9th London Chess Classic: CSC Training Day

Two CSC Training Days were scheduled for this year at Olympia and both achieved the notable status of being fully booked some time ago.

Sarah Kett will deliver her training on Friday 8 December and yesterday it was my turn in Room 305.

This was already the fourth date on my own CSC Training Day Tour of 2017-8, following hard on the heels of London (September), Edinburgh (October) and Manchester (November).

We had 12 delegates, all of whom brought something special to the day with a delightful range of abilities from the worlds of teaching, chess and beyond. Colin Paterson, a training day veteran from my Edinburgh expedition, made the longest journey as he bravely came along for a second helping.

We also enjoyed visits by a number of guest stars including CSC Chief Operating Officer Chris Fegan, International Master Lawrence Trent and Manchester's Regional Co-ordinator David Hardy.

Everyone worked very hard on the various tasks and exercises we set for them and there was a very strong sense of camaraderie in the room from start to finish.

Thank you, everyone!

Chris Fegan welcomed the delegates

We always have someone moving around the room in the manner of a chess piece and this time David bravely volunteered to move around like a bishop. It wasn't so easy to do that in such a small space but he managed magnificently.

A written exercise

It seems White has a slight advantage

Checkmate, believe it or not

Who will enjoy the luck of the dice?

Our CSC Training Days continue to prove themselves very popular. More are in the pipeline and details will be posted here as soon as they are available.