Club Championship

If you've been paying attention to your emails from Angus you'll know that the club championship starts tonight. Aside from the sheer fun of it, prizes this year will include a chess computer and a host of books donated by Andy Thake.

The tournament is open to club members - never to late to join us :-) - and won't cost you a bean. Turn up by 7:15pm if you wish to enter although Angus would prefer if you contacted him to let him know beforehand.

The tournament format as the same as previous events:-

1. 6 round tournament
   
2. 25 minutes/player/game
   
3. Played on 6 May and 13 May with three rounds on each day starting at 7.30pm, 8.30pm and 9.30pm
   
4. Swiss pairings - players will be paired with others on the same or a similar score; all players are guaranteed 6 games
   
5. Results will be submitted to the English Chess Federation for rapidplay grading (to obtain a rapidplay grade, you need to have played a minimum of 9 graded games in the last three seasons including one in the current season)
   
6. First prize – a year’s free membership; highest-finishing player from the second half of the draw – a year’s free membership. Additional prizes as donated by Andy Thake
   
7. AF will organise (and his decisions will be final!)
   

So who are the favourites? Robin is our reigning champion and Tom won the mid-season rapidplay back in January. Martin is always there or thereabouts and Angus consistently manages somehow to overcome the handicap of organising these events to put in a strong showing. I don't know if Adam and Carsten are returning this year, they lost out to Robin last time only after a play-off, but the tournament will be tougher if they do. Then of course there's the competition to remove the second free subscription from Chris' hands while the library players will be battling to be the one to perform way above expectations. I say 'one' but past experience suggests several of them will.

Your humble scribe's own ambitions do not extend to winning the event. I'll consider the tournament a success if I:

(a) manage to avoid my usual drubbing at the hands of Barry Blackburn,

and

(b) get the opportunity to test myself in battle against a certain fellow blog writer who shamefully bottled out of a couple of games with me in the Surrey Invidiual this year.

However it turns out it will be fun. I hope to see you there.