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The Pittsburgh Chess Club is inaugurating an online newsletter. The title, En Passant, was the title of our print newsletter since the Club was founded in 1940.
The last issue of the Pittsburgh Chess Club’s print newsletter, En Passant, was October 2020. At that time the club was no longer leasing the old Wightman School room; it was leading a virtual existence. Since then a lot has happened.
The Club arranged with chess.com for some online tournaments, each one being three rounds in one evening. There were also some matches with other clubs (around the country, and even around the world). In addition there was an online “chess extravaganza” (featuring a tournament and game analysis by Gabe Petesch) in April, and an online Tuesday night tournament in April and May.
In May of 2021, the Club kicked off in-person tournaments outdoors, with Quads in the Park. There were three, one in May, one in July, and one in August. These were successful, with 10, 17, and 15 players, including experts and masters.
The Club organized the 76th Pittsburgh Metro at a hotel in the Strip District in May. This was a small event, but notably, it was the first tournament in many years that the Club had organized off-site. Perhaps the day will come when we can hold tournaments in hotels, and get enough entries to make a profit, as we used to do years ago.
The Club then leased our new space, a walk-up above some restaurants on Forbes Avenue in Squirrel Hill. Some things were moved in early June.
Books and bookshelves were moved in July; a screen was installed in August, in time for a lecture by Bryan Smith.
Several Tuesday night tournaments have been held since then. The Club Championship, which used to come early in the year, was held in August and September, won by Ed Dean. Looking over my old emails, I can see that quite a few other things have been going on: Friday Knight quads, some one-day tournaments, lessons both for beginners and advanced players, and I know not what else.
Crosstables for all the rated events can be found elsewhere in this website (you can find them here), but for convenience, we will also be posting them to this newsletter.
Meanwhile, the annual Club picnic was revived in August, and the Club had a stand at the Squirrel Hill Night Market in October. It’s not just virtual any more!
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