Abbots Bromley Chess-Fest!

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Peter Hornsby
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Abbots Bromley Chess-Fest!

Post by Peter Hornsby » Thu Jul 22, 2021 11:49 am

Ok it probably won't match the one in Trafalgar Square but you never know unless you drop on by ;)


ab chess fest.jpg
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Peter Hornsby
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Re: Abbots Bromley Chess-Fest!

Post by Peter Hornsby » Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:43 pm

AB chess 3.png
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AB chess 1.jpg
AB chess 1.jpg (415.98 KiB) Viewed 1114 times
AB chess 2.png
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AB Chess 5.png
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Peter Hornsby
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Re: Abbots Bromley Chess-Fest!

Post by Peter Hornsby » Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:15 pm

Abbots Bromley Chess Fest Success!

Abbots Bromley Chess Club was founded online back in April 2020 through a chance conversation with myself, a former staff member of Abbots Bromley School, and Andy McCafferty a former parent of a student of the same school.

We recruited people with links to the school and from the local community and entered the '20/20 World Championships', as a newly formed village team it was somewhat a baptism of fire at first but results picked up with thrilling wins against Liverpool University, Asociacion Mexicana de Ajedrez-AMA and CIESZYŃSKIE LEGENDY to finish a very respective joint 80th.

In June these half-a-dozen founding players met up for their, and the village's, first ever 'over-the-board' meeting which was a lovely occasion and people who had talked and played together online for over a year were finally able to meet in person.

Following on from this 'one-off' meeting, it was decided that an attempt to launch a weekly club should be made, and with that in mind we planned with the extensive help from FM Jonathan Blackburn a 'Chess-Fest' to mimic the successful event that had taken place in London the week before.

On Sunday 25th July we had this event, which attracted 20-30 people attending across the afternoon and evening with people travelling from Lichfield, Stoke-On-Trent and beyond. It started with casual games for the adults and a masterclass teaching session from Jonathan for the juniors which went down extremely well, using sets kindly provided by the 'Chess in Schools' initiative.'

After that it was time for the first 'Hybrid Chess Match' against Dundee City. We even had arbiter Matthew Carr dropping in to make sure everything was above board before he went on to help run the British Championships, and myself to ensure that there were no technological issues and that everyone logged in! It was a bruising encounter against a very strong and well organized team, our thanks to their club and captain David Findlay, as the team went down 19-3 though it was great to get people playing online, as well as a club record turnout for a match.

Particular congratulations to junior Joe Conway-Lees who picked up a fantastic win against an established experienced played rated 400 points higher.

Following on from that after a well deserved drinks break (thanks to the Coach & Horses for hosting us in your beautiful garden and for looking after us!) it was time for the 14 board simul starring Welsh Champion FM Jonathan Blackburn. Everyone put up a really tough fight and Jonathan had to work hard for every win bar one, where new member Luke Sullivan claimed a draw and with that a medal and Chess & Bridge subscription as a prize!

As the sun was setting it was time to wrap up on a very successful day, whilst the sun was set on that day it the Chess sun is only just rising at Abbots Bromley and will surely burn brightly; the club will meet again next Sunday at the same time next week!

We hope that these events can be modelled by clubs across the country and beyond.

Thank you to all those involved, and to Max Sarasini (http://www.maxsarasiniphotography.co.uk/) for the photos :D

If you would like to join please email [email protected]
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Peter Hornsby
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Re: Abbots Bromley Chess-Fest!

Post by Peter Hornsby » Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:16 pm

BBC Radio Shoutout:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09nkrdt

Our friend and fellow organizer FM Jonathan Blackburn from last week was interviewed on BBC Radio recently, you can hear the interview from 10 minutes in which is certainly worth listening to, or skip to 20 minutes where you'll hear the club mentioned :)
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Nick Burrows
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Re: Abbots Bromley Chess-Fest!

Post by Nick Burrows » Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:39 pm

Well done Peter, fantastic effort!

Simon Rogers
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Re: Abbots Bromley Chess-Fest!

Post by Simon Rogers » Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:43 pm

Well done Peter. Great pictures and great to see a new chess club starting up. There was a new chess club started in Northern Ireland a few months ago. There are pictures of it on the Ulster Chess website. I think it is called Greenisland.

Roger Lancaster
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Re: Abbots Bromley Chess-Fest!

Post by Roger Lancaster » Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:51 pm

Yes, congratulations on organising the event.

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