League Championships

Team Knock-Outs

Individual Championships

Bristol Team contact details: David Buckley (Manager)
21 Shakespeare Avenue, Bath BA2 4RF

Tel: (01225) 335669 (H) or  (07742) 518374 (mobile)
david_buckley@hotmail.com

www.4ncl.co.uk/0910_dates.htm ( venues for 2009-10 season )

Division 1 Championship Pool tables

Division 1 Demotion Pool tables

After 7 rounds, the top 4 teams in each preliminary pool qualify for the final championship pool. At the end of the season 4 teams will be relegated.

Division 2 Championship Pool tables

Division 2 Demotion Pool tables

After 7 rounds, the top 4 teams in each preliminary pool qualify for the final championship pool. At the end of the season 4 teams will be relegated.

Division 3 table

The League is organising two closed tournaments, the traditional League Congress and a one-day Rapidplay.  They are open only to members of League clubs and affiliated organisations.

The 33rd League Congress

The League’s Individual Championships will be decided at our annual weekend Congress at the start of 2010. There will be a number of sections, to be determined. There will be a trophy and cash prizes for each section.

The tournament will be a five-round Swiss with rounds on Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday morning and afternoon. The rate of play is normally 40 moves in 100 minutes, followed by a 20 minute quickplay finish. This is an ideal first tournament for inexperienced players.

The 15^th League Rapidplay

This will be a six round Swiss in either two or three sections, with all moves in 25 minutes. Games will not be graded.

The Bristol Open Tournaments

There will be an Open congress, on the weekend of 4^th-6^th December. This will be a five round Swiss, probably with three sections. A British Championship Qualifying Place will be awarded at this event, allocated by WECU.  There will also be a Congress in July or August 2010, which will incorporate the Steve Boniface Memorial Tournament.

Entry forms for all these tournaments will be sent to club secretaries during the season and will be available on the website. The contact is the Congress Secretary,

Graham Mill-Wilson, 8 Lyndale Road, Yate, Bristol, BS37 4DD

Phone 0753 4453634 or email tugmw@blueyonder.co.uk

Qualification for the title of ECF Arbiter consists of passing a formal written examination with a score of 80% or greater. The syllabus includes knowledge of, and ability to apply, the Laws of Chess, pairing rules, speed chess regulations, and various administrative functions. The full details are in the current ECF yearbook. In addition, the candidate must show ability to apply the theory in practice, and have performed to a satisfactory level at several tournaments.

From time to time, training courses are held in the Bristol area to prepare students for qualification. In addition, the Chess Arbiters' Association exists to support and encourage new and existing members.

The following are recognised ECF Arbiters:

The following have passed the ECF Arbiter Examination:

This year’s Handbook was a joint effort between several League Officers: Graham Mill-Wilson, John Paines, Dave Tipper, Peter Saunders, Roger Williams and Geoff Gammon.

Thanks also go to our printers, Regent Lazerprint.

The full rules of the League are given at the back of this Handbook. This table is extracted from those rules.

The League allows players flexibility in “playing up”, and the option for some players to “play down”.

Rule 6.3 has the following effects:

    a) Whichever team you are registered for, you may play up as many times as you wish for higher teams in your club.

b) Graded players only - If you are registered for a team but are below the grading threshold for a lower team in your club, you may play as many times as you wish for that lower team.

c) However where the lower team is in the same division as the team for which you are registered, the grading threshold applicable is that for the division immediately below (hence the inclusion of “Division 5” in the table below).

d) If you are playing down to a division where your club has more than one team competing, you may only play for one of the less senior of those teams if your grade is also below the threshold for playing down within that division (see point c above and Rule 6.3g).

“A fuller explanation with examples can be found on the League website”

Ungraded players must be used in a team appropriate to their perceived playing strength. The LMC may impose a penalty if this condition is abused.

The grading thresholds for playing down to the four divisions in the 2009-10 season are:

After the bumper season of last year it was inevitable that the only way was down and this was indeed the case. With the number of participating events down by 25% the contributions from those events is correspondingly lower and totals £274.00. I have been able to supplement this from the small reserves in the a/c and the Prize Fund stands at £ 300.00 which I believe is a realistic amount to support 14 prizes.

Nine events subscribed to the Grand Prix this year and of those four were League based and five were Club based and my thanks to the organizers, both for running the events and for including them in the Grand Prix.

Over the year 110 League members from 20 clubs and schools (this is up from 18 in 07/08) competed in the nine events on 258 occasions scoring a total of 4,563 Grand Prix points. Seven players scored 100 points or more.

The Prizewinners are as follows

          Open                     1^st      Dominic Bennett              Clifton                   £40.00

                                      2^nd     Ed Varley                       Downend               £20.00

                                      3^rd      Chris Beaumont              Clifton                   £10.00

          Major                    1^st      Geoff Gammon               Downend              £40.00

                                      2^nd     Simon Denney                 Bristol Univ. £20.00

                                      3^rd      Patrick Flexman              Grendel                 £10.00

          Intermediate           1^st      Graham Mill-Wilson        Yate                      £40.00

                                      2^nd     David Woodruff              Keynsham             £20.00

                                      3^rd      Patrick Sartain                 Keynsham             £10.00

          Minor                    1^st      Graham Strickland           Horfield                 £40.00

                                      2^nd     Michael Meadows            Bristol Univ. £20.00

                                      3^rd      Philip Burnett                  Grendel                 £10.00

          Junior                    1^st      Matthew Wilson              Downend               £5.00 + Trophy

          Team                    1^st      Bristol & Clifton                                          £15.00

The format will change in the 2009-2010 season with specific grading bands replacing the present more general section headings. These bands will be amended appropriately when the new gradings become active. 

Anyone wishing to register an event should contact me on   0117 983 0858  

email:  geoffgammon@yahoo.co.uk      

Geoff Gammon     ( Grand Prix Secretary )

League Knockout 2009 -2010

Quarter Finals

Clifton v Downend                                   Wed 02/12/09

Clevedon v Bath                                        Mon  30/11/09

Horfield v Yate                                         Tue   01/12/09

Keynsham v South Bristol                        Wed  02/12/09

Semi Final     15/02/10 – 19/-2/10

    Final    03/05/10 – 07/05/10

Minor League Knockout 2009 -2010

Clifton v Clevedon   ( First Round )        Wed 30/09/09    

Quarter Finals

Keynsham v Clifton / Clevedon               Wed 11/11/09

Horfield v South Bristol                           Tue  10/11/09

Yate v Downend                              Tue  10/11/09

Grendel v Hanham                                    Tue  10/11/09

Semi Final     25/01/10 – 29/01/10

Final    26/04/10 –30/04/10