We suffered defeat in our final Wolverhampton League Division 1 match last night away at Kidderminster. Stephen & John earned draws, but sadly Cosmin & Alex lost to give a score of 3-1 to our opponents. We have finished in a creditable 5th place with 3 wins & 5 defeats.

We won our latest Cannock League Division 1 game yesterday - a narrow 2.5-1.5 victory at Wolverhampton. John managed a quick draw, but with Cosmin losing, the pressure was on Steve & Stephen. Thankfully both managed to win & ensure that we still have some hopes of finishing in 2nd place with 2 games still to play. In Cannock Division 3 a home win against Rugeley gave us a 4th place finish, just a point off top spot, while in Division 4 we have 1 match remaining & again still have hopes of a runners-up finish.

Congratulations to Stephen Gaskell who defeated John Grant in his Semi Final to reach his first Club KO Final. He will face the winner of Steve Whatmore & John Staniforth, who are yet to play their Semi Final.

We played our final 2nd team game in Birmingham League Division 4 yesterday. A draw with Redditch ensured that we also finished in the top 6 in this Division - an improvement on 8th place last year. Aarav deserves a special mention for winning all 3 of his games, including against an opponent last night rated over 1500 ECF.

We concluded our Birmingham League Division 2 season with an away fixture at promotion chasing Halesowen. All 6 players battled hard to get results with John S, Steve, Cosmin, Alex & Roger taking home draws & Stephen earning an outstanding win on board 1 against a player rated in excess of 2050 ECF. This gave us a 3.5-2.5 victory and a top half finish in the Division. Stephen's game has developed beyond all recognition & he's surely on the way to exceeding 2000 ECF before the end of the season.

Roger Bray has very kindly donated a set of 6 digital clocks to the club. Everyone at the club is very grateful for Roger's extremely generous & thoughtful gift & I'm sure we'll all enjoy using them in matches to come. Thanks Roger!

Warley Quinborne's Birmingham League Division 2 B team visited us yesterday. After being soundly defeated by their A team 10 days ago we were pleased to get some revenge with a 5-1 victory. Wins for Stephen, Steve, Cosmin & Alex + draws for John & Peter ensured that we will finish comfortably mid-table - a great achievement after winning promotion from Division 3 last year.

For the 2nd time in 3 years we have won the Cannock League's Knock-Out Cup called the Chase Trophy. We narrowly defeated Tamworth in the Final with a mix of good team tactics, brave attacking play & a spot of luck. Captain Steve Whatmore shuffled his team from the semi-final & added Stephen Gaskell. We expected Tamworth to play with one of their 2000+ ECF players on board 1 so were looking for a volunteer to 'take one for the team' - knowing that getting any kind of result was going to be tough. Steve offered but Cosmin thought he was the best person for the job - sadly he lost, but acquitted himself very well. Steve's plan was for Stephen to take on their board 2 - who we expected to be similarly rated - but felt confident that with Stephen in a strong run of form, he could deliver a victory. That's exactly what he did - after pressuring his opponent into an erroneous Rook move he politely resigned with a forced loss of material inevitable. Being out-rated on board 1, we knew that the rating advantage would switch back to us on the lower 2 boards. Alex was rated 200 ECF points above his opponent & had a back & forth battle on board 3. After declining a draw offer knowing that he had to win, Alex had to take some risks & got lucky as his opponent missed a discovered check opportunity which would have won his Queen & Tamworth the match. Alex went on the attack & despite his Pawns dropping all over the board & both players under 30 seconds left on their clocks, he managed a brilliant checkmate with Rook & Knight to grab victory for himself & the team. Roger eventually lost on board 4 (again in a very interesting hard-fought game), but we had already won the match at this point - a 2-2 draw meant that the result went down to board count - which was also level at 5-5. The next tie-breaker is board elimination & with board 4 being a Tamworth victory this was removed from the score to hand Rushall the trophy. 

We travelled to Warley Quinborne's Birmingham League Division 2 A team last night. Our squad were seriously out-rated pretty much across all 6 boards & the result went against us by 5.5-0.5 - just Steve Whatmore managed to claim a draw with the other 5 team members all losing against stronger opponents. We remain comfortable in 6th place in the Division & will aim to reverse the result in a couple of weeks time when their B team visit us, before our last Birmingham League match away to promotion chasing Halesowen.

