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Last update: Friday June 3, 2005 9:44
Michaelmas 2000 / Issue 94 / Volume 32
Editors James Vigus & Sujit Kapadia
48 pages, £3.00
Whilst
compiling the 'clubs and events' chapter for a new edition of Chess on the Web,
(co-authored with Sarah Hurst and soon to be published by Batsford) I stumbled
across the Cambridge University Chess Club's (CUCC) website. Hopefully in the
past couple of months this site has at long last been updated, as it was not
just out of date, but also far less enjoyable and much smaller than the CUCC's
rivals, Oxford University Chess Club's website. Thus when the latest Dragon
appeared I could probably have been forgiven if I had left it in the in-tray
for a couple of days, assuming that the quality would be similar to that of
the CUCC's website. Fortunately the front cover, boasting contributions inside
from a number of strong chess players and fairly well-known chess writers, caught
my eye, and a couple of enjoyable hours later I was saddened to find that I
had reached the end, having read every single page!
Production of Dragon has been a little haphazard of late, but this latest edition welcomes two quality editors in FM James Vigus, my fellow Chessmoves reviewer, and Sujit Kapadia. Both write and edit very well. There are no obvious mistakes anywhere and they have managed to persuade a wide range of people to write for them. The game annotations are competent, with those by IM Harriet Hunt and Vigus being especially good, but Dragon is about far more than just games. Thus there is a fair amount of enjoyable humour, such as in 'Uncle Jack's Varsity Match Photo Casebook'. On top of all the news about chess in Cambridge, one can also read about what several members got up to chesswise over the summer. Elsewhere Vigus and Nathan Alfred provide some excellent book reviews, often with a nice anecdote thrown in, whilst Alec Toll provides essential coverage for the seasoned chess player of chess on the small screen. IM Colin Crouch meanwhile entertains as he nostalgically looks back at his youth in Cambridge and reflects on the ageing process of life, whilst GM Jonathan Mestel composes three challenging puzzles.
Unless readers personally know most of the CUCC's members they may well not be too interested in college chess league tables or a report on the 8-1 trashing, at football, of the Cambridge University Bridge club. That should not, however, put one off subscribing to this quality production, as here can be found at least something for everyone. Sadly the Hull Chess Club magazine appears to no longer be produced, but Dragon, under Vigus and Kapadia, is a worthy successor to it as the best club magazine in the country right now. Subscriptions are a reasonable, £10.00 for four issues or £5.50 for two (post free).
To obtain a copy of Dragon contact one of the editors: James Vigus: Clare College, Cambridge CB2 1TL or jev23@cam.ac.uk Sujit Kapadia: St. Catharine's College, Cambridge CB2 1RL or srk26@cam.ac.uk.
Richard Palliser