Tournament organiser Rob Sims announces the New Ladder for 2024-25. As in the previous Ladders, players may challenge up to 4 places above themselves. This year the time control is 80+10 (80 minutes each, plus ten seconds per move).

The new chess Ladder 2024-25 started last week and will run until 2nd September 2025.

Organiser Rob Sims announces the new Ladder

Although the winner of the 2023-24 Ladder tournament has not been decided yet, as the final game between Theo and Peter Przybycin has not been played, I am sending out the new Ladder for the 24-25 season which has about 23 club members on it at the moment.

I am expecting a few more to join over the coming month and they will be slotted in on an appropriate rung when possible.

The rules remain the same as previously. If any of you play a game tomorrow evening at club please let me know the result as soon as possible.

Many thanks and good climbing to all

Best wishes

Rob

Click the link button below to go to the Ladder Page, with the latest ladder positions plus the Rules.

Ladder 2024-25 Rules

• Initial positions on the ladder are determined in order of rating.
• All games to be played on the clock, which will be set at 80 minutes each with 10 second increments per move.
• You may challenge anyone who is one, two, three, or four places above you on the ladder.
• A challenge cannot be made more than 7 days ahead of a game. Once a challenge is accepted neither the challenger nor the player being challenged may make or accept another challenge.
• The decision as to who plays white is made at the start of the game by one of the players choosing a black or white pawn from a closed hand.
• You can email challenges to your eligible opponents in advance, but it won’t count as a loss if your opponent is unable to play for any reason. 
• If the lower ranked player wins, the lower ranked player takes the higher ranked player’s position on the ladder, and the higher ranked player moves down one place.
• If the higher ranked player wins, there is no change in the players’ rankings.
  If the game ends in a draw, the lower ranked player takes the position just below the higher ranked player.
• After a ladder game is played, at least one of the players must play a ladder game against someone else before they can play each other again.
• Please report all results of games to me and I will submit them to ECF for grading purposes.
• The top three players on Tuesday 2nd September 2025 will play off to decide the eventual winner. Players in second and third place play each other and the winner plays the player in first place.

Rob Sims September 2024

Castle Chess will be holding their 25th Fareham Congress tournament on Friday 11th to Sunday 13th October 2024. The organiser is Tony Corfe. Full details on their flyer leaflet via the button link below (links to Microsoft Word or pdf versions).

Castle Chess have a new website: castle-chess.co.uk – Welcome

Printable Entry Form and full details

Castle Chess 25th Fareham Congress: main features

Dates: 11-13th October 2024

Venue: the Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, Hampshire. PO16 7BQ. Contact Castle Chess if you’d like to stay there for the tournament.

Entry fee: £40 (£8 discount for juniors)

Sections: Open, Major (U1901 ECF), Minor (U1601)

Prizes: expected £200 per Section, but dependent on the number of entries.

Rate of Play: 75 minutes plus 30 seconds per move.

Playing Schedule:

• Friday 19:00-22:30 Round1
• Saturday 09:30-13:00 Round 2
• Saturday 13:45-14:00 Players Review: feedback forum.
• Saturday 14:00-17:30 Round 3
• Saturday 19:00-22:30 Round 4
• Sunday 09:30-13:00 Round 5
• Sunday 13:45-17:15 Round 6

How to Enter

Printable Entry Forms are on the Full Details flyer – see buttons to the flyer above.

Also, you can contact the organiser Tony Corfe, by email or phone. 01707 661160        Mob: 07973 516718      tony@mrcorfe.co.uk

Who’s entered

See list of players: Castle Chess 25th Fareham Congress October 2024 entrants

Photos from Castle Chess 24th Fareham Congress in March 2024

Chandler’s Ford player Alikhan Menseitov had a great tournament in March, being joint winner of the Minor Section!

As the new 2024-25 season starts this week, we reflect on what a great season we had in 2023-24.

In his Chandler’s Ford Chess Club Secretary Report, Malcolm Clarke summarized the season:

It has been a good season with our teams.  We were able to introduce an E team, while both our A and B team won their divisions and were promoted as a result.   We also won the Robertson Plate and our C team also came close to winning their division.

The Southampton Chess League Annual General Meeting in June was the moment Chandler’s Ford harvested a haul of trophies.

Chandler’s Ford win trophies at the League’s AGM

Division 2 of the SCL was a close-run table, with 3 clubs on 14 points. Our A Team emerged the winner. See the LMS Division 2 League Table.

