Metropolitan Chess Club

07/09/2024

Ladder Games 2024-2025

For the upcoming season the rules would be more or less the same as last time. I am going to extend on the "challenge and refuse" rules. We will try to take it a bit more seriously.

17/08/2024

Summer Tournament 2024 - Update After Round Eight

So far we had 8 rounds of our annual Summer Tournament. Last week we had 8 exciting games and now, as the end is approaching, we start to see our potential winners.

08/01/2022

Happy New Year
New year, new website! 🥳
Check it out: https://metchess.org
Just let us know, if your New Year's resolution is to join a chess club. 😉

The Metropolitan chess club is one of the oldest clubs in London. It was founded in 1890 with the amalgamation of two existing clubs 'The Three Pawns' and 'The Monument'. You can read about the history of the Metropolitan Chess Club from 1890 to 1990 here.

23/11/2021

Thinking about Chess 1
I'm planning on doing a series of short articles about my thought on chess and chess improvement.

I'm a club amateur so not privy to the knowledge of your average Russian trained grand master so this will be a collection of knowledge picked up in books or via google.

The subject today is what to think about during the Opening / Middle / Ending phases of the game.

And the first problem is knowing when those phases start and end!

As a easy point of reference I say opening phase ends in 10-15 moves. I think you should start looking at middle game ideas from move 10 if you don't already know the position and the standard themes of that opening.

Middle game is that fuzzy bit between opening and endgame. So at this point we should define when the Endgame starts.

My definition of Endgame is when the pawns are no longer just support points or levers to break open the opponents position but have a significant value for promotion. The other indicator is what problems do you need to fix or improve in the position - if the solutions are middle game style tactics then you are still in the middle game. I know that is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. If you want an easy marker I would suggest move 25-35 is where this happen on average but it will depend on the themes of your opening and your personal attacking style.

So now what do we think about in each phase. I have provided my list below in no particular order.

In future articles I hope to go over some of the ideas below in more detail.

Opening

Activation of all pieces

Knight placement (because they are harder to correct later)

Castling

Centre control / blocking or flank control / blocking

Opening themes and creating asymmetry



Middle Game

Attack or defense

Pawn play or pawn weakness and weak squares

Minor piece placements

2 Bishops via Bishop/Knight

Initiative

Power piece play - Rooks / Queen and Bishops interactions

Opponent's plans



End Game

Pawns - weakness, promotion, fortress

Pieces play

Drawing options / swindle options

Clock play



Let me know what you think!

12/11/2021

Hi and welcome to a new chess season as the London league starts over the board chess. We have four teams in the league and also a Middlesex division.

The club venue is now open on Thursdays.

10/10/2018

Chess season has started and it is the ideal time to join. We have 4 teams in the London League so plenty of opportunity to play!

12/12/2017

Christmas and New Year Closure

Club will be closed 21st, 28th and 4th Jan.

Have a happy Christmas and New Year.

05/09/2017

The old Barbican venue is now closed and London league games will be played at Citadines Hotel in Holburn

http://www.citadines.com/en/united-kingdom/london/citadines-holborn-covent-garden-london/index.html

03/09/2017

AGM 21th September at club 6:30pm

03/09/2017

www.metchess.org website has been updated with the fixtures for the 2017-18 season