Internal Competitions

2023-24

An update from Brian;

Our club competitions are making good progress, but as regards the Knockout tournament, we still have seven of the first round matches to complete before the end of January.  So if we can see completed over the next two weeks the following (updated where I know the result):- Arran v Mark (first 2 games were drawn...Mark won in the second replay);  Saxon v Michael;  Beauden v Oliver;  Ian v Warren;  Jason v Peter (Jason won); James v Adam;  Alex H v Harvey (Harvey won and will play Brian next) – otherwise at the end of January these will be decided on attendance only, which would be a great shame.

Regular attendance is the key to competition results, and indeed progress. As we are at the half-yearly mark I now offer a mid-season update on all of the competitions:-  the weekly Ranking tournament is being led by Arran, with Mark second, Oliver third and Brian fourth and as that comprises our club team members, that is perhaps as it should be.  Our top-ranked Junior (who is fifth) is Alex Howarth.  The Blitz tournament is currently led by Brian on 13, with Michael second on 12, and Arran third on 7.5;  the Standard Play is led by Brian on 14, with some distance from Ian and Harvey on 2 each;  the Rapid Play is led by Brian on 13.5, with Michael second on 10.5 and Arran in third on 10; the Handicap Split is also led by Brian on 26, with Mark second on 23 and Harvey third on 20.

Now the reason for my own lead of so many tournaments is not due to being the better player. It is all about regular attendance and playing whoever I can each week in one or other of the tournaments. If I had the time I could prove that conclusively by showing the games played number in each of the competitions.

So – please keep attending – and rather like the Strictly Come Dancing mantra – keep playing !!

Past Seasons  - 2019/20

Are all underway except the Knockout Cup the draw for which can be seen below.

in the first round Steve Perris plays Mark Attree, the winner going on to play Ian Archbold in the quarter-final; also Brian Stockham plays Ken Swanton, the winner progressing to face Graham Botfield; in the other quarter-finals Artur Mieczkowski plays Saxon Archbold, and Michael Stockham plays Chaski Patrick.  So this year it will be Michael who thanks his Mum for her blind draw of the names !!  First round matches have to be played by the end of February and Quarter-finals by the end of April. 

CHRISTMAS BLITZ

This year the competition was 5 minute blitz in Chess960, with black and white back rows independently random, no castling allowed. This might be Chess960 squared.  My maths isn't up to that.

This proved very tricky, many dropped pieces and unexpected mating attacks.  In the 38 games (this could be correct) there was only one draw.

The competition was run as a 5-round swiss, then the adults played a couple of extra rounds later on.

In the Juniors, Saxon, Justin and Hugo all scored 2/5, Bauden was only slightly behind but played very well.  In the adults Michael and Mark both scored 6/7 (Michael winning the direct encounter).  Thankyou to everyone who attended and contributed.  Prizes courtesy of the Stockham family.