News from 2024-25 for Oxfordshire Chess

LJCC qualifier in Oxford 23rd Nov 2024: U8, U10 and U12 sections

Joe Conlon is running an Oxford qualifier for the London Junior Chess Championships (LJCC) on Saturday 23rd November at Cheney School in Oxfordshire. There will be U8 (school year 3 and below), U10 (school year 5 and below) and U12 sections (school year 7 and below). The London Junior Chess Championships (finals in December in London) is one of the oldest and most prestigious junior chess events in the country, and 2024 is its centenary year.

Oxfordshire Junior County Chess Tournament 4th / 5th Jan 2025

Oxfordshire Junior Chess are pleased to announce that the annual county junior chess tournament will take place on the weekend of 4th / 5th Jan 2025 at Cumnor Primary School. It is a well-attended and friendly tournament that welcomes beginners through to our county's most experienced chess juniors. For many, the tournament acts as an opening for selection to the county teams and kickstarts a love of over-the- board, competitive chess. The U9 section takes place on Sat 4th Jan, the U11 section on Sun 5th Jan, and the U13 / U15 / U18 championship spans both days of the weekend. The online entry form link is given below, from which full tournament information and rules can be accessed. If you are involved in a chess club with junior members, please help us to spread the word. Any queries to [email protected].

Yule Chess Rapid Open

Come to the Yule Chess Rapid Open, returning to Abingdon for all players to have fun and compete over the board!

Location: The Roysse Room, Guildhall, Abingdon, OX14 3JD
Arrival: 10:15 for 10:30 start
Finish: 16:00
Time control: 15+10
Rounds: 5
Prizes: 1st - £50; Best under 18 - £25

Oxfordshire County Chess 2024-2025

Only two weeks to go now until the Oxon County A Team start their quest for Chiltern League glory.

First match up is an away fixture at Bucks (HP16 0NZ) on Saturday 19th October, with a 2pm start and 2 hours playing time each on the clock (played over twenty boards).

With the team currently taking shape, I am reaching out to any new players in the area and also to encourage anyone not on my current email list to get in touch, should they wish to be considered.

Please contact me (Tony) on either [email protected] or mob: 07973 989700 for further details.

For Chiltern League fixtures, please see the link below:

Season 2024-2025

With the start of the 2024-2025 season due within one week, all Captains and Club Secretaries should have received an email related to some of the admin bits and pieces.

If there is any change to people who might need added to such a distribution list, do let me know.

If you have any questions, do just drop an email and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Hopefully there are some exciting, new and different ways of engagement coming this season and announcements will be via this website and email.

All the best for the coming chess year!

Updated OCA Constitution and League Rules

Dear All,

As passed at the recent AGM, new documents have been uploaded which relate to minor changes to the OCA Constitution and League Rules. I would advise all captains and club officials to be familiar with these updated documents.
There has been no substantive changes to how the League operates - instead some dates have been amended for flexibility, and some clarity has been improved to the language of the operations.

Constitution links from below, while the League Rules are here.

Witney Rapidplay and Witney Congress

Just a reminder that the following events are fast approaching:

Witney Rapidplay 29 September: https://www.witneychess.co.uk/witneyrapid24_information.htm

11th Witney Congress 2-3 November: https://www.witneychess.co.uk/11thwitney_information.htm

Do please support us if you can!

ODCL League Structure and fixtures

Tonight's AGM confirmed the divisional structure that was used for draft 3.0 of the fixture list. I've created the divisions and uploaded the fixtures.

There is a 'Fixtures' link next to the name of the division on the Competitions page, and also below the cross-table. This gives all the fixtures for the relevant division. To see the fixtures for a particular team, open the cross-table and click the calendar icon on the relevant row. At the foot of the list is a link that will display all the fixtures for the club in question (i.e. for all the teams run by that club).

I have assumed that the captains are the same as for last year, except for Didcot 2, Uni 1, 2 and 3 (changes advised) and Bicester (new team). Please let me know if this assumption is wrong or I've overlooked a notification of a change. As ever, the captain's details can be seen by clicking the team name in the cross-table.

ODCL Draft Fixture Lists for 2024-25

Draft 3.0 of the fixtures for the coming season has been published, see link below. This is provisional, pending confirmation of the divisional structure at September's AGM. The list takes account of feedback received by 27 August, in particular constraints at City's new venue and no third Wantage team in Division 3.

Sad loss for Cumnor CC

I'm very sad to announce that Robin Carr passed away on August 5th 2024. Robin has been an avid chess player in the OCL for many years. First playing for Cowley, then Cowley Workers. In 2006 he moved home to Cumnor and subsequently joined our club. Robin was instrumental in growing Cumnor chess club during its formative years in the league. Our club has a lot to thank him for. He will be greatly missed by all of us at Cumnor.

Would you like to run / coach 'Ojays' - Oxfordshire's Junior Squad?

Oxfordshire Junior Chess would like to invite expressions of interest to 
run and coach 'Ojays', taking over from Andrew Varney as he stands down 
after many years hard work.

Ideally, this would involve regular (weekly? fortnightly?) in-person 
group coaching sessions suitable for children who are keen at chess and 
are county-level players, including at U9 or U11 level but also older 
players. Such players regularly emerge from the Oxon Junior Championship 
/ the London Junior qualifier and school chess clubs. Parents (and 
children) are keen for there to be a place where such children can 
continue to develop their chess, at a level which is higher and more 
competitive than school chess clubs, and we (Oxon Junior Chess) would 
like there to be a county-level coaching structure to which we can point 
parents so that their children can develop their love for chess and, if 
they have the desire and ability, become national-level players.

The precise structure of the coaching, and the venue/fees charged, would 
be largely up to the coach; such group coaching may also provide a 
natural conduit into private coaching of some of these county-level 
juniors, as they further progress and seek out more bespoke coaching.

Coaches should be able to inspire young players in the love of the game, 
should be strong enough as players to be able to provide effective 
coaching to county-level U9 and U11 players (the strongest U11s are ~ 
1800 ECF), and should hold an enhanced DBS check.

Expressions of interest to [email protected] by 31st August 
2024.