Chester Chess Club

Good afternoon - A quick update on activities in July and August with a small amendment to fit in both talks this summer. We will be open for a normal club night of casual games for each remaining Tuesday in July and August except for August 12th when the club will be closed.

In addition there will be the following extra activities, starting with two talks by me this coming Tuesday and two weeks later. Note that it's perfectly fine just to play games and ignore the talks.

July 15th - Talk "Disaster on the dark squares" by Phil
July 29th - Talk "Thinking methods" by Phil
Aug 12th - Club meeting for captains instead of club night
Aug 19th - Away match v Crewe and normal club night

In addition to club nights, here are some exciting events happening soon at the club (at the Town Crier):
July 10th - Rapid play tournament
July 15th - Talk "Thinking Methods" by Phil
July 29th - Training activity - Playing out interesting positions in small teams

Dear members - as we start a new season in September please find below some updates focused on the next few months:

New membership year - our year runs from September to August. Adult annual membership remains at £20 but we reduced the under 16 rate to £10. You can pay this in cash to our treasurer John (copied on this email), in cash to me, or by bank transfer with details at the end of this email.

ECF fees - if you are playing rated games then you need to arrange ECF membership to avoid the club being fined. Bronze level is sufficient for club and league activities. This can be done online here: Membership rates & joining details – English Chess Federation

Assistance for new members - quite a few of our members are relatively new to over the board chess. Going forward we will aim to have an experienced club member attending each week who can answer questions about the club and answer or point you in the right direction for more technical chess questions. This will generally be one of the captains or club officials: me, John Harvey, Chris Doran, John Carleton, Steve Lloyd, Ray Williams, Piotr Siwy or Ian Clayton. If I'm there and not playing a league match you can certainly ask me.

Talks - next one on November 19th - this year we are trialling having a talk every couple of months or so. This will be on a night with no league matches. I will probably do the first few talks using a demonstration board to review a game, most likely one I've played myself recently. If you're interested in other topics then please let me know.

Tuesdays with no club nights - barring unforeseen circumstances we should have a club night each Tuesday up to at least May except for Dec 24th and Dec 31st

Christmas meal - Piotr (copied on this email) is arranging a Christmas lunch provisionally on Saturday December 14th around 3pm at Chez Jules. Please let Piotr know ideally in the next couple of weeks if you would be interested in attending and whether you would like to bring a guest. Menu here: Festive-Lunch-Menu.pdf (chezjules.com)

Christmas blitz December 17th: Last year we brought back this fun club tournament. It's handicapped so that the highest rated players get very little time, making upsets very likely. John Harvey will be running another one this year and we'd like as many players as possible to attend. No need to register at this stage but please aim to keep the evening free if you can.

For bank details for membership, please refer to Phil's email.

Hopefully the above is useful.

Congratulations to all our members who won trophies this year. Please click the link for the full story and the club's recent notable achievements:

Winners! – Chester Chess Club 1919-2019 Posted on 31st July 202331st July 2023 by pcrockerWinners! Ethan Challoner won the Wirral league junior of the year prize for the second year running. This year Ethan was promoted to play for Chester A but that didn’t stop him amassing the points! In August he’ll be representing Wales in the Glo...

https://www.chess-fest.com/liverpool-2022

Liverpool — ChessFest A Free Chess Festival Taking Place at Trafalgar Square Lewis Carroll’s famous work celebrates its 150th anniversary of publication this year, and children attending are encouraged to dress up as the book’s characters.

RIP Dave Robertson

Dave sadly passed away on the 2nd of March after a short spell in hospital. He will be greatly missed by Chester members. Our thoughts are with his wife Laura and family.

No doubt his greatest achievements were away from Chester and outside of chess. Staying within chess he nevertheless organised a monster international tournament in Liverpool in 2008.

He joined our Chester club a decade or so ago as part of a mostly Liverpool-based team seeking new challenges. Along with captain John Carleton who he had known since school days in Birmingham he was part of a team which scored many league and cup successes. I was fortunate to share in some of the cup successes but unlucky to have to face such a formidable opponent in our games when playing for competing Chester league teams.

Off the board he helped inspire some of our strongest ever junior players. He was also a great help in some of the club administration, most recently in negotiating a cut-price deal for some new kit. At league level he represented us with the ECF. And in the case of the occasional chess dispute which seemingly inevitably graces our competitive game he was always full of wise counsel backed up with steely resolve. He will be greatly missed.

Phil Crocker
Club President

Funeral arrangements are to be determined but if you might like to attend then please contact Phil or John directly if you have their numbers, or via messenger to this page and the message will be passed on.

On Tuesday night we played in the Arena 2 against 5 other teams. We edged out South Birmingham for the top spot by the narrowest of margins. Thanks to and for the games.

A very close match indeed. Even points with 20 minutes to play and the lead changing no fewer than 12 times during the 90-minute match.
In the end, we're proud to say, triumphed! Good Game Liverpool Chess club . Well played to all.

The score so far, 40 minutes left to play. Close one. Liverpool Chess club

Local rivals game versus Liverpool Chess club has just got underway with 39 players taking part.

View the match here

Chester Liverpool Friends Team Battle: Standard 5+3 rated #XDhpd1FB 39 players compete in the Apr 16, 2020 Chester Liverpool Friends Team Battle. 5+3 rated games are played during 90 minutes. Winner is not yet decided.

Club night just finished on . Usual suspects taking the honours but fun was had by all.

This Thursday we take on our neighbouring city team Liverpool Chess club in a friendly but competitive match for local bragging rights.

The results of tonight's team battle on are in. Resounding win for Lewisham Chess Club Well played to all who took part, it was a fun evening.