Warwickshire County Chess Teams

Warwickshire did not enter the County Championships in 2023-24, due to a lack of captains, and a perceived lack of interest from players. This survey is designed to gather data on both of those issues.

If you are interested in playing for Warwickshire in 2024-25, please complete this form by Monday, 8th January.

Bob Wildig (1944-2020) RIP

 Bob Wildig died this morning (10th September 2020). Bob was the President of Rugby Chess Club, a member since the 1960s and, for many decades, the clubs Secretary and Board 1 player in the A team. He has been ill in recent years and died as a result of this illness, peacefully, in his sleep. 

Members of the club will have many memories of Bob, with several of them having known him since they were juniors. For now we are putting a placeholder picture into this post to mark his passing. There will be a more significant reflection about Bob's life once we have had time to plan. This photo is one taken in 2010 when the club held an exhibition at the Rugby Art Gallery and Museum. Bob is posing next to part of the display - an image showing him at age 15 (seated foreground) playing as a schoolboy in a simultaneous match. Bob had a lifelong interest in chess and instilled this love into others also, several of whom still play with the club. He will be sadly missed by all of us.

John Naylor (1972-2020) RIP

Members of the club are saddened to hear of the sudden death this month of a past club player John Naylor. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Chess players, including several GMs have commented on John's chess talent. A video by Tryfon Gavriel talks about John and shows one of his games. Simon Williams (aka GingerGM) devoted a podcast to John and is organising a special tournament for chess players who knew John (6th Sept on Lichess). There is a memorial thread on the ECF forum which you can add to.

 

John last played for RCC during 2008/9 and 2009/10 seasons. He was a formidable player, an excellent chess coach, a memorable and likeable person. He is well remembered in the club and the league. Some of the memories have nothing to do with chess ...  but if you do want to look at some of his games on this blog there are games here,  here and here.

Club President Bob Wildig, recalls that John first came to the club in the mid to late ‘80s along with Russell James, similar age and nearly as strong a player. They were both juniors and Bob recalls taking them both to quite a few matches around that time. 'On one occasion there was an enemy pawn on the seventh on the verge of promotion only stopped by knights and I must’ve gone white as a sheet thinking it would all collapse but John just smiled and said ‘It’s all quite sound, Bob’ and went off for his customary drag.'

John Hall knew John Naylor well from this time and recalls not only games played by and against him, but also inviting him home for a meal and giving John what turned out to be his first curry.

John moved away from Rugby for a while and when he returned he not only played very successfully as Board 1 on our A team, but also taugh chess to local schools and coached individuals. One junior he coached was Chris Pegler's son and she has video footage of him running a poker school for Rhys' 13th birthday party as a side gig. (Poker at that time was an passion equivalent to chess, and much more lucrative!). She recalls: 'John not only visited us at home to teach, but also accompanied us to Northampton Juniors' events to watch Rhys play. This venue had a high balcony from which parents could watch the games. John wanted to watch Rhys but was not keen on heights so I had to try and describe the game. Sometimes John would get  so frustrated by my lack of decent commentary that he would advance briefly to the edge. He really was very committed to encouraging new chess talent'. Although Rhys did not persist with chess he still has the meticulously written notes from John and a great affection for the French Defence.

Nalin Kadowala and Jonathan Cox (who like John started chess at Rugby as juniors) joined him as part of what Nalin calls‘The Rugby Chess Club Dream Team’ during an amazing season in 2009/10.  Nalin recalls John as very humorous and laid-back. Away from the chess board he was witty and welcoming. Until you were sitting across the board from him. Then you’d realise that he could harness his bluffing power from poker to dismantle you over the course of a not-very-long chess game.

