Pre-Season Build Up

[Andrew Wainwright]

Do most leagues around the country start again in September?

The leagues I play in (Bradford, Leeds and Yorkshire) all start up again in September. Personally I love this time of year as everyone is getting excited about the start of the new campaigns, the fixtures are being released, pre-season training sessions and pre-season matches against other clubs are being arranged and there is a real buzz around the various clubs/squads I play in and run.

I think our excitement is also probably a bit more so this season with the added prospect of 4NCL chess in the North, but I do generally feel that around now each year people are really starting to gear up for the new season.

I was therefore wondering how other clubs approach the start of the season and whether there are any ideas you might share, specifically:

1. Do you set "targets" for your various teams on what you want to achieve in the coming season?
2. Do you run pre-season friendly matches to sharpen up again for the start of the season?
3. If you have more than one team do you keep the same squads as last season or do you regularly change squads for a new season to maximise your chances of success?

It would be interesting to hear what other clubs are doing around this time of year.

[Alex Holowczak]

The leagues in the Midlands all start in September. The first games this year are on Thursday, September 2.

The targets for my Birmingham Checkmates junior team is simple:
1) Avoid relegation from Division Four of the Birmingham League
2) Win Division Three of the Dudley League

We have had two pre-season games (albeit some time ago), one a 2-2 draw, the other a 4-0 win, against slightly weaker opposition than we'll meet in Division Four of the Birmingham League (and over fewer boards).

I've just made a bit of an all-star addition to my team though, but I'll only deploy him in the one game local to him (because we're one short that day anyway), and another game where I want to get revenge on someone...

The targets for my Aston University team this season are:
1) Perform competently in the Cannock League, our board 1 is awesome, and the rest of us need to hang on
2) Get 2 teams + at least 5 individuals in the two BUCA events - but then I have a slightly vested interest in this...

[Neill Cooper]

For me it is the publishing of the grading list that starts the planning for the next season. Tonight is the Surrey 'League composition meeting' (arranging which teams will be in which divisions) and then follows the organising of fixtures (computer generated). In Surrey fixtures tend to start in October, though I'd prefer September.
Yes, I do set targets, particularly for the school teams I run.
No pre-season friendlies (though for the school there is a Jamboree)
Squads can change due to grades changing and members joining/leaving (particularly for school teams).

[Adam Raoof]

I play for Hendon in the Middlesex League, and our pre-season preparation now consists of taking part in the City of London Rapidplay League (COLRL) over the summer. We won the COLRL and Middlesex League Div I last year and the pressure is on to do well again as a result! I hope we just do well and finish in the top half in both, but I would have been really amazed if we did the double again. Our second team got promoted to Div II and we have had so many new members that we can run an extra team in Div III, which is exciting! The composition of the squads is pretty much determined by ECF grade.

Because we have three weeks off in August and our league starts effectively at the beginning of October, we have a 7 round pre-season Swiss tournament at the club during September. We are also fortunate to have a monthly open to all blitz and a rapidplay tournament.

We encourage our members to take part in congresses and other team events, and the 4NCL is on the list this year for three of us. Here's a list of my favourite tournaments.

http://goldersgreenchess.posterous.com/my-year-in-chess

[William Metcalfe]

This off season i had some ideas to do a few different events for my club at Darlington first off one of the regions strongest players did a simul v our club in 14 games he won 9 drew 5 lost 0.
And i have arranged for a well respected chess coach to give two lectures at our club the first 1 was last week the next is next Monday.
The first 2 events were a resounding success and everybody that took part really enjoyed the evenings.
As a sidenote the three events were free of charge.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Presumably the players for chess clubs that do *no* pre-season build-up are either on holiday and not posting here, or quaking in their boots at the thought that some chess players prepare for the forthcoming season...

[Rob Thompson]

Or, alternatively, just turn up and play when they get there. I would suspect that the vast majority of evening league players do no chess preparation for anything

[Sean Hewitt]

Or, alternatively, just turn up and play when they get there. I would suspect that the vast majority of evening league players do no chess preparation for anything

Many players prep does not even include the date or venue of the game

[Paul Buswell]

Hastings & St. Leonards won't have its fixtures in either the Mid-Sussex League or the Kent League for another three or four weeks. Our preparation is more:

(a) given that the Kent League is based on divisions with maximum average grades, do we have people with the right grades for a particular division...

(b) who on earth will drive to away matches? We seem to have a low proportion of car owners, so we need now to be getting drivers to commit to playing for various teams throughout the season if we are to honour our away fixtures.

In other words, our preparation is admin not chess!

