B At one point Team captain Richard thought we were going to win as John G won quickly and the rest looked to have decent positions. Alex C’s opponent had just enough counterplay to get a draw, whilst Richard threw his away by blundering the exchange, trying for more than there was in […]
Continue reading4NCL Weekend 3
Weekend Three of the 4NCL was played at Peterborough and for the first time all three Ashfield teams were together. Split weekends are the bane of organising so at least we were able to play in the same room (at least for Round Four). Division Three Bishops has developed into a table of two halves. At the top, six teams […]
Continue readingWeek 21 Highlights
University 1’s win at Grantham gives them 21 points from 11 games. They have dropped just one point this season, as Mansfield did when winning the League title in 2022-3 in a reduced 7-team first division. Gambit 1’s win over Nomads 1 moves them above Mansfield into second place… Radcliffe & Bingham 1 remain leaders in D2 after defeating Grantham […]
Continue readingWeek 20 Highlights
No sign of University 1 slipping up in their title pursuit. They comfortably see off a weakened Gambit 2. Mansfield lead the chase, defeating Grantham 1, despite stubborn resistance from the Cumbers family. The title seems in University’s hands to lose… In D2 an exciting win by Nomads 2 over Ashfield 2 helps Nomads climb up the table… In D3 […]
Continue readingWeek 19 Highlights
University 1 show no sign of slipping up in the title race with a 4-1 win at Nomads 1. Gambit 1 move into second place with a 4-1 win over West Bridgford 1… In D2 Radcliffe + Bingham 1 stay top despite dropping a point v. Beeston 1 in a game of four draws. Ashfield 1 close the gap with […]
Continue readingWeek 18 Highlights
University 1 lead the title race again after their second defeat of title holders, Mansfield. University field Simon Schweizer, a Japanese Federation player , making his League debut, on Board 1 and secure a 3.5-1.5 victory with wins on the top two boards. Gambit 1 win 4-1 at Newark and gathering form, are not out of the title race. Gambit […]
Continue reading48th Nottingham Congress
Our annual event returns as usual to the Nottingham High School on the 10th & 11th May with 5 rounds of standard play chess. Rate of play is all moves in 90 minutes with 10 seconds increment from move one. We have sections for all abilities. Online entry and online payment are available via the Congress website. Free entry for […]
Continue reading34th Nottingham Rapidplay Report
We welcomed a record capacity (180) entry to the 34th Nottingham Rapidplay, held as usual at Nottingham High School. This was ECF-rated as normal and also FIDE-rated for the first time (but bear in mind that FIDE only now publishes ratings above 1400). We also used the congress.org site for the first time, enabling online payments rather than cheques in […]
Continue reading4NCL Online – Round 2 Season 11
It was a disappointing night for the Ashfield teams in Round 2 of 4NCL on-line. However the matches were far from being one-sided. Several of the games went down to interesting endings where a couple of slips meant that half points were lost in games that should have ended rather differently. Only two games were won and three drawn overall […]
Continue reading4NCL Weekend 2 Report
Ashfield 1 lost both matches in Week 2 of the 4NCL in Division Three Bishops. Playing the two strongest teams, disaster struck pre-match on Saturday when Mike Naylor-Eade was involved in a car crash that wrote off his vehicle; thankfully there were no injuries. Mike was due to pick up Alex Combie and as a result we had to take […]
Continue reading4NCL On-Line Season 11 – Round One
It was an all-Scottish encounter for Ashfield Anonymous in the opening round of Season Eleven. Anonymous “A” promoted to Division One this season faced tough opposition in previous champions, Dundee City “A”. There was a fine draw for David C against international master Richard Polaczek on Board One but the remaining boards were hard fought but in the end there […]
Continue readingWeek 17 Highlights
Big win for West Bridgford 1 at Nomads 1. Little between teams on ratings, but Nomads’ confidence will be further hit by 0-5 defeat. Gambit 1 defeat Gambit 2 4-1 in an eventful game… In Division 2 Grantham 2 climb off foot of table with 4-0 over West Bridgford 2 and Ashfield 2 take their place after loss to Beeston […]
Continue readingNottingham Rapidplay 2025 – Sunday 2nd February
Our annual event returns as usual to the Nottingham High School on the 2nd February with 6 rounds of quick chess. New this year, our event will also be FIDE-rated. We have sections for all abilities. Online entry and online payment are available via the Congress website. Free entry for GMs, IMs, WGMs and WIMs. For more information and to […]
Continue readingTerry Lavelle (1958-2025)
We are sad to report the death of Terry Lavelle who passed away on 11th January. He was a member of West Bridgford Chess Club, Nottingham and a regular congress player. In addition he represented Ashfield in the 4NCL on occasions. Terry was taken ill in the COVID epidemic; his last over the board game was played in March 2020.
Continue readingWeek 16 Highlights
A very light fixtures week, with 3 fixtures postponed due to the Castle Rock Brewery’s annual staff party. Mansfield regain top spot with expected win over Nomads1. In Division 2 Ashfield hold Ashfield 1 to dent their promotion chances… This offers an opportunity to comment on club websites. 8 of our 12 League clubs currently appear to have active websites. Sad […]
Continue readingHistorical Records
Our website contains lots of historical information about the Nottinghamshire Chess Association. Drag Sudar has been updating our records recently. They are well worth a look. Historical records can be found on the Historical Records page and some interesting history can be found on the Historical Pieces page.
