New Members' Night: Thursday 13th December

If you’ve played some chess and want to take it further but aren’t sure how you’d get on at Sussex’s premier club - now’s your chance to find out!

On Thursday 13th December we're hosting a New Members’ Night from 7:00 to 11:00. You will get to see the club, ask questions, chat with members, play some friendly games and have the chance to join an analysis session with one of the county’s top players. This session with Luke Rutherford will run from 7:30 to 9:00 and visitors are encouraged to bring their score sheets for analysis (don’t worry about the game itself - it will just help Luke gauge where you’re at so you get the most out of it). There will also be free tea and mince pies and a bar downstairs.

£4 covers everything (except the bar). Spaces are limited - book via the query box at the bottom of the Joining page (see tab under Finding Us above).

This event is free to members but visitors will get game analysis and mince pie priority. However please bring your scoresheets as it's likely everyone will get a chance to have at least one game analysed. Plus we are hoping for a festive atmosphere and plenty of members to take on the visitors.

Any tournament games can still be played in the poker room but please avoid tonight if you can in case it gets crowded as there be will no comfortable overflow.

New Members' Nights

While we're relatively quiet in the summer - no league games and most tournaments nearing completion - we're going to hold three New Members' Nights on Thursdays from 7:30pm, on 22nd June and 6th and 20th July. The nights will be free to prospective members to give them a chance to try out the club. Any juniors who know how to play would also be welcome. The idea is to encourage any new or less experienced players who might be hesitating or wondering how good they need to be to join. The answer is: no matter - everyone improves with practice, so - we'll try and give everyone a chance against a range of opponents and the more we have of you the better! (We're not all super-strong either..... shhhhhh.....) Regular members also needed in support.

Brunswick Festival: Saturday 20th August

Next Saturday 20th August the club will be decamped and set up at the Brunswick Festival all day - weather permitting. It's only a short walk east from the club to Brunswick Square. If it's fine we'll be there all day from midday on and they'll be no-one at the club. It's a chance for friends and family and anyone else to come along for a chat and a game or two and perhaps consider joining us next season.There's lots going on and it's usually a fun day out in the sun - hopefully.

See us ready to go last year:

Members analysis session by FM Ezra Kirk, 4th June

Jan has kindly offered to sponsor an analysis session for club members on 4th June. It will be given by Ezra who will be looking at any games people bring. The session will be free to members and will run from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Don't forget to bring your most interesting/confusing games!

Free Group Lesson with FM Ezra Kirk, 2330 elo

Ezra is going to hold a free group coaching session next Wednesday 4th February at 7:45 pm. The session will last about two hours and is open to members only. You may bring interesting games for analysis and Ezra will bring some of his. Content will depend on numbers attending but if you have any suggestions please email Ezra.

Thursday 2nd October at 7:45 pm: Talk on Chess Problems

On Thursday 2nd October we are privileged to be welcoming Michael Lipton who has very kindly offered to give us a talk on chess problems. He is a past president of the British Chess Problem Society and a FIDE IM of chess problem composition. He is a retired Sussex University professor who is hoping for a game or two after his talk so I hope we will have some talent to take him on. The talk is free to members so please come along to this quite unique event. Please come in time for a 7:45 start.

August closure dates and AGM

Please note that due to the Street Chess event on the 10th August (see below) the club will now be closed on 10th, 15th and 17th August. 'Closed' means properly closed with the building locked up so remember to come along to the Street Chess instead.

The club AGM is on Thursday 5th September at 8:00 pm. Please send any agenda items to Sue or Rob by mid-August.

Reminders

PS Please note the change of start to 3:00 pm on Saturday for the simul.

Two things: one is to phrase your beefs or inspirations about the MSCL into neat proposals for the AGM, to get to the secretary by tomorrow at the latest for the AGM on Tuesday 18th June - but as avid readers of the MSCL website I'm sure you all knew that.

Second, Ezra's blindfold simul on Saturday will start around 3:00 pm for the first batch of players. There's still room for more in the second batch but only a few - yes, blindfold simul folks - so spaces are limited. £4 a board on the day.

Grandmaster draws

Michael Cain, Andrew Caswill, Rob Counsell, Bob Davies, Robin Jones, Oli Weiss and myself all attended the opening of the new Mind Sports Club on Fourth Avenue on Friday night (see Competition on Fourth Avenue post below). As the main attraction seemed to be the poker tables we all got to play GM Raymond Keene in a ten-board simul, being distracted the while by elegant finger morsels and, possibly, the equally elegant cocktail waitresses. Some good games were played and Michael and I accepted draws - YES WE DID!! An excellent - and entirely free - evening.

