THE now traditional curtain-raiser to the season, York's Alternative Chess Day, was held at the Railway Institute.

The event, which was superbly organized by Richard Hardy and Tanya Fox, had a simple format as it was decided to keep changing the rules and make the games finish quickly.

The first competition allowed all pieces to move in the manner of any piece it was adjacent to. Sounds simple but is actually more difficult than finding a

British swimmer with an Olympic medal.

The competition was split into two sections and two players quickly emerged as the best.

In group one Owen Robson quickly came to grips with the confusion and had the group sewn up very smartly.

In group two Mark Spiegels was even more impressive, winning

every match and proving to be a true genius at the game.

Other players who did well and finished in the top three in either group were Tim Turner, Paul Barber, Herbert Lockwood, Paul Johnson and Paul Brooks.

After a quick lunch break the game changed to doubles, which is even more confusing and proved to very popular and entertaining. Any rule which allowed players to be able to put extra queens on the board at will leads to exciting play.

The teams were drawn at random with stronger player and a weaker player in each team.

The event was won in commanding fashion by Richard Hardy and Paul Barber, while Paul Hopwood and Tanya Fox were runners-up and Paul Johnson and Patrick Gower came a creditable third.

The third and final event was a team event and was won by Aaron Barker, Tim Turner, Paul Barber and Paul Johnson.

Once again this was hugely enjoyable and the sight of Herbert Lockwood leaving a rook "en prix" and having it taken by a ten-year-old was memorable.

Everyone who attended received a small prize, some of which were quite unusual.

John Lafferty did, however, seem particularly pleased with his new tape measure.

Perhaps he will use it to size up the opposition this coming season.