News Update and all things chess

Hello Members and I hope you are keeping safe and well and enjoying what is after all summer!

Firstly let me report the news that our Online chess team have won 2 fortnightly teams battles against all comers since our last report. I think that is 6 consecutive wins and an overall leading total of 16 wins overall – remarkable, can I smell trophies in the cabinet!

Well played team and congratulations to Oscar/Richard/Mike/ John W/Zander (our young junior)  and Adam any others contributing.

At the last event on the 7/6  only 18 players joined from all teams and 5 Poole players joined in on that occasion. It is possible with the gradual return to over the board chess, the summer nights and all other activities available to us all the numbers are falling but not at Poole!

The next online battle is this Monday 21/6 at the usual time of 7.30pm so please join in if you like if not it is also great watching some of the games being played at amazing pace.

Its worth mentioning both Oscar and Richard are often playing in the Beserk mode which is a total game of 2 & a half minutes, phew, and this gives you  double points for winning , but a loss of double points for a defeat.

Keep it going Poole team and a reminder all are welcome to join.

FRIDAY NIGHTS AT THE CLUB

The club continues to meet every Friday night at 7.30pm in the bar in groups of 6 observing all the protocols necessary and its good to see several of our members coming down and playing OTB chess. There is always someone to play and a variety of standards ensure we have a wider group attending.

Given the current extension of the lockdown to the 19/7 it is unlikely that we can return to the upstairs room at least until then and at the moment we are not sure if our hosts will open on a Thursday night for a little while.

So, with this in mind, although Friday nights are not ideal for everyone (certainly not me sadly) please come down and support the club, enjoy the friendly atmosphere and meet several of our members. We have one or two new players that have either joined or about to so there should be plenty of competition whatever your standard.

Special mention to David Fuller who came down last week – welcome back.

4NCL LEAGUE AND COMPETITION FOR 21/22

For those not aware the 4NCL is a National Chess Competition for all players. There are several leagues at all grades segregated into areas of the country. We in Poole are in the Wessex league.  Wessex have several team and have enlarged their numbers over the last few years. The team is expertly run by Keith Gillespie from Wareham Chess club. Some of our players have joined in for the first time ever in the last couple of years. Namely, Mike Duggan/John Weatherlake/Richard Smith.

It has been mentioned we at Poole may wish to enter their own team. A team consists of 6 players and  need a minimum of 4 reseves to allow for team players becoming unavailable.. The matches are  over the board and most teams are matched against players of their own grade. The format is played over the 5 weekends starting in November and finishing late April or early May.

If you are interested and can commit to 5 weekends  away please let me know and we will see if we have enough players to enter an independent Poole team. For more details I would suggest you just look up 4NCL/Wessex which will give you an idea of events and the format. If you have any queries I suggest you contact John W who can give you chapter and verse on all things 4NCL.

It would be another positive platform for Poole Chess Club  so please consider it.

JUNIORS

We are continuing with our regular Saturday morning Junior chess club at the Elstead Hotel and are having up to 20 kids every week now. The sessions are split into advanced and intermediate/beginners and are over 2 periods to allow for all current protocols. There are some promising Juniors, namely Zander Booth (Rookwarrier), Leo  and Harry Mercer (Hurricane Harry). All 3 players  have joined us at Poole.

Its great to see the kids playing chess and watching them develop so watch out for these in the future and we all know they are the future of all things chess.

Special mention to Graham who is Captain Marvel at any thing that needs doing and of course Steve who is fantastic with the beginners and we have one who is 4 years old – Lewis! Also thanks to John W and Simon who are coming along when they can and helping me on the demonstration board to share and give all to the kids.

All are welcome to come along and say hello to us at the Elstead Hotel every Saturday morning.

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June 18, 2021