By our London League 3 Captain, John White
Hello fellow members – the most memorable evening since Hillary and Donald decided to get it on, took place last night in the Valhalla of West London Chess.
Chess is back at Lytton Hall!
Last night Hammersmith Chess Club returned to its home and the prospect of a tough and exciting season of league chess, blitz tourneys, events and great chess got a lot closer.
The evening was dominated by two events. Firstly – the presentation of merit awards to our most deserving players for their performances in the Thames Valley, London, and Middlesex Leagues last season.
Winners included our Chairman, Bajrush, Brian Dodgeon, Robin Lee, David Lambert and your humble correspondent.
Special mention should be given to John Ryan who received the award for the best increase in rating achieved over the 2015/16 season.
Once again the Club is indebted to our brilliant Secretary, Mike Mackenzie, who put in a lot of work to the awards to make it a special occasion.
With the gongs out of the way we got down to the first of four 10-minute Blitz tournaments of the season.
A new initiative this year, the Club will be operating a season-long series of four Blitz tournaments where members can rack up points according to their finishing positions. At the end of the final round the Club will crown our inaugural Blitz Champion.
Seventeen people took part in this first round, including a number of new and potentially-new members – we extend our warmest welcome to Phil, Ken, Paolo, Giovanni and Matteo. Pleased to say that Matteo plays his first game for the Club this Thursday – good luck!
The nuts & bolts of the evening saw our Chairman Bajrush beating League 4 Captain David Lambert in the hotly-contested final. A well deserved victory for Bajrush and a solid placing for David – a great night was had by all. Full Roll of Honour and points awarded as follows:
- Winner – Bajrush (17 points)
- Runner Up – David (16 points)
- 3rd (Joint) – Brian, Matteo (15 points)
- 5th (Joint) – Chris, John W, John R, Robin (13 points)
- 9th – Sheikh (9 points)
- 10th – Giovanni (8 points)
- 11th (Joint) – Paolo, Matt (7 points)
- 13th (Joint) – Ken, Rich, Danny, Mike (5 points)
- 17th – Phil (1 point)
Congratulations to all concerned and all the best for the coming season!!
Don’t forget – if you haven’t done so already, please get your Club Membership Fee and ECF Membership Sorted – both essential if you wish to play League Chess for Hammersmith. Please get in touch for details.