We’re pleased to announce that we have a new Social Chess Officer, Mark Hutchinson, who has some exciting plans for the new season!
Here he is introducing himself in his own words, and introducing the new Hendon Rapid League, which starts on Wednesday (a one-off since we couldn’t book our venue on Thursday this particular week). Hope to see you there!
Hello Everyone.
I am pleased to announce that I have taken on the role of Social Chess Officer for Hendon Chess Club.
My aim is to enliven social chess evenings by providing ongoing competitions and one-off events. These will be free and open to all members.
Starting in September, I will launch an ongoing, rapid chess completion for members only. The aim is to provide a bit of competition in a relaxed and friendly environment. Details to follow.
I also hope to organise a few one-off events throughout the year. For example, I can imagine everything from events with a bit of serious chess, such as a free blitz tournament for members only, to less serious but highly entertaining evenings of chess variants, such as ‘bughouse’ chess.
I have plenty of ideas to try out and hope many members will come along to give them a go. I would also be delighted to hear from anyone about what they would like to see on social chess evenings (via email or in person). I wish to provide a variety of chess activities which everyone can enjoy, regardless of playing strength or experience.
Mark Hutchinson
For Hendon Members – New, Free & Exclusive!
All members are invited to participate in the brand spanking new Hendon Rapid League, which will be launched in September.
This is a friendly, relaxed and unrated competition open to all ages and abilities, which will run on all evenings when social chess is available. The chess, though, is intended to be serious and competitive and there will be some kind of prize for the winner. It is not compulsory and unstructured social chess will always be available, too.
Come along to the first evening and find out how it works. Please note the unexpected date: Wednesday 13th September.
Alternatively, for those who can’t wait, read on to find out how it will, in fact, work.
Warning: the following contains spoilers about the baroque scoring system I have invented.
The league will run for 2 months at a time. After the first 2 months it will restart for the next 2 months and so on, so that it will run 4 times in all during the season. There will be four individual winners and an overall winner (based on placings in each round rather than a total score).
The purpose of the league is to make social chess evenings more enjoyable: providing a degree of competition (and practise) without some of the pressures of rated tournaments. Thus there will be time for two rounds in an evening, with a break in the middle long enough for games to be gone over, trips to the bar to be made and general chat. The time control will be 15 minutes plus a 10 second increment per move.
Anyone can play anyone else available (and more than once) but I will try to make novel pairings of players with the closest ratings possible – although players are welcome to arrange their own pairings, too. Players can join the league at any time and attend as many or few evenings as they wish.
The scoring system is designed to encourage and reward participation. To this end, there will be 4 points for a win; 2 for a draw; and 1 for a loss. There will even be a bonus point for each evening a player attends social chess! And finally, during each 2 month run of the league, only a player’s top 6 results will count.
The league is intended to be good practise and good fun, so do come along to our first meeting and give it a go.
Mark Hutchinson,
Social Chess Officer