Reporting by Ben Griffiths
Taking place on the second floor of the teaching building, from 5:30-8:00pm, on Thursday, 3rd May 2012, 12 players battled out the 1st Annual SBC Chess Tournament over four rounds of matches.
Shanghai Chess Club (which play at "Oscar's" every Sunday afternoon from 4pm) kindly lent us the chess sets and clocks, so thanks to Andy Ritchie for helping to organise that.
The timing used was that each player had 15 minutes to make all of their moves, so each match could last a maximum of 30 minutes in total. If there was a result on the chess board then that was the result. However, if one player used up their 15 minutes thinking time and the match was still going, then they would automatically lose. Using chess clocks and official timings was a new thing for some players, so good for them to get used to real tournament style chess.
There was a nice mix of both staff and students, with both males and females taking part, showing that chess is a game that really is accessible to everyone. It is a great social activity as well as an intellectual one. There was a very friendly atmosphere in the chess hall, with several chess fans also in attendence to support the players. The league table written up on the white board meant that everyone could keep up-to-date with the scores and the updated ranking list at the end of each round.
Most matches did end with a result on the board, but a few matches did see people losing on time. Jethro earned himself the nickname of "The Thinker", twice getting himself into winning positions, but then just losing on time in frantic finishes. With six matches taking place each round, as players finished their matches they would tend to gather around the boards still playing, so the final one or two games each round would get even more electric, the players knowing that several pairs of eyes were watching their every move.
And as the matches became more fiery as the evening progressed, the pieces seemed to be slammed down harder and harder with each move. The arbiter was worried that some of the chess clocks might even get broken, some players slapping down their timers with increasing ferocity as the pressure built.
With one round to go, it was Ben and Anthony who remained unbeaten with three wins out of three, and so they played each other on the top table in the final round. After a tense tactical exchange, it was Ben who just emerged on top, leaving Tony to take joint second place, along with Echo and Mark.
Before the tournament was over, some participants were already asking when the next chess evening would be. It had originally been planned as an annual event, but given the fantastic enthusiasm for this inaugral event, it is likely that the next tournament will be much sooner a year away.
There was even talk that some students may wish to try and start an SBC chess club now - remember, anyone can start a trial society if they want to, just go and speak to Karena or Edward and they can tell you how.
Happy chessing!
