Its mid-May so it’s time to look to the club competitions!
Following the unfortunate withdrawal of Gerry, Division 1 has only 6 games to go. Paul leads to way with 6 out of 7 and can only be caught by Steve (who beat Alex last night) who is on 5 out of 6. They have yet to play each other so that will be critical!
The competition to avoid being relegated along with Gerry is fierce. Joe (who lost to Mike last night) and Alex are looking most vulnerable but Richard, Marc and Qais (who beat Richard last night) could still figure.
With only 5 games to play in Division 2, Nick, Steve, Chris, John or Michael (who beat Ben last night) could all still win promotion and/or the trophy.
Nigel S’s recent strong showing has condemned Ben P and Peter H to Division 3 chess next season.
With just 7 games unplayed in Division 3, Robert is the clear winner. Young Ben C looks favourite to secure promotion also but Mac, Nigel W, Diego and Jeremy are all still in with a shout.
As we have seen in years past, dropouts or reformations can lead to bonus promotion places so it is worth playing all your games, even if you think you are out of it.
Good luck to all (apart from Chris who I hope blunders his Queen against me on move 8!).