Posted in Luton Chess Club on June 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Luton chess club is to field a team in the Bedfordshire league for the coming season. Presently, it is being formulated and who is willing to commit being established. Most likely it will enter the second division as its strongest players cannot sign up.
It’s good news and hopefully the club will continue to go from strength to strength.
MJM
Posted in Luton Chess Club on May 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Due to the sudden onset or mental and physical deterioration, followed by a worsening of the aforementioned two, left floundering I picked myself up and plonked myself on a plane. Up into the sky I went, leaving Asia behind in favour of Europe. Homeward bound I was and it had to be that way. Earlier than planned yes. Nonetheless, the right thing to do it most definitely was.
Bangkok to Luton but which one is really home? Really, which one? Not so long ago that was Bangkok and I felt it in my blood. Okay, so I return to the club I grew up in but recognize the new location I don’t. Feel an affinity for it’s emptiness I can’t. Recognize one person only was all I could do. And that’s home? Is it really? It most certainly didn’t feel like it. Factor in I felt like an outsider, was I really home? But, then, what is home? Where, exactly, was that sense of homeliness I tapped into in Bangkok?
2 wheels NOT 4!
Here’s a video of my arrival.
Do you want to see what it looks inside? There isn’t much to see except lots of unused space.
Not really my cup of tea.
What was I expecting then? When I thought about what my town is about, I thought my opponents would look like this:
About the chess. Damned if you play, damned if you don’t.
With rest and recuperation comes invigoration. I played twice and won twice with fifteen minutes on the clock. I blundered once but my opponent was weak. As one photo shows, patriotism prevailed and I opened with the English when I had the white pieces. It was pleasant to play but a longer break was needed.
Note to self: wait for the blackout.
Mark. J. McCready, 1044pm. Tuesday May 30th
Luton, England.
Posted in Luton Chess Club on April 26, 2023| 10 Comments »
I am very happy to say that I shall be visiting Luton Chess Club this summer. It’s my home club and has members I have been playing competitive chess with since the 80s. I haven’t yet visited it in its new location, which I am told is impressive indeed. I’m also not sure how many members it has too. What has been gleaned from chat with friends is the club is growing and may well be able to re-enter the league next year. I have been asked to become the club president a few times but had to decline the offer since I am usually abroad, however, inevitably that will happen, its just a question of when.
As you might expect, lots of pics and videos to follow. I’ll try to have some of my games caught on film but only where I play well, so I should only have to film a few thousand of them!
More info to come in due course, most likely a visit to Bedford Chess Club is in order too!
Mark. J. McCready, 22.39 Wednesday April 26th,
Laski, Bangkok
Posted in Luton Chess Club on February 28, 2023| 1 Comment »
Luton Chess Club is continuing to promote itself and attract new members. It is hoped that with new members joining the club can enter the Bedfordshire League next season and become more competitive. Let us hope that is the way it goes.
Mark. J. McCready 8.12pm, Tuesday February 28th,
Chachoengsao Thailand.
Posted in Bedfordshire Chess, Luton Chess Club on September 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Or ‘we don’t forget what was’ in English.
More pics and details about the revival of Luton chess club to follow…and yes it is only a matter of time before I return to the helm and run the club myself (marooned abroad so about a decade)…assuming it hasn’t folded by then of course.
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 Luton Chess Club on September 2, 2022| 2 Comments »
On August 30th 2022, a meeting was held at Luton Chess Club, in the library of the University of Bedfordshire. Around 12 people came and it was agreed that the club would meet there each Tuesday. It is expected that more members will join the club once the university opens its doors to students for the coming academic year. Should you need further assistance, do not hesitate to ask.
Mark
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.
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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