PB

[Ian Thompson]

Or, alternatively, just turn up and play when they get there. I would suspect that the vast majority of evening league players do no chess preparation for anything

Many players prep does not even include the date or venue of the game

... and is even less likely to include familiarising themselves with the rules of the event they are going to play in

[Alex Holowczak]

Or, alternatively, just turn up and play when they get there. I would suspect that the vast majority of evening league players do no chess preparation for anything

Many players prep does not even include the date or venue of the game

... and is even less likely to include familiarising themselves with the rules of the event they are going to play in

Or even the Laws of Chess themselves.

One player last year claimed a three-fold repetition, despite the fact that it was only two-fold. Our captain had to sort it out, because one scoresheet was written in descriptive notation, and the other was in illegible descriptive notation. Upon arriving at the correct decision that it wasn't three-fold repetition, there was no sign of awarding three minutes to his opponent, either.

[Jon Mahony]

I’m really looking forward to the start of the season - the gap this year seems to have been especially long and there’s still a ways to go.

Like Andrew I play in the Leeds, Bradford and Yorkshire League + Congresses - Looking forward to Manchester in a few weeks.

The gap does get a bit boring - Leeds Chess Club doesn’t break for summer, we have practice every Wednesday and Saturday night, but attendance does dwindle in the off-season.

We do have the club championship and we’ve had IM Richard Palliser and, last Saturday GM Danny Gormally (who was a really nice bloke) give simultaneousness exhibitions, which was excellent.

Generally though there’s not a great deal to fill the time - bring on late September!

[Lee Bullock]

I’m really looking forward to the start of the season - the gap this year seems to have been especially long and there’s still a ways to go.

Like Andrew I play in the Leeds, Bradford and Yorkshire League + Congresses - Looking forward to Manchester in a few weeks.

The gap does get a bit boring - Leeds Chess Club doesn’t break for summer, we have practice every Wednesday and Saturday night, but attendance does dwindle in the off-season.

We do have the club championship and we’ve had IM Richard Palliser and, last Saturday GM Danny Gormally (who was a really nice bloke) give simultaneousness exhibitions, which was excellent.

Generally though there’s not a great deal to fill the time - bring on late September!

And I advise anyone and everyone to watch Leeds Chess Videos by Jon lol.

Hilliarious. The guy is a star. I went for a coffee, I went for a pint, The 80 year old lady bit my hand off for a draw. She looked stumped by this move and tutted lol. Link here if anyone wants to see

http://www.leedschessclub.org/apps/videos/

[Jon Mahony]

I’m really looking forward to the start of the season - the gap this year seems to have been especially long and there’s still a ways to go.

Like Andrew I play in the Leeds, Bradford and Yorkshire League + Congresses - Looking forward to Manchester in a few weeks.

The gap does get a bit boring - Leeds Chess Club doesn’t break for summer, we have practice every Wednesday and Saturday night, but attendance does dwindle in the off-season.

We do have the club championship and we’ve had IM Richard Palliser and, last Saturday GM Danny Gormally (who was a really nice bloke) give simultaneousness exhibitions, which was excellent.

Generally though there’s not a great deal to fill the time - bring on late September!

And I advise anyone and everyone to watch Leeds Chess Videos by Jon lol.

Hilliarious. The guy is a star. I went for a coffee, I went for a pint, The 80 year old lady bit my hand off for a draw. She looked stumped by this move and tutted lol. Link here if anyone wants to see

http://www.leedschessclub.org/apps/videos/

[/quote]

Lol Cheers Lee - avoid the 80 yr old lady one, I missed forced mate in that and took a draw Keep meaning to take it down.

I don’t take my vids too seriously, but I generally get positive feedback (from other patzers admittedly ). Bare in mind though I’m only 110 ecf, so the games aren’t of the highest quality.

[Jon Mahony]

I’m really looking forward to the start of the season - the gap this year seems to have been especially long and there’s still a ways to go.

Like Andrew I play in the Leeds, Bradford and Yorkshire League + Congresses - Looking forward to Manchester in a few weeks.

The gap does get a bit boring - Leeds Chess Club doesn’t break for summer, we have practice every Wednesday and Saturday night, but attendance does dwindle in the off-season.

We do have the club championship and we’ve had IM Richard Palliser and, last Saturday GM Danny Gormally (who was a really nice bloke) give simultaneousness exhibitions, which was excellent.

Generally though there’s not a great deal to fill the time - bring on late September!

And I advise anyone and everyone to watch Leeds Chess Videos by Jon lol.

Hilliarious. The guy is a star. I went for a coffee, I went for a pint, The 80 year old lady bit my hand off for a draw. She looked stumped by this move and tutted lol. Link here if anyone wants to see

http://www.leedschessclub.org/apps/videos/

Lol Cheers Lee - avoid the 80 yr old lady one, I missed forced mate in that and took a draw Keep meaning to take it down.

I don’t take my vids too seriously, but I generally get positive feedback (from other patzers admittedly ). Bare in mind though I’m only 110 ecf, so the games aren’t of the highest quality.