Our B Team also enjoyed success, winning Division 3 and the Robertson Cup. See the LMS League Table Division 3 and Robertson Plate respectively.

As Malcolm mentioned in his Secretary’s report quoted at the top, the C Team came close to winning their division, Division 4, which was won by Basingstoke C.

Chandler’s Ford Chess Club celebrated its successful 2023-24 season by presenting individual souvenir trophies to the A and B team players. This was at CFCC’s own AGM on 11th September.

New Season 2024-25

The new season begins: can Chandler’s Ford build upon our tremendously successful 2023-24 season?

The new season begins tonight with 3 of our teams in two matches, both at our venue, the Chandlers Ford Central Club:

• CFA v Basingstoke A
• CFD v CFE (our D and E teams are both in the same Division – Division 5).

See the ECF League Management System page for the Southampton Chess League for the 2024-25 season:

Update: a reminder from the organiser that entry is FREE!

She Plays To Win is a non-profit organisation whose aim is to encourage more girls to learn and play chess. Next Sunday, 22nd September, SPTW will hold their Starter Girls Tournament for girls with little or no tournament experience. The games will be ECF rated. It is organised by Hampshire Junior Chess Association. For enquiries about the SPTW tournament please contact Maha Chandar. At the time of writing this Post, there are 31 entries.

Maha runs the Chandler’s Ford Junior Chess Club.

Tournament essential details

• The Tournament is a 5-round rapid-play event open to girls aged 18 or under.
• The tournament has a time control of 20 minutes for each player in each game (20+0).
• The first Round starts at 10:00 on Sunday 22nd September 2024.
• The tournament venue is Badger Farm Community Centre, 2 Badger Farm Road, Winchester, Hampshire SO22 4QB.
• The last Round starts at 2pm, and Prize-Giving will be at 3pm.
• Prizes: £30, £15, £10 for 1st, 2nd, 3rd respectively.
• Please enter via: https://form.jotform.com/241126242122036
• All SPTW enquires to Maha Chandar email: kidschess@hotmail.com

More Information

The She Plays To Win Starter Girls tournament is an event designed for girls of 18 years old or less who  are new to tournament chess and this event will be either their first or one of their first tournaments.

This is part of the She Plays to Win (SPTW) initiative created by IM Lorin D’Costa

More details at She Plays To Win Official Web Site

Entries to date:    https://chess-results.com/tnr973984.aspx?lan=1

Schedule  (Sunday 22nd September, 2024)

Round 1. 10am
Round 2. 11.am
Round 3. 12pm
Round 4. 1pm
Round 5. 2pm

The time control will be rapid play with twenty (20) minutes for each play. DGT 2010 timers will be used throughout.

Prize Giving. 3pm

Prize Fund

1st- £30
2nd- £15
3rd- £10

Entry will be confirmed once payment have been received.

All entries will be updated on chess-results.com at https://chess-results.com/tnr973984.aspx?lan=1

All SPTW enquires to Maha Chandar email: kidschess@hotmail.com

The Book Prize Tournament 2023-24 final scores have been announced by its organiser Peter Przybycin.

The tournament comprised three Sections based on player grades, and was an all-play-all format – 9 Rounds.

The results of the games were recorded on the ECF LMS system for grading: the Minor, the Major, and the Premier.

The Book Prize is Nail It Like Nepo, by Zenon Franco, and the winner of each Section receives a copy.

Book Prize Winners

Congratulations to the three Book Prize winners!

• Minor Section: Rob Strachan on 7 points.
• Major Section: Dick Meredith on 7.5 points
• The Premier Section: Iwan Cave, with a hugely impressive 9 out of 9!

Full results – for all the participants, are given below.

Book Prize Tournament 2023-24 Final Scores

Minor Section

• Rob Strachan                7/8
• Rose Saunders              7/9
• James Gray                   5/8
• Ian Parker                  4.5/9
• Lee Mundy                   4/8
• Alan Weaver                 4/8
• Geoff Parish               3.5/9
• Steve Dunleavy             2/8
• Steve Saunders             2/9
• Mike Davis                    1/4

Major section

• Dick Meredith             7.5/9
• Alikhan Menseitov      5.5/9
• Keven Lamb                  5/9
• John Davis                     5/9
• Daniel Phillips             4.5/8
• Patrick Pavey                 4/9
• John Kooner                3.5/7
• Nobby George                3/9
• John Pellegrini             2.5/8
• Frazer Burlinson          2.5/9

Premier Section

• Iwan Cave                        9/9
• Graham Stuart              5.5/8
• Philip Tarrant-Edwards  4.5/8
• Andy Mills                      4.5/9
• Peter Przybycin             3.5/8
• Peter Eales                   3.5/8
• Cary Xie                           3/6
• Sam Murphy                  2.5/9
• Rob Sims                          2/8
• Bill Purkiss                     1.5/3
• Connor Frost                 0.5/4

Coming soon: the 2024-25 Book prize Tournament

Book Prize Tournaments organiser Peter Przybycin will soon launch the next Book Prize Tournament, which will begin on 3rd September 2024.

