Winter 2025 Tournament Summary

The first HCC tournament of 2025 wrapped up yesterday with this writer (@datasmith) taking the prize in the European section. Wladek (@wmakos) deserves at least half of the credit though since it was his impressive last round win over Pascal (@pascalg) that let me squeak by into first place. In the Western Hemisphere section we will have to be patient as Gus (@sourbaum) and Dominic (@Darktigr) will only play their last round game on Sunday. The winner will take clear first while a draw would see them tied with Ian (@LordPuffington) for first place honours. Congratulations to the winners and to everyone who helped make the tournament a success.

The Swiss pairing system that we used for this tournament mixed up the opponents that we each faced which, from the feedback I have received so far, was appreciated. On the other hand, personal and work commitments prevented some players from playing in all rounds and this meant that some of the matchups among our stronger players that I was looking forward to watching never happened. Pascal vs Ron in the European section for instance and Gus vs Ian in the Western Hemisphere competition. I guess we will need to organize another event to see these games.

I did not produce many round reports during this event but both Pascal and I published analyses of most of our games from the event in a study that Pascal hosts Analysing your games in order to understand why you make the mistakes you do is widely regarded as a key to improving your play and even if publishing the results might seem a little intimidating, getting feedback and support from others is another important element of improvement. If you look at the games in the study you will see that the analyses do not over-emphasize complex variations so much as explore the psychology of the games and of the mistakes made. I have said this before, but it bears repeating, that the role of psychology in chess is seriously underestimated. As in so many human endeavours, anyone who wants to improve their game must come to terms with their insecurities and foibles. Exploring this side of our play can teach us many things both about our chess and about ourselves.

One very successful element of this event has been the video calls that we have been running during and after the rounds. On Thursday evenings in particular we have had a good group watching games and doing post-mortems. This kind of hanging out with other players is fun and really contributes to the club atmosphere that we have always tried to cultivate. Thanks to all of you who have participated. To those who have not, what are you waiting for ?

I am going to be away for the next few weeks but Ron (@BigData1969) will be minding the store and is planning an evening of blitz play on February 27th. Watch your inbox over the next couple of weeks for more details.

Our next classical tournament is set to begin during the week of March 17th. We have not finalized all the details and are looking for feedback from you to help us. Instead of messaging @HemmingfordCC we are asking you to fill out this form to register This will ensure that the event we propose matches the preferences of as many of you as possible.

I have had a lot of fun organizing, promoting and playing in HCC events over the last few years. It has been made possible only by your participation and I am convinced that there are many more players like you that would join us if only they were aware of these events and of the social elements around them. If you can convince others you know to join us or find other ways to promote these tournaments, please do. Everyone is welcome.