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Status Reports
Status: Chess (2018 - December)
(Text as at 06/01/2019 23:36:58)
(For earlier versions of this Note, see the table at the end)
Rationale for this Project- For years I’ve been thinking of returning to chess after a very long lay-off; effectively since my school days. Now, it seems, I’ve actually done so.
- For my background as a chess-player at school – where I showed some aptitude – and early adulthood see Theo Todman's Chess Background1.
- An incentive to return to the game is that my brother-in-law2 runs the Albany Club in the Middlesex and London Leagues and he’s keen for me to play, though doing so would involve rather a slog in travelling back and forth.
- Also, one of my former Bridge partners might also be thinking of returning to Chess, now that he’s retired, having been of a similar standard to me, though having played more recently3.
- I have to admit that the chess scene in Billericay initially seemed somewhat unexciting4. However, I’ve now joined the Billericay Chess Club, which I’ve found very welcoming, and also the ECF, so I can get graded5. I intend to play – as and when selected – in the NECL Division 36 for the Billericay B team, for the Billericay I Team in Southend & District Chess League and in the BCC Club Championship, and have made a decent start in all three.
- Follow these links for various websites associated with the national & local chess scene:-
→ ECF: English Chess Federation,
→ Essex Chess,
→ North Essex Chess League,
→ Southend & District Chess League and
→ Billericay Chess Club.
Summary of Progress during October - December 2018- I spent 87 hours in 4Q18 on this Project, or related work (87 hours YTD, where for "YTD" - Year to Date - I mean the (academic) year that commenced in October 2018). That's 111.5% of the planned effort (111.5% YTD). Overall, 14.6% of my Project effort in the Quarter was directed towards this project (making 14.6% YTD) - as against 11.1% planned (11.1% YTD).
- As can be seen, I exceeded the amount of time scheduled for this project, though not to the degree I used to as a Bridge player.
- Time was split fairly sensibly between playing the game and undertaking the study needed to improve.
- Progress (if any) in the last quarter can be obtained from the relevant section of my Summary Task List7.
Chess (Total Hours = 87)- Chess - Reading / Writing (Total Hours = 4.75)
- Chess - Admin (Total Hours = 22.75)
- "Chess" Chess Clock: Fixed rocker mechanism (0.25 hours)
- 18Q3 Status Reports (2.75 hours)
- Billericay Chess Club: Communications, Admin, etc. (17 hours)
- Chess - Discussions with Chris (1 hour)
- DGT XL Chess Clock: Reading User Manual (0.75 hours)
- PQ99075 Chess Clock: Reading User Manual (0.25 hours)
- Purchase chess set for home matches (0.75 hours)
→ See "Chess - Chess - Admin" (22.75 hours)
- Chess - Play (Total Hours = 29.75)
- Chess - Billericay Chess Club - Christmas Teams & Blitz games (4.25 hours)
- Chess - Billericay Chess Club - Club Championship (12 hours)
- Chess - Billericay Chess Club - Club Nights (2.75 hours)
- Chess - Billericay Chess Club - NECL Match (3 hours)
- Chess - Billericay Chess Club - Southend League Match (7.75 hours)
→ See "Chess - Chess - Playing" (29.75 hours)
- Chess - Study (Total Hours = 16.5)
- Chess - Training (Total Hours = 13.25)
- Chess - Training - Mephisto Monte Carlo (1 hour)
- Chess - Training - Mephisto Monte Carlo - Review Games (0.25 hours)
- Chess - Training - Review Club games (12 hours)
→ See "Chess - Chess - Training" (13.25 hours)
Plans for the Near Future:
Summary of Progress to Date (since October 2018)
- I intend to provide statistics similar to those for Bridge8, but will wait to see what comes “free” with The ECF Grading Database.
- Enough for now to say that in 4Q18 I played 7 gradable games – two in the Southend League Division 1, one in the NECL Division 3, and four in the Billericay Club Championship, winning 4 and drawing 3 for an average rating of 145 which will hopefully be confirmed by the ECF by the end of January 2019 if the admin goes through OK.
In-Page Footnotes:
Footnote 2: Footnote 3: - Though not sufficiently recently to appear on the ECF database (unless he should be the Colin Scott who played for Thurrock between 1994 and 2002, rated 124 dropping to 106, which isn’t what he told me!).
Footnote 4: - I visited Billericay Chess Club on 6th April 2011. There was a club match, so I couldn’t play any of the better players, but played a rather sad young man who hadn’t make the cut. It was interesting to see how rusty I was, though I won all four games. I had a chat with one of the committee-members afterwards, and left my email address. I didn’t hear back. However, I’ve recently (July 2018) made contact again and am now a fully signed-up and enthusiastic member.
- The Billericay Club has an excellent website: see Billericay Chess Club. It went into a hiatus November 2017 as its webmaster was busy, but now seems to have revived.
- The club meets on Wednesdays at 19:30, now at Anisha Grange, though not in the summer months.
- The website describes the club as having 11 active members with teams in the North Essex and Southend & District Leagues.
- The club is not very strong: see the link on the NECL site (NECL: Billericay).
- At one time there was an IM (Richard Pert – BCF: Richard Pert, FIDE: Richard Pert; twin brother of GM Nick Pert (Wikipedia: Nick Pert); main club Wood Green) rather loosely connected to the club by the look of things – but he’s no longer listed. The NECL site for 2017/8 listed a couple of Junior Perts; a family connection – as is confirmed by the BCF link above. However, they’ve shift allegiance to get more games.
Footnote 5: - But I don’t intend to get obsessed with gradings, but just want to play well and enjoy the game.
Footnote 6: - And possibly for the A Team in Division 2, but as the teams in the NECL are only 4 players, this may be a rare event until I get an ECF rating.
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