The Brighton and Hove Open?

Thank you to all the people who turned up on Thursday for the AGM. It was a good turnout and the the committee naturally appreciates the support of the membership as well as their ideas and feedback.

Thinking about the concerns Brian Denman was voicing about giving our stronger players more playing opportunities within the club - there has been something of an ongoing debate these last few years around the set up of the club championship - I wonder whether we are missing an opportunity to reach out to our other local clubs. I am thinking particularly of Woodpushers and Knoll Knights, both small clubs which enter teams in the MSCL but run no internal tournaments of their own. We could offer players over 160 (say) the opportunity to play in an open Brighton and Hove all-play-all tournament for a small fee for one year as an experiment. It could be the Club Championship with the proviso that they have to be full members of the club to win the trophy. I think this would have a number of obvious advantages - not least broadcasting the appeal of our club to the local talent!

I was going to put this on the committee blog but as most of your esteemed and hard-working committee are but humble players - with the exception of our current club champion - it doesn't directly concern us. What do others think - both regular members and the likely contenders?

Congratulations to Geoff

Geoff has succeeded in holding onto the Club Championship trophy this year, beating Luke in the final 1½-½.

The knock-out format attracted twenty-two entrants and provided some unusual encounters and interesting games. However we might try again to run an all-play-all Club Championship next season, perhaps restricted to members graded over 150 - currently a select group of eight. This would have the benefit of giving those eight more opportunities to play in the club. Feedback on your preferences welcome!

Club Championship - the semi-finals

The Club Championship has been running very nicely, producing some unusual pairings and some interesting games. I don't know how the stronger players view it - ordeal or doddle - but speaking as a weaker player it's always instructive to take on some one stronger, and sometimes the wheel seems to turn on such subtleties rather than obvious wizardry. We are now at the exciting juncture of the semi-finals when the four top seeds - yes, no upsets in the seeding - will play with both colours against their opponent. See the Club Championship page for how it's gone so far.

The other tournaments are also coming along nicely with all results up to date.

Geekdom

Thanks, Kev. Didn't realise you'd have to have your own very cool blog to pull this off, which now has its own link on the Links page. Hopefully the problems with the game viewer can be sorted as it would be excellent to have a Members' Games archive on the blog. I have labelled yours as a start. This is what the Club Championship is all about (and winning it, of course). Meanwhile there's a forum for debate on chess/tech with the blogger on hand, a subject many of us find nearly (more?) as challenging as chess.

January round of Club Championship

Please note this is the final month for playing the first round proper in the Club Championship - please prioritise these games so that the round can be finished by the end of January. The one outstanding game from the earlier preliminary round is due to be played this Saturday. See Club Championship page.

Club Championship on Tournaments page

I have put the Club Championship knockout chart on the website in spite of the lack of any clarifying lines and brackets. I think it's fairly clear and means people can arrange their matches with time to spare, or play again if it's a draw. I'll update it once we have some winners. The whole thing depends on participants all sticking to the time schedule which is, apparently, both the virtue and the downfall of the knockout. I have followed a strict format so that the higher graded players emerge from each round to face each other, rather than meeting early on. Please prioritise this competition above the others to meet round deadlines.

Club Championship launched

The Club Championship knockout chart is now up at the club. Publishing it online is tricky without losing the formatting but I'll do something when I have more time. The preliminary round needs to be played before Christmas - this involves Charles v Marcus, Kevin v Jan, Andrew S. v Bob, Ian v Adrian and Callum v Sue. Please use the usual time controls, or adapt for 30 seconds per move added instead of QPF if you're using a digital clock, and toss for colours. People in the first round proper can go ahead as well if they're not dependent on a result from the prelim. - this 'first' round, which brings in everyone else, to be played by the end of January. Round deadlines must be strictly adhered to or knockouts will not depend on the results of games!

Club Championship 2011-12

I have twenty-one entrants for the Club Championship Knockout Competition - see the list on the CC Tournament page on the website. This is a terrific response so thanks everyone for going for it - undaunted by the breadth of the competition. If I've missed anyone please let me know as soon as poss..

First results published

The club tournaments are now underway and results to date entered on the online charts. More people have entered the Club Championship and the list can be seen on the CC page. I can take more names tomorrow when B&H 5 are at home to B&H 4. It will be interesting to see what people think of playing league matches on a Saturday - is this the way to go?

Club Championship 2011-12

Please let me know by next Monday 31st if you would like to join in the Club Championship Knockout Competition (see email if you are a member with an email address). So far we have Kevin, Neil, Adrian, Geoff J., Charles, Sue, Paul B., Brian I. and Bob - a good spread across grades and an opportunity to play someone you might not meet in the other tournaments. The first round to be played before Christmas and the semi-final and final to be played with both colours.