21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

[Andrew Wainwright]

Great stuff. I'll be rooting for W C-H of course. Hopefully the live board issue will be sorted for subsequent rounds.

Tim and the Arbiter team are working on it. Hopefully it will be all sorted by Rd 2.

[Mick Norris]

chess24 live has the games too

Are the ones showing from round 1 correct?

[Nick Burrows]

Any IM norms achieved?

[Mick Norris]

presumably not

[Nick Burrows]

Impressive unbeaten perf. from Shreyas

[IM Jack Rudd]

I think Royal finished half a point short of a norm. Possibly Willow, too.

[LawrenceCooper]

I think Royal finished half a point short of a norm. Possibly Willow, too.

That's correct. Going into the final day Jonah, Shreyas & Yichen Han all needed 2/2 after round 7. Whilst Yichen won on round 8 the other two drew. Yichen then needed to beat Jonah for a norm but lost.

[Andrew Wainwright]

Yes, sadly no Norm was produced from the event, but hopefully all players enjoyed the event for their own personal reasons, whether that be gaining more experience, or "shaking of the COVID rust".

From the Chess Centre perspective it was good to prove the concept that the venue can be used by third parties for the hosting of events, which was always our intention - provide leading digital and physical facilities to promote the game.

[Andrew Wainwright]

Next Up:

1. Our first large scale Junior RP Event at Ilkley Grammar School - 21 May - https://www.chesscentre.online/events/i ... cecfe97788

2. Our first large scale Congress Festival (Congress) at the Kings Hall & Winter Gardens - 16-18 Sep - https://www.chesscentre.online/festival

3. Continue to develop new junior and adult players, creating new teams and league competitions - The Wharfedale League to start in April 2022

4. Publish our Yr1 results and learnings paper - A blue print of our project

Exciting times ahead!

[Andrew Wainwright]

A fantastic North v South Battle was enjoyed at the weekend, with 10 players from Hammersmith Chess Club venturing north to Ilkley to play at The Chess Centre.

Following a great match many beers, blitz and a curry were enjoyed by all.

The Chess Centre won the match 6.5-3.5, but more importantly we enjoyed the company of a great set of players who seem to love Chess just as much as we do!

Full details on the LMS: https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/96442/rounds

We look forward to the return fixture in London at the start of October!

[Andrew Wainwright]

As we approach our third Christmas at the Ilkley Chess Centre it is a great time to reflect on our journey to date, and to appreciate the many ups and downs that we have experienced during this journey. We have learned a lot, worked our butts off and most importantly had a great amount of fun throughout the journey so far.

We set off with an intention of proving one way or another whether a dedicated premises can be occupied, run and enjoyed by a "chess club" in a sustainable manner, both financially and operationally. As we approach the 3rd anniversary of our lease (1st March 2024) I feel that we have certainly proven that this is the case, though it isn't easy and there are certainly decisions that we would have made differently with the advantage of hindsight.

We also wanted to "raise the bar" in terms of playing, organisational and experience conditions for all chess players. We've tried a lot of innovative ideas during this time and have received a great amount of positive feedback from players, members, students and parents who have taken part in our events and classes during this time. There is is still a lot of work to do in this area, but I feel that compared to the majority of other chess clubs/facilities we have a unique offering that has proven its value in terms of attracting and retaining players to the game across all demographics.

We look forward to the years ahead and to seeing where this journey will lead to in promoting Chess in Ilkley, Yorkshire and beyond!