Chess Pages of Mike Donnelly

12. NEW AND SECOND- HAND CHESS BOOKS Tony Peterson. Specialist in rare and second-hand chess books and magazines. Very large stock. Contact details.

IM Sergey Bystrov. Specialist in a wide range of Russian books plus some non-Russian books. Now offering a greater range. Contact details.

Hello!

I little bit about myself: I live in the historic town of Kenilworth (close to the medieval castle) in Warwickshire, England. I have just retired (this time certainly!), after several years as a Scientific/Technical and Regulatory Advisor, from full time work as a Technical Manager at a biotechnology company that manufactures hydrogels for wound-care, monitoring electrodes, and cosmetic applications. Previously I was a research scientist working in a diverse number of scientific areas (science publications, committees, science journal refereeing etc). In my spare time I enjoy chess, the history and culture of the Ancient Greeks and their Modern counterparts, various types of music, and until recently Wing Tsun Martial Art (achieving grade 11).

Over a decade ago I shifted from playing over-the-board (o.t.b) chess as well as correspondence chess to playing only correspondence chess (peak average rating 2492, final average rating of 2454 (ICCF rating history 1993-2018). In 2016 I returned to some relatively regular o.t.b chess in local leagues currently playing at about 1900-2000 elo (a somewhat reduced level from that of a decade or more ago (approximately 2100 elo) and also from my highest many years ago of about 2275 (grading history). After some 25 years of playing National and International level Correspondence Chess I completed my last few games at the end of 2018, annotated these games in detail for presentation in correspondence magazines in early to mid-2019, and now just play o.t.b chess.

I will attempt to offer a wide range of chess material on this site including game and opening based articles, games for downloading from famous players I have known or competed against, chess problems and some current and past results. This will include both o.t.b and correspondence play. A major part of the web site is the presentation of annotated games in the "Monthly Articles" section of the site. Often these include annotations by players other than myself.

In addition to more advanced articles, I will also occasionally provide articles for beginners to mid-club strength of player also on a very wide range of chess topics.

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MONTHLY ARTICLES SUMMARIES (section 1 of web site) *

This month is presented the third, and penultimate, in the series entitled “The Enigma of high level “Blindfold Chess”. Previous games selected for this series featured some very well-known players such as Schlecter, Mieses, Blackburne and Breyer. The games for the current article shows that Fine and Pillsbury too could also play at a remarkably high level without sight of the board. All players mentioned demonstrate a profound understanding of the game as well as outstanding feats of memory and visualisation skills in being able to play like this. The question remains would you be able to spot the superb combinations in these games with, rather than without, sight of the board!

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All material for downloading from this site is zipped. Use WinZip, or similar, to extract. Monthly articles are in .pgn format (from May 2000, previously in .txt format) whilst games for downloading are in .pgn format (or .cbv occasionally).

Contributions (preferably one or two annotated games), suggestions for articles and comments to improve this site are welcome: mail me!

	SCCA Magazine
	The SCCA magazine is published quarterly and consists of 24xA4 pages packed with correspondence chess news, articles, reviews and games.
	SCCA members receive the magazine as part of their annual subscription (£8). This entitles them to download pdf files (the e-mags) from a secure area of the SCCA website.
	If you prefer to receive a printed copy of the magazine, an extra £5 per annum covers print costs and UK postage and you get the four issues mailed directly to you.
	The SCCA magazine is unbeatable value! You can try a complimentary copy by contacting the membership secretary.

NEWS AND NOTICES *

Kenilworth Chess Club (KCC) Individuals and Teams (August 24).

1. The strong and fiercely competitive 2026 Kenilworth Speed Chess Championship has now concluded. This comprised two rapid events and one blitz event with the combined scores producing an overall winner in Keatan Patel with 17 points. This was by the narrowest of margins from, in joint second place, Mark Page and Dhairya Pandya on 16 points. At some distance behind Ben Graff scored 13 points and surprisingly Joshua Pink next on only 12 points. Unnamed “Tail-enders”scored 4 and 2 points respectively but importantly these, and in fact all players, clearly had an enjoyable time.

More details on the above evens as well as updates on KCC matters, can be found at kenilworthchess.blogspot.com

2. Ben Graff returns to writing for the well-known magazine CHESS this time assessing if the Rating System is working well. The August issue also features my article entitled “Don’t Like Licking Stamps”. Two annotated games of high quality showed two strong recent over-the-board British Champions being bested when facing Correspondence Chess specialists. This, and Ben Graff’s numerous and very readable articles on a wide range of topics, may be obtained in paper or electronic format via http://chess.co.uk

After months of speculations the venue of the new Chess and Bridge shop, the publisher of CHESS, has been disclosed as at Great Portland Street London which is currently being refurbished and will open soon.

