Club Nights
Wednesday Free-Play Club Meetings
Every week we hold a club night for just casual-play chess, open to everyone to come and enjoy themselves. There are no requirements to entry and no specific experience levels - players of all standards turn up! Currently we average 30 players per night, so there's plenty of opponents to find!
Club nights are currently held on Wednesdays at Christ Church, from 7PM - 9PM. Check the termcard for more details.
We also tend to assign themes to certain chess club nights. This Hilary we'll likely begin with a few Swiss tournaments, to ease people into playing. Our schedule (subject to change as suits the interests of the particular week) for this term is as follows:
| Date | Theme | Description | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 22/01/2020 | Blitz Swiss Tournament | A 5+0 tournament, with prizes | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 2 | 29/01/2020 | Introduction Chess | A friendly, casual set of games with drinks | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 3 | 05/02/2020 | Set Opening Night | An introduction to a few basic openings where everyone starts from a set position | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 4 | 12/02/2020 | Head-to-Head Longplay | Register attendance. Opponents are paired in advance for 60+0 matches. | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 5 | 19/02/2020 | Simultaneous Exhibition with GM Keith Arkell | Pleased to invite GM Keith Arkell to come and give a simultaneous exhibition. | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 6 | 26/02/2020 | Round-Robin Bullet Tournament | Compete to gain the most points by winning 1+0 games against anybody and everybody | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 7 | 04/03/2020 | Varsity Prep: High-Quality Chess Week | Mandatory attendance for all Varsity players; all others welcome to spectate with commentary or play freely | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 8 | 11/03/2020 | Bughouse Night | Finish the term with some Bughouse (2v2 chess) | LR2, Christ Church |
The schedule for Michaelmas 2019 was:
| Date | Theme | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 16/10/2020 | Freshers' Tryouts | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 2 | 23/10/2020 | Casual Chess at St John's | BBES, Christ Church |
| Week 3 | 30/10/2020 | Standard/Rapid Chess Night | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 4 | 06/11/2020 | 3+2 Blitz Tourney | BBES, Christ Church |
| Week 5 | 13/11/2020 | 5th Week Blues Bughouse | LR2, Christ Church |
| Week 6 | 20/11/2020 | Set Opening Week | BBES, Christ Church |
| Week 7 | 27/11/2020 | Longplay Practice | LR1, Christ Church |
| Week 8 | 04/12/2020 | Bullet Tournament | LR2, Christ Church |
Much more to come in the coming terms!
Saturday Bughouse
This Hilary we're trialling a new set of Bughouse nights. Bughouse is a variant of chess where players play in teams. In essense:
- Each partnership has one White player and one Black player.
- When a player captures a piece, they pass it on to their partner.
- The partner can 'drop' that piece anywhere on the board if they want, using up a turn each time.
Bughouse is known as a classic 'stress-relief' post-tournament game for chess players. We'll be holding Bughouse sessions in the Kings' Arms on Saturday evenings. See the
Read more about Bughouse on Wikipedia. You can play Bughouse on chess.com or the Free Internet Chess Server, or you can play its sister variant, Crazyhouse, on any of the above and on Lichess.org.
