Hello all, it is with utter melancholy that we announce the University of Bristol Chess Club will no longer operate. This means our Saturday sessions will no longer be held. We are also unfortunately forced to withdraw from the Bristol and District League, and each of our teams in the 1rst, 2nd and 4th division will have forfeited for this season immediately.
Why is this happening? A bit more than a month ago, on the 30th of February, the Bristol SU wanted to reduce the committee’s individual funds from 4000 pounds per month each to just 2800 pounds per month. We tried to negotiate, but the SU would not budge and went so far as to lower their offer to 2500 pounds per month. Such a cut in funding would mean the committee members would no longer be able to afford daily taxi rides to the University, something which we were not willing to give up.
To add insult to injury, when pressed as to why we were given such an ultimatum, we were informed that chess “…[is] incredibly boring” and “some real nerd [explicitive]”. Ultimately we had to agree, and though we would like to believe otherwise, there is no real reason to keep the club running. I also missed some paperwork and am being accused of “fraud” and “embezzlement of funds”, but I think this will be cleared up very quickly as a big misunderstanding.
I would personally like to apologize to all of you for this distressing situation. The current committee members will have moved on to other projects, and some of us will be working in collaboration with Bad Dragon for Glow-In-the-Dark chess themed toys.
Thank you all for these wonderful sessions spent together! Below are our two favorite puzzles ever for you to solve, as a parting gift.
Hopefully this is not a goodbye, but a see you later alligator.
-On behalf of your Committee, September 1rst 2022 – April 1rst 2023.
