Game Changer

It has certainly been a very busy week of chess on Teesside.

The 8th Teesside Individual Championship was followed by an appearance on BBC Radio Tees, then the 9th CSC Teesside Team Tournament and then two packed days of activities at The Links, centred around the Teesside International Women's  Invitational event.

Today brought the exciting return of Grandmaster Matthew Sadler and Woman International Master Natasha Regan to Yarm Preparatory School for talks, a simultaneous display and book signing, presented by Project 30.

Matthew and Natasha spoke about Alpha Zero and presented games which can be found in their excellent new book, Game Changer. They then played everyone simultaneously!

We had a fabulous day and I was delighted to see such a wonderful range of people participating, including local club players, teachers, parents and, of course, our extraordinary juniors.

I was particularly pleased to be able to utilise the Peter Pan window and curtains, which were on stage for a forthcoming school production. They made for a quirky placement of the demonstration board. 

A future report will take a look at the games - and reveal which of our local players managed to inflict a very defeat on the visiting superstars.

Meanwhile, this gallery should give a solid indication as to what went on and how much everyone enjoyed the occasion.

Thank you very much, everyone, for supporting our event. Special thanks go to Matthew and Natasha who had long journeys and still had plenty of energy to give everyone a fun and instructive day to remember.

A spot of lunch between the talks and the simultaneous display

These three remarkable juniors are the only ones (apart from me)
to attend every one of this week's chess events. Thank you, ladies!

With Sean Cassidy, CSC Tutor and a whole lot more

Matthew 1, Natashas 2

Thank you, Matthew and Natasha!