Castle Chess will hold their 19th Fareham Congress tournament (over the board games) on 7-9th October 2022. It will be at the Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, PO16 7BQ.

At the time of publishing this Post, there are 86 entrants to the Congress, a huge level of interest.

Castle Chess have run a number of Congresses (tournaments) over recent years at this pleasant venue. They host two Congresses per year at the Lysses, one earlier in the year, one in the Autumn.

Tournament format

The format of the Congress is a six-Round Swiss: round one on the Friday evening, three rounds on the Saturday, and the last two games on the Sunday. Byes may be requested (except Round 6).

There are three sections:

• Open: Under 2001 (=175 former ECF grade system),
• Major: Under 1901 (=160),
• Minor: under 1601 (=120).

The Congress costs £40 to enter, with a £7 discount for Juniors. Non-ECF members will need to pay £9 extra. There are also various accommodation packages – available through Castle Chess – if you would like to stay at the Lysses.

Tea and coffee will be provided for a donation.

Results of all games will be be sent to the ECF for Grading.

There will not be a Prize-giving ceremony as prizes will be sent via bank transfer.

Rate of Play

The rate of play for the games is 75 minutes plus 30 seconds per move (about 3 and a half hours). All moves must be recorded throughout the game.

Further information

EVENT ENQUIRIES:
Tony Corfe, 51 Borough Way, Potters Bar, Herts. EN6 3HA
Tel: 01707 661160 Mob: 07973 516718
email: tony@mrcorfe.co.uk or marc.shaw.chess@gmail.com
or Marc Shaw 07947 813303

See the Castle Chess website’s Fareham Congress page:

The Chandler’s Ford Chess Club will hold its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 21st September 2022. The AGM 2022 will be at the Club’s venue at the Central Club, at 7:30pm.

The League structure was agreed for the forthcoming 2022-23 season following its AGM, and our Club’s own AGM will decide, amongst other things, which players will play in which team, and who the team captains will be.

Agenda

1) Apologies for absence

2) Minutes of last year’s AGM.

3) Matters arising

4) Officer reports eg Secretary, Treasurer

5) Election of Officers

6) Fees for 2022/23

7) Proposals

 a) Regarding amalgamation of senior and junior club – Nobby George

 b) Regarding status of club history project – Steve Dunleavy

 c) Suggestion regarding purchase of 5 wooden sets – Graham Stuart

 d) Need to allocate squads for next season based on current grades – Rob Sims

8) Plans for season with regard to tournaments, ladder and league teams

9) Any other business

As the new Southampton Chess League season, 2022-23 gets closer, we take a look back at the League AGM 2022 to see what the new season might look like.

The Southampton Chess League’s Annual General Meeting was held at our club’s venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club. Matthew Coldwell opened the League AGM 2022 at 19:30 on Tuesday 14th June. 20 people from the various clubs of the Southampton League attended. The League AGM concluded at 21:00.

Malcolm Clarke presented his Secretary’s Report, in which he noted that the 2021-2 season was in a sense experimental, as the League began to find its feet after the pandemic-caused break. The Robertson Cup and Plate were not contested as the League focussed on getting the League up and running in its reduced format. Fraser Macleod presented the Treasurer’s Report, and League subscriptions for the clubs were agreed.

Election of officers

• Chair: Matthew Coldwell was elected, and was Chair at the AGM, keeping things moving at a good pace.
• Vice Chair: Michael Pope
• League Secretary: Fraser Macleod
• Fixture Secretary: Malcolm Clarke
• Treasurer: no takers for this role yet, so Fraser continues for the present.
• Webmaster: a candidate for this role to be sought from the Clubs. Since the AGM Graham Stuart has kindly stepped up to fulfil this position.

2021-22 Season trophy presentations

	2018/19	2022 winner
Division 1	Ringwood A	Fareham A
Division 2	Hamble B	Salisbury A
Division 3	Ringwood B	Basingstoke A
Division 4	Salisbury C	Fareham B
Division 5	Ringwood C	Basingstoke C

Note: Robertson Cup, Individual and Rapid-play competitions were not held this season.

Planning for the 2022-23 Season

The structure of the new season was discussed: number of Divisions, number of boards per team, start and end dates of the season and so on. The clubs were invited to say how many teams they would field, and their Division preferences (assessing where they saw their teams would compete according to expected player strengths). There will be Robertson Cup and Plate competitions.

Here are some key features of the forthcoming season:

• There will be 5 Divisions in Southampton Chess League.
• The season begins on 28th September 2022 with a Division 5 fixture between Basingstoke D and Salisbury D.
• There will be Robertson Cup and Plate matches.
• Chandler’s Ford Chess Club will be fielding 4 teams, playing in Divisions 2, 4, and 5 (our C and D teams are both in Division 5). This represents the player strength profile of our club’s membership.
• Match captains can notify results directly to the SCL Website, as in recent seasons.

The League structure established, it will be for our Club’s own AGM, on Wednesday 21st September to decide, amongst other things, which players will play in which team, and who the team captains will be.

The Chandler’s Ford Junior Chess Club will re-open for over-the-board chess on Wednesday 14th September 2022 – at its new venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club. The Junior Club meets 6-7pm term time Wednesdays. The adult chess club meets there (on Tuesday evenings), and it will be great to have the Juniors meet at the same place.

About the Junior Chess Club

• The Junior Chess Club meets on Wednesdays 6-7pm – in school term time only: see the schedule below for full Autumn 2022 schedule.
• There will be 25 minutes coaching by the experts and the rest will be games, Tournaments etc. Some of the tournaments’ fees are paid by the club so it is free for club kids.
• The age criteria will be 6-16 years but, in some cases, exceptional.
•  There is a Free on-site Parking at the back, front and side of the Central club for Junior chess club members.
• Please write the details on visitor’s page when you go inside the Club.
• The Junior Chess Club is run by Maha Chandar.
• The Junior Club on Facebook:

The venue: Chandler’s Ford Central Club

The address is: Chandler’s Ford Central Club, 2 Winchester Road, Chandler’s Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO53 2FZ.

Parking is available at front and rear of the venue.

The venue’s website:

The Junior Chess Club age range is 6-16. The club will meet on Wednesdays at 6pm until 7pm each week – during school term time. See the schedule below for the rest of 2022.

Junior Chess Club schedule for the rest of the year:

2022 YEAR CHANDLER’S FORD Junior chess club
14/09/2022	6-7PM	starting
21/09/2022	6-7PM
28/09/2022	6-7PM
05/10/2022	6-7PM
12/10/2022	6-7PM
19/10/2022	6-7PM	finishing
26/10/2022	HOLIDAY BREAK
02/11/2022	6-7PM	starting
09/11/2022	6-7PM
16/11/2022	6-7PM
23/11/2022	6-7PM
30/11/2022	6-7PM
07/12/2022	6-7PM
14/12/2022	6-7PM	finishing
21/12/2022	HOLIDAY BREAK