Realistically, it seems unlikely that league chess will resume for some time. If a vaccine becomes readily available we might be able to start again this time next year, but if not it could be two years or more before we’ll be able to resume over the board competitive chess.

A few of us have been meeting in person during the summer for chat and friendly games, but, with the second wave now upon us, this is no longer happening, and may not be possible for another six months or so.

We’ve been trying to keep the club ticking over with online events but interest seems to be waning. A session on chess.com proved popular mostly with B and C team players in the short term but didn’t last very long. A parallel session on lichess.org proved more popular, mostly with the first team players, but in recent weeks numbers have declined. Last week we only had five players, two of whom weren’t club members.

I’ve tried to compromise on the time control, but some A team players would prefer a faster time limit, while C team players would rather play at a slower time limit.

Some people said the 2 hour session was too long, but the point of Arena tournaments is that you can drop in and out as you wish, so shorter sessions would likely mean even fewer players.

The purpose of these sessions was not to run formal events but purely to provide an environment where members (of all strengths) could meet up online, chat with their friends and play a few not too serious games.

Is there a better way to do this, or is the interest just not there? Perhaps a different day of the week would be preferable? Thursday, since it’s our club night, or maybe a Saturday or Sunday evening? Please let me know what you think. (Email richard@chessheroes.uk is best.)

Meanwhile, Hackney are looking for more players for their blitz tournaments on Saturday evenings. Looking at last week’s results, all the players are pretty strong so it would be most suited to players about 2000 strength. Again, if you’re interested get back to me for more information.