Broadstairs held its Annual General Meeting on September 7th and in the picture on the left we see Reg Pidduck with his array of trophies: the Zielinski Shield, the Oyster Shield, the John Cutting Cup and the Walker Shield, the latter awarded to Reg as captain of the team that won the U115 Walker Shield competition in the Thanet League.  Other winners on the night were Bob Cronin, who won the George Stiggers Trophy for the best grading improvement, and David Faldon, who shared the Goodall Cup for the club championship with David Horton (absent on holiday).  This is David’s fifth successive victory but he has some way to go to overtake the most wins (nine).

It was reported that it had been another successful year for the club both in terms of numbers and finances.  The present subscription rate is to be maintained and it was decided that the club should once again subsidise the Christmas Dinner as it has done in previous years.   The current committee was re-elected en bloc with David Faldon taking over as captain of the Mick Croft Cup side. A surprise move was the decision to adopt Fischer time for the Goodall Cup and Summer Swiss competitions.  This is the second change in succession after last year’s decision to abandon the traditional rate of 36 moves in 90 minutes with an additional 15 minutes for all remaining moves in favour of all moves in 105 minutes in keeping with a similar League decision which has proved unpopular with many Thanet players. The introduction of Fischer time at the recent Thanet Congress was warmly received by those Broadstairs players taking part and it was felt at the meeting that the decision to use the same time control for club competitions was a typically positive and innovative one that would be appreciated by all members. 

Fixtures for the coming season can now be accessed on the fixtures page. Results and reports will be available as soon as possible once the matches have been played.

As the website approaches its first birthday, it seems sensible to tidy things up a bit so that current news can be separated from the more ancient.  There is a new category at the top (Season 2014-15) where most of this year’s news has been deposited. The only problem is that everything is on the one page and we can’t as yet separate reports from match results from news etc. Instead, everything is in reverse chronological order for the moment. It may not be possible to change anything but we’re working on it.  A few of the more recent items of news have been retained for the time being but will be transferred for the new season. At the club things are winding down as the various competitions reach their climax and we look forward to the Thanet Congress on August 21st. If you haven’t entered already, there’s still time.   Meanwhile, here’s a photo from the Christmas Dinner featuring (from the left) John Couzens, Tom Lovegrove and David Clifford.

The idea of an end of season blitz tournament – yes, folks, Broadstairs Chess Club is still open until the middle of August – was first thought of ten years ago so just like a well-known out-of-town Thanet shopping centre, 2015 is our tenth anniversary. The routine is tried and tested and appears to work well so there seems little need to change it. The players are divided into two teams of roughly equal ability in grade order. They are then paired against each of the opposing players in turn and the final totals are added up to find the winning team. Token team prizes are awarded but it’s just for fun. There was originally a prize for the individual with the highest score but as it was invariably one of the two number one boards it seemed pointless so that has now been scrapped. Fourteen players took part this year: thirteen from Broadstairs and our guest and long-standing friend, Colin Gregory from Margate.  Each player had six minutes to make all his moves and the theme this year was Waterloo 200 so the two teams were the Wellington Boots and the Napoleon Brandies. It was a close contest throughout with the Wellingtons taking an early lead and clinging on to it until the final round when the Napoleons won their only round sufficiently impressively to win the match.  Where were the Prussians when we needed them?  Next week the club returns to normal for the last few weeks of the season with three competitions still to be decided: the club tournament for the Goodall Cup, the knockout tournament for the John Couzens Vase, and the last two rounds of the Summer Swiss. The club closes for two weeks in August, re-opening in September and new players are always welcome (see ‘About’).