Blank Canvas

What do you want from life?

Are you still dreaming of the illusive larger pay-packet, the bigger house and the faster car?

All these decades in…is it still possible to see those dreams come to fruition?

Or could it possibly be that each and every one of us who is still surviving the extraordinary challenges of these terrible times has an unforeseen opportunity to change in ways which would have seemed impossible one year ago?

Everyone has been forced to change. Some changes have been for the better; some for the worse. Maybe you have felt thoroughly disorganised, or even worthless. Perhaps you have felt anger rising at unexpected moments, or become surprisingly emotional over the smallest of matters. Do you hide your tears? Can you still bring the Black Dog to heel?

Do not underestimate how well you have done. So many people weren’t able to make it this far at all.

What do you want from life?

You can make it anything you would like it to be.

Imagine if you had been away for a year or more. When you return to your usual situation, you will have changed. The people you know will all have changed too. Some former friends will have moved on; others will become more prominent in your life.

This is the situation we are all going to be in if we can eventually emerge at the other side of this emergency.

There is an unexpected blank canvas in front of all of us. Time to assess what is really important; time to let go of a plethora of things which are important no more.

In the words of Paul Cezanne: ‘It's so fine and yet so terrible to stand in front of a blank canvas.’

Remove the terror and bring plenty of paint.

The sooner we start, the better it will be. I need to be a better version of me. Much better.

Time is against all of us; tomorrow is never promised.

What do you want from life?

Project 30: Results Update

The semi-finals of both competitions have now concluded.All four battles were extremely close and ferociously contested.

The results are given below.

The pairings for the respective finals are:

Rapidplay:

(An eight-game match)
Matt Jackman - Dave Baillie

KO:

Andrew Smith - Rayelynn Posadas

Target Date for Completion of the Finals: End of April 2021


Project 30 Rapidplay Match Championship

January - April 2021


Semi-Final Results

(Matches were of six games)


Matt Jackman 3.5-2.5 Andrew Smith (W2, D3, -1 from Matt's point of view)


Dave Baillie 3-3 Richard Harris (+2, =2, -2. Dave won the Blitz play-off)


Project 30 KO Championship 2021

February - April 2021


Semi-Final Results

(Players will decide the colours)


Andrew Smith 1-0 (First game drawn) Dave Baillie


Matt Jackman 0-1 Rayelynn Posadas


All-play-all Capablanca Tournament


Peter Harker 7/10

Royce Parker 6/10

Paul Weightman 3/6

John Garnett 3/6

Mike Pointon 1/4

Kevin Waterman 0/4



Results

Peter Harker 2-0 Mike Pointon

Peter Harker 1-1 Paul Weightman

Peter Harker 2-0 Kevin Waterman

Peter Harker 1.5-0.5 Royce Parker

Peter Harker 0.5-1.5 John Garnett

Royce Parker 1.5-0.5 John Garnett

Royce Parker 1-1 Paul Weightman

Royce Parker 2-0 Kevin Waterman

Royce Parker 1-1 Mike Pointon

Paul Weightman 1-1 John Garnett



All-play-all Alekhine Tournament


Richard Harris 4.5/6

Graham Edwards 1/2

Royce Parker 0.5/2

Kevin Waterman 0/2


Results

Richard Harris 1-1 Graham Edwards

Richard Harris 2-0 Kevin Waterman

Richard Harris 1.5-0.5 Royce Parker


Rules:


In both of the new tournaments, the format will be all-play-all twice. A 1-1 result will stand; there will be no tie-breakers.


The default time-limit will be 30 minutes on each clock, but there is scope for you to decide on another time-limit with your opponents.

Start as soon as you want to, using the rough timetable of one round in February and two rounds per subsequent months, which should enable the tournaments to draw to a close at the end of April 2021.