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)

Dear Club Member,

This Tuesday will see our annual Xmas Pairs Blitz and Social Evening.

We’ll have refreshments available and socializing from 7.30 pm, followed by pairing up for a fun blitz event. You’ll play alternate moves with your partner – no conferring!

Everyone is welcome, including parents of the Tiger Cubs, and we’ll make sure that the teams are evenly matched. Play should be concluded by 10pm.

Thanks to Mike and Al for agreeing to help on the night.

[Provided by Neil Berry, Club President]

Dear club members,

On Tuesday, 22 October we are having our very first, innovative guest night.  All guests are welcome.

We are particularly keen, however, on people who are beginners but know the moves and would like to learn more.

The plan is that members will bring friends, partners, parents or children.  The intention is to play consultation chess (as was so popular in the 19th century) so the member and the guest can talk to each other about which move to choose, and equally listen to the opponents while they choose their moves.  The idea is to allow our guests to learn more about the game.

So, it will be a more social evening than usual.

It should be fun and if it works it will be good for the membership and future of the club.

Please do your best to bring a guest. We will pair up on the night depending on how many guests come.

As usual, please arrive at 7:30 PM for a 7:45 PM start.

Neil and Raj

FIDE Master Neil Berry, the club’s first team captain for many years and previous Scottish chess champion, gave a talk last night to the club entitled ‘The President’s King.’

A thought provoking and fascinating presentation which demonstrated unusual king themes across the full game cycle – from transitioning out of the opening into the the middle game and onto the end-game.  The games were taken from both Grand Master play (e.g. Fischer vs Andersson in the picture above – no-one in the audience came up with Fischer’s next move as white!) and some of his own games.

Neil even included a losing position he had reached against GM Peter Wells – where Peter’s king moved across to the Q side leaving his pieces free to break through on the king side:

Note that post-match analysis found a missed stalemate drawing opportunity for Neil just before he was mated!?!

Another position examined was from Neil’s win against Oswald Bindrich (father of GM Falco Bindrich) where a contra-normal king move exploited the blockaded queen side:

The evening included various end-games illustrating the king traversing the board – including some “Scottish country dancing” in the following position which Neil has used in training the Scottish juniors:

The talk was followed by friendly games where everyone endeavoured to put into practice some of the lessons learned.

A great night – many thanks Neil!

Andre Antunes opened our chess season with the traditional simultaneous display.  He took on 20 opponents.

There were grandmaster draws against juniors who needed to get to bed early!  Then followed many hard fought games including long games ending in draws.  10 games had a decisive result.  Andre won 7 and lost 3.

This was very impressive given the strength of the opposition. Thanks Andre and well done.

[Report by Raj Bhopal]