Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

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Roger Lancaster
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Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

Post by Roger Lancaster » Sun Jan 02, 2022 10:28 am

I have been asked to help publicise this event which is being organised by one of the Watford juniors, Avy Dasgupta, to support the Third Hope charity which assists former child soldiers in Uganda. It's being organised as a 9-round ECF-rated (5' + 3") Swiss tournament with details at https://lichess.org/team/third-hope-charity-tournament, entry £5 although extra donations welcome and all funds will be donated to the charity.

For those unaware of the child soldier issue in East Africa, I probably can't do better than repeat the first three Wikipedia paragraphs:

"Child soldiers in Uganda are members of the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group that has been abducting young people since 1987 to fill out their ranks. Children and youths (both boys and girls) are usually abducted from their homes, often with one or more others, and in characteristically violent ways. New abductees are subjected to an intense period of integration and homogenization. Once indoctrinated, recruits are retained by threats of violence, cultivation of an intense in-group identity, and a belief in spiritual monitoring and punishment.

"During captivity, abductees are subjected to harsh living conditions, victimization and abuse. Most older males receive military training while females are often assigned as sexual partners to commanders. Almost all abductees witness acts of violence and most are forced to commit atrocities targeting civilians.

"Once liberated, former abductees display physical, psychological, and social problems. Many are rejected by their families and communities, and are considered evil and diseased. Traditional beliefs about cen, a kind of malevolent spiritual force or vengeful ghost, contributes to villagers perceiving former abductees as socially polluting and potentially dangerous. However, some families are able to support their children's return to the family and engage in cleansing rituals to help the child reintegrate into the community."

It's perhaps worth reflecting that, but for an accident of birth, any child could have been snatched by this rebel group. The Third Hope website, explaining how it assists in more detail than I can do here, is at https://thirdhope.org/

Andy Stoker
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Re: Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

Post by Andy Stoker » Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:48 am

Looks good Roger - but can you confirm it's an event for individuals - not teams? I'm a bit slow at finding and understanding the critical information

Roger Lancaster
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Re: Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

Post by Roger Lancaster » Mon Jan 03, 2022 11:48 am

Andy Stoker wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:48 am
Looks good Roger - but can you confirm it's an event for individuals - not teams? I'm a bit slow at finding and understanding the critical information
Sorry, Andy, maybe I should have clarified - it's for individuals.

Andy Stoker
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Re: Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

Post by Andy Stoker » Mon Jan 03, 2022 10:59 pm

Think it's just my incompetence - just that the word "team" is in the link

Roger Lancaster
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Re: Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

Post by Roger Lancaster » Tue Jan 04, 2022 5:37 pm

Andy Stoker wrote:
Mon Jan 03, 2022 10:59 pm
Think it's just my incompetence - just that the word "team" is in the link
It's just that, when a group of any type is set up on Lichess, it's automatically called a "team" - even if, as (for example) in the case of Lorin's "She Plays To Win", it becomes a team of (as it now is) 443 players. Fwiw, in my opinion it would be rather clearer if Lichess stuck to its alternative word, "community". Anyhow, 9 January is definitely for individuals - both chessplayers and, in a different sense, unfortunate kids in Uganda.

Roger Lancaster
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Re: Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

Post by Roger Lancaster » Fri Jan 07, 2022 5:59 pm

My original mention of this omitted to say that the event is open to adults as well as juniors. The website refers to it as "open to all" but some may have assumed this meant open to all juniors only, which isn't the case. All ECF members, irrespective of age, are very welcome.

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Joey Stewart
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Re: Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

Post by Joey Stewart » Sun Jan 09, 2022 5:14 pm

How did the tournament go in the end?
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

Roger Lancaster
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Re: Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

Post by Roger Lancaster » Mon Jan 10, 2022 10:12 am

Joey Stewart wrote:
Sun Jan 09, 2022 5:14 pm
How did the tournament go in the end?
First, and I guess most important, it raised £230 towards supporting former child soldiers.

Perhaps fittingly, the tournament was won by its young organiser (Avy Dasgupta, 12) with 8/9. His only loss was to an even younger Watford team-mate, 8-year-old Advait Keerthi Kumar, who finished on 7 points. Sharing the runner-up spot, and demonstrating that you don't have to be a junior to play good speed chess, was forumite David Sedgwick. That trio rather dominated the tournament, with no-one else scoring more than 5 points. In total, 77 games were played and I'm midway through submitting the results for ECF rating.

In his report last night, Avy's father acknowledged the help received from various members of the chess community, particularly Melinda Wilde at Colchester Chess Club, Lorin D'Costa, Tim Wall, Adam Raoof, Rob Willmoth, Tomer Eden and Angela Eyton. I suspect that this won't be a one-off.

Roger Lancaster
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Re: Online charity blitz, Sunday afternoon, 9 January

Post by Roger Lancaster » Wed Jan 19, 2022 10:57 am

There's a glitch on the ECF monthly rating system - nothing too serious, not caused by ECF and which I understand is being fixed - which has so far prevented me from uploading the tournament results but I anticipate being able to do so shortly.

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