And the results have been announced:

Open: Joint Winners GM Mattew Sadler and Richard Bates (4.5/5)
Major (U170): Winner Stephen Lewis (4/5), 2nd Ole Bay-Petersen (4/5)
Intermediate (U145): Winner Rich Wiltshir (4.5/5), 2nd Paul Walton (4/5)
​Minor (U120): Winner Abigail Weersing (Junior) (5/5)

Congratulations to Cambridgeshire Junior Abigail Weersing on a perfect 5/5.

Suffolk Juniors top performers were:

Open: Alex Sheerin (2.5/5)
Major (U170): Jaden Jermy (2/5)
Intermediate (U145): Tom Roy (1/5)
​Minor (U120): Rowan Kent (2.5/5)

​For full results, see here: Bury St Edmunds 2017 results

​And a special mention goes to... Shreyas Royal for 3.5/5 and a share of 3rd place in the Major section... at the age of 8!!!  Congratulations.
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Once again - CONGRATULATIONS to all the Suffolk juniors.

Today is the closing day of the 2017 Bury St Edmunds Chess Congress at The Apex Centre in Bury.  It has been a great event with 170 players of all standards - including England's No. 1 - Grand Master Matthew Sadler.

​At the end of day one, Suffolk's leading juniors were:

     Open Section: Alex Sheerin 1.5/3
​     Major (U170 grade): Adam John 1/3
     Inter (U145 grade): Tom Roy 1/3
​     Minor (U120 grade): Rowan Kent 1.5/3

Congratulations to these​ players and all the other Suffolk Juniors - this is a really tough tournament to enter - how many juniors have played in the same hall as the British Number 1?

Last Saturday (14th October) the Ipswich Junior Chess Club met as usual between 9.45 and 11.45am in the lecture hall at Ipswich County Library.  Numbers were slightly down, but 8 keen juniors met up to play chess and learn from Martin Tomes.

​They began with an hour or so of friendly chess games, and then as a group started looking at their 2 correspondence chess matches against Martlesham Junior Chess Club.  The Ipswich and Martlesham junior chess clubs have been playing correspondence chess for the last few weeks.  In these games, the clubs each make one move per game every week.  This move is then sent to the other club, who then plan and play their move when they next meet.  This is a great way for the players to discuss their match and plan their moves - and have a lot of fun. 

In one of the matches, the position is as shown below.  Ipswich are playing the white pieces, while Martlesham are playing the black pieces.

The game record is as follows:  e4, d5, e5, Nc6, d4, Bf5, f4, e6, Nf3.  Black to play - what would you play next?​

Martin and the club planning their next move against Martlesham.

This month, the Bury Knights are holding their 2017 Club Championship.  After 3 rounds, Adam John and Tom Roy are tied in first place, each having 3 points from 3 games.

​Last Friday, 32 players attended, with a number there for the first time.  It is always an enjoyable evening with lots of competitive and fun chess.  Pictured below are (clockwise from top left): Adam John playing Aaron Saenz in the club championships, the beginners section being instructed by Mario, one of the chess puzzles from the evening (can you solve it?), and some of the players in the regular leagues.

​The players are split into 4 divisions where they play opponents of similar ability and there is also a beginners group for players still learning the moves.  Coaching is also sometimes available for the top division.  Once players have been placed in a division, they will be quickly moved to another division as they improve.

The Bury Knights meet at Horringer Court Middle School every Friday night during term time between September and the end of March (they do not meet at Half Term) and is generally aimed at players between 5 and 13 years old, from total beginners who have never played, right through to players in the England squad.  If you would like to go along, contact Bob Jones - bobjoneschess@btinternet.com
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2 weeks ago, Suffolk Junior Chess were delighted to receive 400 chess sets which have been donated by Kaarlo Schepel and sent over from Holland.  There is also 50 chess demonstration boards and 24 digital chess clocks.

We are very grateful for this gift, which also includes around 50 magnetic chess demonstration boards and 24 chess clocks.  We have also been given lots of standard playing cards, with each card having a different chess opening position as the central image.

We have already given Birchwood Primary School 10 chess sets and a demonstration board, and we are now looking for more schools and chess clubs to support with chess equipment.

Thank you again to Kaarlo for this gift, and thank you to Adam Hunt for helping with the arrangements.

Congratulations to Dagne Ciuksyte on running the 1st Martlesham Heath Thematic Chess Tournament.  The tournament was a great success.

IM Adam Hunt won the Open Section with a perfect 5/5.
In the Minor Section, 8 year old Tommy Karpanos from Cambridge also won with a perfect 5/5.

The results were as follows:

Open Section
1st Adam Hunt 5/5
2nd equal Peter Gemmell 3.5/5
2nd equal Stephen Gregory 3.5/5

Minor Section (U75 grade)
1st Tommy Karpanos (Cambridge) 5/5
2nd equal Isaac Kim 4.5/5
2nd equal Jenni Rochford 4.5/5

The next two Martlesham Heath Thematic Chess tournaments are as follows:

Saturday 21st October:       2nd Martlesham Heath Thematic Chess Tournament
Nimzo-Indian Defence: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4
Download the entry form here

Saturday 16th December:   3rd Martlesham Heath Thematic Chess Tournament
Scicilian Defence Scheveningen variation 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6
Download the entry form here