The quarterly BCCA magazine (CC190 Summer 2014) has started to be despatched today incorporating your annual Membership Renewal form. So the online Membership Renewal is now available with immediate effect and the Annual tournaments have been opened up for entry. It is recommended that members wait for the magazine to see the full list of tournaments on offer before renewing online, but options include free entry to the Rodford/Paterson Memorials (starting December 2014) & open to all members. Prizes increased for the BCCA Championship! We look forward to receiving your Membership Renewal in due course.

The BCCA will be entering an 8-player team in the inaugural Welsh CC Team tournament starting at the beginning of July. We already have 3 players from Wales so we need 5 more: do you want to play? Entry is free, and each player will have between 4 to 8 games each, depending on the number of teams. Time Control 10/50. Anyone wishing to play should e-mail Neil Limbert before June 1st. If more than 5 players apply, a selection process will be undertaken.

David Coyne has won the 2013/4 BCCA Postal Championship with an excellent score of 8.5/10 – well played David! The crosstable can be seen here: http://www.iccf.com/event?id=39737

David wins £40 prize money & an engraved Shield courtesy of sponsorship from Raymond Burridge.

As an added bonus, the 6 BCCA Master points earned by this victory take David past the 20-point barrier. So he is also now awarded the BCCA Master Title – double congratulations!

Tournament Controller Fred Clough has provided the following update for the 2013/14 Gambit & Counter-Gambit tournaments:-

Gambit (Post/e-mail): Gallimore 9 (1)= Winner. Congratulations! Cranmer 6.5 (1) Wright 5.5 (3) Crawshaw 0 (4), Neil 0 (4), Olson 0 (4)
Gambit (e-mail): Douglass 4 (0), Cook 3.5 (2), Tibbert 2.5 (0),Olson 0 (2)
Counter-Gambit (e-mail): Gallimore 1.5(2) Cook 0.5 (2), Tibbert 0 (4).

BCCA Member Peter Catt won the British Championship Final 2012-14. Today he was presented with the Hollis Trophy as Champion – well done Peter! The Hollis Trophy was donated to the BCCA in 1953 by former BCCA General Secretary Mrs BG Hollis.

The 2013/4 Reserves B (of the BCCA Championship, Candidates & Reserves) has now finished and the final table can be viewed at:-http://www.iccf.com/event?id=39732  Congratulations to Phill Beckett for winning the group (earning 4 BCCA Candidate Master points), and Raymond Burridge for finishing 2nd. Both players qualify to play in the Candidates next season.

BCCA Team Captain Barry Hampton has added his latest updates here:- http://www.bccachess.org/teams/home-and-overseas-match-update/  Of particular interest is our ongoing game against CCLA Australia which is heading for an exciting finish. You can view this match & games here: http://www.iccf.com/event?id=39363 The Aussies are happy for a rematch in September whatever the result.

BCCA member Andrew Dearnley has achieved his 2nd IM Norm in the BFCC Golden Jubilee B http://www.iccf.com/event?id=32136 , to add to his first IM Norm achieved in 2008 in the 35 years Cuban anniversary event http://www.iccf.com/event?id=11889 and has now qualified for the ICCF IM (International Master) Title.

Congratulations to Andrew! All players will know how hard it is to achieve such a Title even without the added burden of all the volunteer work Andrew does on behalf of the CC community. (England International Secretary / ICCF Marketing Director / BCCA Executive Committee member) Well played!

BCCA member Peter Catt has won the 2012/14 British Championship – congratulations to Peter! A truly impressive & dominant performance in the Final has seen him score 9½/13 (with one game ongoing as I type these notes) with 6 wins and no defeats. 5 of his wins came with the white pieces and one with black; so only 2 players could manage a draw against him with the black pieces. Also, the 12 BCCA Master points awarded for this win take Peter to 20 BM points & is so awarded the BCCA Master Title. Double congratulations!

Andy Lindop has started 2014 in style. He has registered his 8th win in the 2013 postal Silver Medal tournament taking his total to 9/10. Even with 2 games remaining, he has sealed victory. Well played Andy! In addition, the 10 BCCA Candidate Master points earned by this tournament victory, takes him past 20 CM points. So he is now awarded the BCCA Candidate Master Title. Congratulations! See:-                                                                  http://www.iccf-webchess.com/event?id=34061