Chess In Libraries

Nigel Hancock of Alsager Chess Club has continued to use the opportunity available from Chess in Schools and Communities to further his local library initiative.

Sets were first provided at Sandbach and the sessions are ongoing with the continued support from Neil Hankey.

Alsager followed some five weeks ago and Tunstall began on Friday 22nd September with a 2-4.30pm timing. The fourth library hosting chess will be Kidsgrove from Saturday 7th October from 9.30-12pm. 

These sessions are free of charge and are open to people of all age groups and abilities.

The library authorities clearly see the benefits of chess to all age groups (including tackling loneliness in the older generations).

For further information please contact Nigel on 07955 827051 or by email - nigeljhancock55@gmail.com.

Alternatively, you can contact Neil Hankey on 07747 651145 or by email - hankey.neil@gmail.com, or Andrew Crosby on 07591 493839 or by email - atcrosby@icloud.com.

Charity Simultaneous Exhibition

FIDE Master Jonathan Blackburn will be giving a simuktaneous exhibition, in aid of the British Red Cross, on Tuesday 26th September at Alsager Chess Club. The entry fee will be £5 and it is open to all NSDCA players. For further information, please contact Jonathan by email - jonathan.blackburn1985@gmail.com. 

Newcastle-Under-Lyme Invitation Championship

The final results of the recent Newcastle-Under-Lyme Invitation Championship have now been published. Many congratulations to Jacob Boswell of Cheddleton on finishing joint 1st, but actually winning it on tie break against an extremely strong field of players. Click here - for the results and final standings - https://chess-results.com/tnr798315.aspx?lan=1&art=4&flag=30.

Cheddleton & Leek Chess Club Golden Jubilee

Many congratulations to Cheddleton & Leek Chess Club on their Golden Jubilee. The Club was founded on the 9th August 1973 by Robert Milner, Phil Birks and Ashley Wood. To celebrate this milestone they are running a crazy chess tournament this Friday 11th August, starting at 19:30. This will be preceded by refreshments and brief speeches by the Mayor of Leek and Robert Milner. Representatives from all other NSDCA Clubs are invited to attend.

Newcastle-Under-Lyme Invitational Chess Championship

Jonathan Blackburn is organising the above tournament, which will be running from Wednesday 9th August to Sunday 13th August. Please follow this link fior the results - https://chess-results.com/tnr798315.aspx?lan=1&art=2&flag=30.

2023 AGM Minutes

The Minutes of the 2023 GM are now available to view here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XZTsXZ40JJzPKFzd7FzT3xJsMo0xMe9b/view?usp=sharing - or from the tab at the top of the page.

Staffordshire Junior Chess Championships

The Staffordshire Junior Chess Championships will be held on Sunday 19th November at the Co-Op Academy, Tunstall. Click here for full details and an online entry form - http://staffsjuniorchess.co.uk/.

Newcastle Junior Chess Tournament

A junior chess tournament is being held at Newcastle Bridge Club, 6 King Street, Newcastle, ST5 1EL. The tournament will be ECF rated and will consist of 2 sections - U11 and U18. Entry fee is £5, payable on the day. It is a 5 round Rapidplay tournament. Please contact Jonathan Blackburn - jonathan.blackburn1985@gmail.com or 07891 600114.

2023 AGM

The 2023 AGM was held at Meir on Monday evening. Several changes to both the Constitution and League Playimg Rules were made. These will be distributed by our new General Secretary, Neil Hankey, along with the Minutes of the Meeting, in due course.

There were a couple of changes to the NSDCA Officers, with Neil Hankey taking over from Robert West as General Secretary and Colin Abell taking over from Steve Emmerton as LMS Administrator. Steve will, however, continue as Webmaster. All relevant Contact Details have been updated on the NSDCA website.

We also welcomed a new Club to the league - Gables Chess Club, run by Chris Hankey.

Would all Clubs please notify Colin Abell, by the 31st August, how many teams they will be entering in the coming season, and the likely overall playing strength of each team, in terms of rating. Colin will then allocate Teams to Divisions, in the same way as we did last season. You do not need to let Colin know of your potential Cup Competition entries until the end of December, as the draw(s) for these will not be made until January.

ECF Player Profile

Your ECF Player Profile is accessed by clicking on your ECF code on the ECF Rating Database. Amongst other things, it shows your rating history from 2020, and all of your ratings (grades) going back to 1994. Grades were re-calibrated in July 2009. 

For more information on your Player Profile, and what the various items of information mean, please click here - 

https://www.ecfrating.org.uk/v2/help/help_profile.php