The Chandler’s Ford Chess Club Summer Barbeque 2025 at Steve and Suzan’s. Photos of the very pleasant social gathering. Thanks to Steve and Suzan for being such excellent hosts, and to Rob Strachan for his role as barbeque chef, and to Theo who helped them.
Click on any image to open a full size image and scroll through the photos.
The Southampton Chess League AGM will be held on Wednesday 25th June at our club’s venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club.
Southampton Chess League AGM, Wednesday 25 June 2025, 7.30pm, Chandlers Ford
Central Club (2 Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 2FZ)
Agenda
| Division 1 | Division 2 | Division 3 | Division 4 | Division 5 |
| Fareham A | Ringwood | Salisbury A | Hamble B | Salisbury C |
| University A | Fareham B | Salisbury B | University C | Fareham C |
| Chandler’s Ford A | Chandler’s Ford B | Basingstoke C | Andover B | Chandler’s Ford D |
| Basingstoke A | Andover A | University B | Winchester B | Southampton C |
| Southampton A | Winchester A | Southampton B | Basingstoke D | Chandler’s Ford E |
| Hamble A | Basingstoke B | Chandler’s Ford C | Basingstoke E | ——- |
| League Division or competition | 2024-5 Winner |
| Division 1 | Fareham A |
| Division 2 | Hamble A |
| Division 3 | Basingstoke B |
| Division 4 | Tied: Chandler’s Ford C and University C |
| Division 5 | Basingstoke E |
| Robertson Cup | Southampton A |
| Robertson Plate | |
| Clarke Cup | Basingstoke D |
| Individual | Niclas Hordnes |
Click on any photo in the gallery below to see larger image and captions.
Maha Chandar, tournament organiser, invites young players to play in the Juniors tournament at Winchester College next Sunday, 22nd June. The tournament is ECF graded. It is the largest junior chess event in Hampshire, and normally has over 200 entries.
Please note: the last day for entries is 20th June.
The Hampshire Megafinal is a qualifying event in the Delancey UK Chess Challenge. Megafinals are held in various parts of the country. Players that make it through the Megafinal with 3.5 points or more from six rounds can play in the Gigafinals. The top players from that will play in the Terrafinal in October.
Sunday 22nd June 2025. 09:30 for a 10:00 start, expected to finish about 17:00.
Winchester College (New Hall), College Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9NF
Open to all juniors born after 31/08/2006
20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move
£30
Maha Chandar, kidschess@hotmail.com
Maha organises the Chandler’s Ford Junior Chess Club.
The 1st Eastleigh FIDE Congress will be held at Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th June. The tournament is a 5-round swiss format, and the time control for the games is 90 minutes plus a 30 second increment per move.
The event is organised by Psyon Chess.
Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh SO50 5ZA.
Full details can be seen at the Congress Org UK website at: | Congress Org UK
See Chess-Results website page for list of players entered: Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com – 1st Eastleigh FIDE Congress – U2300 (28-29June’25)
The event has a capacity of 80. Entries on the day can still be made if there’s still capacity – before 09:15, in cash, and a late surcharge payable.
Depending on the Section entered. See table below:
The Entry fee as per table above is for players who are at minimum ECF Gold membership, otherwise add £15 (or £6 for a junior) for a player of below Gold level.
Late entry fees: Entries after 25th June: add £4 if ; or add £6 after 27th 21:00.
There are 3 sections:
Player ratings are the higher of standard game FIDE or ECF to determine which Section to enter.
| Open | U1800 | U1500 | |
| 1st | £220 | £200 | £160 |
| 2nd | £110 | £100 | £80 |
| 3rd | £60 | £50 | £40 |
A half-point Bye may be taken in advance for any Round except the last one.
The event should finish by 17:30 on the Sunday.
Basic tea and coffee will be available to buy at the venue. Cashless payment is preferred, but if cash is used please pay exact amount. Local amenities can be found a short distance from the college, in Eastleigh town centre.
The Preliminary Round of the Knockout 2025 tournament saw the field of players reduced to 16. The remaining players have now been paired for Round 1. The Knockout 2025 is organised by Steve Dunleavy.
Kind Regards
Steve
Tournament organiser Steve Dunleavy announces the start of the new Knockout 2025 Tournament . He has run the Knockout since the first one in 2017. This year 30 players have entered. Through a series of knock-out rounds, one will emerge the winner.
The Knockout 2025 competition comprises a Preliminary Round, with 4 byes, which will reduce the original 30 entrants to 16 players, then successive Rounds halve that to 8, 4, and 2 players, until the winner is revealed.
The first-named player of each pairing plays with white.
The rate of play is 80 minutes each plus 10 seconds increment per move.
The John Kooner Cup 2025 – the club’s Summer Tournament starts as its organiser Malcolm Clarke announces the player pairings for the first Round. 27 players have entered.