Nalin also recalls when Rugby A had a home match against Coventry Chess A at Rugby Railway Club. They had set out their usual four boards, everyone present apart from the top board, John Naylor. This was no surprise to either RCC or our opponents (such was John’s reputation)! Coventry’s top board, was also not present and as it was not unusual for him to be late, Nalin and Jonathan had a little bet on who would arrive first. Close to half hour after the games had begun things started to get tense (half an hour is the league's default time). What nobody expected was that two minutes to the default time, John and Dave would casually walk in together clearly sharing some amusing banter, each holding the staple beer. A few moves were played before John leaned over his chess board to Dave to suggest, ‘Draw?’ ‘Fancy watching the footie?’ This was met with a swift ‘Yes’ and the two of them happily trotted off to the main lounge area.

In telling this tale Nalin reflects that whilst chess was an important part of John’s life - it wasn’t all his life. Friendships and encouraging others was also what he enjoyed doing. Wherever John is now, Nalin feels confident he has a pint in hand, and if he happens to be watching Nalin play some horrendous chess there will be a smile on his face. 

 

Thank you for the memories John and God Bless.

 

 

Chess and COVID-19

The Rugby Workers Club has closed its doors in line with the governmental recommendations for tackling Covid-19. Both leagues in which we compete had already cancelled further matches and the league AGM arrangements are on standby until we know more. Other clubs (including Coventry Chess Club - which was due to start its summer tournament at end of March) are closed for now.

For juniors the news about the 2020 UK Chess Challenge is that this will now no longer happen in May and is likely to happen (at earliest) in September. You can find out more and sign up for email alerts on the deLancey website (LINK).

These are vary uncertain times and I hope that every one of our members, their families, members of other clubs and Rugby Workers Club staff and members can stay healthy. I will keep in touch by email when there is any news and hope that we might find some amusement in online chess until we can meet in person again.

Rugby Chess Club cancelled our last meeting (16th March) and you should assume that unless you hear otherwise via the Rugby Chess email list, meetings in April and May will not now go ahead. Hope to see you again soon and STAY SAFE PLEASE.

Warwickshire Congress 2020

The Warwickshire Congress is being held on 21st – 23rd February 2020.

Venue: Citrus Hotel Ryton on Dunsmore, Coventry.

Open, U1975, U140 and U110 sections.

Free entry for first 20 female entries.

Entry form and online entry through http://congress.warwickshirechess.org/

Graham Lightfoot - RIP

Very sad news. On Wednesday 4th December 2019, past Secretary of Rugby Chess Club Graham Lightfoot died. Graham was club secretary from about 1968 to 1999 and made a big impression in taking forward competitive chess in this club during that time. His most remarkable achievement was to steer the club to a win against Cambridge and then Oxford Universities in 1982 making RCC national club champions.

The team included two young men who went on to become chess grandmasters (Mark Hebden and Keith Arkell) and also included current Club President Bob Wildig. Graham accompanied the team when they went to the USSR to represent English chess the following year. Ben Gaff (Leamington League Chair) writing about the 100 year history of the Coventry & District Chess League recently (Dec 2019, Chess magazine) described this as perhaps the most stunning achievement in the league's history.

This was at a time when soviet chess was a very serious business and the match against Moscow Chess Club was a huge event. Graham is pictured at this event (seated right) with a decidedly serious expression.

Graham's family have extended an invitation to his funeral and wake - an opportunity to celebrate Graham's life. This will be on Monday 23rd December at 2pm at Rainsbrook Cemetery (Avon Room) & Crematorium and afterwards at The Railway Club (which was where RCC used to meet). 

Family flowers only please. Donations in memory of Graham for the Alzheimer's Society may be sent to Walton & Taylor Funeral Directors,
16 Railway Terrace Rugby, CV21 3EW, telephone 01788 543008. www.waltonandtaylor.co.uk/donate

Please email the club if you need directions or further information.  (Obituary in Rugby Advertiser where you can leave online comments is here).

End of pre-season results - thanks for taking part

Malcolm sends this report on the final two rounds of the 2nd RCC pre-season tournamet. As you can see newcomer Francis emerged as a clear winner.

