Castle Chess will hold their 28th Fareham Congresstournament (over the board games) on 10th-12th October 2025. It will be at the Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, PO16 7BQ.
The Lysses House Hotel, Fareham
Castle Chess 28th Fareham Congress details
Dates: 10-12th October 2025
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).
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). Add £15 if not an ECF member. There are also various accommodation packages – available through Castle Chess – if you would like to stay at the Lysses.
Refreshments: tea and coffee £1.50 per cup, maximum £9 for the weekend.
Sections:
Open: Under 2001
Major: Under 1901
Minor: under 1601
Prizes: expected £200 per Section, but this is not guaranteed, dependent on the number of entries.
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.
See link below for printable Entry form. You can contact the organiser Tony Corfe, by email or phone. 01707 661160 Mob: 07973 516718 tony@mrcorfe.co.uk
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.
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 home page by clicking on their logo below:
Photos from Castle Chess 27th Fareham in March 2025
Click on any of the photos to see large image and scroll through the photos.
The Lysses House Hotel from the gardenTournament organiser addresses players at Castle Chess Fareham March 2025Castle Chess Fareham March 2025Chandler’s Ford player Alan WeaverChandlers Ford players Alikhan Menseitov (standing next to big trophy) and Dave Holmes deep in analysisPlayer posing with big trophy at Castle Chess Fareham March 2025Alikhan Menseitov poses with a trophy at Castle Chess Fareham March 2025
The Chandlers Ford Chess Club AGM will be on Wednesday 10th September at 7.15pm. It will be in our normal playing room after Junior Chess Club has finished at 7pm. This is earlier than originally stated due to the session on common errors and misinterpretations of FIDE Chess Rules by David Culliford and Ian Thompson following the AGM.
The individual trophies presented to team winners at our AGM September 2024
See the Agenda messages below. Topics will include various issues and will prepare the club for the forthcoming 2025-26 Season.
Message from Chairman Rob Sims
The CFCC AGM is next Wednesday, the 10th September starting at 7.15pm after Junior Chess finishes at 7.00pm. It will be in our normal playing room.
The reason for the earlier start than normal is because David Culliford and Ian Thompson will deliver a session on common errors and misinterpretations of FIDE Chess Rules. They are both Chess Arbiters and can provide us with the answers to the occasional problems that crop up during games, so it should be good!
Peter Eales sent out the September ratings recently and based on those, Graham has produced a spreadsheet of team squads for the coming season. Graham will share this with you in the next few days.
Keven has written up the Minutes of our 2024 AGM, which includes a few photos of the evening and these are attached along with next week’s Agenda,
Under our Club Constitution, the Chess Club Committee comprises of Secretary ( Malcolm), President (Nobby), Treasurer ( Suzan), Chair (me), Social events ( Andy), Website Guru ( Kev) and extends to Tournament organisers – Book (PeterP), Kooner Cup (Malcolm ), KO (Steve D) Ladder ( me ) and further extends to Team Captains David/Eric/ Chris/ Me and Rob Strachan as Captains of ABCDE teams respectively. Thats 12 of us and we are ably helped very much by PeterE and Graham who don’t want to be on our committee as they are President and Secretary ( I think) of The Hampshire Chess Association, so they’ve got plenty to keep them busy!
Best wishes
Rob Sims
Agenda notes from Graham Stuart
Hi all,
Following on from Rob’s email attached is the spreadsheet I completed to help with team selection. I think there are several points about this spreadsheet which should be considered!
This is just a guide, to assist in selection. Captains should pick who they think best for their team but obviously consider all the rules around nominated players, rating rules and players original choice in which team they wish to play for.
I have added the responses from Peter’s survey as to who players are willing to play for, but I have changed where needed e.g. David Culliford stated E team if required, but as a nominated player for the D team this is not possible.
I have added players down in rating order, but as Malcolm has always advised, ratings should not be the only factor to consider. Experience, players consideration etc.
As a club we are very lucky we have attracted several strong players, but we are a social club and have a lot of players who would normally play in the D and E teams. This is a challenge to the D and E captains ensuring everyone who wishes to play can play. This is a two-way process, and I would encourage members to contact their captains saying how many games they would like to play and when available. This should ensure the captains know the squads wishes and can give everyone a game. In addition, the use of extra boards when available should be utilised. Therefore, it should not be a concern that there are 18 players in the E team squad, just a communication exercise. This is also why we have the four tournaments each year and the ability to play rated friendlies.
Where players did not respond to Peter’s email, I have still added them to teams based on ratings – please advise the captains / Rob if you are not planning on playing etc. There are some members who had advised they did not wish to play league chess, and I have removed these. If I have missed anyone out, please let me (or the captain know).
Nominated Players
For the nominated players, I have discussed this with Rob and some of the captains and think we have the correct nominated players to ensure we can have flexibility for the teams and the SCL rules.
Many thanks to the captains stepping forward this year, especially new player Chris Button who has kindly taken on the C team captain role. Please help your captain as much as possible with regards to availability etc and good luck to everyone for the season.
The 2025 UK Open Blitz Championship has a series of regional Qualifying tournaments – and one of them is local for us: the Barton Peveril Sixth Form College in Eastleigh.
There are 16 Qualifier events in 14 cities, with the winners of each going through to the Final. These qualifying events take place between 30th August and 28th September, and the one in our area is next Saturday, 13th September.
Chandler’s Ford Chess Club’s Iwan Cave will assist in running the tournament and is the liaison between the ECF and the College. Iwan ran the Hampshire Rapid and Blitz last weekend 6th & 7th September. See the full results of those tournaments at chess-results.com.
The Nobel building of Barton Peveril Sixth Form College