The Chandler’s Ford Chess Club AGM will be on Wednesday11th September 2024. The Annual General Meeting 2024 will be at the Club’s venue at the Central Club, at 7:30pm.

See the Agenda below. Topics will include various issues and will prepare the club for the forthcoming 2024-25 Season.

Agenda

Chandler’s Ford Chess Club  AGM. 7.30 pm Wednesday 11th September 2024

1 Apologies

2 Minutes of Special General Meeting 10^th April 2024

3 Matters Arising 

4 Officer Reports:

1. Secretary  (Malcolm)
2. Treasurer/ Membership  (Suzan)
3. President/ Liaison/Social  (Nobby)
4. Website    (Keven)

5.Issues Raised by club members:-

i)Andy – standardise time control for club tournaments to 80+10 / ladder changes/ noticeboard/ annotated games by A team players?

            ii)Peter E- storage space for senior+junior club/  U18 subs/ Noise levels in club room/membership limit?/CFCC recording sheets  

             iii) Graham  – Cole Cup/Most improved player award/Recorded games quantity and timing/squad photos;  Presentation Evening / CCFC Online Rapid Tournament

6.Team Captains/ Squads / Nominated Players for 24-25 season

7. AOB

8.Presentation of trophies ( if agreed above.)

AGM reminder message from Chairman Rob Sims:

Just a final reminder that our AGM is on Wednesday at 7.30 pm this week after Junior Chess Club finishes at 7.00pm.

It’s a bit of a club tradition that some people pay their CFCC membership fee  after the meeting, although there is no compulsion to do so!  We now have a bank account set up, so the days of payment into a suspicious looking plastic bag are now over!!

I’m sure that Suzan, our new Treasurer, would be happy for you to make payment by bank transfer if you would like to and she will provide details at the meeting or in an email.

Best Wishes

Rob Sims

ECF Membership renewals 2024-25 will be due for many club players at the end of August. Although it is now possible to join and renew English Chess Federation Membership in any month, many of us continue to have September to August membership annual membership. Membership will last for 12 months from the date of purchase of the membership package you choose.

Membership of the English Chess Federation enables playing ECF-graded games, such as the club’s own internal tournaments, plus Southampton Chess League matches, County matches, and Congresses (tournaments) across the country. The different membership levels will determine what is covered. Note that there is no longer a Silver level of membership.

ECF Membership also gives discounts at various companies, including Chess & Bridge shop

ECF Membership levels: what’s best for me?

• Basic Bronze level ECF membership gives players ECF Grading for their game results in club tournaments, local Leagues, and County games. 
• Gold membership: as Bronze, plus it includes Congresses (tournaments outside our club e.g. Castle Chess Fareham etc), and FIDE rated standard play tournaments.
• Platinum. As per Gold, plus printed ECF Yearbook.

For most club players, Bronze Membership is sufficient: Bronze if you don’t plan to go to Congresses, but do want to play in the club’s events and the League.

Other ECF Membership type

ECF Supporter: access, and ECF grading to ECF online members clubs and events on chess.com and lichess.org together with free online rating of all ECF rated online events. £12.

ECF Membership renewals 2024-25 rates

• ECF Supporter – £12.00
• Bronze – £20.00 | Junior Bronze – £6.00 (or FREE for first year of membership)
• Gold – £35.00 | Junior Gold – £12.00 (or FREE for first year of membership)
• Platinum – £77.00

There are other benefits too: a range of discounts at online chess retailers Chess & Bridge (chess.co.uk) and Chess Direct, as well as discounts with other partners. See Membership partners and benefits – English Chess Federation for more information.

Renewing your ECF Membership

This may automatically happen, and the subs will be taken when due. If you are an existing ECF Member, but haven’t set up for automatic payments, you can renew by going to the ECF’s membership payment page ecf.justgo.com – or via the ECF’s Membership page:

Any other costs for chess players?

