The City of London Rapidplay League
23 July 2009 by Adam Raoof
Normally the period between the end of the chess season and the start of the next is a quiet one, with family summer holidays and the British Championships the only distractions.
The idea for a new chess league to take advantage of the growing interest in rapidplay chess (half an hour per player for the whole game) was conceived by Joe Farrell (Metropolitan) and Shaun Tracey (Hackney). As usual it takes a small group of people with big ideas to make events like this happen and, with the cooperation of the team captains and the London League, the rapidplay league was put together quickly and efficiently. All matches (2 games per evening, with white and then black) are held on Wednesday evenings at the Barbican, the regular venue for the London League. There are four boards from each club, with the unique proviso that all but the top board in each match would have a grading limit to even the playing field.
12 teams entered, including several grandmasters and masters, and are enjoying what they hope will be the first of many competitions. Currently the league is being led by the team from Hendon Chess Club, with a 100% score. Half an hour per player is just enough time for games of high quality. But this game, from Hendon’s latest match, is an example of the sort of tactic that often gets overlooked in time scrambles – but which the spectators saw!
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Gary Senior, appropriately, is Managing Partner of Baker & McKenzie in the City of London and in the same match Gary’s son Thomas scored 2-0 on both sides of the Dragon Sicilian! Gary, Thomas and team mates Tomer Eden and Adam Raoof will all be competing at the British Championships in Torquay next week.
http://www.hendonchessclub.com/matches/hendon-mushrooms-20090722 for the full match report from Hendon’s website.
This year there are no prizes, and a sponsor for next year’s event would be most welcome! Contact Shaun Shaun.Tracey@simmons-simmons.com with offers!
Adam Raoof
FIDE International Organiser & Arbiter
328 Watford Way
Hendon, London NW4 4UY
Website: http://www.goldersgreenchess.blogspot.com/
Hendon Chess Club: http://www.hendonchessclub.com
City of London Rapidplay League – http://citychess.blogspot.com/
9/9 Captain! Lets keep it unbeaten to the end :)