Ezra's blindfold simul Sat.18th May

Ezra has kindly offered to do a double blindfold simul on Saturday 18th May. It will be open to all members below 170 grade. Places will go to the first 10 applicants who either sign up at the club or contact me via email. The two simuls will run consecutively with five boards in each and at £4 a board (to give Ezra some pocket money for the summer). This may be your only chance to beat the top FIDE English U18! Spectators also welcome.

Competition on Fourth Avenue

The Hove Mind Sports Club is about to launch on Friday in the large building housing The Hove Club at the top of Fourth Avenue. We, members of the B&HCC, are invited to attend the Opening Night which the website promises to be "an unmissable night planned in our amazing Grade II listed building by the sea. With a Champagne reception, food, well stocked bar and an array of games and events, you will certainly not want to miss out". Raymond Keene will be amongst the attractions playing a ten person simul.

World Candidates Tournament 2013

The candidates tournament starts in earnest today, see http://london2013.fide.com/ - if you can see it that is! FIDE certainly not doing itself any favours here - you have to highlight the text to read it! Perhaps they will be lifting the veil on the mysteries of the game once it gets underway. John Humphrys played a game against Dominic Lawson (a Lewes player) on the Today programme this morning so that's mainstream, with the added suggestion that all the game needs to attract more media attention is for Magnus to date a supermodel. Come on Magnus!! (In the chess sense, I mean, of course.)

One-day venue closure Sat 18 Aug

The club venue will be closed  for the day this Saturday 18 Aug.
There will be chess,however,at Michael Cain's 2nd  club promotion,
10 till 5 the same day in New Road (outside the Theatre Royal).
The forecast is for hot weather so take care in the sun if you are
going along.
I shall be there to open the club tonight,Thurs 16 Aug,as there is
no Bridge taking place.

Chess Promotional Day

Hi Brighton Chess Club,

Good Skills, I am happy to report that the Brighton & Hove Chess Club Promotional Day was a resounding success and much better than I hoped or imagined. I would like to say a BIG Thank You to the many chess members who came and supported the club during the day. We were very lucky with the weather it was sunny with blue skies, the Brighton community was very interested with a huge amount of people showing interest by watching, taking lots of pictures, asking questions and playing chess with us and giving us tough games.

Please click on the following link to see more pictures of the day ;-

Brighton Chess Promotional Day Pictures

I hope we can organize another summer chess event this August and would be interested to know if you would be interested in joining me?

Thank You Again,

Michael

Kasparov - Short Blitz Match

Gary Kasparov and Nigel Short are playing a blitz match in Belgium on Sunday 9th October, plays starts 6pm our time if I have converted from CET correctly. Looks as if there will be online coverage, unfortunately I have other plans but I doubt I could keep up anyway!
More details can be found on  Chessvibes

Chess auction raises £100

The auction yesterday was a great success and raised £100 for the club - the money will be put towards the cost of hanging a thick curtain between the two upstairs rooms. Thanks to Carl for organising and effective auctioneering skills and to everyone who donated stuff. This may become an annual event!

The tournament charts are now up at the club and on the website. There has been a lot more demand this year than last and the charts are virtually complete with a waiting list starting to develop. Places have been reserved for those who put their names down but have yet to renew their membership, which can be done by cheque or online to guarantee a place. The invitation-only Players' Contact Details page has also been updated (see link at bottom of Tournaments page).

auction

hi all. just a quick reminder about the auction this saturday, 2.30pm. maybe people would like to bring along any donated items this thursday, giving potential bidders a chance to view the wares before the big day. this is completely optional of course, and we will be delighted to offer up anything that is brought along on the day. also, just a reminder that you are more than welcome to set a reserve price on anything you bring along.

Auction appetite whetter

I've got some chess items to go under the hammer (assuming I can find them) one of which is a Mephisto Advanced Travel Chess Computer (click for link) and comes in the original box.  As I now have rather a lot of computer gadgets that can play chess this has seen little use but it may be of interest if you don't have a computer or like to get away from screens for a while! It was rated 160BCF which I think is the old grading so it may be rated a bit higher, I will probably put a small reserve on this.

I would just like to add my thanks to Luke for his amazing performance on Saturday, I felt like I was being blitzed!

Luke's simul last Saturday

We had a very enjoyable simul with Luke on Saturday with eighteen people taking part. Luke whizzed round faster than a lot of us could think and still managed to win all but two: Chris Lowe won his game and Peter Benson managed a draw. Congrats and thanks again to Luke.

auction

hi all. the auction is now to be held on sat october 1st at 2.30pm. please bring along anything you think others may be interested in, chess items especially welcome. you are more than welcome to set a reserve price on anything you donate. the money raised will be going towards a heavy curtain and rail to help with sound-proofing between the chess rooms. please come along and help make this event a success, have some fun, and pick up a bargain.