I included a couple photos, below, from last week’s blitz tournament, one from the start of round three and the other showing the final game of that round: the battle between Cody and Shahin (facing the camera). I believe Shahin was down to mere tens of seconds in this tough game but the inadvertent 5-second delay we ended up using allowed him to hold on and hand Cody his only loss of the event (and, yes, I’ve made a mental note to take better photos at the club).
Speaking of blitz, I’ve bandied about this idea of holding a blitz mini-marathon over the four Wednesdays in July. Each Wednesday tournament would include 4-5 rounds and would be a standalone event, with modest prizes, while the sum of one’s scores in all four events would then be your total for the mini-marathon (hence, a maximum of 16-20 points). You needn’t play in all four events, given busy summer schedules with vacations and such, while, conceivably, someone who plays just three events and does very well could prove competitive in the mini-marathon. We might also decrease the time control each successive week, to ratchet up the pressure (G5+2, G5+0, G3+2, G3+0, say). The entry fee for individual events would be free, as usual, while those interested in the full mini-marathon could pay a modest fee to create a prize fund, something quite a few people have expressed interest in to date. If you have any interest in or feedback about such a tourney please let me know.
In other news, several recent visitors to the club have asked that we offer casual and blitz chess on a regular basis, for those who cannot or do not wish to play in tournaments, and I’m happy to report that our “Skittles Room” will now be a permanent fixture at the club. This is the room directly across the hall from our usual space—I’ll set that up each evening with boards, pieces and clocks and we can use that for casual, blitz, bughouse and post-game analysis while tournaments are in progress (it also serves admirably as the parent’s lounge).
Finally for this update, a number of people have requested that we offer lectures and/or lessons and I’m working on something which may happen as soon as June 29th. Jim Eade, one or our resident masters and benefactors, has offered to analyze one or two of the more interesting games from our June Mini-Marathon tournament or perhaps review some aspect of endgame technique. We’ll send details and a firm date once we know more.
