WELLINGTON Chess Club are suffering as the Covid-19 restrictions continue to cause insurmountable difficulties. Members have not faced each other for seven months and it looks like there will be no resumption until an effective vaccine is found.

Club spokesman Robert Harris said: “Wellington, like chess clubs throughout the country, are facing major difficulties before chess can resume over the board as opposed to online. First, the nature of the game is such that you have two players facing each other across a chess board. Wearing a mask is impractical as many players wear glasses, which tend to steam up, affecting the ability to concentrate on the board.

“Secondly, there is the possibility of contamination by touch as a result of both players touching the same pieces during the course of a game.

“Finally, many of the people who play chess are in the vulnerable age group category – about half at Wellington, which is a typical figure.

“The Government guidelines on numbers of people meeting in one place also raise problems as there are usually about 12 or so in attendance on a club night and more when we have a home match against league opposition.”

Robert said the situation was particularly unfortunate for the junior players. They are missing a chunk of their coaching and development, and their progress in mastering the skills to become good senior players in the future has almost come to a halt.

This is not just a problem for Wellington but for chess clubs generally with the governing body, the English Chess Federation, running out of funds.

Despite the hard work of people like Wellington’s Alan Stonebridge, who is trying to keep the game going online, managing the Somerset Wyverns team, it is felt that some clubs may never recover as chess players find other things to do on a winter’s evening and will be lost to the game when it is safe to gather together to play again.