Report from Monday April 27

Our two-week rapid tournament finished with Gary Losh at the head of the field despite his final-round loss to second-placed John Nutter. Gary has John Pascoe and Sead Krajina to thank, the former taking a point from the top seed and the latter holding him to a draw.

The club extends birthday wishes to Barry Maddy, who turned 78 on Monday and understandably traded his regular chess night for a dinner invitation to mark the occasion. He's a good bet to be on deck next week.

At a pre-tournament meeting, the club, in need of a president and treasurer, survived what could have been a crisis when John Pascoe offered to stand for both positions. John was already making a contribution as our Puzzle Professor, each week suppling three new chess puzzles for our website. The club is grateful to John and hopeful that come our next AGM some new faces will be prepared to take office and ease his load.