Thank you to all who took part, and especially Malcolm for running the contest. We trust you all enjoyed the evet and that it may have helped limber you up for the coming season. Malcolm reckons it had had that effect for him, he started with a win and two draws in the first 3 Leamington League matches.

REPORT & RESULTS:

This round started with Francis just ahead of Chris Badley, Mike Johnson & Simon Turner, with six players a further point back, waiting to pounce.

Francis played Chris, and continued his serene progress. Neither Simon nor Jim were able to join us, so Malcolm was re-paired with Mike Johnson, and was pleased to break his duck when his pawns managed to invade Mike's posititon.

Ganesh beat Petar, Dave beat John, Nicola beat Chris P and Vassily will have been pleased to follow up his win against Malcolm with a draw against Bob.

This gave Francis the luxury of knowing he'd won the Tournament with a round to spare. Nevertheless, he kept his run going with a win against Mike, our visitor from Coventry, who we'd been pleased to welcome. Ganesh beat Nicola, and Chris B beat Vassily to join Simon equal 2nd behind Francis on 4 points.

John beat Petar, Bob beat Dave, and Malcolm beat Chris P giving the final table, LINK.

Pre-Season Tournament kicks off

Malcolm Harding has organised a pre-season tournament for the club for the second year. This takes place on 2nd, 9th and 23rd September. We have 15 contestants and were really pleased to welcome three new club members: Ganesh, Francis and Vasilly. We also had a visiting competitor - Mike Johnson - CDCL President and LDCL Secretary.

In the lead on this first evening, after two games, are Mike Johnson and Chris Badley. Well done and we look forward to some more interesting and friendly games on 9th and 23rd. Good luck to all players for the next four matches.

Bob Wildig Summer Simul: Action shots!

Bob Wildig agreed to do a simul against club members at our 5th August meeting and here are some shots of the action. We were able to field 10 opponents, including newest club member Dan. Chris, Phill and Martin were observers.

First to fall was Brian, who looked remarkably happy - great to see him at chess again after a break. Second to be knocked out was John who was followed by the only win of the evening or black - Nigel. Great work.

Jamie, Dan and Dave all lost and Petar and Stephen accepted draws. This left Chris (who lost) and Simon who acheived a draw - with many spectators watching by that stage. There were some surprises here as Bob points out: 'I was surprised when I beat Jamie who I would struggle to beat in a normal game. I think Jamie was being very adventurous and nearly broke through anyway!  It was a very interesting game just like the one I played against Simon next to it.'

Bob has agreed to do this again and everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves, so perhaps a summer simul can be a regular part of our calendar. (Next meeting is 19 August).

Pre-Season Tournament (2nd, 9th and 23rd September)

Malcolm Harding is again running a pre-season tournament at the club over three Monday evenings in September. We expect to be in the ballroom so plenty of space to invite other chess clubs along (our opponents in the Coventry (CDCL) and Leamington (LDCL) leagues). The basic informaion is given below. This page (Link) gives Malcolm's contact details and contains further information, including about requesting byes if you cannot attend some dates. So don't be deterred if you can't make it to every meeting.

Six-round Swiss Tournament Rapid-play – all moves in 30 minutes for each player
There will be two rounds on each Monday, starting at 7.45pm & 9pm.
Please arrive by 7.30pm. 





The Rugby Workers Club, 32 Oliver Street, Rugby CV21 2ET., ballroom (see location info).

Clocks will be used but notation of the game is optional.
Not graded but there is a trophy!!

Entries should be made to Malcolm Harding before 7.30pm on Monday 2nd September. (There is also provision for late entries).

OPEN AIR CHESS at RUGBY FESTIVAL OF CULTURE

For the second year Rugby Chess Club players are setting up in the sunshine* to play some open air chess with each other and members of the public, as part of Rugby's Festival of Culture activities.

Here are some photos from last Saturday (6th July). On 13th July (10-1.30) we were be in the same place - outside St Andrew's Church in central Rugby. If you know how to play chess come and have a game or so. You don't have to be a grandmaster to play us (honest).

