It was not our intention to have three consecutive London dates on this year's Training Day Tour but the cancellation of the Manchester leg led to exactly that scenario.
Last time we were at The Irish Centre in Hammersmith and this time we were at Olympia, spiritual home of the London Chess Classic.
Once again we had an extraordinary range of delegates, including two International Masters, two Headteachers, teachers, voluntary helpers and everything else betwixt and between; perfect combinations for lively training days.
We had to change our intended room on the first day, as World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen decided to use our training room as his base. We switched things around and reclaimed our room on the second day, when the number of delegates grew beyond the replacement room's capacity.
The delegates were able to meet a variety of other CSC personnel over the course of the two days, including Chris Fegan, CSC's Chief Operating Officer, Matt Piper, one of our CSC London Coordinators and the person in charge of London tutor recruitment, CSC Trustee Isabel Keen, the ubiquitous Aga, and Jo, who was living proof that anyone attending a training day can go on to become an important member of the London Chess Classic team.
The delegates worked hard on both days and everyone brought their own unique qualities and ideas to the sessions.
Thank you, everyone!
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| A room so good even the World Champion wants to be there |
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| A particularly important part of our preparation |
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| Chris making the opening remarks on the first day of training |
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| 'We need a carton of soya milk this big.' |
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| A wry grin as it becomes apparent the bishop cannot stop the pawns |
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| The delegates of day one |
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| Aga visited the room. We were accidentally colour-coordniated |
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| Chris opening the second day of training |
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| Full house! |
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| The look of a man who is confident the pawns can defeat the bishop |
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| Oi! Concentrate on your own board! |
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| Some people already know how to do that... |
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| Matt addressing the delegates |
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| It was good of Isabel, CSC Trustee, to come into the training room and take questions from the delegates |
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| The first all-titled player clash of our training days - and possibly one of the very first titled player battles of Crusher Chess in the world |
Forthcoming tour dates include those at Hull, The Isle of Man, Bristol, Newcastle, Leeds and Middlesbrough, all of which are open for bookings over at the CSC website.
New dates and locations will be unveiled in the near future.
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