We held the annual Crowthorne Christmas Speed Handicap last Friday (15^th December), in the Pinewood bar & café using the function room at the back, which proved to be a perfectly suitable room for us. We set a new record for attendance – 28 players, including seven juniors, two parents and two newcomers.

Given the number of players, we split into four for the group stage. The club’s strong established players did well, with Paul, Richard, Harvey and Robert winning their respective groups. This despite Paul, for example, having less than 5 minutes total playing time across all 6 games.

For the knockout stage we also introduced a novelty, a round of 16. The field was reduced to 3 juniors in the semi-finals, Matthew, David and Dylan, along with Hamid attending his first club competition. The final saw David and Dylan playing a fine and evenly balanced game, both playing with great maturity. David pushed for an attack, but Dylan gave no ground and after an even and well fought battle, it was Dylan who had the better time control and won the game, and with it the Harvey-Ironside Shield.

Congratulations to Dylan, and indeed to David too for doing so well.

We had two other “winners”, both earning themselves a bottle of wine: Scott for the most outrageous Christmas costume (the snowman onesie, slightly tighter fitting this year) and Michael for sportingly giving all the other players a chance.

This (13th December) is the last Wednesday this term in the Monro Pavilion for juniors and matches. We resume again on Wednesday 10^th January.

We thought three consecutive nights of chess would be a bit much, so there is no Pinewood social chess meeting this Thursday. We should be ok to meet again next Thursday, 21^st Dec before taking a break over the Christmas/new year period.

Christmas Handicap is on Friday, doors open 7:00, rules read-out 7:30, play start about 7:45.

Jonathan sent an email yesterday to people who are down as playing. If you didn’t receive it, but you expect to be playing, please let Jonathan know ASAP.

On Wednesday 29th November we will not have access to the Monro Pavilion. This is the last Wednesday we don’t have access to the building this season (i.e. until the summer holidays). We will be meeting there again as normal on Wednesday, 6^th December.

Our annual Christmas Speed Handicap has been booked for Friday the 15^th December. This is in the Pinewood Centre, like last year, but this year we have the rear function room booked, which will make it a little quieter and more private. A buffet will be provided. Jonathan has promised to send frequent reminders about this event, but for now perhaps you could note the date in your diaries.

For those unfamiliar with the Christmas Speed Handicap, all games last the same time (10 or 15 minutes, depending on the number of attendees) but the time allocated for each player is adjusted according to their strength to give each player an even chance of winning. The overall effect is that any player can win the whole event. Quickness of mind and hand are more important than a simple ECF rating.

On Saturday, September 30th, our friends at Camberley Chess Club held their annual Keith Richardson Memorial Rapidplay tournament. This year’s tournament was the first to be held at their new venue at the Heatherside Community Centre.

Keith Richardson was a member of Camberley Chess Club, who was very well liked and respected in the club and the local leagues he played in. He was also very well-known in the wider chess community as a correspondence Grandmaster. Camberley has held a memorial event annually (lockdown permitting) since his death in 2017.

This year’s tournament saw success for Crowthorne’s Richard Webb who won his second rapidplay tournament in a week (see Witney report).

Congragulations to Camberley for running a friendly and successful tournament. Full details of the event can be found here.

On Sunday (24th September) two Crowthorne players emerged as prize winners in the Witney Rapidplay. This is a very pleasant tournament, which is held in the excellent venue of Cokethorpe School in Oxfordshire.

FM Richard Webb won the Open, scoring 5.5 out of 6. Richard won in the final round against fellow Crowthorne member FM Ian Thompson.

Ashton Grimmett was also successful, with the best excess-of-rating performance in the Open, scoring 3 out of 6.

Well done to both!

Full results of the tournament can be found here.

The Surrey Border League has just published the fixtures for the 2023/24 season. Please check the Useful Links page for links to the fixtures for the various divisions and for Crowthorne Teams.

Note that fixtures are occasionally rearranged by team captains, so it is best to check the site from time to time.