We welcomed local rivals Lichfield last night for our penultimate Wolverhampton League Division 1 game of the season. With the prospect of relegation still very possible a result was vital. We were considerably out rated on the top 2 boards but Stephen is always keen to test himself against the best opposition & John can virtually always be guaranteed to get a draw. John was first to finish with his 1/2 a point & then Steve followed with another draw on board 3, as although he felt he was slightly ahead, he could see that Cosmin had a strong chance of a win on board 4. This is indeed what happened to leave us 2-1 ahead with just Stephen to finish. He had several opportunities to repeat moves to claim a draw, but with both players in time trouble he kept taking the initiative to his opponent & played superbly to get another terrific win. We therefore took the match 3-1 & with Telford & West Bromwich sitting below us in the table having completed their seasons we are safe from relegation - a tremendous achievement with the lowest rated squad in Division 1. Bizarrely, we lost to both earlier in the season, but have managed 3 wins against some of the stronger teams! We just have unbeaten Kidderminster away now to come to end our Wolverhampton League season.

Lichfield's Cannock League Division 1 A team provided our latest opposition last night. We managed to come away with a 2.5-1.5 victory with wins for Steve & Alex & a draw from John. 

South Birmingham's league leading A team visited us in Birmingham League Division 2 last night. Stephen once again volunteered to take board 1 & scored a stunning victory over a player rated over 1950 ECF. He cleverly sacrificed the exchange in the end game to leave himself a Bishop & 2 connected passed Pawns versus a Rook. With his opponent's King on the other side of the board & unable to help, he managed to skillfully push both Pawns to the 7th rank leading to resignation. This is Stephen's biggest ever win & a clear sign of his abilities going forward. Well done to him. Sadly, the rest of the team were unable to bring home the points - Alex had a good win & Steve a creditable draw, but John, Cosmin & Peter all came away with losses leaving the score a 2.5-3.5 defeat.

We have played 2 Cannock League Division 1 games in the past week - winning 1 & losing 1. At Rugeley, we lost 3-1 with draws by Steve & John, but both Stephen & Alex were defeated. A much improved performance against Lichfield B saw us earn the points with an unbeaten team performance - draws from Stephen & John (obviously!) & wins from Cosmin & Alex saw us reverse the score, winning 3-1. Although Tamworth are well ahead of the pack, we are in with a shout of emulating last season's performance of claiming the runners-up spot with 4 games still to go.

Alex made the semi final draw last night - the matches to be played are John Grant v Stephen Gaskell & John Staniforth v Steve Whatmore. 

Our latest Birmingham League Division 2 game saw us travel again to South Birmingham, this time to play their top of the table B side. With 7 wins out of 7 we knew that we would be up against it. Our hopes weren't helped when, on Stephen's board 1 debut, a 9 year old 2100 rated player sat down opposite him. Sadly, Stephen lost along with Steve Wilcox on board 6 - again against a higher rated opponent. The other 4 boards were pretty evenly matched however, & John managed a strong draw on board 2 - his record for this season is now an astonishing - played 15, won 2, drawn 13! To our delight, we won on all 3 of the remaining boards with Cosmin, Steve Whatmore & Alex all now returning to a bit of form after each enduring a sticky patch. A 3.5-2.5 victory therefore means that we have achieved one of our main season objectives - consolidating our Birmingham League Division 2 status - & with 4 fixtures still to play. Our record is now won 2, drawn 4, lost 1 & we stand 4th of 12 teams.

2 Birmingham League Division 2 games against higher rated opponents gave us a challenging start to 2024. However, we gave a strong account of ourselves & managed a narrow 2-5 to 3.5 defeat at Walsall Kipping & a terrific 3-3 draw versus Sutton Coldfield. Stand out performances were from Stephen 2/2, Steve 1.5/2 & John 2 draws. Stephen has now overtaken Steve & Cosmin in the ratings as he has now surpassed 1900 ECF - a fantastic achievement for such a young player who has only been coming to the club around 3 years. Look out for his results in the Shropshire Congress over the weekend - he is in the Major Section this year after winning a rating prize in the Intermediate in 2023. Several of the higher board games can be followed on line so hopefully Stephen's games will feature. Good luck also to Ray who has entered the Intermediate Section. 

Our final match of 2023 saw us welcome Warley Quinborne's A team in Wolverhampton League Division 1. We were pretty evenly matched on paper, but sadly 2 draws from John S & Alex weren't enough to get as any points, as we lost on the other 2 boards. A 3-1 defeat resulted therefore. We now have a break for over 2 weeks until we get back underway with 3 Birmingham League Division 2 games to start off January.

Congratulations to Steve Wilcox who has been appointed a Life Vice President of the Staffordshire Chess Association. Steve and Rushall Chess club are synonymous, he has played over 1,000 games for his club. He has been the secretary of Rushall since the 1980s and although he has relinquished the post twice, he has always found himself back in harness after a short break.Steve is part of a dynasty at Rushall Chess Club, his father Les was one of the founders, his mother Enid provided tea and coffee to members and visitors on club nights for many years. His son Joseph played for Rushall and Staffordshire, and he coached his daughter Charlotte to be British Girls Champion.Steve was the Tournament Secretary of the Association for many years and he represented the County when there were teams to suit his rating or grade. Once again congratulations to one of the nicest people in Staffordshire Chess.

Our Wolverhampton League Division 1 season continued last night. We visited local rivals Walsall Kipping & without our highest rated player, Cosmin, we were still able to come away with a narrow victory. It was our first win against their first team that Steve Wilcox can ever remember. Tremendous wins by Stephen & Alex & a draw from John S (all against higher rated opponents) were enough to win 2.5-1.5 - our 5th consecutive result by the same score line in this Division - with us losing the first three & now winning the last two. Our position in Division 1 now seems pretty secure, a tremendous achievement considering we have the lowest rated team in the Division.

Congratulations to Stephen Gaskell who won through the 1st Round last night. After drawing twice with his opponent he managed a win in the Armageddon game to progress into Round 2. He will now face Steve Whatmore, so Rushall is guaranteed a player in the semi finals.

Steve Whatmore narrowly defeated Alex in the last game of Round 1 last night. The draw for Round 2 is: Roger Bray v John Grant, Stephen Gaskell v Cosmin Arapu, John Staniforth v David Jarvis & Steve Wilcox v Steve Whatmore.

On Monday we travelled to Wolverhampton for this game. Sadly we lost 2.5-1.5. Roger battled well but was outplayed on board 4, Steve drew on 1, while Cosmin had a terrific win on 2 - trapping his opponent's Rook so that he could go the exchange up. Alex was a Pawn down & facing defeat in his endgame when he lost on time. After the game, it was noticed that Roger's opponent was stronger than the rating his captain had used - accidently using a P rating from August instead of his first full rating from October. As a result, Wolverhampton's team was stronger than allowed so they conceded the game, putting us through to the final. We will now host last year's winners Tamworth in the new year.

It was an evening of blunders & missed opportunities last night in our Birmingham League Division 2 home fixture v Oscott. John S & Peter drew comfortably & Cosmin won a tense Rook & Pawn endgame to give as a 2-1 lead. However, the 3 other boards all flipped with critical mistakes. Steve had a dominant position on board 1 but misplaced a Knight looking for a mating attack, & went from winning to losing in one fell swoop. Alex had a strong position & with his opponent in time trouble he felt confident of victory, but he placed his Rook & King on the same diagonal & they were forked by his opponents Bishop effectively ending his game. Stephen on 4 had the opposite fortune. He checked his opponent, who totally missed it when in time trouble, & was forced to move his piece to block the check. With it not being protected Stephen took it & won his game as a result. So the final match score was a 3-3 draw, when we could have been looking at a convincing win at one point, & then possibly a narrow loss later on. In the Birmingham League Division 2 we have now played the majority of the lower rated teams & are unbeaten having won 1 & drawn 3 games. Tougher tasks are ahead when we play again in the New Year....