English Chess Federation membership is one of 3 possible costs of being an active member of Chandler’s Ford Chess Club. The other costs are joining our chess club, and membership of our venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club. See our ‘What does it cost?” Page:

The Knockout 2024 Semi-Finals player pairings have been drawn by tournament organiser Steve Dunleavy.

The Knockout 2024 so far

The Preliminary Round whittled the field of players down to 16. Round 1 determined who went through to the Quarter Finals. Those 8 have been further whittled to the final 4 for the Semi Finals.

The results will be shown on the Knockout 2024 Page in due course, but will appear sooner on the appropriate LMS tournament page sooner, as the results will be used for player ECF rating via LMS.

The Knockout 2024 Semi Finals: player pairings

• Iwan Cave v Matthew Staniforth
• Peter Przybycin v Andy Mills

Dear all the draw for the above is as follows;

1. Iwan Cave vs Matthew Staniforth
2. Peter Przybycin vs Andy Mills

In Addition to the above please take note of the following;

1. The deadline date for completing these games is the 8^th September(please let me know if you need an extension of time)
2. The player named first plays with  white in the event of a draw colours are to be reversed and hopefully the game completed by the 8^th September
3. All games to be played over the board preferably at the club or at a mutually agreed venue if this is not possible
4. Both clocks to be set at 90 minutes
5. Please email the result asap so that it can be submitted for grading.
6. Enjoy and thanks for entering

Kind Regards

Steve

Details of a new tournament, the Hampshire Rapid-play 2024, have been announced. The event will be on Saturday 7th September 2024 at Barton Peveril College, Eastleigh. It is organised by Chandler’s Ford Chess Club’s own Iwan Cave.

The tournament is a 6 round rapid play tournament in which the games have a time control of 15 minutes plus a 10 seconds per move increment. Round 1 starts at 09:30. The event is ECF-rated, and players below Silver ECF level of membership will need to pay an additional £9 pay-to-play. If you are not yet an ECF member but want to join the English Chess Federation, click on the link: ECF Membership.

Venue

The Hampshire Rapid-play 2024 will be held at Barton Peveril 6th Form College, Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh, SO50 5ZA 

Entry

Fees:

• Adults – £18
• Juniors – £15

Entry closes on 5th September – and please note there is a 100-player capacity for this tournament.

Entry form

See the button above for further details, or go straight to the entry form : Hampshire rapid 2024 entry form.

Who’s entered?

See who has entered on the List of Participants at the chess-Results website.

Prizes:

• 1ˢᵗ  – £100
• 2ⁿᵈ – £70
• 3ʳᵈ  – £50

The prizes are the minimum amounts – the prize fund will be increased if there are sufficient entries, and further prize categories to include Rating, Juniors, and Women.

Rate of play

15+10: 15 minutes per player, plus a ten-second increment per move.

Schedule

• Round 1 – 09:30
• Round 2 – 10:40
• Round 3 – 11:50
  Lunch – 13:00-14:00
• Round 4 – 14:00
• Round 5 – 15:10
• Round 6 – 16:20

Further information

Full details and online entry form can be found on the tournament’s own Page on the Hampshire Chess Association website:

See list of players and tournament details at the Chess-Results Page:

The Knockout 2024 Round 2 (the last 8 – the Quarter-Finals) player pairings have been drawn by tournament organiser Steve Dunleavy. The Preliminary Round whittled the field of players down to 16. Round 1 determined who goes through to the Quarter Finals: the last 8.

The results will be shown on the Knockout 2024 Page in due course, but will appear sooner on the appropriate LMS tournament page sooner, as the results will be used for player ECF rating via LMS.

Round 2 – the Quarter Finals: player pairings

• Matthew Staniforth v Keith Gregory
• William Purkiss v Andrew Mills
• John Kooner v Peter Przybycin
• Philip Tarrant-Edwards v Iwan Cave

Rules recap

1. The deadline date for completing these games is 8^th August (6 weeks)- please let me know if an extension of time is required
2. The player named first plays with white
3. Both clocks to be set at 90 minutes
4. All games to be played over the board either at the club or a mutually agreeable venue
5. In the event of a draw the colours are to be reversed and the game hopefully to still be completed by the original deadline date of 8^th August
6. Enjoy your game, thanks for entering and please remember to email me the game result asap after it has been played.

–Steve Dunleavy