No practice, just a Blitz at Customs House event

NINE-ROUND COMPETITION IN SHIELDS PROVES BIG SUCCESS

THE date and venue: Sunday, July 8, The Customs House, South Shields.

A wonderful building and a great venue for chess and a wide range of other events, including excellent music and drama. Well worth visiting.

The Event: A single section competition for all entrants of all ages and experience organised by South Shields Chess Club.

The Format: A nine-round Blitz competition. Each competitor would have only five minutes on his/her clock plus an extra two seconds automatically added after they had played each move. In this type of event you are not required to write down your moves. At the end of each round players are re-paired for the next round. No-one plays the same person twice. Generally the aim is to pair players who have the same score at that point.

The Management: Principal controller, Brian Towers.

The atmosphere. Brilliant. This sort of event can work wonderfully as this one did, but can also be prone to some confusion. But that did not happen here. Well done to Brian Towers for his efficient management to ensure smooth progress through the rounds and to his gentle and calm approach to the task which made a significant contribution to the relaxed atmosphere. Although the games are short, usually not lasting more than 15 minutes each, and often a lot less, the intense concentration needed to play very quickly , can heighten the tension. Obviously everyone is striving to play well and avoid blunders but it is easier said than done. Controlling emotions when faced with the frustrating reality that you have just made a terrible blunder can test anyones’ self control. Here, all of the games were played in an excellent spirit with no histrionics. Not a single player flung himself on to the floor claiming a foul move had been played!! Nor even knocked the pieces over. A polite whispered: “I resign”, or an offer to shake hands while laying the King down proved sufficient.

The games: As you would expect, at this speed, the games were of very variable standard, but it surprising how well the very strong players can play, even with the just a few seconds left on the clock. All 180 games were played with no defaults.

The winners: There were a lot of subsections which helped keep the interest high right to the end.

Dave Patterson, chairman of South Shields Chess Club, presented the prizes.

South Shields Chess Club deserve a lot of credit for organising this excellent congress and especially Eddie Czestochowski for his energy and leadership.

Reminder: The next meeting of the Gateshead Central Library informal chess is on Tuesday from 5pm to 6-45pm and the first meeting at Newcastle Central Library is on Saturday, July 21 from noon to 2pm.