Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Luton Chess Club on September 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The University of Bedfordshire/Luton chess club recently attended the freshers fair in the student union at the university main campus in a bid to attract new members. There are pictures below where lifelong club members put their wits against the freshers!
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Luton Chess Club on July 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Regarding Luton Chess club, talks are taking place with the student union in The University of Bedfordshire main campus, which is where the club will be based. Plans are being put together and the local media will be contacted once things are in place. It is beginning to look like the hangover from COVID is leaving now and the club will be open for business again soon, hopefully with a team in the Bedfordshire League. Now that the club is affiliated to The University of Bedfordshire, this offers a level of security and stability the club hasn’t had in a long time. And with a population of over 200,000 there should be a chess club in town. We really ought to have a secure playing venue and at least 30 members…let us hope for brighter days or put differently a return to normality now that there’s no pandemic interfering with matters. Sadly I cannot be there to oversee operations and tidy things up but the club is in good hands, and so we are hopeful that Luton will have its own chess club again.
I shall post further details in due course.
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Life beyond the chess board, Luton Chess Club, My own endeavours on June 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »
‘The moon is red and bleeding, the sun is burned and black.’
I can’t begin to tell you how colourful and oftentimes chaotic my life has become, having been abroad for 22 years now, and visited some 36 countries along the way (many of which I worked in more than once). But the day when it is time to head home will one day come.
‘Time it waits for no man my future it is revealed. Time it waits for no man my fate is sealed.’
When that does happen, when I am a retiree of sorts, I will reach my rightful place. It’s only a matter of time before I become the Secretary of Luton Chess Club and also President of the Bedfordshire Chess Association.
‘If I cancel tomorrow the undead will thank me today.’
Administrative roles and obligations have been in place for the online versions of our club for some time now, the history of our country has been in my hands alone for many years, moreover in a bid to revive the club, much advertising will take place here. Moves are being played.
‘The demon in your mind will rape you in your bed at night.’
Lyrical encores aside, I am unflustered by what lies ahead and do not lie awake at night, erm…well singing Iron Maiden songs. The diagnosis is, I will live forever and am not ‘too evil’ to be the club secretary (when that day comes). More honest chaps might ask, since I won’t die young, can’t I run the thing from abroad…and perhaps I can.
Evil updates soon to follow…oh and lastly, do enjoy the song below (it has a chess reference).
Mark. J. McCready
11.15am, June 30th.
Room 7113, Intown Holiday Hotel,
Pattaya Saisong Soi 11
Pattaya
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Luton Chess Club on June 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »
In due course I will post information about Luton Chess Club. Sadly, it has fallen into disarray since the lockdown, with it remaining closed for long periods and then unable to field a team in the Bedfordshire Chess League, due mainly, to a lack of interest.
There are plans afoot to revive matters and soon I shall spell out the details. For a town its size, and university backing, Luton Chess Club should be in much better shape than what it is. Let us hope for a move in the right direction before the summer is out.
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, On-line journal on January 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »
“It is nobler to declare oneself wrong than to insist on being right –especially when one is right.”
― Nietzsche, Friedrich
On the morning of Saturday September 3rd 1988, I sat reading Simon Webb’s Chess for Tigers, in the spare room of my very first home, just up the road from where I am now. And although it may well be a false antitheses, his idea of playing the man/playing the board has stuck throughout the years…
My entry into the national league ended in victory, but a fortuitous one at that for I know not to play on emotions, but that I did…I won for the team but it was nothing to be proud of…
“The final reward of the dead – to die no more”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Chess, Selected on-line games on January 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Either I’ve gone up in the world by being given administrative control over my home town club so that I can organize tournaments online or I’ve gone down in the world by giving into a request to resume the role of club tournament organizer, a role I relinquished many moons ago…
Whatever the case may be, the first in a series of tournaments went down well. We had 10 participants and some old friends were there. I managed to come joint first with 4/5 but board count put me in 4th overall as my loss came earlier than the losses by those also joint first.
Overall I am quite happy with my performance and have included two games, one constituting a loss where I missed a clear win, and the other showing my cut-throat style in full force against an old friend and playing partner.
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Life beyond the chess board, My own warped humour on February 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »
The number of visitors which have mostly visited this site over the years went into the tens of thousands a long time ago. Mostly they find it amusing and informative but the last request made was very different to all others preceding -simply put I was stumped. I thought about calling the old bill for advice even ,anfd perhaps I should. An team captain e-mailed me asking if they could join next season, they call themselves the ‘Clophill Killers’ Some feedback required here, as agreeing to their wishes may not be for the best. Have a look and decide yourself.
