Club Suspendeded due to Coronavirus

Monday 16 ^thMarch 2020

As the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) makes headline news around the world, the Committee of South Hams Chess Club has decided to suspend all activities with immediate effect. The background and rationale for this decision is as follows.

1. The ECF has issued the following guidance on Coronavirus:
   The ECF has been considering the operation of evening league chess during the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

   It is for individual leagues to decide on their own policy and the ECF cannot make decisions for those organisations. Our suggestion is that play is suspended for a period. A sensible period to allow for the progress of the virus to be monitored and reviewed in line with developments in Government policy might be for the next three weeks, with the policy being reconsidered at the end of that period.
 
2. The Committee considers that this is sensible advice. The UK Chief Medical Officer has stated that you are likely to be infected if you are within two metres of an infected person for more than 15 minutes - he really could not have described the conditions of a chess match much better! Furthermore, a substantial number of Club members are in the over-60 or at-risk categories, and the health and safety of our members must be paramount.

The Committee has therefore decided to follow the ECF guidance. Club nights - at both Kingsbridge and Dartmouth - are cancelled with immediate effect until further notice. All South Hams matches in the Torbay Chess League and DCCA competitions are postponed until further notice. Of course we cannot prevent members playing one another outside the auspices of the club (with their own equipment), but we do not encourage this.

No decisions have yet been taken you on how, whether or when this season's competitions (internal, TCL and DCCA) will be completed.

The South Hams Chess Club Committee will review the situation in three weeks' time (6^th April). We have not yet decided whether to hold the AGM on the current date of 21^st May 2020.

Please contact the Club Secretary (Phil McConnell) if you would like clarification or discussion on these decisions.