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
ECF Membership renewals 2025-26 will be due for many Chandler’s Ford chess club players at the end of August. Although it is possible to join and renew English Chess Federation Membership in any month, many of us continue to have September to August annual membership. Membership will last for 12 months from the date of purchase of the membership package you choose.
ECF Membership 2025-26 due
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. Various benefits and discounts e.g. Chess & Bridge shop.
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. If you’d like to play in Congresses, then go Gold.
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 2025-26 rates
ECF Supporter – £9.99. Relevant only for online chess.
Bronze – £21.00 | Junior Bronze – £7.50 (or FREE for first year of membership)
Gold – £37.00 | Junior Gold – £14.00 (or FREE for first year of membership); Free Student Gold Member (for first membership year).
Inside the Chess & Bridge shop in London – where ECF members get a discount
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:
English Chess Federation membership is one of up to 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 via button:
The Hampshire Rapid and Blitz Championships will be held at Barton Peveril College on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th September 2025. The Rapid tournament will be on the Saturday, with 6 Rounds of games at 15+10 rate of play, and the Blitz will be on the Sunday, 12 games with a time control of 5+3.
The organiser is Iwan Cave.
Players can enter one, or both tournaments.
The tournaments are open to all players regardless of county.
Entry Fees
For one of the tournaments: Adult £18, Junior £15.
If entering both tournaments, then £32 for adults, £27 for Juniors.
Note: the rates above are for English Chess Federation membership at Gold or above, otherwise add £16 (adults) or £6.50 (Juniors).
The Hampshire Blitz Tournament Sunday 7th September
Time control for the blitz event
5+3: five minutes, plus a 3-second increment added after each move.
Blitz tournament Schedule Sunday 7th September
Round 1 – 10:00
Round 2 – 10:30
Round 3 – 11:00
Round 4 – 11:30
Round 5 – 12:00
Round 6 – 12:30 Lunch – 13:00-14:00
Round 7 – 14:00
Round 8 – 14:30
Round 9 – 15:00
Round 10 – 15:30
Round 11 – 16:00
Round 12 – 16:30
Tournaments Terms and Conditions
See Terms and Conditions for the Rapid & Blitz tournaments here
Coming soon: the weekend after the Hampshire Rapid and Blitz Championship will be the UK Open Blitz local event, also at Barton Peveril College. Saturday 13th September 2025.
The Knockout 2025 organiser Steve Dunleavy announces the draw for Round 3: the Semi Finals. This year 30 players entered the tournament. Four remain. Who will make it through to the Final?
Please take note of the following: 1. The player named first plays with white 2. Both clocks to be set at 80 +10 3. The deadline date for completing this round(INCLUDING ANY REPLAYS) is the 26th August; whilst this gives 3 club nights (12/8,19/8 and 26/8) the games can be played at any venue on any night if both players are in agreement. Please let me know if any extension of time is required and I will do my very best to accommodate you. Sorry for the comparatively short deadline date but this competition has for various reasons fallen way behind programme and I would like to maintain momentum to a conclusion. 4. In the event of a draw colours will be reversed for the rematch. 5. Please email me the date that you have agreed to play (to help me monitor progress) and the result (to send to Graham Stuart for grading). 6. Well done for getting this far! Enjoy your Semi Final and do your best to get into the Final.
Kind Regards
Steve
Steve Dunleavy is the tournament organiser for the 2025 Knockout
Chandler’s Ford Chess Club were well-represented at the 2nd Hampshire Rapidplay at Eastleigh back in April. It was organised and run by CF’s Iwan Cave. And our newest player, Ivan Georgiev, won the Open! Theo Horne reports.
2nd Hampshire Rapidplay
I will premise it by saying it was really well run and enjoyable, all rounds on schedule with no trouble, somewhat helped by myself, Peter and Gillian helping out between rounds.
Now on to the good bit. All CF members gave a great demonstration of their skills, with everyone finishing with pretty respectable points.
Chandler’s Ford Players in the Major
Myself, 6th place in the major on 4/6, winning £50 for best U1450. I was on board 1 in the last round, and if I won I got shared first, but unfortunately lost to a strong Jack McBurnie, the eventual winner.
Stephen on 4/6 as well, shared best U1200, 9th place, performing way above his rating. He too had an excellent tournament, and will be gaining about 60 points, similar to myself, even without the doubled rating gain!
Peter Eales on 3.5, having recovered from a rough start of 0/2 to score 3.5/4, which means he too is gaining rating!
