I was reappointed as Tournament Organiser at the AGM and there was enthusiasm for another full programme of internal club competition during the Summer.  The club will continue to be open every Thursday evening from 7:30pm.

Communication with Tournament Participants

On a “Belt and Braces” basis I am sending this letter to you both in hard copy and (where possible) via email.  As far as is possible however I would like hereafter to use as few postage stamps as possible.

In the few days since the AGM, Carl has performed a heroic job in getting a club website up and running.  You can find it at www.stratfordchess.com.  I will attempt to keep the site up to date with results, pairings etc throughout the Summer and will also email participants whenever appropriate.  For members who are not email and web enabled, I will also try and keep up to date information on the club notice board but please do your bit by phoning me if you do not know who or when you are meant to be playing.

Lightning Tournament – Thursday 23^rd May

Paul defended his title with embarrassing ease last year.  There was nonetheless enthusiasm for running this fun event again.  As last year the format will be all-play-all with five minutes on each clock. I urge everyone to try and make it.

Ladder

My attempts last year to resuscitate the ladder started well.  Unfortunately they fell apart (literally!) when all the name bricks were knocked out of the board and I could not remember where they should be repositioned!  By popular request however we will try again with a (more stable) Ladder Competition that will run for the whole year up to the next AGM. A prize will be awarded for the best overall performance.  I attach a separate sheet setting out my aims and suggestions for how it should work.

Summer Swiss Championship

Again the feeling was that last year’s tournament was worth repeating and we will therefore run another five round Swiss.  As last year we will try as far as is possible to play the rounds on fixed fortnightly dates to make the evenings good club events. These dates will be as follows:

Round 1 -                Thursday 6^th June

Round 2 -                Thursday 20^th June

Round 3 -                Thursday 4^th July 

Round 4 -                Thursday 18^th July

Round 5 -                Thursday 1st August

This year however, participants may reschedule their individual games provided that they are played and I am notified of the result 48 hours before the date of the next round. . Time limits will be as for normal league games.

To enable players to reschedule if they know that they cannot make one of the fixed dates (and to allow Carl and Colin copious preparation time for when they meet each other!), I will attempt to ensure that pairings for each round are on the website and email the day before each round is due to be played. Again those without the technology will need to phone me if they know that they will not be able to make it on the Thursday evening.

Recognising that even with this flexibility there will still be problems fitting around holidays etc, players may take a half point bye in any one round provided I am notified in advance of the pairings for the round in question and provided that in the last round a bye would not influence the overall tournament result.

Making this work relies on all participants trying to make the scheduled dates available and communicating with me on a timely basis when they cannot. Please write, phone or email me to indicate whether you will be able to play in the tournament

Kind regards

Jonathan Rashleigh