Over the Board Chess is Back!
Beginning on Thursday 22 July, we’ll be restarting regular in-person meetings at Moreton Hall Community Centre.
We usually meet fortnightly over the summer, but to help us get into the swing of things, we’ll have another meeting on 29 July before moving to the fortnightly pattern.
It’s been a long time since most of us have played “over the board” chess, no doubt some of us will be a bit rusty, while others of us will have been keeping ourselves sharp with online play. Whichever applies to you, we’d love to see you at the club.
For experienced players we’ll be running one of our popular 15-minute tournaments, which should give time for five rounds of play. For others, we’ll be arranging an introduction to the club and some coaching and casual play. If you plan to join us, for either activity, please get in touch. We’d especially like to know about anyone coming for the first time as that will help us make sure we have enough coaches lined up for those in the second group.
Covid Measures
Although the government has relaxed all the legal requirements, Covid obviously hasn’t gone away. We’re still deciding the exact approach that we’ll take at chess club, but want to be as light-touch as possible.
For now, let me just request that you bring your face-mask and be prepared to wear it if we ask you to.
If you don’t feel safe attending (or are put off by being asked to wear a mask), please get in touch to let us know what we could do to make things better. People are likely to have conflicting preferences, so we might not be able to accommodate them all, but we have a better chance if we know what those preferences are.
We also plan to continue our online meetings on Monday evenings, so if you’re still wary of meeting up in person, or simply want to top-up your over-the-board chess with some online play, that option will continue to be there for the foreseeable.
Hello, tried to call. I would like to attend for the first time tonight.
Hello Liam. That’s great. we look forward to seeing you later.
Hi Steve
I live around the corner from BSE Moreton hall community centre. Can I come along for a try out?
Hi there Sandy. By all means, do drop in. I’ll be playing in a formal match so may not be very available to make you welcome, but there should be other people who are. I’ll see if I can work out who will be around and let them know we’re expecting you.
Hi, would it be ok to come along for a try out? Which dates are available for playing informally. Don’t want to interrupt any league games.
Hi Lawrence. Yes, please come along. We try to make sure that all dates work for people to play informal games. There is always space for it alongside any league matches, but occasionally we don’t have people available to meet and greet newcomers properly. I know tonight (4 Nov 2021) will be fine on that front, as I’ll be there and am not involved in a match this week. I played (badly) last night in Woodbridge.
We have just moved to Bury and keen to take up chess having not played for about 40 years – when are the next nights to possible come along – I know chess is also played in the Apex ? also possible
A
Hello Andrew. You’re very welcome to attend on any Thursday evening. Tonight (3 Feb) there are two league matches taking place, but there should also be a few people (at least me) on hand to play casual games. As you’ll see elsewhere on the site, we meet from 7:15pm at Moreton Hall Community Centre. We look forward to meeting you on an upcoming Thursday.
Thanks, I couldn’t make the 4th but am ok for the 11th. Please let me know if that date is ok. Hope you didn’t get dropped for playing badly!
Lawrence
Hello is there an age limit to how young a player can join?
Hi Donna,
There’s no lower age limit, but juniors need to be comfortable mixing with adults. Depending on age, it may be more suitable to think about joining the Bury Knights Junior Chess Club. They cater for children up to and including age 14 (school year 9). I’m not certain when they are restarting after their summer break, but it’s likely to be soon.