21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

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Andrew Wainwright
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Wainwright » Sun May 16, 2021 6:20 pm

Build it and they will come...

https://www.chesscentre.online

Andrew Wainwright
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Wainwright » Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:51 pm

Well we built it, they came and they keep coming!
Our junior club is full to burst, resulting in the launch of a second junior club night. Our adult socials have attracted no less than 40 brand new players since May (ok not all have signed up but a good number have). We have hosted multiple events already and our monthly RapidPlays are proving particularly popular. We will soon be entering teams in two local leagues due to start up again in Sep/Oct. We have a fully licensed bar, run entirely on a not-for-profit basis by volunteers. We are in the process of donating 120+ free sets to local primary schools in Sep and we’ve even had a couple of recent GMs visit us!
Not bad for a couple of unknown lads from Yorkshire :-)

On a serious note though we are approaching the 6 month mark of our initial 3yr project and everything is progressing very well. We have been overwhelmed by support both locally and further afield. We hope to publish a paper in due course on our project - a blue print if you will on how chess facilities can be created to very high standards, very cost effectively and on a sustainable basis. We firmly believe that this is needed for the future of our game in the UK and we welcome anyone who is interested to get in touch to learn more - [email protected]

Andrew Wainwright
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Wainwright » Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:05 pm

How as the evening spent....boxing up 120 Free Chess Sets ready for delivery this coming week to local Primary Schools!
Many thanks to the BDCA (Sam Scurfield Legacy), Malcolm Pein and Chess in Schools & Communities for their support towards this project.
We need to nurture grass roots Chess across the country. There are many great initiative out there, but more of us need to get involved.
#thechesscentre
#notforprofit
#givingsomethingback

Andrew Zigmond
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:52 pm

That's great news Andy and I agree entirely with your last sentence.
Controller - Yorkshire League
Chairman - Harrogate Chess Club
All views expressed entirely my own

Andrew Wainwright
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Wainwright » Tue Nov 09, 2021 12:19 pm

Very excited that we will be hosting our first ever IM Norm Event (All Play All) in Feb 2022!

See the ECF Calendar for the EJCOA Ilkley Chess Centre IM Norm Event 23-27 Feb 2022.

Alongside this will be a FIDE Rated 10 Player Junior Invitational for aspiring junior players on the same dates.

Wadih Khoury
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Wadih Khoury » Tue Nov 09, 2021 3:53 pm

Andrew Wainwright wrote:
Tue Nov 09, 2021 12:19 pm
.

Alongside this will be a FIDE Rated 10 Player Junior Invitational for aspiring junior players on the same dates.
Sounds exciting.
Have you considered organising Scheveningen (team all play all) of juniors Vs adults?

Andrew Wainwright
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Wainwright » Tue Nov 09, 2021 4:56 pm

Wadih Khoury wrote:
Tue Nov 09, 2021 3:53 pm
Andrew Wainwright wrote:
Tue Nov 09, 2021 12:19 pm
.

Alongside this will be a FIDE Rated 10 Player Junior Invitational for aspiring junior players on the same dates.
Sounds exciting.
Have you considered organising Scheveningen (team all play all) of juniors Vs adults?
Interesting idea. Not something we have looked at yet, but looks of interesting projects coming next year!

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Joey Stewart
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Joey Stewart » Tue Nov 09, 2021 10:10 pm

Andrew Wainwright wrote:
Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:05 pm
How as the evening spent....boxing up 120 Free Chess Sets ready for delivery this coming week to local Primary Schools!
Many thanks to the BDCA (Sam Scurfield Legacy), Malcolm Pein and Chess in Schools & Communities for their support towards this project.
We need to nurture grass roots Chess across the country. There are many great initiative out there, but more of us need to get involved.
#thechesscentre
#notforprofit
#givingsomethingback

I didn't notice this post before - are these the very same sets that were talked about years ago in the holloid plastics promotion?
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

Stewart Reuben
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Stewart Reuben » Tue Dec 07, 2021 2:38 pm

Joey Stewart
>I didn't notice this post before - are these the very same sets that were talked about years ago in the Holloid plastics promotion?<
NO. That project was an almost total disaster. It was too ambitious.
Another matter. Just giving sets away does not always work. People onsite who will make use of them are even more essential.
As with Joey, I hitherto failed to notice his question.

Andrew Wainwright
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Wainwright » Tue Jan 11, 2022 4:18 pm

Quite right Stewart, we have nothing to do with that project. These sets were bought by us from Chess & Bridge, with several contributions as detailed above. They were donated for free to local primary schools as a part of our mission to galvanise the local chess community.

Andrew Wainwright
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Wainwright » Tue Jan 11, 2022 4:20 pm

I can't believe that it coming up to the 1st anniversary of the Chess Centre taking our premises in Ilkley. What a year it has been!

We look forward to publishing our Year 1 Report in the coming months - A tale of lessons learned, what went well, how we would do it better next time, what did it all cost, and is it now standing on its own two feet?

Andrew Wainwright
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Wainwright » Fri Jan 21, 2022 12:29 pm

Full line up for our IM Norm event next month (in partnership with EJCOA) is on Tim Wall's website:

https://northumbriamasters.com/3rd-ejco ... -feb-2022/

1 IM Jose Camacho-Collados (KOR, 2400)
2 FM Jonah Willow (ENG, 2360)
3 FM Yichen Han (NED, 2347)
4 IM David Eggleston (ENG, 2343)
5 FM Paul Macklin (ENG, 2341)
6 FM William Claridge-Hansen (ENG, 2340)
7 FM Iain Gourlay (SCO, 2318)
8 IM Stephen Mannion (SCO, 2271)
9 FM Shreyas Royal (ENG, 2243)
10 FM Adam Ashton (ENG, 2379)

Should be a great first IM Norm event at the Chess Centre.

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Joey Stewart
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Joey Stewart » Fri Jan 21, 2022 11:53 pm

Great job, helping more British players get titles is a positive tournament outcome.
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

Andrew Wainwright
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by Andrew Wainwright » Wed Feb 23, 2022 9:04 pm

Very cool to see round 1 of the first IM Norm event at the venue going so well.

https://lichess.org/broadcast/3rd-ejcoa ... 1/fA7CvZTq

J T Melsom
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Re: 21st Century Chess, in 21st Century Facilities!

Post by J T Melsom » Wed Feb 23, 2022 9:09 pm

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

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