Local Players (August 24).

(a) Keatan Patel (KCC) scored a notable share of 2-3^rd places at the Northampton Congress, Jonathan Folwer (Coventry) won the Basingstoke Rapid play, Bruce Baer (KCC) shared 3-5^th at the Birmingham Rapid play, and Paul Colburn (Rugby) shared second place with several other players at the Southwark Congress.

(b) Keith Escott Memorial Correspondence Event.

The event has just been completed. CCM K. E. Jones wins with 9.5 points and second is CCM S. Hooker on 9 points both players securing an SIM (Senior International Master) norm-in the latter case another norm and hence SIM title has been obtained and confirmed by the ICCF. Untitled M. Bowley, CCM M. Schirmer, CCM J. Smith, CCE R.C. Rosales, and CCM R. Rozanski, in equal third all scored 8.5 points and an IM norm.

The one remaining game mentioned last month has now been completed to conclude this event. With an impressive win in a long game LGM Williamson defeats CCM Graham to share 7^th place.

Keith Escott was the Captain of the Warwickshire Correspondence chess team which won the prestigious Ward-Higgs event several times, editor of the famous magazine CHESS and did much for both otb and correspondence chess locally and nationally. It is pleasing that this Memorial, contrary to many other recent events, had a number of decisive games and that several players have achieved title norms.

Some details of Peter’s enormous impact on both over-the-board and Correspondence Chess are detailed in the Recent Archive section of this web site (Section 2-article for August-September 2023 inclusive of two annotated games). All games have now been completed in both sections with the following results

Section A- CCM P. Campani wins with the excellent score of 10/14 including many wins and no losses. CCE T. Spanton finishes second on 9.5. The section was suddenly ended and slightly marred by Fajardo and Swindells exceeding the time limit in many games.

Section B- H. Lopez is confirmed as winner with a score of 9.5/14 and J. Hall as runner-up on 9 points. M. Quirk (who won the last game to finish) and J. M. Verneulen finish in third equal on 8.5 points.

International Correspondence Chess Federation (August 24).

The ICCF has just announced that no less than three Memorial Events will commence shortly. These are for

IM Andrew Dearnley who made a huge contribution to the organising of Correspondence Chess and was a frequent “teammate” in some event I also played in. Players participating include one Senior International Master and remarkably ten International Masters.

LGM Toni Halliwell. We played just once many years when we both commenced an interest in this form of chess, but Toni later went on to several fine achievements: International Master, Ladies International, Ladies Grandmaster, International Arbiter, and also a level 2 Tournament Director.

IM Chris Shepherd. As well as being a strong Correspondence player with ratings above 2500 for about 20 years from 1990, Chris was also a good otb player taking part in local Brimingham and Warwickshire individual and team events with some notable successes.

Entrant to this remarkably strong event include one Grandmaster, six Senior International Masters, seven International Master. and a single highly rated CCM. This web site will focus mainly on results from this event.

First results in the Chris Shepherd Memorial are SIM Horodyskyi drawing with CCM Benedetto and with IM Lockwood-the latter game is remarkable in that Gavin was 3 pawns down for much of the game.

This web site (August 24)

(a) Despite the war with Russia it is nice to report that a handful of visitors from Ukraine have taken the trouble to visit this web site. The site has also seen an increasing number of new visitors from South America.

(b) Some minor details have been updated in the last week or so such as Kenilworth Team results in local leagues, the list of articles published elsewhere than this web site, and the list of my published games in the “My Stuff” section.

British Chess Problem Society (BCPS) (update of July 25)

The BCPS has once again efficiently organised the Winton British Chess Problem Solving Championship. The final of the 2025-26 event held in Harrow School was narrowly won by GM John Nunn over previous winner David Hodge. The event was decided only by the final problem!

The starter problem for the 2026-27 event has just been published on the BCPS web site, and the solution must be returned before the end of July.

The Society has also organised a Memorial tournament for IM Barry Barnes who edited the Problemist magazine for an impressive 38 years. Entrants need to compose a Direct mate in 2 moves a field of composition which was a forte of Barry for many years and for which he won many prizes.

The web site of the Problemist continues to be updated and now back issues of the magazine, even up until quite recently, can be viewed online as well as increasing numbers of past awards problems.

It is interesting to note that very strong o.t.b player Les Blackstock is also involved in Chess Problems and has just produced a Problemist Supplement Index for issues 161-200 of the magazine.

Next main update due on or about September 25 2026.

(minor updates may occur during each month)