Being an average chess player, I have of course resigned many times in the past. It never gets easier: I sit staring at the ruin of my position, barely able to admit to myself the fact of my failure, the glum reminder of my mediocrity, the terrible truth of defeat, gradually mustering the effort to turn down the king, stop the clock, hold out my hand, and congratulate my opponent.
My resignation today, as editor of this blog, is tinged with different emotions. I am due to become a father shortly, and this happy event simply leaves me without the necessary time to properly edit the blog. So, I resign.
But that's not the end of the story, and my resignation heralds changes for the blog as a whole. The first change is the frequency of posting: my fellow-writer ejh is about to get very busy too, so rather than guaranteeing a post every day we're going to guarantee four a week (but possibly more will arrive.) Secondly, we're going to retitle the blog 'The Streatham & Brixton Chess Blog' - thus splitting it off from the club. In the absence of a replacement editor, both club officials and my fellow writers reluctantly agreed that this was the right move. Thusly and thirdly, this opens up possibilities for new content and writing from outside the club - something to look forward to in the hopefully not-too-distant future. One negative effect for content is that club news will now be sent around via email. However, I'd still like to feature games played by us amateurs - and perhaps these might become readers' games in general, featuring efforts from further afield.
Anyway, I'm sure that these changes will shortly become self-evident, and thanks for reading this announcement. We resume normal but different service shortly.
8 comments:
To say publicly what I've told Tom privately - if he hadn't put in the work and commitment that he has, there wouldn't be a blog at all, let alone one worth the reading. More thanks to him than I can say, and all the luck with fatherhood that he deserves.
To clarify a point or several.
a. My lifestyle is due to change in the autumn, such that I'm likely to spend much of the year on the road and in schools, rather than, as has been the case for the last ten years, close to a PC. This means that my capacity to edit, write for and help organise a blog will be much reduced.
Frankly it'll do me good to get away from the internet a bit, but it does mean that I can't remotely guarantee the level of activity I've produced up to now - though for some of the year I should be able to be busier. (I'll also be away from the internet for almost the whole of May, what with getting married, honeymnoon etc.)
b. Our current plan is to publish four times a week - Monday, Wednesday, Friday and at the weekend. This is an achieveable schedule, we think. We'd rather aim for a regular schedule we can manage, rather than try to keep up a daily schedule we cannot.
c. We're not, and never have been, the official (or indeed unofficial) voice of Streatham and Brixton Chess Club. The responsibility for content lies, and always has lain, with the editors of the blog and no other. The slight change of name is to clarify this.
d. This doesn't mean that nothing about that chess club will ever appear on the blog again - far from it! The blog exists because the writers care not just about chess in general but about that one particular chess club. It's important to us. As far as I'm concerned it's my favourite of all the clubs I've ever been a member of and we'll continue to recommend it and write about it. But we're fans of the club, not in any way its spokespeople. That's the difference.
e. reculer pour mieux sauter. That's the general idea.
Oh yeah. Just because we're going to publish at least four times a week doesn't mean we'll only publish four times a week. There may be - and on occasion there will be - more.
4 times a week is still plenty. This is my favorite chess blog on the web and I'm glad to see that it'll keep going.
Thanks for all your hard work both of you. I'm sure you will continue to churn out high quality stuff on a regular basis. Does the change mean that you get to keep all the money when the £500m bid from google comes?
Starting families and getting married? Don't you know that enthusiastic chess players are single men with very limited social skills, which indeed is why they are single. They don't care though- they've got chess to keep them company!
Good luck and best wishes with your impending big events!
Andrew
Many thanks Tom and ejh for all your efforts in making this blog one of the best chess blogs. I have always valued the quality of the content and not been too bothered about the frequency, so I'm sure I will continue to be a regular reader.
Congratulations Tom!!
I really enjoy reading the blog, and hope you can all keep it going in the future despite now-busier schedules. Thanks for all your efforts.
See you at the club when you next manage a night off!
Adam FF
Adam FF
Thanks man, I always enjoyed the blog. Enjoy family life!
I became a dad in November and I now enjoy chess nights much more because of the peace and quiet...!
I follow this blog regularly and have recommended it to others, your efforts are much appreciated (even if the article on sacrificing material did inspire me to play a peculiarly ineffective load of bollocks lately).
All the best
Adam B.
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