New Berkshire Prospect

[Mike W. Richardt]

As Roger says, there's a lot of chess at weekends in England now; in the geographically bigger counties like Yorkshire and Cumbria league chess at the weekend makes a lot of sense

When I moved to England (Somerset to be more specific) I was quite "shocked" to se that the league matches are played during the week. Doesn't make for good chess I thought and also I think some clubs are/were struggling to get players for league matches.

A trip from Taunton to Frome takes a good 75-90 minutes with a starting time at 7.30pm. Maximum length of the match is 3hrs (75 minutes for 35 moves + 20 minutes quick play finish) and then 75-90 minutes back. Bloody awful in my opinion but that's the way it is.

In Germany we have our league matches on Saturday or Sunday. Most junior leagues are on Saturday where most senior matches are on Sunday. Depending on the league starting times varies from 11am to 2pm. Time control is much nicer as well as most league have adopted the same time control as in the 4NCL.

Coming back to the junior training program: In Germany it does depend on the club. I do know that some clubs have some strong players coming to coach their juniors in person but also Skype and various other means are used.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"When I moved to England (Somerset to be more specific) I was quite "shocked" to se that the league matches are played during the week."

Somerset is well spread out and there are few clubs, so evening leagues perhaps don't make sense. It depends where you are of course. Some years ago I lived in Sutton (just in Surrey) and all the club venues in our division were within 20 minutes drive (except Guildford). Trevor Jones could tell you how to get there by train! If anything there were too many clubs. A lot have disappeared since and more will go. But even in Surrey, you are getting a late night after matches and those unfortunate enough to still be working have problems the next day.

Essex, Sussex and Kent have some long journeys, not sure about "Middlesex", but it does cover quite an area.

Perhaps it is time to consider moving to weekends. But, will venues cost more? Will availability reduce? (If you are working Mon-Fri then tell your family you are out all Saturday playing chess, that will probably be less popular than just going missing for 3 hours Monday evening!)

[Nick Grey]

The travel can be horrendous. On 17th January with cancelled tubes with no service - someone on the line. At high street Kensington a bus to Olympia. Then not getting on an overcrowded train = eventually got to Clapham Junction. Just in time for the service to Sutton. It was cancelled then it was running. Then getting to Balham an announcement that terminating at Norwood Junction. Got off and got a dorking service to Sutton. A run! over the platform to get a train back to Wallington! A 2 hour 20 minute journey. Apparently it was either cold or windy but I expect it was a normal Southern Service. This after putting the prices up. It is just as well that there are lots of adult chess players that are not working in our league.

No chance of our club playing weekends as we play in a pub. To be controversial - may be time to play local leagues. No travel more than 45 minutes.

To be fair the underground and rail network has a Victorian infrastructure, and in my line of work I need to be flexible on when I work.

Not ideal for juniors playing late at night!

[Mike W. Richardt]

"Perhaps it is time to consider moving to weekends. But, will venues cost more? Will availability reduce? (If you are working Mon-Fri then tell your family you are out all Saturday playing chess, that will probably be less popular than just going missing for 3 hours Monday evening!)

In Germany you play usually around 10 games a season (that is league games only) as you are not allowed to play for several clubs as you are allowed here.
Also I always thought it's an "odd thing" that you can change the board order here in the UK. Coming from Germany that didn't make any sense at all. Probably not organised enough for my German blood!!!
The odd cup match on a Saturday I probably played about 15 games a season for my German club Plettenberg (Cup & League matches). Various blitz tournaments as well but by far not as much as I would play here in the UK.

I remember playing several years for Taunton and Tiverton (Somerset league and Devon league). Thankfully the Devon league play their matches at the weekend apart from the rapid league which was played at the club night.

I assume I probably get more value for money playing here in the UK but it's a lot more stressful and especially playing during the week the standard certainly isn't great IMHO!!!!

Coming back to the juniors again: Wellington and Taunton have some juniors (most of them around 10 years old) currently but not sure what kind of coaching they receive.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Coming back to the juniors again: Wellington and Taunton have some juniors (most of them around 10 years old) currently but not sure what kind of coaching they receive."

There's perhaps not so much school chess in Somerset as one school tends to dominate, so some of the others decide not to bother. This is of course an opportunity for the clubs to help.

"Also I always thought it's an "odd thing" that you can change the board order here in the UK. Coming from Germany that didn't make any sense at all. Probably not organised enough for my German blood!!! "

Nothing wrong with organisation! I think we prefer some flexibility. Having a fixed board order implies that the grading list is not only correct but also reflects reality. Two similarly-rated players may well have good patches or bad patches, or one is driving 200 miles from a meeting, or one has a cold... it makes sense to switch the board order a bit.

[Alex Holowczak]

In Germany you play usually around 10 games a season (that is league games only) as you are not allowed to play for several clubs as you are allowed here.

But you won't really need to play for more than 1 club, will you? If all the games are on either Saturday or Sunday for all teams in the league, then you only have time to play for 1 club, because all the matches around the country are being played at the same time anyway? Whereas in England, because matches are spread out on 4 nights per week, it's possible to play for more than one club because (e.g.) one club's home fixtures might be on Monday, and another club's might be on Tuesday.