Juniors always play a major part in the success of the London Chess Classic. We had large amounts of children in action this time, with 400+ at Olympia every day for a week and another 50+ at Google HQ. These are big numbers and it is a testimony to the remarkable teamwork of CSC that everything runs so smoothly.
I was based at Google HQ for three days, together with Samantha Ali and a whole host of CSC tutors.
Grandmaster Daniel King was there to deliver his masterclasses, perform simultaneous displays and give a generous amount of his time to the children.
The best article written on the junior aspect of this year’s Classic was written by my friend and colleague Tim Wall and it can be found here.
I don’t want to duplicate any of Tim’s fine work here, but I can add a few photographs from the Google days of a very busy and highly productive week.
The Training Day Tour of 2018-9 continues to attract a lot of interest. We normally have two such days at Olympia during the Classic but this time the demand led to the addition of a third date.
There is an ongoing demand for London-based tutors and this is reflected in the number local delegates we entice to the days. However, this is by no means the full story and it is always humbling to hear of people travelling very long distances to participate. Hearing of two-hour journeys (each way) is becoming more frequent. This time one of our delegates had travelled all the way from Jersey.
This year’s Classic training sessions took place on 10, 14 and 17 December. Each one was full of remarkable people.
We spoke of many things, including the CSC curriculum and how best to use it, our mini-games, the benefits of chess and a plethora of others subjects. The group discussions are always fascinating and original.
One bonus enjoyed by people attending the London days is the opportunity to meet various other members of the CSC team. Another bonus is being able to see the world’s top players in action, although this aspect was complicated by the Grandmasters spending time at Google HQ before returning their natural Olympia habitat later in the week.
Thank you to everyone who attended our training days. I hope to work with you again, as soon as possible.
The 2018 London Chess Classic hit a significant landmark, as it was the 10th edition of the famous series.
This year’s Classic was a great success as we continued to grow in many areas. Four London venues were utilised this time: Olympia, Google HQ, The Irish Cultural Centre and Novotel (West).
Four of the world’s top players took centre stage to contest the finale of the 2018 Grand Chess Tour. Hikaru Nakamura emerged as the champion, followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian.
The British KO Championship took place alongside the Grand Chess Tour games and Gawain Jones (a former Teessider) was the worthy winner.
As usual with the London Chess Classic, the superstars merely represented the tip of a multi-faceted iceberg of a chess festival. We had a big FIDE Open, numerous spectacular junior events at both Olympia and Google HQ, the annual CSC Tutor Conference, the 6th London Chess Conference, three CSC Tutor Training Days and numerous other events, details of which can be found in the official website.
I will be summing up the action over the course of the next few blog posts as I think of and assess my own involvement across a myriad of special Classic events.
