Christmas Chess

As the Christmas holiday dates dodge the all important Thursdays and Saturdays we are open all over Christmas.

On Thursday 20th Sylvia has proposed we go for a slight festivity and Julian has granted us use of the oven. Sylvia and I will be bringing in festive things to heat and share so bring a little something if you like. Otherwise just turn up - reindeer headgear etc. optional but bells on them probably a step too far.

After that it's Hastings again with opportunities to play at all levels from 28th December to 6th January, or just go for the entertainment with cheerily brilliant Chris Ward in the commentary room. You can't lose!

4th Team Success

A resounding 4-1 win for the 4th team v. Uckfield 1 on 29th November ends our run of losses. Brian Izzard's unfinished game (as black, with a knight outpost in enemy territory and a king-side pawn majority) v. Gerry Michaud on board 1 was adjudicated in Brian's favour. A notable success against a player graded 30 points higher. Well done everybody.
Anthony

Internal tournaments

As you may know, or maybe not, we are trying to improve the tournaments this year and make the results fairer. In the past the tournaments have suffered from producing patchy results from which it is hard for the Tournament Controller to pick a clear winner. The problem arises because members sign up, play a few games, and then fail to complete. Early games get played but later on they can become harder to arrange with people busy, away or difficult to contact. Meanwhile people still in the tournament are not best pleased if any of their earlier results are discounted because others haven't been able to arrange a match.

The Tournament Controller has the discretion to sort this out and his decision is final. However, after discussion, we have decided that this year there will be a decided shift towards no games being discounted, whatever the later difficulties. This will give an advantage, possibly, to players who take an early initiative to contact their opponents and pin them down for match dates. But we hope this advantage will be vanishing small as all the games get played.

Please feel free to comment on this if you wish and let the Tournament Controller know if you are having any problems with either playing your games or contacting your opponents.

Grading season

A reminder that the present grading season ends on 31st December 2012. Members may wish to arrange and play some tournament games before the end of the year.

Any old mugs?

Are your cupboards bursting with old mugs? Make room for your Christmas presents by bringing your tired old mugs to the club where they will be fully appreciated. We need more to be able to cope on double match nights. Thanks.

Near 6th team misses

The 6th team was once again close to scoring some points in their last two matches.

The home game against Worthing 3 we lost 1.5 - 3.5, where I was a bit lucky to win and Michael Chau did well to earn a draw.

The away game against Horsham 4 we also lost 1.5 - 3.5 with Hussaini winning on top board and Sue drawing on board 2. Carl and Oli gained strong positions, but unfortunately could not convert, and the less said about my game the better!

No more matches until next year so lets hope we can get some points in 2013.