YOU might recall that from time to time I write about the Bermuda International Open which takes place in February each year.This is by far the highlight, or you might say our chess Super Bowl of chess. A good time is always had by all. What used to take place (and was missing this year) is the special Invitational Tournament.

Only a few players used to receive an invitation to this tournament. The sponsor Nick Faulks was off the Island at this time and knew he was going to be away for a while.

So, unfortunately, we had to call it off. These tournaments used to give a lot of chess players their grandmaster norm.How this tournament originally started was mainly down to Brian Alkon (pictured above) who generously offered a place to hold it at. This was the former Mermaid Beach Club on South Shore. It all started in 1994 when Brian’s son Shimon went to Greece to play in the Junior Chess Tournament. When Brian saw how much fun Shimon was having, he decided to offer his beach resort to chess players, and what fun was had by all — great games, great comradeship, some lasting friendships and some wonderful food!

I cannot give you any of Brian’s games because I don’t have any in my (fairly recent) data-base. But what I can give you is an insight to his heart. He has made so many people happy, even down to the staff who told me how happy they were to work for him. And his wife Maxine used to host a lot of the welcoming cocktail parties for the newly-arrived chess players. As you can imagine, a really good time was had by all — thanks to Brian and Maxine’s kindness for their wonderful hospitality.

[obox] Two puzzles for you this week. White to move and mate in two in both. I’ll have the answers next week.