Kev on 3/6 to round off our contingent in the major, giving a very respectable performance although unfortunately losing a little rating, but he enjoyed himself and gave as good as he got. Having spoken to his opponents, his aggressive play is terrifying in the shorter time controls!
The Open
We were somehow even more successful in the Open, with:
Our newest player, Ivan, winning the whole thing with 5/6! He beat 1st seed Paul Northcott, and this performance is very promising in regards of what he could bring to the club!
Eric came next in 10th with 3.5/6, a great score considering the strength of the event. His first rapid rating will be high!
Dave Holmes in 12th with 3/6, narrowly losing to Harry Vernon from the IOW at the end in a drawn game. His first rapid rating will also be pretty high, but it may be lower than his strength as he was winning several of games he lost, just struggling to convert.
Straight after is Bill Purkiss in 13th also with 3, getting a provisional rating from this event. I don’t know too much about how the tournament went for him, but he was in good spirits through the day.
Finally, Phillip came in 20th with 2/6, having a tough event, but he is focusing on his A level preparation over his chess at the moment, a more important preoccupation I would say!
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.
Photo Gallery
Click on any image to open a full size image and scroll through the photos.
Summer BBQ 2025 John & June and the jukebox.Summer BBQ 2025Summer BBQ 2025: Rob SimsSummer BBQ 2025 Theo hands out the choc icesSummer BBQ 2025Summer BBQ 2025 Malcolm Clarke sings KaraokeChess Club summer Barbeque at the Dunleaveys’: Suzan sings karaokeSummer BBQ 2025Summer BBQ 2025: John and June Davis and Suzan DunleavySummer BBQ 2025 June Davis at the jukeboxSummer BBQ 2025 Jane and RobSummer BBQ 2025Summer BBQ 2025 Keven Lamb and John DavisSummer BBQ 2025Summer BBQ 2025Chess Club summer Barbeque at the Dunleaveys’Summer BBQ 2025 Steve Dunleavy, Graham Stuart and Peter PrzybycinSummer BBQ 2025: Sam Murphy and David CullifordSummer BBQ 2025: Chef Rob StrachanSummer BBQ 2025: Chris Button and Rob Sims in conversation.Chess Club summer Barbeque at the Dunleaveys’
Southampton Chess League AGM, Wednesday 25 June 2025, 7.30pm, Chandlers Ford Central Club (2 Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 2FZ) Agenda
Welcome Thanks to Chandlers Ford club for hosting us.
Apologies for absence
Minutes of previous AGM (19 June 2024) and matters arising
Treasurer report and league subs (Michael Pope) – to follow
Webmaster report (Graham Stuart) – appended
Proposals a) (From Winchester club) – that the number of boards played in Division 4 matches should be increased from four to five. b) (From Andover club) – request for tighter deadlines for the cup competitions to avoid finals being played too late in the season. [Note: the fixtures secretary (Malcolm) has noted the issue this season in his report.] c) (From SCL committee) – to adopt the following rules about electronic devices (taken from the London League): ELECTRONIC DEVICES All mobile phones and non-medical electronic devices must be switched off for the entire duration of the game, except in the case of a player with a special need, as authorised by team captains before the match. [Note: this includes the case of a team captain keeping their phone on to communicate with a player who has not yet arrived at the venue.] If a player’s device makes a sound during the game, the player shall receive a warning the first time it happens and will default the game the second time it happens. If a player leaves the playing area during a game and is found to be in possession of an electronic device that is not exclusively medical in nature, the player shall forfeit the game. d) (From Malcolm Clarke) Rule 5e(iii) states “Once a player has played four games in a division they cannot play for a team two or more divisions lower than that division, unless the club has no teams in the intervening division(s).” I propose it should be amended to: “Once a player has played a total of four games in a division (or higher division) they cannot play for a team two or more divisions lower than that division, unless the club has no teams in the intervening division(s).”
Election of officers (Note: The current officers are willing to continue)
Planning for next season Draft league structure assuming normal promotions and relegations shown in Table 1 below.
Presentation of trophies See Table 2 below for 2024-5 Winners. Important: All trophy holders should bring them to the AGM for presentation to this season’s winners.
Any other business
Table 1: Draft League structure for next Season
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
——-
Draft League structure for 2025-6, given normal promotions and relegations
Table 2: The 2024-5 season winners
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
Division and Cup etc Winners 2024-5 Season
Photos from last year’s 2024 AGM
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.
Tournament details
Date
Sunday 22nd June 2025. 09:30 for a 10:00 start, expected to finish about 17:00.
Venue
Winchester College (New Hall), College Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9NF
