The odds competition which took place on 21 January was enjoyed by 16 players, forming two teams. The team of stronger players considerably outgraded the team of less strong players.

Last year, the less strong players lost by a narrow margin. This year, however, the stronger team won by 10-6. So, revenge has been taken!

We did, however, learned that even the equivalent of 7 pawns is not enough to win and next year we will probably match players so that the grading differences not more than 500.

The highlight of the evening, however, was to see so many of the juniors participating in this event, many of them having their first opportunity to play against stronger, senior players.

Raj (Raj Bhopal)

Dear club members,

Tonight (Tuesday 21st January 2020) we will be repeating last year’s very successful event. This event encourages players of different gradings to meet each other and play with each other as well as being fun. Please come. The pairings will be made on the night. As usual, please arrive by 7:30 PM for a 7:45 PM start. Each pair will play two games with 30 minutes on the clock, one as black and one as white. Part of the evening is likely to be finished by about 9 PM. After that, casual games as you wish.

In 2019 the club innovated (at least in modern times) by playing an odds competition. There were two teams comprising of the stronger four players, and the less strong four players. The stronger player gave up one pawn for every hundred point difference in their grading compared to the the less strong player. A maximum of seven pawns or their equivalent could be removed from the board. In one game the stronger player chose the material to be given up and in the other game the opponent chose the material.

There were substantial differences between the opponents in grading. Under normal circumstances, we might have expected the result to be a resounding win for the stronger players, perhaps 7:1 or thereabouts. However, the result was 3.5:4.5 i.e. the stronger players lost. It was an interesting and fun evening. The result indicated that the odds we chose were roughly right for allowing unequal battle between two dissimilar players. In many ways, this resembled the handicapping system in golf where players of different abilities can compete more or less equally, thus maintaining the sense of competition.

Thank you all.
—
Raj (Raj Bhopal)