Muswell Hill Chess update

[Joel Bird]

Hi all,

A quick round up as we approach the end of the season:

The club championships have been going strong with around 40 players participating, the biggest entry for years. Many thanks to Simon B for organising it. If you still have games to catch up, there are a few weeks left in which to do so. 26 April is the last official round, with 3 or 10 May as potential catch up days. Please aim to complete outstanding games by 24 May if possible, and send results to Simon.

The Middlesex league has been running with reduced team sizes of 6 boards, and both Muswell Hill teams have been very successful. The 2nd team have already secured promotion to Div 2 for next year. The 1st team are currently top of Div 1, and a win or draw in the final match on 3rd May would be enough to win the league title, which would be an amazing achievement. In total, 24 players have been involved in league matches this year.

On 17 May we’ll be running the traditional end of season 5 min blitz competition (unrated). Please turn up at latest by 7.15pm in order to enter. We may run a mini rapid competition with a longer time control alongside the blitz for those who (like Botvinnik) view blitz as a waste of time…

Finally, we’ll have the AGM on 24 May. This is your chance to have your say on how the club is organised. It will start at around 7.15pm.

After that we’re into the summer break, with no official club activities, although casual chess is still encouraged at the clissold on Tuesdays (best to bring your own equipment, and I’ll resurrect the WhatsApp group to coordinate meet ups over the summer).

All the best

Joel