Tradition has it that each summer the players of the NLC Chess Circle reluctantly submit themselves to a rigorous, forensic and often painful examination of their chess performance over the last season.
The Circle’s statistician-in-chief, Doctor Kirby, has been hard at it to provide the full analytical rigour we have come to expect. Some players will be basking a warm glow of contentment. Others shifting uncomfortably on their chairs. The numbers don’t lie…
The Doctor writes:
The Cup
The end of the season is always a good time to get a sense check of how we’ve done and where we’re going. It’s also another excuse to look at the Hamilton Russell table!
If someone had said we’d finish joint fourth at the start of the season I’d have questioned their sanity, but the table doesn’t lie. It’s our best finish ever, with victories against the Hurlingham, Reform and Chelsea Arts Clubs plus a hard-fought draw against the title-challenging Athenaeum.
Friendly matches
We also did well in Friendlies with wins against the Reform, MCC and Roehampton. But I took a conscious decision not to play the strongest side available and bring in new players where possible, especially at the end of the season. It was good to see so many new players from our Monday nights graduating to match play.
Player performance
Here’s the full seasons results for every Lib player who played in either a Cup match or a Friendly this season:
Loading…
Reload document 
Open in new tab Overall we scored 17.5 individual points in Hamilton Russell matches (another record) – and given the average match size was lower than previous years that’s even better than it appears.
This season’s top performers
Top Hamilton Russell points scorer was Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon) on 3.5/8, with Miss Widger and Mister Ioannou on 3/6. That’s the tale of the season really, a mid-table finish, lots of tightly fought games and plenty of players around the 50 per cent mark. The best performer overall was Doctor Saldanha, operating as a lower board shark and bringing in 6/8, mainly in Friendlies.