By Martin Smith -- 08 September 2020
We are warming up for our 150th anniversary in 2021 with a two-day event at this year’s Streatham Festival.
On each of the two Sundays of the Festival, the 11th and 18th October. Our top player Phil Makepeace will first take on specially invited juniors from local schools (perhaps a few invited adult improvers will be playing as well). There will be two rounds in which he will play a simul on a dozen or so boards. These will be at 2.00pm and 4.00pm and will be livestreamed via YouTube so everyone can watch them in real time. It will be played on Lichess. Phil will have an hour to play all his moves in all the games. His opponents will each have 10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move.
Phil will explain to viewers what is going on in the games as he plays, and will offer some coaching tips now and then. BTW Phil does professional one-to-one coaching through his company Makepeace With Chess). Most of his junior opponents will be invited from local school chess clubs, organised with the support of Chess in Schools and Communities. We will also be offering places to the club’s juniors.
Then each Sunday, at 6.00pm after these two rounds of invite-games, Phil will play a third round with any members of the public, adult or junior, who fancies a game. If that means you then this will be your chance to play. You could be a beginner who has just learnt the moves, an ‘improver’ keen to develop your skills, a ‘returner’ dusting off the moves after a break, or a wannabe World Champion! You could work out your moves on your own, or with friends or family. The time allowances will be the same as for the juniors in rounds 2 and 3. This round will also be live-streamed and so be watchable by the chess-interested public. Why not have a go! It could be your chance for chess-glory!
To watch any of the action over the three rounds each Sunday (the invited juniors, and/or the have-a-go challengers), and catch Phil’s commentary, log on to Phil’s website (addresses below). Note that you won’t need to sign in to Lichess just to watch.
If you would like to play in round 3 (on either of the two days – or even both!) you will need to contact us at SFChess@btinternet.com to tell us you are interested. Then register with Lichess – it’s free – and create your own Lichess user-name, which you should share with us in advance (Phil is DayvanCowboy). Then, to play on the day, go to our ‘simultaneous’ on Lichess just before 6.00pm (we will give you the exact address) and, once admitted, it’s your move!
To watch at 2.00pm, 4.00pm or 6.00pm on Sunday 11th go to https://tinyurl.com/StreathamChess1, and on Sunday 18th go to https://tinyurl.com/StreathamChess2.
To play at 6.00pm on either Sunday email us at SFChess@btinternet.com, with Festival Simul in the subject line, and tell us which day you want to play. We’ll then get some more info from you, and send you more details of how to do it. Remember that you will have to register yourself with Lichess.org.
So here’s your chance to try chess! We hope you will check it out!