The latest BCCA magazine (CC196) is currently being posted to members. The all-important Membership Renewal form is enclosed so that you can choose your tournaments for next season. There are other articles by EP Nettles, M Donnelly, J Corfield, M Read, R Burridge as well as the usual columns by Ian Watson & Hamilton McMillan. Extra copies are available at a cost of £3.00 each.

Editor Neil Limbert & Production Assistant Graham Pattrick are now retiring from their magazine roles after over a decade of involvement. The new magazine Editor will be Russell Sherwood whose first Issue will be in September. We wish Russell well in his new role!

Mark Eldridge is the new BCCA Champion after winning the 2015/6 William Mason Championship Final. Congratulations to Mark! There is still one game ongoing in the Final but Mark cannot be caught: the crosstable can be seen here: https://www.iccf.com/event?id=55374

Members can now renew their membership (or new members can join) & enter tournaments for the 2016/7 season. Membership lasts until 31 August 2017. Full details of all the tournaments will be found in the Summer magazine: this is currently still at the printers but I hope to be able to post it to members within the next couple of weeks. However, if you already know which tournaments you want to enter, you can renew straight away!

Membership Renewal for current members.

Join BCCA for new members.

When you have completed the application or renewal form you will then be taken to the ‘Payment Page’ to pay your membership & enter your tournaments. for 2016/17 Thank you!

BCCA has crushed the Australian Kangaroos by a score of 35-17 in our match which began in 2015. The match was played over 26 boards & the full crosstable and games can be seen here: https://www.iccf.com/event?id=54073 Well played to all the players involved!

Ron Cooper has become the 19th BCCA member to be awarded the BCCA Candidate Master (CM) Title. Ron obtained the necessary 20 CM points by winning, or jointly winning, eight different Class 1 & Class 2 Trio events over a period of almost 5 years. This shows the value of playing in the BCCA Trio tournaments & well done to Ron for his perseverance & skill!

The full list of BCCA Title holders can be found here: http://www.bccachess.org/members/bcca-titles-within-reach-of-every-player/current-title-holders-and-year-awarded/

The full list of current BCCA Title Points awarded (to players who haven’t yet been awarded the Title) can be seen here: http://www.bccachess.org/members/bcca-titles-within-reach-of-every-player/title-points-awarded/

The latest issue of the BCCA magazine Correspondence Chess (CC195) has been posted out to members & subscribers over the last few days. As well as the usual Results, Match Reports & other News, we have articles from Tim Harding, Ian Watson, Mike Read, Julian Corfield, Mike Donnelly, Richard Dixon & Hamilton McMillan.

Additional copies can be obtained from Neil Limbert at a cost of £3.00 (UK) & £4.50 overseas. The full list of Back Issues available can be seen here: http://www.bccachess.org/magazine/chess-magazine/

It has been a good month for the Sherwood family! Following Russell’s success in an ICCF Master Class (see previous News Item), Helen Sherwood has won the Hessel Visser Memorial tournament organised by the Dutch federation. The crosstable can be seen here: https://www.iccf.com/event?id=50496 Although there are still a few games remaining in the tournament, Helen’s score of 9/12 (with 6 wins) cannot be surpassed. Well played Helen! There are four BCCA members altogether in the tournament with Dawn Williamson & Ian Jones currently occupying 2nd & 3rd place! Gary Maguire could join them as he still has three games remaining.

BCCA member Russell Sherwood has won ICCF Master Class Tournament WS/M/498 with a score of 7/10. See: https://www.iccf.com/event?id=45493 Master Class events are very difficult tournaments to win – well played Russell!

The BCCA Diamonds have won the 1st Division of the Scottish CCA Webserver League.  The 4-player team of Brian Thompson (4/6), Ian Mason 3.5/6, Jim Wilkinson (4/6) and Gary Maguire (5/6) all played their part in securing a comfortable tournament victory. The team crosstable can be seen here: https://www.iccf.com/event?id=50656  Well played all!

After 13 months of play, the Donald Rodford Memorial has just finished. 34 players started play in late November 2014 with each player playing 8 games (pairings on the Italian system). The final score table can be seen here (change the “Show … entries” to 50 to see the full list of players) and you can see that five players all managed 6 points with 4 wins apiece. It was therefore necessary to go to the 2nd tie-break of Buchholz score (sum of opponents scores) and Mark Eldridge is declared the winner! Congratulations to Mark. He wins the Regency Chess Set & £80 in prize money. 2nd place is Tim Harding who wins £60. In joint 3rd place are Les Ellis & Leslie Eastoe who win £30 each. In 5th place is Philip Tolhurst who wins £10.

A big thank you to all the players for taking part in memory of Donald Rodford.