White Cross February 2025

Good Evening.

We are now approaching the end of February and still St Andrews is faced with the prospect of having two teams in division two from next season and if this happens by the time the end of season is reached then the AGM will no doubt have a deep and meaningful discussion as to what this means for all of us.

Do we share the responsibility of both teams equally to give each a chance at having a good season or do we remain as separate entities with a strong and strong (ish) team in the league with the sole aim of ensuring one team returns to the top division ?

Of course at this early stage this is merely speculation and come the end of the season this may not happen.

Onto another subject and the internal tournaments which have to put too fine a point on it been nothing short of "shambolic".  The championship has run smoothly despite a number of player withdrawals and is thanks in its entirety to the existing players getting their games played,  the intermediate has suffered numerous withdrawals under different reasons and the majority of games are completed.  The major still has 6 players in its ranks but only 4 games have been played to date.

The problem with the internal events is that they cannot function alongside a pre-arranged fixture list as it quickly becomes apparent that their are limited dates available when games can be played especially when most chess players who play in teams have real life problems to deal with so i am not putting the blame on anyone for this situation.

This makes my task as tournament controller difficult in trying to find a system that appeals for all while taking into account all the external factors,  our long standing internal events (5 minute, pairs, lightning etc) have all been removed from the calendar.

I've got a few ideas on how to make any future event for Championship, Major, Intermediate work for next season but i need your help so if you have any ideas of your own then please send me an email with these ideas, I would be happy to share my own thoughts too.  I will then have something to present at the AGM which will either receive the backing of the attending majority or not.

For now, sit back with a customary cup of tea or something stronger and examine the latest spreadsheet edition of the White Cross which league results, internals, Yorkshire league, events and your latest published grades.

Have a good evening

MP

WC8-2024-25XCL.xlsx

Download XLSX • 28KB

- Tournament Controller.