Friday 13 January 2017

Street Chess in Yorkshire?

Given the weather in Leeds at the moment (snow is forecast), holding Street Chess in Yorkshire may see a few chess players coming down with exposure. But that is not to say that something similar isn't worth trying. The Wakentake Cafe in Leeds hosted a semi-casual Rapidplay this evening, which had a number of similarities to the Canberra version.
The event was a 14 player tournament with 5 rounds of G/10m. The top seed was probably around 2300 but otherwise it was a group of players who would have been similar in strength to the Street Chess regulars. Between rounds we had enough time to grab drinks (beer or soft drink were both popular), and the tournament host, Peter Mason, arranged for food to be laid on before we started.
The tournament it self was smoothly run by IM Richard Palliser. Although there were prizes, it was more about having fun than the final scores. But the players gave it a big thumbs up, so much so that they are now looking at holding more events at the venue.
As it was a rapid, I did get to wheel out some of my more dodgy openings. Probably my best win was in the following game where I got to play the Traxler. My opponent captured on f7 with the bishop but I was able to use the open f file to my advantage. A coupe of pieces had to be sacrificed along the way, but this led to the mate I was looking for.


Other,An - Press,Shaun [C57]
Wakentake Blitz, 12.01.2017


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