The Kooner Cup runs during the summer, and is a 5-round Swiss format between May and September. In the previous Summer Tournaments, the winner’s name was engraved on the Kooner Cup and the winner received a replica of the Cup, presented by John Kooner annually at a club dinner. The organiser is Malcolm Clarke.
The tournament is played in 5 Round over the summer months – about a month per Round. The winner receives the Kooner Cup for a year and usually gets to keep a replica. The games are standard play in terms of time control, 90 minutes each player.
Whilst all the results will show on the John Kooner Cup Page, please also see LMS (League Management System) for more up to date results as it will be updated more frequently.
Click on the button below to see the Summer Tournament 2024 Page:
Fareham Chess Club will be holding their Open Rapidplay on Saturday 19th April, at their playing venue, the Duke of Connaught’s Own Club, 74 Western Rd, Fareham PO16 0NS. Fareham Chess Club will be donating a proportion of the entry fees received to the registered charity ‘Hampshire & Isle of Wight Air Ambulance’ https://www.hiowaa.org/.
There is a capacity limit of 50 players, and there will be no entries on the day, so enter now!
Entry: £18 (for Gold ECF or higher, otherwise add a £15 surcharge).
Prizes: Place prize 1st £120, 2nd £80, 3rd £50, and rating prizes for highest scores: Under-1900 £40, under-1700 £40, under-1500 £40, Junior for highest score £40.
Rate of Play: 15 minutes + 10 second increment per move.
Enquiries – please contact the controllers Tony Corkett or Ted Black: fccrapid2025@btinternet.com
More Details:
See also the article on Hampshire Chess Association: Fareham Open Rapidplay.
Chandler’s Ford Chess Club player Iwan Cave is organising the 2nd Hampshire Rapidplay tournament next Saturday, 5th April 2025. It is a 6 round ECF Rated Rapid tournament with a time control of 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move held at Barton Peveril 6th Form College, Eastleigh, SO50 5ZA on 5th April 2025. Maximum Entries: 90 (there are still places available).
Sections:
Rapid ratings will be used to determine which sections players can enter.
If a player doesn’t have a rapid rating or has a provisional rating then their classical rating will be used to determine eligibility.
Entry Fee:
Entry closes on Thursday 3rd April 2025 – no entries will be accepted on the day.
Please note there is a £15 pay-to-play fee (£6 for juniors) for players with ECF membership below Gold. With the ECF restructuring their membership system, all Silver Members have been upgraded to Gold membership. You can check your ECF membership here.
For any players without ECF membership, please follow this link to sign up to the ECF. Players under 25 who haven’t previously been members of the ECF can get their first year of membership free of charge.
Prizes:
1ˢᵗ – £100
2ⁿᵈ – £70
3ʳᵈ – £50
Minimum prize fund for each section. No player may win more than one prize. If a player is eligible for two or more prizes, the highest will be awarded. In the event of a tie, players will share prizes.
*The minimum prize fund is based on receiving 40 entries . The prize fund shall be increased in line with the number of entries and may include extra category prizes including: rating; junior; and women.
Schedule:
Venue:
Barton Peveril 6th Form College, Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 5ZA
The venue is easily accessible by car and public transport. It is located just off Junction 13 of the M3 and Junction 5 of the M27 and has ample on site parking as well as parking on Chestnut Avenue just outside the college. Southampton Airport Parkway and Eastleigh Train Station are both a 20 minute walk away and public buses from Romsey and Southampton run past the college regularly.
Local amenities can be found a short walk from the college campus in Eastleigh Town Centre. The College Café will be open between 09:00 – 15:00.
Entrants:
A list of confirmed entrants can be found here.
Please read the Terms and Conditions before entering.
Any questions or queries, please contact the organiser by email: iwan.w.cave@gmail.com
This is a busy time for Chandler’s Ford Chess Club. The Southampton Chess League nears the end of the2024-5 season, but with some club tournaments about to start, plus some local Congresses, there’s a lot happening. Graham Stuart guides us through the chess scene with his club roundup March 2025.
No matches last week, but the result of the University C match is of relevance to our C team and Division 4. University c beat Basingstoke D 2½ – 1½ and this leaves the table as below. The C team need to beat Salisbury C 3½ – ½ to win the league, a 3 – 1 win will see a tie (and play-off for promotion and a tied championship). A tough ask, but it could have been worse if the University had won by a larger margin.
Three away matches next week with:
I have attached a LMS Report on the matches from last week in the SCL League. But all results can be seen from the SCL Fixtures.
Organisation Fixtures | ECF League Management System
Dave Holmes and David Culliford are playing in this weekend congress. This congress is a favourite of theirs. Results can be found at the link below, with 2 of the 5 rounds played.
Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com – East Devon Chess Congress (48th) – Major (U1900)
BBC 2 – Monday 8:00pm and iPlayer
The 2nd program went down more favourably than the first, with the 8-queen puzzle being popular. I think this week has 6 more players, and from what I can see one player is rated over 1800 and I think could be the strongest player in the event.
The player who left if the 1st round is Nick Templar and he is rating is 1650 (1670 live), which was a bit higher rated than I thought. But the games in the show are 10-to-15-minute games (with increment) and maybe this gave a false impression of their quality.
ECF: Templar, Nicholas 346799F
BBC Two – Chess Masters: The Endgame
The popular KO tournament is being held from April.
Quick summary if that you need to enter by the 31st March and Steve Dunleavy will complete a round by round draw and you will normally have between 3 and 4 weeks to play your game.
Please let Malcolm Clarke know if you wish to enter this competition. The draw is to be completed in a couple of days’ time, so please enter soon.
It can be difficult to turn up and get a game due to the tournaments, so please do email players to see if available for a ladder / rated game before club night. Not sure of the best way to manage this, but if anyone wishes to set something up please do so.
Please remember to advise the Tournament Controller of the result of your game. Contact details and LMS links below.
Event: Book Prize – A 24/25 | ECF League Management System – Iwan leading with 3 from 3. Graham and Bill also have 3 points, but from 4 games.
Event: Book Prize – B 24/25 | ECF League Management System – Peter Eales has won with a round to spare with 5½ from 6 – Congratulations to Peter on an excellent win.
Event: Book Prize – C 24/25 | ECF League Management System – Peter Lasham and John Davis lead with 3½ from 5 games. Jacky Liang has 3 points from 4 games though.
Event: Book Prize – D 24/25 | ECF League Management System – Alan Weaver leading with 5 from 6. He can be caught as 4 players have 3 points, but Alan is a big favourite at this stage.
If you are away / cannot play in the ladder for a few weeks let Rob know so he can sit you out and allow others to challenge above the normal number of places.
Event: Ladder 24/25 | ECF League Management System (englishchess.org.uk)
If you cannot get a game from the internal tournaments, you can play a rated friendly, but the tournaments always take priority to ensure they run on schedule. To ensure these ad-hoc games do not start too late, please make sure they start before 8pm and only play one per evening. If you have played someone once, the 2nd game should be with reversed colours.
Time control can be either 80 + 10 or 90 minutes for these standard rated games but if players cannot agree, 80 + 10 is the default.
Event: Rated Friendlies – 24/25 | ECF League Management System (englishchess.org.uk)
Games
The A team players have annotated some of their league games. If you don’t already have access, please let Iwan know and he will add you.
Game Analysis, Chandlers Ford • lichess.org
This congress held last weekend was well supported by our members.
Major – 6 rounds
Minor
castle-chess.co.uk – 27th Fareham Congress
5th Bournemouth Grand Chess Congress – Dorset Chess
Large prizes available from Dorset Chess Association! This is certainly a tournament to consider playing in. This also now has a British Chess Championship place for the best score by a WECU member. There is now a late entry fee, and the Congress is close to full. Keith, Graham and Philip are playing.
2nd Hampshire Rapidplay – Hampshire Chess Association
Several CF players signed up – this is a great value rapid tournament with a £18 entry fee (£15 for juniors) for ECF Gold and above.
Duke of Connaught’s Own Club (Fareham CC venue)
Fareham Open Rapid-Play tournament – Hampshire Chess Association
This is also £18 to enter and half the entry fee is going to charity!
Both a Junior & Adult Open 6 round 20+25rapid chess tournament. + An unrated Junior (U18) section for novices.
Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT), Worting Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 8TN
Hampshire play in the Chiltern League which this season has reintroduced the B team competition
All matches are on Saturdays, 2pm to 6pm.
B team dates (Under 1750)
29th March 2025 – Victory Hall, Church Road, Farley Hill, RG7 1TR
National U1650
Hampshire have entered the national stages which Ashraf will be running. Details to follow, but if your rating was under 1650 in September 2024 you are eligible (especially improving juniors!)
B and U1650- Ashraf Syed ashraf.syed@aol.co.uk
Rob Sims compiled a history for the CF Website a couple of years ago, well worth checking this out.
A History of Chandler’s Ford Chess Club – Chandlers Ford Chess Club
In addition, for the Hampshire Chess History website I am planning on adding a small history of each Hampshire club, I have started with our club and as this is an amalgamation of many clubs this does cover all of these. The idea is that others will update me with additional information from their club archives.
Chandler’s Ford Chess Club – Hampshire Chess History
My understanding of the clubs which fed into the current CF Chess club is below. Eastleigh Railway was the main Eastleigh club (and would have probably changed venue / name a few times as well) which was formed in 1912.
In addition, this does mean CF Chess Club is now 10 years old and we should think about the best way to celebrate this! Please do let Rob / Malcolm and other CF Officers know of any idea?
Many thanks
Graham