Forest Hall Chess Club

Anyone looking to play league chess next season?
Maybe you played elsewhere and are looking for a new club?
Maybe you didn’t get enough game time last season?
Or maybe you’d like to play for the friendliest team in the North East.

Send us a message and look forward to getting involved next season.

The 2025/26 Northumberland Chess Association League season has now come to an end with varying fortunes for our 8 teams

A huge congratulations go to our Pelicans team which won Division 3 led by captain Ethan Tatters. The Pelicans won 12 of the 14 matches they played. It all came down to the final game in the last match when Reese Wright secured the victory which meant that the Pelicans were crowned Champions.

The Ptarmigans finished mid table (4th) in Division 2 as did the Pterodactyls (4th) in Division 4 and the Pheasants (4th) in Division 5.

In Division 6 our Parrots team snatched promotion (2nd) by just one point in a photo finish with the Pigeons (3rd). Very close behind were the Penguins (4th) followed by the Puffins (7th).

We had many new players in the teams this year and they all played with credit throughout the season whilst being led by a few old hands at the club.

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Shown in the photo are Pelicans Anthony Taylor, Hanif Zaman, Reese Wright and Ethan Tatters (captain).

Forest Hall Chess 2026 Club Championships will be starting soon.

• 5 Round Swiss Competition
• Open and Under 1400 Sections
• Forest Hall Chess Club Members Only (Adults and Juniors)
• ECF membership required
• Free to enter
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If you want to take part contact the Championship organiser Ryan Duff or sign up at the club.

On Friday 6th February 2026 Forest Hall Chess Club set a new record for the number of boards in a Northumberland Chess Association League match when the Forest Hall Penguins 🐧 played the Forest Hall Parrots 🦜.

This was a fantastic and memorable occasion and an opportunity for many of our Juniors to play in an ECF rated game.
The chess room was absolutely full with standing room only for the spectators. The atmosphere was excellent, both friendly and competitive. All of those competing in the match rose to the occasion, tried their best and produced very high quality chess.
One of the highlights was the game between Devom and Ishaan which was still going at 10pm. Everyone watching was very impressed with the exceptional standard of play from two of our young members who had been playing with intense concentration for two and a half hours, recording all of the moves perfectly.

The overall score was Penguins 8½ - 5½ Parrots

We can't wait until the next match between two Forest Hall teams and maybe we can set a new record.

Many thanks to Kelly and Ruby from Forest Hall Chess Club for taking the time and effort to make such a professional presentation in Forest Hall Library.

The display includes Forest Hall Chess Club’s banner, our T-shirts as well as some posters and instructions about how to play chess. The sets were provided by Chess in Schools and Communities and the books are supplied using ECF Grassroots funding.

Hopefully this will encourage local people to play a game of chess at the Library and then call in at Forest Hall Chess Club which is only a five minute walk from the Library.

On Friday 12th December we held our annual Forest Hall Christmas Blitz competition. 30 Members took part and a fantastic evening was had by all. After round 3 the buffet opened and the pizzas went down well whilst players chatted about their mistakes, lack of time in blitz and Christmas jumpers. Straight after the buffet we were back for round 4,5 and 6.

The overall winner with 6/6 was Alan Harvey, runner-up went to Noel Boustred, Top U1500 went to Leonardo Trevisan, whilst Top Junior prize went to Hansen Ji.

We had players taking part in their first ever tournament, seasoned players, club legends and top juniors all involved. It’s not all about the winning and I think I can speak on behalf of everyone that played that an enjoyable evening was had by all and look forward to 2026