Congratulations to Aarav Sohi who won the Under 14 section with 6 wins out of 6. Stephen Gaskell also had a good tournament, coming 3rd equal in the Under 18s section with 4 out of 6.Also Sehej Sohi was 7 th in the under 10s with 4 put of 6And Amraya Kaur Johal was best under 14 girl with 3 1/2 out of 6

We have many enthusiastic juniors who play on Monday evenings alongside our adult members. As a club we offer some informal advice & coaching. We also invite juniors to play in our league teams & organise several internal competitions on club nights. However, some players have gone a little further than this & Aarav Sohi recently entered the Dolan Trophy - a Cannock League individual competition. Aarav organised both of his matches - one at home & one way at Lichfield & although he lost both, he learnt a lot from his games & the experience. He also competes for Staffordshire Juniors, & for his school he had the opportunity to play in a competition at Eton College, which he absolutely loved. In the past 12 months his standard rating has shot up from 973 to 1348, while his rapid rating recently peaked at 1533 (helped by his 83% win record in one of our 2023 Birmingham Summer League teams). Stephen Gaskell (our first team regular) is another club junior who too entered a Cannock League individual tournament. He also competes individually in various tournaments in the Midlands area alongside his club commitments. If you are a junior or an adult, have a decent knowledge of chess & would like to develop further, then please contact us (see the link from the home page) & we'll make arrangements for you to come & play some friendly games on Monday evenings. That's exactly what Aarav & Stephen did - who knows what it could lead to......

After breaking our Cannock League Division 1 duck, we did the same against Wolverhampton last night in the Wolverhampton League Division 1. After John S & Alex had drawn, Stephen won a brilliant attacking game against his opponent to leave us 2-1 ahead. Steve then had the task of bringing home a draw on board 1 & after a tense Knight & Pawn end game he managed it, to give us a 2.5-1.5 victory.

At the fourth attempt we finally managed a win in the Cannock League Division 1, against visitors Rugeley. Stephen was first to win, defeating his more experienced opponent, who despite trying to sacrifice his way into mating Stephen, was eventually forced to resign in a lost position. Steve then drew - after being outplayed in the opening his opponent swapped a Knight for 3 Pawns, but Steve defended well & had the advantage in the endgame. Unfortunately, deciding to swap off Rooks was a mistake & when he also ended up swapping his own Knight for 3 Pawns, the game was drawn. Cosmin was offered a draw several times, but despite an opposite coloured Bishop endgame, he took the attack to his opponent & eventually pushed a Pawn to the 7th rank where only the fatal loss of material would have stopped it Queening. As ever, Alex was last to finish - but it was worth the wait as he won with a clever Rook, Bishop & Knight checkmate to make the result Rushall 3.5 - Rugeley 0.5.

After 2 months of the season we sit 3rd in Birmingham League Division 2 after gaining promotion last season, while our Division 4 team is doing fantastically to be equal 1st. Things aren't looking quite so good elsewhere though - in the Wolverhampton League our Division 1 team is presently bottom with 0 points from 3 games, and our Division 3 team is 7th out of 11. Over in the Cannock League our Division 1 team is again struggling in 5th place out of 6 teams, but our teams in Divisions 3 & 4 are both comfortably in mid table. 

We had another narrow defeat at home to Wolverhampton in the Cannock League Division 1 last night. John S had a great win on board 3, while Cosmin lost on board 2 soon after. Steve accepted a draw offer on board 1 with his opponent regretting offering it after a bit of analysis afterwards led us to believe that Steve would have had to be extremely accurate in his play to avoid defeat had the game continued. With the score level at 1.5-1.5 it was left to Alex to conclude his game. Unfortunately, he ran out of time in a Queen v Rook & Pawn endgame that probably would have been drawn had his time not expired.

After a nightmare journey to South Birmingham's Birmingham League Division 2 C Team last night, we eventually got underway at about 7.45pm. The 2 teams were extremely well matched with just 20 rating points difference between them. A 3-3 draw was therefore no surprise. 4 of our team drew, with Roger unfortunately losing a Rook & Pawn ending on board 6. Our star player was undoubtedly Cosmin, who made several sacrifices to overwhelm his opponent on board 2, taking home our only win of the evening. Thank you to everyone who drove, in what turned out to be a very difficult journey. Happily, we stay unbeaten in the Division with a win & 2 draws from our 3 Birmingham League games so far.

At the same time as our First Team were losing their 3rd consecutive Wolverhampton League Division 1 game 1.5-2.5, we held a 9 board rated friendly, with David Gaskell's Cannock League squad playing against a Steve Wilcox development team. The final score was 5-4 showing the strength in depth we have at that level in the club now. Everyone enjoyed the experience & it's something that we definitely intend to build upon as the season progresses. Hopefully, a few of these players can make their way into the First Team in the future - the sooner the better!

With the pleasing increase in membership numbers recently, Steve Wilcox has set up a challenge match between our newcomers & our lower league players. It gives everyone the opportunity to gain some valuable experience in a match setting, and will take place next Monday. The match will follow the Cannock League Division 4 rules & the games will be forwarded to the ECF for rating.

The first of our Club Knockout matches took place last night. John Grant defeated Stefan to book his place in the Quarter Finals.

Another Wolverhampton League Division 1 game was played last night. For the second time in two games we suffered defeat by the narrowest of margins - 2.5-1.5. Alex achieved our only victory, with John Staniforth adding the half point. Sadly, neither Steve Whatmore or Stephen could add to the score after both suffering defeats.

Our 2nd Birmingham League Division 2 game saw us travel to Longbridge yesterday. Steve Whatmore & John Staniforth soon agreed draws in their games. John Grant then took home a full point after a dangerous Knight check led to a discovered attack. Sadly, Stephen walked into a Knight fork & the scores moved to 2-2. Cosmin & Alex both had really topsy-turvy battles, with both experiencing potential winning & losing positions every few moves or so. Crazily, neither managed to win or lose in the end. Both took home half a point & we achieved a creditable 3-3 draw away from home against another mid table team from last year. 

Our 2nd Cannock League Division 1 game went much better than our 1st away at Lichfield B last night. John Staniforth jumped ahead of Stephen onto board 3 & soon took home half a point, while Stephen won his board 4 game after winning a piece in the middle game. Steve Whatmore then drew on board 1 to give us a 2-1 lead. Sadly, Cosmin couldn't get a result on board 2 & with his exposed King extremely vulnerable, he had no choice but to resign.A 2-2 draw with a strong Lichfield B team therefore at least gets our points tally going with some home games now to come in the Division.

11 players have entered the Club KO. 6 players will enter round 1 with the 3 winners progressing to meet the other 5 in the Quarter Finals. The draw was: Roger Bray v Sam, Steve Whatmore v Alex & John Grant v Stefan. Steve Wilcox, Cosmin, John Staniforth, David Jarvis & Stephen received the byes in a random draw.Ties are to be played on or before Monday 27th November.

We played 2 games this week - sadly losing both. On Thursday we travelled to Tamworth in Cannock Division 1 & despite some heroics from Cosmin on board 1 who drew with a much higher rated player, we lost 3-1. John Staniforth achieved our other half point. Then on Monday we travelled to play a strong Halesowen side in Wolverhampton Division 1. We were outrated on every board, but draws from Steve Whatmore, Cosmin again (who both played players rated over 2000) & Alex meant that we lost by the smallest of margins 1.5-2.5.

the draw was made on monday 4th september for round one of this trophy for under 1640 rated plshyersPairings are on the notice board in the clubroomm

After yoyoing between Birmingham League Divisions 2 & 3 in recent years, we began our new season at home in Division 2 to a strong Shirley & Wythall side, who had finished mid table last season. We performed brilliantly with Steve Whatmore, Alex & Peter Leary all winning with aggressive attacking play. John Staniforth then ground out a win on board 4, after the only loss of the evening by Stephen on board 3. Cosmin's game on board 2 was the most interesting, with what seemed like winning chances for both players. Thankfully, Cosmin came out on top, narrowly queening his pawn before his opponent had the opportunity to queen his. A 5-1 win was therefore the final score. Will this be the season that we finally consolidate our status as a Birmingham League Division 2 team?

Our season officially got underway yesterday with a convincing 3.5-0.5 victory against Norton Canes in the Cannock League Division 4. Our team had a mixture of youth & experience with old hands David drawing on board 1 & (last minute substitute) Stefan winning on 2. The 2 youngsters won their games, with both playing some exciting attacking chess. Amraya came out on top on 4 & Sam won in his first ever rated Classical game on 3. Well done to everyone involved. Our Cannock League Division 1 game against Lichfield scheduled for the same night, was sadly postponed until April as our opponents could not raise a full team. 

After discussions at last night's AGM some tweaks are being made to this season's Club KO. All club members will receive an email soon with the new rules/guidelines & an opportunity to enroll in the tournament.

Rushall have won the prestigious Pittaway cup for the first time.

The trophy is contested by W'ton league first teams in a jamboree pairings event.