They want to enter Division two next season and call themselves ‘The Clophill Killers’ as mentioned. I smell danger here: they look like a right roudy bunch to me. But as they say, the more the merrier. A new club with more members may improve the league no end. Their inclusion may give them a psychological edge over other clubs in the league so strong they will take Div 1 by storm even though I do know they are all steaming before 9pm….perhaps many opposing teams will default,
I should add for the last 18 months I have been fully engaged with two writing projects, one of which is well over the 30,000 word mark. The reading list accompanying both is far more voluminous than when I wrote my dissertation on early 19th century German Philosopy. It’s broad and makes me read content for characterization I am unfamiliar with. A day without 6 hours of research and writing is a blessing…sometimes something lighthearted like this helps alleviate the tension. I doubt whether the aforementioned posts will remain as posts only. The proof reader is pushing towards publication but vanity aside, saying ‘I’m an author means fuck all, for myself, vanity refers only to appearance: humble brags over how I wrote this and that mean fuck all much because I write for myself and myself only. I prefer not to be read: if I am read so be it, if not so be it, comment so be it, don;t comment so be it…I just don;t care. I am an artist I write only for myself and no one else.
Mark.J.McCready
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Luton Chess Club on February 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »
In more recent years, Luton Chess Club has been in turmoil; with no fixed abode and a diminishing list of members you could write the names on the back of a stamp, it even moved to Bedford and played there for a while.
A sorry state of affairs arose, making the club the least popular in the league. But all that’s changed. We now have a playing venue that is modern and spacious. It’s location has re-titled Luton Chess Club as The University of Bedfordshire.
This season’s fixture list stands as follows if you fancy some league chess.
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, tagged Luton Chess Club on July 31, 2017| Leave a Comment »
“Admiration, by eroding our substance, depresses and ultimately demoralizes us; hence we turn against the admired — anyone guilty of having inflicted upon us the task of raising ourselves to his level.”
Emile Cioran
Luton Chess Club will now play every Thursday -not Monday– @ Wardown Bowling Club, Wardown Park, Luton not Bedford.
New home of Luton Chess Club
Concerns over the lack of a fixed schedule along with uncertainty whether anyone will actually turn up caused doubts amongst the members of the bowling club. Given that their own club night is Thursday, whilst finishing off my seventh pint of cider at the bar just before I staggered into the toilets, I decided that Luton Chess Club should meet on that night too, I then told Mick Josephs who, believing ‘it shouldn’t be a problem’ agreed. This ensures that club matches can go ahead without teams arriving from afar Mondays, finding that the clubhouse is locked and remains locked because no one has the keys. The principle corollary of this I hope to be that all Luton players, now assured of an abode, will quickly storm towards the Division 1 title…here’s what to expect at the club now.
Inside the new club.
There is a caveat: the dominoes being played may cause noise pollution raise the decibel level at times…I suppose when you blunder, at least you have a ready made excuse! Also, don’t puke up in the bogs and fall asleep in them for days like I did.
Predictions for next season on a postcard [please see below for my address]
Name: Mark ‘sub-standard county chess player quality chess player’ McCready
Address: Planet Earth, Inner Solar System, The Milky Way, The Universe
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, tagged Luton Chess Club on July 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »
Our contortions, visible or secret, we communicate to the planet; already it trembles even as we do, it suffers the contagion of our crises and, as this grand malaise spreads, it vomits us forth, cursing us the while.
Emile Cioran
The cursed Luton chess club has found a new venue within Luton itself !!?? It can now be found in Wardown Bowling Club. It’s the best location had for some time in what is. perhaps, the prettiest part of Luton.
Mr. P. Montgomery in action.
Wardown Park
The bowling club
It can be found in Wardown Park itself by the bowling green as the pictures above suggest. It’s a friendly clubhouse with a bar itself and members who are welcoming. As you know British people are the best in the world at bowls but the Kazhaks are second to none, as the video below shows.
At the new venue, Luton Chess Club meets every Thursday. Don’t turn up tipsy like I just did.
A side note on how to read old Tom Sweby's columns
Not perhaps, but quintessentially, Old Tom Sweby is best thought of as a passionate devotee to the newspapers he wrote for. He was well read and knowledgeable of the Bedfordshire chess scene and well beyond, given that he was the president of the S.C.C.U. once upon a time. He was generally well-respected and rubbed shoulders with many, if not all, of those eminent within British chess circles. It would, however, be a critical mistake to see his column is primary source material entirely. That it is not. You will also find secondary source material quoted too, and the reliability of that is not quite as Tom hoped. Given that he wrote for decades, this is to some degree inevitable, and after all we are all prone to error whether we realize it or not. Thankfully, with regards to old Tom Sweby, they are infrequent and for the most part old Tom continued to document events and developments in the Bedfordshire league from the get go as best he could but, of course, everything lies open to interpretation. Despite this, and generally speaking. this does indeed make him informative and thus worth reading. Dare I say his columns constitute a narrative describing the latest developments, match reports and changing nature of the Beds league...he knew his audience and wrote according. This manifested itself over decades but brevity was always in play courtesy of the restictions imposed by writing a column. Should you wish to read a in instrumental figure of the Beds' league post WW2, you are quite welcome to peruse what has been posted here... . :-) I should, however, point out that as the decades wore on he gradually moved on away from narratives concerning the Bedfordshire league towards affairs both historical and international. The reasons for this are multifarous, old age was a predominante factor presumably, however, the bottom line is with regards to how the Bedfordshire chess scene developed post WW2: old Tom Sweby is your go to guy. He wrote more about chess in Bedforshire than anyone else did but given he was a Lutonian and writing for a Luton newspaper there is both bias and greater coverage of his hometown than the rest of the county.
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