Riddle me this…what is harder than playing a game of chess?
Answer: playing 20 games of chess all at the same time!
On Tuesday 29th September at 7.30pm, our club champion FM Neil Berry will be taking on 20 club members in the annual club champion’s simultaneous display. Neil runs the junior training at the club, is a former president, an experienced international player and a former Scottish champion so this is a unique opportunity for our members to test their skills against one of the country’s best players.
This event is always well attended and great fun. The challenge for Neil is that he has to stay fully focused at all times. Compare this to a normal chess game where one can take little breaks while waiting for the opponent’s move (the blog also takes breaks from thinking while it is their own turn to move but that is a different story), something that is impossible when giving a simultaneous.
So this blog’s puzzle is not a chess position to solve, but rather a prediction! What do you think the score will be between Neil and the challengers? Will anyone be able to defeat the champion?
The image is taken from Chess magazine, May 1940, and shows an enormous simultaneous in preparation. Luckily for Neil, our club is not large enough for quite so many boards…