It hardly seems necessary to write up what happened at last night’s Speed Handicap, since the majority of the adult membership were present. But, for the benefit of those who couldn’t make it and for posterity:

The 38th Speed Handicap was held on Friday 12th December in the Pinewood Centre Bar & Cafe. For several weeks it looked as though our booking might be gazumped, but it was finally confirmed just a fortnight before the event. I was concerned attendance might suffer because of the short notice, but on the night we had a highly respectable 20 players. No juniors this time (except for David Purle and Matthew Palmer, who we regard as honorary adults), and I suppose the late notice could have contributed to their absence.

We played the group stage with three groups, with all games being 10 minutes. The winners of these groups were:
• WIlliam (with Nick then Jonathan on the same number of points),
• Matthew Palmer (with a clear 1.5 points lead), and
• Mat (with Dave Herring on equal points).

Having 20 attendees allowed us to give everyone an extra game in the knockout phase, starting with a round of 16 for the trophy, and straight in to the semi-final stage for the bottle of wine. The latter was “won” by Ian, who planned to finish the wine before the day’s end.

The Trophy side of the knockout led to a final between Nick (after knocking out Colin, Ganesh and Harriet) and Matthew Palmer (who knocked out Ken, David and Mat). The final game was a swashbuckling affair, with Nick throwing every piece into a sacrificial attack. But Matthew, a very capable tactician, saw and avoided all the pitfalls to leave himself with a very comfortable endgame advantage, which he duly converted. Over the course of the evening, Matthew scored 9.5 from 10 games.

Congratulations to Matthew, whose name will appear on the trophy very soon.

On the all-important (but non-existent) award for the most outlandish Christmas costume, there were several Christmas jumpers on display worthy of Val Doonican, but the prize would have to go to Ashton, who was brave enough to wear a floppy “Gail’s” Santa hat.

As usual, many thanks to Jonathan, our Club Secretary, for the above write-up and for organising and running the tournament so adeptly.

The 2025 Khyber Cup was held on Sunday (20th July) in Harriet’s parents’ beautiful home and garden, filled with exotic plants. Despite the torrential downpour the previous day and the threat of more rain in the morning, the weather gods smiled on us. We had just a few light showers, but the games were unaffected, being played across the conservatory, covered garden table, and summer house. As the day progressed, we were treated to a positively sunny afternoon.

The early morning chess produced some upsets (congratulations Nick!), but after the full five rounds, the field was spread more or less as expected.

The winner, once again, was Paul Cooksey on 5/5, though not without a closely fought battle with Ewan Wilson, a strong Reading player and friend of Harriet’s parents. This puts Paul’s name on the trophy for a second consecutive year.

Runner-up was Colin on 4/5, with Harvey not far behind on 3.5.

Lunch was something different – a barbecue of Berkshire beef burgers, sausages, and skewers, with all the usual burger bun fillings, excellently cooked by Harriet’s father acting as grill-meister. For dessert, homemade cakes were provided by Harriet’s grandmother (and for the most part eaten by Ashton). Special mention also goes to Harriet’s mother, who organized the kitchen and made lunch run so smoothly.

After the friendly rivalry of chess came the serious rivalry of water volleyball in the swimming pool, with Dave Herring cajoling his team to mixed success. After which, Harriet demonstrated true home advantage by taking on a team of three single-handedly – and winning comfortably. All in all, a classic and memorable Khyber Cup. Many thanks to Harriet and her parents for being such excellent hosts.