Rushall scored 6 points from the 8 board team.

Our team was Cosmin-Constantin Arapu, Steve Whatmore, Stephen Gaskell, John Staniforth, Alex Pready, Peter Leary, Steve Wilcox and John Grsnt.

Mayday Rapidpla

First stephen gaskell. 5 out of 5

Second steve whatmore 4 out of  5

15 players took part

Our first team in the Birmingham League, division 3, captained by Steve Whatmore, have won the Championship with a match still to play.

13 year old Stephen was equal first in the minor section ( under 1700 rating ) at the massive Blackpool congress, 10th to 12th February 2023. His score was 4 1/2 out of 5

• Half season, best percentages in league so far
•                                        played    won   drawn   lost     points    percentage
• Joseph Wilcox                        4      3         1         0       3 1/2        87.5%
• Cosmin-Constantin Arapu        9      6         1          2       6 1/2        72.2
• Steve Whatmore                    14     8         4         2         10           71.4
• Stephen Gaskelll                   12     7         3         2         8 1/2        70.8
• David Jarvis                           6      2         4         0         4             66.6
• Pradeep Shankar                    3      2         9         1         2             66.6
• Alex Pready                          12     6         3         3        7 1/2         62.5     
• Samuel Baugh                       12     6         3         3        7 1/2         62.5 
• Stefan Winman                      12     6         3         3        7 1/2         62.5 
• Peter Leary                           12     6          2         4        7              58.3
• John Staniforth                      15     4          9         2       8 1/2         56.6
• Shane Cooksey                     10     3          5         2       5 1/2         55.0

19/12/22 equal first with 4 / 5 were peter leary and steve whatmore

Steve Wilcox played his 1,000th Rushall team game on Monday 24th October V Rugeley.

Steve wants to thank everyone for the generous gift to mark the occasion

Rushall's 13 year old Stephen Gaskell won the Crewe under 1500 section with a perfect 5 out of 5 for the weekend. Cogratulatios Stephen.

8 teams. Lichfield win with 3 1/2 out of 4

A warm welcome to our first Romanian player. Cosmin-Constantin Arapu came along tonight and played some entertaining games

At the AGM on 15/8/2022 Stephen Gaskell was named Most Improved Player Of The Season

Manpreet Sangha 4 1/2 / 5

Adrian Dibble / Alex Pready 4 / 5

best u/1630 gtade also Adrian

best over 60 y o also Alex

best under 18 Stephen Gaskell 2 1/2 / 5

best score from player with slow start Aryan Shankar 2 / 5

David Jarvis Played 12 - 62.5%, Stephen Gaskell Played 8 - 62.5%, Shriya Pillay Played 14 - 60.7%,

Adrian Dibble Played 7 - 57.1%, Joseph Wilcox Played 9 - 55.5%, John Grant Played 22 - 54.5%,

Alex Pready Played 21 - 52.3%,  Roger Bray Plated 19 - 52.6%.

16/5/22 We win final Cannock league division two match V Rugeley, Winning Championship. Played 6, scoring 9 points.

Top scorer for the ream was Stefan Winman with 3 out of 3

CDCL's Cup Final, Drawn 2 - 2 , but Rushall win on board count.

It is sad to report the passing of Walsall Kipping's David Anderton, who died on 1st April, 2022.

David was a brilliant player for Walsall and Staffordshire. He had been past President of the County as well as first team captain for many years. He had many roles with the English Chess Federation including captain of their international team.

Condolences go to David's widow Doreen, a past member of Rushall Chess Club.

Good News. Steve has decided to play ror us in the WDCL as well.

               RESULTS

Joint Winners ( 4/5 ) Alex Pready, Steve Whatmore, Steve Wilcox(also best over 60 )                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     best under 18 y o  ( 3/5 ) Stephen Gaskell

best under 1640 grade ( 3 1/2/ ) Stefan Winman 

best slow starter ( 3/5 ) Pradeep Shankar

sixteen entered

                                    

                                    

 

On our Links page you can navigate to the ECF ratings page. Here are shown the half season (January) ratings. Only five of our players have increased their grades since the start of the season (July 2021). They are Joe Wilcox +23, Shriya Pillay +22, John Staniforth +17, Peter Turner +6, Steve Whatmore +5.

Please let Webmaster David Jarvis know of any newsworthy items.