(* on Saturday rain stopped play at 1pm, but forecasts for next Saturday show no rain at all. So hope we can stay outside for the whole time).

RCC at CDCL Centenary Rapidplay

On Sunday 27th January several Rugby Chess Club players travelled to Coventry to play in the Coventry and District Chess League (CDCL) Centenary Rapidplay.

Six games saw our ten RCC players (Simon Turner, Patrick Reid, Paul Colburn, James (Jamie) Kearney, John Hall, Steve Walley, Dave Riley, Petar Dimitrov, Chris Badley and Jonty Male) pitted against some strong opponents.

The competition attracted over 100 players (a wonderful target for the CDCL organisers to reach at the start of its 100th year).

High points for RCC  included a game against GM Mark Hebden by James pictured above. In terms of final results in the Open category Patrick won 4 games to finish 9th and win the u185 prize, slightly ahead of fellow Rugby A team players Simon Turner (11th with 3.5 points) and Paul Colburn (3 points). James finished 28th with 2 points (win and two draws) gained against much higher rated opponents.

We did not expect any of our players to be in the Major section (110-145 rated) but Petar Dimitrov found himself entered into this section in error and acquitted himself well, finishing 25th (2 points). As usual he was playing fast games - his win against his last opponent with 15 mins still on the clock.

Five players entered the Minor section, including junior Jonathan (Jonty) Male. For most this was their very first chess tournament. David Riley performed strongly - four wins (finishing 12th). John Hall also had a good day with 3.5 points (including 3 draws so only one game lost). Steve Walley and Chris Badley both won 2 points and Jonathan 1 point - with both Chris and Steve playing and winning against Jonathan there was an element of Good News: Bad News in some of these results.

Several of the our players are caught in action below.  An enjoyable contest. Congratulations to the league and many thanks to Hok Chui the organiser and others on the CDCL team who made this happen.  (Tournament results are at http://chess-results.com/tnr410734.aspx)

 

Register and play in the CDCL Centenary Rapidplay - 27th January 2019

The 2019/20 season will mark the 100th anniversary of the Coventry and District Chess League.
The league are organising a 100th anniversary Rapidplay event on Sunday 27th January in Coventry as part of its celebrations. Rugby as one of the clubs competing in CDCL will be sending some of its players so look out for us there.

You can find out more by clicking on the natty Centenary CDCL logo below.
(Includes links to online entry form).  Please spread the word.

Winner of pre-season trophy is one of our new club members

Twelve players took part in the 2018 Rugby Chess Club pre-season tournament, playing six matches over three Mondays in September. On yesterday's club night Bob Wildig, Club President, presented the Barry Ades Memorial Cup to the winner of the tournament, Petar Dimitrov.

Petar is joined in this photograph by other new players (left to right: David Ellis, Dave Riley and Chris Badley) and team captain Steve Walley. All four will be playing for Rugby Chess Club teams, including Steve's during the 2018/19 season. All four new players show great promise and performed well in the contest.

 Many thanks to all players who took part in the tournament and to Malcolm Harding (RCC Chair) for organising such an enjoyable event.

Sunshine and Chess continued ...

We enjoyed sunshine and chess as part of Rugby Festival of Culture on each of the past three Saturdays.

Here are some photographs from each of the events.  Thank you to everyone who took part and all our visitors. Some of whom we hope to see again.

Click on image to expand.

Rugby Festival of Culture - Open Air Chess (30 June, 7th & 14th June)

Chess in the sunshine - what could be better? On Saturday 30th June the Rugby Chess Club held what may have been its first open air chess event. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to help and came along to play. We had eight Rugby Chess members and the event was so well attended that Phill had to hot foot it to the Rugby Workers Club to bring back some extra chess sets.

Bob poised to teach the Mayor a chess move or two
(Picture source: https://twitter.com/therugbytown)

One of the first on the scene was Rugby Lord Mayor Tom Mahoney pictured below with Bob Wildig our President. We had many more visitors after this, both juniors and adults. One adult (who was not a chess player but had taught chess at Ernesford Grange School many years ago) was so taken by the scene that she set about sketching the players.

