New Gallery page and match room

The Gallery is now up and running - see new tab above if you are viewing this on the website and not just the blog. Thanks to Michael for help on setting this up. Most of the pictures up there are his as well. If you have any albums you would like to share send me the HTML code for embedding the album in a website and I'll add it to the page. (This is easy on Picasa.)

The first team and the fifth team are both playing tomorrow so the plan is to have the front and back room as one large, silent match room and chat, friendlies and analysis in the small 'poker' room. If you are playing an internal tournament game you can use the match room as well. Please therefore enter the large room very quietly and be aware of how noise carries even from the small room. This should make all match players happier and might be the way to go all season.

Progress and opportunity

Congrats to the sixth team in their match against Haywards Heath 2 (average grade 135) and also to the fifth team who pulled off a similar feat against Worthing 3 last Monday (average grade 142). With 2-3 scores they didn't quite win but these results prove we can surprise the best of the third division. I hope we can continue as far as possible to field our strongest teams early in the season, giving our promoted teams the best chance of staying up and the sixth team a good run for its money.

Meanwhile e2e4 Brighton is filling up with 90 entrants so far. Two weeks to go if you still want to join the dozen or so members already signed up. This is always a very well run event and, well, why not? Eat your sandwiches on the seafront and it's as cheap as it gets!

Having lost 5-0 to the fifth team the week before, the sixth team were unlucky not to score with a 3-2 loss against St Francis & Haywards Heath 2 last Thursday. Thanks to Andrew S, Bob, Carl, Maria and Oli L.

Blog posting for all

If you were confused before, you won't be now! I have just further improved the 'How to write to the Club Blog' page, see yellow tab above (below header picture). All possible permutations of puzzlement covered!

Paranormal activity

Just read the French write up for our nervy, edgy close run battle. They talk of a 2 hour delayed ferry crossing coming over; their luggage (chess sets and food) getting taken from them in transit as they had to put their larger baggages in a separate support vehicle on the ferry (interestingly they were going to mug up on variations of the Benko Gambit en masse during the crossing, but this was not to be...) ; of someone seeing a ghost on the crossing; of many staying up till 2am pre match day painting la ville rouge in Brighton's nightspots; of celebrating until 3am following their victoire. Do we have the stamina? They really enjoyed their whole trip but are already planning victory next year to bring the overall match score all square for a massive encounter in 2014. You have been warned.

New tournaments published

The new tournaments are now up. Please read the updated Tournaments page as well for further information. Please note that there are three requirements this year before your name can appear in a club tournament:

1. You have joined the club.
2. You have joined the ECF so your results can be graded.
3. You have requested to join a tournament.

If your name doesn't appear in a tournament and you wish to be added please address the points above! If you still haven't appeared please contact the Tournament Controller, Andrew Caswill.

This year we are putting the emphasis on everyone committing to one tournament and completing all their games. If you really want or need to withdraw please do so promptly so that someone else can take your place. The tournaments are limited to twelve so once they're full they're full. The vacant places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. There will be another open tournament in the New Year for late joiners and members who have played most or all of their tournament games.

The Club Championship has gone back to being an all-play-all in order to give the top players more opportunity to play each other. The Denman Cup is lower graded to allow new members the chance to join and fill the spaces during the year. The Tasker Tankard replaces the Eric Cohen with the generous gift of a silver tankard to the club by Neil Tasker.  

***There will be a presentation of the Tankard to the Club next Saturday 13th at 6:00 pm in the bar when Neil will also be providing certain refreshments! All members welcome.

Please use the Members' Contact Details link on the Tournaments page to contact you opponents - it connects to a regularly updated google document where email addresses and 'phone numbers are interactive.

Good luck and, win or lose, enjoy your games!

New contact list

Members of the club can now find the email address and 'phone number of every member via the Link on the Tournaments page of the website. The list is only visible to members. Access to the list requires you to sign in to your google account - all the hints on this are also on the Tournaments page. If you have difficulty please let me know which email address you are using for access so I can check I have used the right one, or you may not have rejoined the club yet this season. Also please let me know if you would like any of your details changed. The list is so you can contact your tournament opponents and team captains can contact you. The new tournaments will be published next week.

Dieppe win by a whisker!

Big thanks to everyone for making it a great event on Saturday, particularly for all the effort that went into the cooking, and even more especially to Carl, John S., Rob and Anthony for turning up yesterday for a very thorough, and cheerful, clean-up operation.

Lots more pictures to follow.