Our season starts: 17 September

We will start meeting again after our summer break at the Bridge Centre on Thursday 17 September.  As has become traditional, our first night will be the season’s opening blitz tournament.  Regulars will know the format.  For newcomers: there are 7 rounds, at a time rate of 5 minutes each per game, plus an increment of 5 seconds per move.  We start at 7.30 (or as soon after as seems appropriate); latecomers can enter the tournament, starting with the round after they arrive; we aim to finish by 10.30 (though sometimes it can end later if we start late or have some very long games) – anyone who wishes to leave early can, of course, do so (though please let us know before departing).  You don’t need to bring anything with you, as we provide equipment, but if you have a clock that supports increments it might be a help if you bring it along, in case we are overwhelmed by more entries than we have clocks for.

The following week (24 September) will be a ‘social’ or ‘unstructured’ evening: that is, nothing is arranged, allowing people to come along and play games against whoever they wish, at whatever time rate they wish to use (or none).  This is a particularly good week to come along if you are not used to playing competitive chess, and want to try the club out: you’ll be able to play against some of our regulars, and discover how friendly we are.

After that (1 October) will be the first round of our monthly rapidplay tournament (30 minutes each per game), which was first tried last year and was a great success.  This will be held regularly on the first Thursday of every month.  Further information on this will be posted shortly.

Two weeks after that (15 October) [edit: changed from 8 October, as originally announced] is round one of the Winter League, which is our club championship.  This will take place throughout the winter on the second Thursday of the month [from November on].  These games are played at a slower time rate (90 minutes per game, plus an increment of 10 seconds per move) so that a game will take the whole evening; they will be ICU rated.  Further information on this, and details of how to enter, will also be posted here shortly.

We’re looking forward to seeing lots of new faces at these events, as well as all the others we have come to know over the years.