Portrait of RCC players by an unknown artist.
Click picture to enlarge.

We will be meeting for more open air chess at John Lees Memorial Gardens from 11-2 on Saturday 7th July and then back to our original spot outside St Andrews Church on 14th July (same time). Come and join us and enjoy some open air chess.

Thank you to the Rugby Festival of Culture organisers (especially Chris, Emma and Aftab) for offering us these spots, and also thank you to the very helpful people at St Andrews and John Lees Hall (particularly Amber, Pauline and the man with the duct tape). Here's hoping the glorious weather continues.

https://www.therugbytown.co.uk/festivalofculture

End of season - Leamington League successes for the club

Simon Turner (left) recieves Division 2 winners trophy
from Ben Graff (LDCL chair)

The Leamington and District Chess League ended in May and the LDCL AGM was held at Olton Chess Club last week. Looking back through the website posts there is a slight sense of deja vu. Last year our LDCL team, led by Malcolm Harding, took home a trophy as winners of Division 4. Promoted to Division 3 for the 2017/18 season they came 3rd in that League, again Malcolm was captain. 

This year it was the turn of our new LDCL Team (Rugby A) to take home a trophy. This team won Division 2 and Simon Turner (Team Captain) is pictured here receiving the award from Ben Graff (LDCL Chair). Ben commented on the success of this team in coming top of the division and being promoted to Division 1 in only one season. 

Fingers crossed for yet more impressive performances from these teams in the 2018/19 season.

Congress Success Congratulations to Jamie and Patrick

While most of us were happy to stay indoors and out of the snow last weekend, and some members had no choice in the matter, Jamie and Patrick managed to get to Coventry and take part in the 2018 Warwickshire Chess Congress over the weekend.

Patrick and Jamie shared second play in the Major with Andrew Price of Leamington, 3.5 points each. In Round 3 the results of a Jamie-Patrick head to head was a draw. Dave Ireland (Coventry) took first place with 4 points - so very close. Well done.

Detailed results are online here.

Irresistible picture called 'Artic Chess' is by  'SpeedWayStar' CC:BY NC SA https://www.flickr.com/photos/speedwaystar/403370422

Warwick University Rapidplay, Sat 3rd Feb (Congrats to David and Alan)

David and Alan Phillips took part in the Warwick University on Saturday. They had a really good day ...

David came joint third with 4.5 out of 7 and a grading performance of 180. His wins included one against a female FM and various other high graded players. He also drew with Ben Purton - graded 205.

Alan had a slow start (0 out of 2 for his first matches). However he then drew with Louise Head - English Women's champion - in what he describes as 'probably the best game I have ever played'. With 3.5 out of the final 4 rounds for a total of 4 out of 7 Alan won the grading prize.  Fantastic performances and very well done. 

Congratulations also to the organisers for what was not only a well organised event but great fun. Alan and David would recommend this event to anyone - especially as they hand out 100% of the entry fees in prizes !  

Rounding off the year with our Winter Handicap Chess Tournament.

Photo by HeyDere (CC: BY NC Flickr)

Our last match before the end of year has now been played. Our last meeting was Monday with a four way split of first place in the mini-tournament between Simon, Jamie, David and Nicola. (Simon won the prize on a card draw - free entry to next's Warwickshire Chess Championship in May.)

Bob (President) came along to confer festive greetings on us all, Nigel (Chair) organised the handicapping and ran the tournament, Chris distributed puzzles and sweets. Sadly there was only one Christmas sweater in play (Nalin we missed you!). Thank you to everyone who played. Particular congratulations to Tom and Jonty who had not played in tournaments before and are very new members of the club.

Just to remind you that the next club meeting will be on 15th January 2018 (as 1st January is a Bank Holiday).  Hope to see you then,meanwhile happy holidays everyone.