Peter Rooke Cup

We were seeded straight through to the final and hosted Seaton at home. We won handily by 5½ - 2½, so my congratulations and thanks to all involved. Full results and games here: https://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/peter-rooke-knockout-cup-final-su...

Junior Secretary Report

The club did well last year – a full season uninterrupted by COVID and which ran smoothly, often seeing ten or more members attending in an evening, with ages from 7 to 13. We don’t currently enter any teams in competitions – most of our strongest players have school team duties and we have not so much depth in our strength.
Congratulations are due to Oscar Liu who was selected for the Devon U14 team and to Pengxiao Zhu who has been successful in national competitions, including a second place in the British U14 Championship (while actually U12) and an outing for England U12s against the home nations.
I would like to thank as always my friend and colleague David Beckwith, who used to run a version of the Junior Club more than 30 years ago, and who seems to be quietly taking over all the tiresome aspects of running a club, like chasing membership fees and doing gradings. His patience, experience and good humour are a great asset. He has also set up our own website at https://exeterjuniorchess.org.uk/
Paul and I contributed to an Devon Junior Chess Training Day in the Summer and I led the Devon U18 A team (as manager) to an emphatic victory in the annual South Wales and SW England Junior Jamboree. The U14 team secured an equally emphatic defeat. Full results and games here: http://devonjuniorchess.co.uk/content/devon-u14-chess-team

Information Officer

I see my role as mostly looking after the website at https://exeterchessclub.org.uk/ and fielding emails. Jeremy has offered some support with the site design and content; comments are invited.
I don’t get many contributions but would of course be pleased to post any match results, news, games, essays, jokes, gossip or philosophical reflections as you find worthy of submission. The site could act as a parallel notice bard, e.g., for club results https://exeterchessclub.org.uk/content/exeter-club-championship-rapidpla...
At the last committee meeting, it was suggested we submit something to the Exeter ONE Magazine, which I will do soon. They have N+S editions for Exeter and will charge £500+VAT for a ½-page ad in both editions. If we are very quick, we might be able to publicise our Autumn events.
Not especially to seek new members, but I will be making a return visit to Channings Wood prison later in the month (at my pleasure, not His Majesty’s), probably to do another couple of simuls.

Coaching

I am a certified English Chess Federation Coach (Level 3 National) and a FIDE Instructor.
As always, I'm happy to dispense unsolicited advice and go through games with members. It's all free, and worth every penny. Please submit games (slow time limits only) to the address below, which can be as score sheet or photo, PGN database, a shared Lichess study, or wood engraving.
I have in the past run group training sessions which we could resurrect; they ceased because I stopped getting suggestions for topics, which I took as a hint. We need a suitable free room and a free Tuesday, which are available mostly only in Summer, so I will email you all once the Championship is decided. Old session notes are on the website. https://exeterchessclub.org.uk/index-coaching

Dave Regis