So far I have 49 entries for the 2016 Medal tournaments: 36 webserver & 13 postal.  The full list is below so, if you have already entered, your name should be there. I will accept entries up to January 31 so please considering entering if you haven’t already – only £3 for a webserver tournament & £2 for postal; an absolute bargain for both!

Webserver Entries as at 4 January:-

R Sherwood            810161       2346                                                                          B Thompson           210854       2339
H Sherwood           810202       2338
D Coyne                   211649        2329
K Kitson                   210569        2314
I Pheby                     210514        2281
A Sutton                  210709        2275
D Grobler               210847        2262
D Williamson       212314        2190
A Relyea                  514948       2171
A Sherwood           810212       2139                                                                           A Gardner              211403       2141
N Norman              210619        2138
E Campbell            620716        2120
C Cheek                  212453        2118
N Jefferson            210845      2077
R Rozanski            421439       2067
SW Thompson     211706      2049
A Reed                     210942       2040
W Lindberg           510398       2012
F McMahon           211460      1988
S Cole                       210447       1962
A Copsey                212104       1960
Y Sitorus                873066        1954
P Beckett               210454       1951
M Winter              211316        1940
S Smyth                  211569        1933
R Bruce                 212273         1883
B Wood                 211408         1868
P Morton              210477         1775
RD Picken            211815         1765
D Elwood             211643         1751
S Woodhouse    212334        1728
G Little                   212525        1567
A Knox                  629020         1545
C Neil                    211319          1497

Postal Entries as at January 4:-

S Cranmer         212058         2121
RHK Mann        210671         2092
R Dixon               210962         1969
P Phillips            210195         1967
P Beckett          210454          1951
JD Clapp            212144         1937
P Terry               212446         1887
P Morton          210477          1775
D Elwood          211643          1751
ADJ Smith        211336         1668
DK Toye            210966         1616
A Knox               629020         1545
C Neil                  211319         1497

BCCA member Tony Balshaw has been awarded the ICCF International Master (IM) Title after achieving three separate IM Norms. Congratulations to Tony!

Raymond Burridge has clinched victory in the 2015 Postal Gold Medal tournament.  He has scored 8 out of 9 with one game remaining – well played Raymond! He will receive an engraved Gold Medal in due course & is awarded 4 BCCA Master points. The full crosstable can be seen here (still 2 games ongoing): https://www.iccf.com/event?id=52165

Phill Beckett has become BCCA’s latest Candidate Master after accumulating 21 BCCA Candidate Master points.  His points were obtained in Trio tournaments, Medal tournaments & the BCCA Reserves. Congratulations to Phill!

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

Also, the current list of Title Points Awarded has been updated: http://www.bccachess.org/members/bcca-titles-within-reach-of-every-player/title-points-awarded/

Mark Smith has won the 2015 BCCA Webserver Bronze Medal Tournament No.2 by scoring a superb 12/12! Well played Mark. He is awarded a Bronze Medal & 5 Candidate Master points. 2nd place goes to Phill Beckett who is awarded 3 points. The full crosstable can be seen here: https://www.iccf.com/event?id=52164 where you will notice that only 9 games out of 78 played were drawn! Wonderful stuff.

Please remember that the 2016 Medal tournaments are now open for entry – all members invited! See the Yearbook for details.

BCCA member Helen Sherwood has reason for double celebrations.  She is now assured of 1st place in the 2015 BCCA Webserver Silver Medal tournament No.1. (see: https://www.iccf.com/event?id=52159 ) and will receive an engraved Silver Medal in due course. In addition, she has been awarded the ICCF Ladies International Master (LIM) Title after achieving two Norms. Congratulations to Helen!

The final game in this tournament has now finished. The final tournament table can be seen here:

http://www.bccachess.org/chesstournaments/paterson-rodford-memorials-start-dec-2014/

Change the “Show … entries” to show 50 entries. Then you can see the full table.

Congratulations to ERIC NETTLES for winning the tournament as the only player to score 8 out of 8 – well played! Eric has already received his prize.

There are four players on 7 points, all win 6 wins each, so it goes to the 2nd tie-break (Buccholz). The placings & prize-winners are:-

2nd: Helen Sherwood £60
3rd: Geoffrey Herbert £40
4th: Robert Rozanski £20                                                                                      5th: M Carter £10  

There were 5 players who finished on 6.5 who all played extremely well – Bob Bruce, Bill Clews, Colin Cheek, Sandy Smyth and Clive Mounsey.

I would like to thank you all for taking part in a very worthy tribute to the late Tom Paterson. And a big thank you to Dave Grobler for acting as Tournament Director.

There are currently 4 players tied at the top in the Donald Rodford Memorial. See:- Results There are still 8 games remaining in the tournament & there are two other players who could yet join them on 6 points. So it will go down to the tie-breaks! All the players have 4 wins (1st tie-break) so it goes to the 2nd tie-break (Bucholz) which is the sum of their opponent’s scores.  This figure will continue to alter as other players finish their games so we might not know the winner until the final game. Exciting stuff!

The BCCA Annual General Meeting took place on Saturday 17 October.  Stan Grayland was present to be presented with the Charters Trophy as BCCA Champion:

Stan Grayland                    Neil Limbert

BCCA member Austin Lockwood has achieved his 2nd ICCF International Master (IM ) Norm, whilst playing for Wales in the European Team Championship. Austin now needs one more Norm to earn the IM Title. Well played Austin!