Owing to the increased risk of transmission posed by the omicron variant, Wellington College has made the (entirely understandable) decision to close the bar until further notice.
As a result, the Christmas Handicap will NOT take place this Saturday (18th December).
(“Cancelled” may be a bit strong, as we are considering alternative ways of holding the tournament in the New Year.)
Yearly Archives: 2021
Christmas Handicap
This year’s Christmas Handicap will take place on December 18th at the Napoleon’s Retreat bar in Wellington College.
Club members are requested to let Jonathan know if they plan to take part.
Daniel Shek is victorious at the 4NCL
Talented junior Daniel Shek played a nice game for Crowthorne against a strong opponent at the recent 4NCL. Many thanks to John Upham and British Chess News for the annotations.
(Click on a move in the game to display a board.)
Online 4NCL – Season 4 Roundup
Many thanks to our Online Team Captain, George Green, for providing the latest season’s roundup.
Crowthorne had a squad of 14 players (initially 13, then Ben Coates joined us with 2 rounds to go) for our 2 teams of 4.
Plenty you might think, but, as the season went on, fewer people were available, meaning that in the end we had 62 availabilities for the 56 games, so there were only 6 occasions when someone had to be “rested”.
Crowthorne 1 had been promoted to Division 3. We lost our first 3 matches, but then won the next 4, putting us 4th out of 8 teams in our group. The highlight of the season was possibly our 2½ – 1½ win over local rivals Farnham, who outgraded us by over 100 points on average.
Crowthorne 2 had a harder time of it in Division 5, but the 4NCL does give some of our less experienced members the chance to play longer (45+15) competitive games of chess.
They finished 43rd out of 56 teams, with 2 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses.
The 4NCL currently has plans to run season 5, starting in late January.
I’ll contact the club members nearer the time to see what interest we have in participating in this.
Online 4NCL – Season 4 Final Round Results
Here are the results of Round 7 of the Online 4NCL, the final round of season 4. As can be seen, the results were in line with the significant rating difference seen in both matches.
Wednesdays and Thursdays
For the time being (at least) we will continue to meet up both on Thursdays at the Pinewood Centre, and on Wednesdays at Wellington College.
Home matches are at Wellington College, and we also have access to the staff bar for social chess. The Thursday sessions at the Pinewood Centre are for social chess only.
Please see Jonathan’s email for more information.
Online 4NCL – Season 4 Round 6
A little belatedly, here are Crowthorne’s results from our Online 4NCL matches played last Tuesday:
These results mean that Crowthorne 1 has 6 match points out of a possible 12 (in Division 3), and Crowthorne 2 has 5 points (in Division 5). Full tables: Division 3 and Division 5
Online 4NCL – Season 4 Round 5
Crowthorne Chess Club’s two teams in the Online 4NCL played yesterday, and were both victorious against slightly higher-rated opposition.
As can be seen Crowthorne 1 won a close match against local rivals Farnham, while Crowthorne 2 had an impressive 4-0 win against War & Piece Banner
Back to Wellington College from Nov 3
After a Covid-enforced absence from our regular venue, we are grateful to Wellington College for welcoming us back so that we can meet up on Wednesdays starting from November 3rd.
Until then, we will continue meeting on Thursday evenings at the Pinewood Centre.
For those unfamiliar with Wellington College, detailed directions and a map can be found in the About Us page.
Online 4NCL – Season 4 Round 4
Here are Crowthorne’s results in yesterday’s Round 4 matches in the Online 4NCL. A welcome first win for Crowthorne 1, and Crowthorne 2 did very well against much higher-rated opposition.
Derek played a fine attacking game on the black side of a Benoni Defence: