It was our club chairman’s first London Chess League AGM sitting in the hot seat last night – and one of the hottest issues in recent years was discussed.
With Alan Palmer chairing the discussion, member clubs including Battersea voted overwhelmingly to abolish quickplay in all divisions, cut down on slowplay and move towards increments instead of adjournments.
The change comes a year after a similar proposal was narrowly rejected following what was described as an “impassioned” debate at the 2018 AGM. On that occasion, Battersea voted to keep the status quo.
New start time
One more big change is that the start time for matches has been brought forward, following a proposal from Beckenham and Bromley Chess Club.
All the key changes are here:
- All games finish on the night as default
- 75 minutes plus 15 seconds move increment. If both players agree, slow-play with adjournment is still an option, but the default is to finish on the night.
- The start time at Citadenes moves to 6.45pm
- Battersea will have two teams in Div 5
- Grading in Div 5 is U150 (from U145)
- Board fee up £1 to £5.
West London club Hammersmith, who had championed the change, said it was “huge progress”.
GM Simon Williams, who has played for Battersea in the rival Central London League which does not allow adjournments, said on Twitter: “About bloody time!
“Adjournments were the main reason I gave up playing in the London League.
“What kind of loonatic would want to travel up to London on multi occasions, just to test out who has the best computer behind them? A dated idea, that got in the way of progress.”
GM Danny Gormally replied: “Let’s be honest though. No-one enjoyed playing in the London league, adjournments or not.”
Brian Gosling added: “I am old enough to remember adjournments! I thought they died out a long time ago. My, how chess has changed!”
