Tournaments

    Please note the club tournaments end on 30th June 2013. The winner of each tournament will be the person with the highest score.
      E.g  Player A plays four games, wins four games, will have four points.
             Player B plays nine games, wins five games,  will have five points.
                            Player B is the winner.
   Therefore please aim to play games sooner rather than later.
   If you still have games to play in the last two weeks of June it may be difficult to arrange a match. You may find your opponent is:
                a) away    b)  ill   c)  booked up with other matches  d) some other reason.
   Try to complete ALL  your games in a tournament, at the latest, by the second week of June.

42 move confusion in MSCL

There's been some discussion in the club recently about the 42 move 'rule' (convention) in the league when one or both players decide they have had enough on reaching the time control. This can only be done if either a) both players agree on the result or b) it is impossible for the player who stops playing to lose on time before the stated end of the playing session, i.e. if, after the 15 minute addition, the player were to go on 'thinking' until 10:45 s/he would still have time on the clock.* However, there is one point to notice here, especially for captains: this can only work if the finishing time is clearly stated and agreed at the start of the match. This prevents anyone declaring a 'posthumous' win after the event if it was their opponent's turn to move. (Yes, really!!)

Many still consider the time controls in the league to be inappropriate in not ensuring that the match is played out in the time available, leading to all kinds of complaints and complications, discussions, emails, engines and adjudications. Opinion is divided, but the league has stuck firmly to its conviction that three hours isn't long enough for the match to finish in an evening. But is it really worth the hassle?

* PS It's important to confer with your opponent about your decision to stop play - don't just pass the time in contemplation and then rely on an expired finishing time just as your flag falls!! The above is just a guide to when you can choose to stop playing.

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.)

4th Team Progress

A fine result for the 4th team recently - a draw against E. Grinstead 1 (current division 2 leaders) in spite of an average 14 point grading disadvantage. In particular, our boards 1 and 2 (Brian Izzard and Hussaini Ndakwo) both drew against opponents graded 30 points higher.
Anthony

6th team progress

The 6th team have won their first two matches!

We beat East Grinstead (2) away 4-1 back in January and last night Woodpushers (3) 4-1. We also narrowly missed out on points against Horsham (5) who just beat us 2-3.

Free University Brighton

From: contact@freeuniversitybrighton.org 

Hi Sue,  
I got your details from the Brighton Chess Club website. I've set up a free, community-led education initiative in Brighton that aims to make learning more accessible to all by providing free education events. Someone thought it would be a good idea to do a learn to play chess event and so I was wondering if your club could provide a tutor. I can't pay because everything has to be free but I could publicise the club on the Free Uni website and it may attract new members. I can find a suitable venue.

Hoping you can help.

Thanks and best regards,
Ali Ghanimi
07958 667927

Free University Brighton
education for love not money 
www.freeuniversitybrighton.org

Ali thinks she can get some equipment together if anyone's interested in doing this.

Tournaments

Two new tournaments are being introduced at the club to cater for the following members:
  a)  Those who have played 2/3 of their present tournament games and wish to continue to play graded games.
  b)  New members of the club who wish to play graded games.
1) Rapid Play Tournament. ( RP)
      Open to all members.Interested players write their name on the square grid on the noticeboard and start playing.
      Players can only play each other once.Time on each clock chosen from 15 mins to 59 mins.
2) Long Play Ladder Tournament ( LPL)
      Open to all members.Interested players write their name on the A4 sheet on the noticeboard and in about a  couple weeks these names will be placed on the ladder.
     Players can play each other on several occasions depending on their position on the ladder. See Ladder Rules. Time for each person,.36moves in 90 minutes, 30 minutes to finish.

Theft at the club

It appears Oli's money was taken out of his wallet on Saturday while other people still in the room were engrossed in their game/s. This has never happened before so it is a sad turn of events. We will all have to be more aware of where we leave our possessions in future.

Lost money

Did anyone see two loose £20 notes at the club today (Saturday, 2nd)? Please contact me asap if anyone picked them up on 07827454793. Thanks, Oli Weiss

Callum goes global!

Congratulations to Callum on being asked to represent England at the World Schools Individual Championships in Greece during May. He is extremely excited and will be going to a special training weekend for the England Squad in March. Plus his new rapid grade of 158 makes him the joint highest U12 rapid player in the country. We will be officially adopting him as our mascot ..... errr no, sorry, we can't - I made that one up.....

New grades are published

New January grades are out - see club Members page for all the latest.

Club tournaments update

Tournament games are now well underway. In another change John Smuts has withdrawn from the Plummer Knight and his place has been taken by Hussaini Ndakwo who can now move down from the Club Championship.

All the charts are updated after most Thursdays and Saturdays so are usually bang up to date. There is now a link to Players' Contact Details at the bottom of the How to write to the Club Blog page (see tab above) under Bonus!! so please set up your matches even if you can't play them straight away. The longer you leave them the harder it gets. We are aiming to see 100% of matches played this year!

Vintage year at 88th Hastings International

A good year for the club at Hastings as nearly everyone who went won something or came close.

Ezra Kirk didn't win the Masters but his only losses were to titled players. He drew with GM Mark Hebden and local IM Thomas Rendle to finish on 5/10 - 35th=/88. Phew!

Paul Batchelor shared 3rd prize in the New Year Afternoon A on 3½/5 and just missed coming joint first by half a point on the same score in the Weekend Major.

Duncan Badham won the Weekend Minor on 4½/5 and Michael Cain was only half a point behind the two joint seconds on 3½/5.

Anthony Stanton won the New Year Afternoon C on 4½/5 (the ½ being a bye).

Sue Chadwick came second in the Christmas D on 4/5.

Scroll down on this link to see all the final results.

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.

Keeping captains happy

4.2.2 Whether nominated or not, a player from a lower team may appear on a match score card 3 times for higher teams while retaining his eligibility to play for the lower team. Upon appearing on a match score card a 4th time for any higher team the player becomes ineligible to play for the lower team.                                       see Rules MSCL

Now that the season is well underway please keep track of your own match appearances as it's not always easy for captains to know whether you will still be eligible for their team by the day of the match. Don't leave it all to them!! This also applies to any other help you can give them on the day - remember: no captains, no teams! So keep your captain happy. Thanks.