Continue readingNottinghamshire School Excels at London Chess Classic
A Nottinghamshire school team recently competed with great success at the London Chess Classic event in London, held in early December. A team from Pierrepont Gamston school played against schools from London and the South-East and came second overall, missing out on the gold medal by a fraction of a team point. The tournament was organised by Chess in Schools […]
Continue readingMid-Season League Review 2024-25
A close title race looks likely with University 1 setting a hot pace ahead of Mansfield, winners in the last 3 seasons. Mansfield won the League last year with 17 points, three clear of Gambit 1. A much higher winning points total will be needed this year with University already on 13 points. The title race could go down to […]
Continue reading4NCL Online Final
After eight successive wins, Ashfield came up against Scottish side Lenzie Basilisks, winners of Group “B”. Without top board David Coates, the Ashfield team still had four players who had carried the team to this stage. However some expansive play on Board One coupled with blunders on Board Three meant two Ashfield losses with the White pieces. World Number 9 […]
Continue readingWeek 15 Highlights
Mansfield keep up their title challenge with a 4-1 win at Nomads 1. Nomads 1 were competitive on the top boards, but lose both lower boards and stay rooted to the foot of the table. Dave Latham, a stalwart of Derbyshire Chess, makes his Nottinghamshire League debut for Mansfield. Gambit 1 are now clear third in the division after a […]
Continue readingEC Minutes 2024-25
February 2025 – Draft December 2024 October 2024
Continue reading4NCL Online Semi-Finals
The 4NCL semi-finals produced two different matches – one pedestrian and the other exciting. Division Two :- -Ashfield Anonymous A – 3½ Charlton Cobras A – ½ Charlton, runners-up in Group B, might have been expected to produce a strong team for the semi-final. But they didn’t. The bottom two boards were from their “C” team and there was an […]
Continue readingWeek 14 Highlights
University 1 opened their campaign in Week 6 with a home draw. Since then they’ve notched a sequence of six wins, the latest a comfortable win at West Bridgford, and hold a three points League lead. Grantham 1 narrowly defeat Newark 1 and move above them into the top half of the table, a win secured by their lower boards. […]
Continue readingWeek 13 Highlights
A rearranged fixture meant that Gambit 2 took on Mansfield and University 1 this week. Mansfield’s Tuesday win briefly regained top spot, before University’s Thursday win reclaimed this. These 2 teams are now clear of the rest and look set to fight out the League title. Radcliffe and Bingham 1 claim top spot in Division 2 after a 4-0 win […]
Continue reading4NCL On-Line Round Seven
Ashfield Anonymous “A” 4 Trelawny’s Army 0 There were three very different challenges in the 7th and final round of 4NCL on-line. Trelawny’s Army is a Cornish based team named after a local Bishop who denounced James II and was sent to the Tower of London. There’s a lot more about him but unfortunately turning to chess the Cornishmen fielded […]
Continue reading34th Nottingham Rapidplay
The 34th Nottingham Rapidplay will take place on the 2nd February 2025 at Nottingham High School. This will be a six round FIDE rated event. The first round will start at 10.00am. Enter online here. Details can also be downloaded from the entry form.
Continue reading4NCL Report – Ashfield 1
Ashfield 1 compete in the Division 3 Bishops league of the 4NCL. A report of the first weekend follows. Games can be viewed on the 4NCL website. Mike writes Ashfield 1 had varying fortunes in the first two rounds of the 4NCL. Saturday was a disaster with 4 games lost before the time control was reached. Hubert made it to […]
Continue reading4 NCL Report – Ashfield 2 & 3
Weekend one of the 4NCL was held over two separate weekends. Ashfield 2 and 3 played first and the games can be view on the 4NCLwebsite. Due to some vagaries of the Swiss Pairing System we had two sets of matches against the same teams at the weekend; Guildford Young Guns 1 and Peterborough United. The opening round was seeded […]
Continue readingWeek 12 Highlights
University 1 win at Mansfield and now lead Division 1, a point clear. Mansfield captain reports, ‘3-2 might look it was a close match. It wasn’t. We were worse on every single board and could easily have lost 5-0.’ This opens up the title race, and makes the division more interesting. In D2 Nomads 2 defeat Ashfield 1. West Nottingham […]
Continue reading4NCL Online Week 6 Report
Ashfield Anonymous “A” 4 Wessex “C” 0 Three of the games had finished in this match before any results had been posted by teams “B” and “C”. The remaining game did continue till the end of the session but that too never looked in doubt. Our team had already qualified for the play-offs and will face the second placed team […]
Continue readingWeek 11 Highlights
The snow arrived on Monday impacting on road/travel conditions. Thanks to captains and drivers who managed to safely keep their teams on the road over the week. D1 Grantham 1 slam West Bridgford 5-0, and overtake them to move into fourth place. D2 Better fortune for West Bridgford 2, whose narrow win over Ashfield 2, moves them into third place. […]
Continue readingWeek 10 Highlights
Grantham 1 are back. Grantham ruled the roost with 10 League titles between 2010 and 2020. The break-up of the team led by Nigel Birtwistle coincided with the Covid epidemic. Shorn of their championship players, Grantham 1 appeared in and won Division 3 in 2021-22. Last season they were promoted back to Division 1 as runners-up to Nomads 1.Their first […]
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