BRITISH CHESS PROBLEM SOCIETY

2021/09/06 – Sale of books from the BCPS Library

Written by Brian Stephenson

The BCPS Librarian, who looked after that part of the library containing books, recently retired from that job. As there were no volunteers to take over the role the committee, with great regret, decided that they had no alternative but to sell the books and this has now been done. The Magazine Curator, Brian Stephenson, continues in his role. See Library page for information about what is left of the Library.

2021/07/02 – WANTED URGENTLY – NEW BCPS LIBRARIAN & ARCHIVIST

Written by Brian Stephenson

Our current Librarian and Archivist, Steve Giddins, is moving on, and the need to clear his shelves is urgent to the extent that a new BCPS Librarian is wanted almost immediately.

The Library comprises some 800-900 wonderfully diverse books as detailed in the library list and the list of recent additions available here The magazines and much of the archive material in those lists is held elsewhere and a new home is not sought for them.

Duties of a Librarian are mostly those of a custodian who is prepared to answer occasional enquiries and photo-copy or scan relevant pages. This is not a conventional lending library: loans are very rare, and only then with Committee approval.

Will you do this important job, and tell the BCPS Secretary, Christopher Jones (contactable here) before the end of this July? It’s that urgent!

The BCPS will pay for loading (from Rochester), transport, and unloading of the Library, and on-going Library expenses incurred.

2021/05/28 – British Open Online Masters (BOOM), 2021-2022

Written by Brian Stephenson

To help fill the current vacuum in the elite solving calendar, a programme of Grand Prix (online @Home) will be organized by BCPS. Full details here.

2021/03/04 – British Open Online Solving Masters

Written by Ian Watson

Our February online solving tourney was a major success. Forty solvers, from many countries, solved from home, but in the same format as we use in the British Championship. There was a tight finish in the Category 1 event, with the top three solvers all getting 60 out of 65 points – the tie-breaker of time used made John Nunn the winner, narrowly ahead of Eddy van Beers and Martynas Limontas.

This was a fun event, not counting for ratings, but taken seriously by the competitors. It used new and experimental technology, which worked seamlessly and without fault, thanks to its developer Brian Cook. You can try it out at http://www.ihandicap.mobi/chess where there are daily and monthly solving challenges.

The full results are here.

2021/01/15 – January Solving Challenges

Written by Ian Watson

Here’s the link to your January solving tourneys. As usual, you can choose from three Categories: Master level, intermediate solvers, or newcomers to solving. Each Category has two separate tests; in each separate test there are six problems with two hours available. This month, Brian Cook also offers you a new type of test: a multiple-choice test in which you are given several tries to choose from.

So, go to http://www.ihandicap.mobi/chess/chess202101.htm and click on one of the eight ‘Practice Tourneys’.

Remember that the diagrams are interactive; if you haven’t tried them before, have a go at one of the Daily Challenges to get used to the tech.