The Cowley Blitz will take place this year on Lichess, its good to see the traditional tournament take place in these difficult times. Please join in if you can and enjoy a good evenings fun with our friends over in Cowley.
David Robson
This year’s Cowley Christmas Blitz will be held on Monday 14th December. It will be run on the lichess.org web site. This year, there will be no admission fee, and there will be no prizes. However, we will recognize, and announce the names of those players who in different circumstances would have won one of our usual prizes for finishing first, second, third, or as best female player, best slow starter, etc., etc.
The blitz will start at 7:30 p.m. and finish at 9:30 p.m. Any games running after that time can be completed, but they will not contribute towards the final standings. As in previous years, the time limit will be three minutes for the game, plus an extra two seconds for every move you make.
To sign up, you will need to:
Get a Lichess account from https://lichess.org/signup . They’re free
Send an email to CowleyBlitz@gmail.com stating:
a) Your real name
b) Your Lichess username 
c) Your age (if you want to be in contention for recognition as a best junior player)
d) If you are female (if you want to be in contention for recognition as a best female player)
Visit the Cowley Blitz Page at https://lichess.org/team/cowley-blitz and click on the “Join Team” button, There will be a delay until the administrators approve your request.
Five or ten minutes before the tournament starts, click on the tournament link (https://lichess.org/tournament/8UVhoQXQ ) At 7:30, the Lichess site will then pair you with your opponent, and the game will begin.
A couple of gotchas …
If you need to resign or to offer a draw, you must hit the relevant button twice. You can disable this behaviour in your Lichess profile.
At the end of your game, you will need to hit the labelled button to return to the tournament. Lichess will then pair you up with your next opponent.
The tournament is of an “arena” format, so there isn’t a fixed number of rounds. You can get more information at https://lichess.org/tournament/help?system=arena.. You can start the tournament late, or leave early, but the more games you play, the better the odds of you winning! Note that we have disabled “beserking” and extra points for winning streaks.
Have fun! For any questions, please email CowleyBlitz@gmail.com
