The Anand Files

Good chess podcasts are few and far between, for a while 'The Full English Breakfast' did a good job providing banter and discussion of top-level chess but the participants moved on to other things. Now we have The Perpetual Chess Podcast hosted by Ben Johnson; Ben has some good contacts in the US chess world and is producing a great show, so if you like podcasts (I'm assuming you like chess) I'd thoroughly recommend it.

The latest episode  has an interview with FM Michiel Abeln who has written a book called 'The Anand Files'  about Anand's world championship matches 2008-2012 against Kramnik, Topalov and Gelfand.  I have so many unread chess books (not to mention access to the club library - available to all members!) that I shouldn't buy more, but I am really tempted to buy this book as it sounds very approachable for a club player. I am trying to resist so first I should read through this sample on the quality chess web site.  As an added incentive in this time of goodwill, Michiel announced that all the royalties he receives from the book will go to charities .... so I'd be doing something good, right?

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas and New Year opening

Apart from Thursday 26th December the club will be open as usual. On Saturday 28th there will be some mince pies and cake for those who haven't already over-indulged (the bar will not be open).
Anthony

Arriving late for MSCL match

A lesson from the 4th team's away match against East Grinstead a few weeks ago. Stuart, our 3rd board player, arrived late because of delayed trains. His opponent had, rightly, started his clock when the other matches started. Stuart arrived around 30 minutes late prepared to play but his opponent refused to play, claiming a default. However, the rules state that the game can be played if a player turns up up to 45 minutes after the start of the game.

We lost 2.5 - 1.5 on the night, but the default has been turned around, so in the end we have a draw!