On 20 January Anstey Chess club opened its doors for another club night. With attendance of 8 people in the Methodist Church in Anstey, the night started with four sharp battles. While some were preparing for the Nottingham Rapid tournament next month with a 20/10 time limit, others decided to keep it casual and refuse the timers.
We welcomed our new member John who played interesting solid games against some of our top experienced players. Matt also decided to join us and is now becoming a regular attendee of our club’s events. He used the opportunity to crush Boris both as white and as black and then went on to play a more challenging game against Julian. In the other corner, Mick tried hard to focus on his games despite Boris’ and Ben’s occasional irrelevant comments, which seemed funny only to themselves. Although the distractions were substantial, Mick played in his usual sophisticated style and led successfully several sharp tactical battles.
Julian and Hal started their preparation for the Nottingham Rapid tournament with time controled games against each other. Always class acts, both engaged in a few battles with Julian showing interesting lines to the always eager to learn Hal. The latter decided to leave a little earlier and Julian went on to play challenging games with Matt.
Ben and Oscar played a few games in preparation for next week’s game against Heathcote Arms 2. Following the educational play, Oscar took on the newcomer John while Ben and Boris irresponsibly went on to discuss our new website and watch Liverpool’s game (a happy coincidence) over a pint in the club’s old home The Stadon.
While Matt and Julian were finishing off their last game, Mick engaged in a conversation with Ben and Boris who played a little blitz after coming back from the pub.
Overall, it was another entertaining fun night in our club. Join us next week for more fun and a serious challenge for our second team. We will be open from 7pm in the Anstey Methodist Curch.
Anstey Chess Club 
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