The LMC has restored promotion and relegation, with 2 up & 2 down, meaning there is now more to play for than in the past two seasons. 214 players have played in the league this season, 2 more than last season, although still some way off the 262 we had in 2019-20, before you know what.

Our club has used 37 players. We lost 3 members from last season, 6 players have returned either to the club or to league chess, and we have 3 new members.

37 members is the most since 1993-94 & 1994-95, when the club had 41 & 46 players respectively as a result of the bounce chess got from the Short v Kasparov world championship match in 1993. Almost 30 years later, 5 of them are still at the club; John S, Brian, Keith, Ken and Derek, and from the 42 Oxclose members in 1994-95 (before the 2001 merger) we still have Pete M, John H, Drag, Graham, Mike B, Steve, Richard and Andy, who has made a welcome return to chess after a 25 year gap.

Our 2nd team is the only one to exceed expectations, leading division 1, while our 1st team trail in third place, not helped by losing to our 2nd team in September. For the 2nd team, Drag has 90%, Mike N-E has 80% and Jan 75%. None of the 1st team regulars is above 50% with the best performers being the 2nd team subs, Mike N-E, Pete M & Jan, all above 50%.

In division 3, our 3rd team is 3rd and our 4th team is 6th, pretty much as expected. Felipe, on 83%, and Peter G-M, on 63%, have the best records for the 3rd team. John H has 70% for the 4th team which is the only team that has not had to use a player from another of our squads.

In division 4, our 5th and 6th teams are 5th & 6th, again pretty much as expected. For the 5th team Tom is on 70%, Nikolai is on 64% and Adam is on 60%. Leo is on 75% for the 6th team.

Our 7th team has only 2 regulars in Alastair & Ken, with 9 others making appearances. James has 67% and Jonty has 63% as the team lie 4th in the division.