Castle Chess will be holding their 24th Fareham Congress tournament this month, Friday 15th to Sunday 17th March. Although their website is down, you can enter the event by contacting the organiser, Tony Corfe, by phone or email. Full details on their flyer leaflet via the button link below (links to Microsoft Word or pdf versions).
The Castle ChessFareham Congress will be on 19-21 January 2024, at the Lysses House Hotel in Fareham. The Congress – tournament, over the board games – is played in six Rounds, at a rate of play of 75 minutes plus 30 seconds per move. There are 3 Sections.
The Lysses House Hotel, venue for Fareham Chess Congress
The venue
The Lysses House Hotel in Fareham is a pleasant and friendly venue that has been used by Castle Chess as well as the Hampshire Chess Association on previous occasions. The venue will host the three Castle Chess tournaments in 2024. The address is: Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, Hampshire, PO16 7BQ.
Parking:
The Hotel has free parking for 35 cars, but there is a convenient car park very close to the venue: the Lysses Car Park, Lysses Path, Fareham PO16 7BE, free after 6pm and Sundays, whilst Saturday all day is only £3.50.
The Lysses House Hotel, Fareham, venue for Castle Chess Congresses
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. Half point Byes may be requested (except Round 6).
There are three sections:
Open: Under 2001
Major: Under 1901
Minor: under 1601
The Congress costs £40 to enter, with a £7 discount for Juniors (under 18). Non-ECF members will need to pay £9 extra.
Please note that an £8 Late fee is payable after 5th January.
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.
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.
Playing schedule
Round 1: Friday evening 19:00-22:30
Round 2: Saturday morning 09:30-13:00
Players Review forum Saturday 13:45-14:00
Round 3: Saturday afternoon 14:00-17:30
Round 4: Saturday evening 19:00-22:30
Round 5: Sunday morning 09:30-13:00
Round 6: Sunday afternoon, 13:45-17:15
There will not be a Prize-giving ceremony as prizes will be sent via bank transfer.
Castle Chess 2024 tournaments
They will host three Congresses this year at the Lysses House Hotel, in January, March and October.
A reminder to renew our membership subscriptions for 2024 for our venue, the Chandler’s Ford Central Club. Central Club Membership Renewals subscriptions run January to December each year. Renewals at the rates shown below are available from 5th January 2024 to 31st January online, and 8th January to 31st January at the Club. Any Membership renewals after then will be subject to a Late Renewals Fee of £5.
Our venue is the Chandler’s Ford Central Club, membership subscriptions January to December
To renew your Membership, see the Central Club’s website Subscriptions Page 2024 which gives details on how to pay online – their preferred method, although other ways are available.
Chandler’s Ford Central Club Membership renewal due January 2024
Chandler’s Ford Central Club Membership Renewals 2022
See the Subscriptions Page 2024 of the Central Club website, and the table below. Membership fees are an important part of the Central Club’s income.
The cost of renewal will be:
MEMBER
Without Pass Card *
With Pass Card *
MALE/FEMALE
£20.00
£23.50
OAP
£ 8.50
£12.00
LIFE
Not available
£ 3.50
Chandler’s Ford Central Club Membership renewal 2024
* Note: Pass card enables entry to all other Club and Institute Union (CIU)
Fees can now be paid electronically to the venue’s Bank Account – see Website Subscriptions Page 2024 for account details.
When sending the money please ensure you put your Member Number which can be seen on your Membership Card and Surname into the Payment Reference, to enable the details to be matched on the system.
If you want a CIU Pass card, please remember to add £3.50.
If you haven’t joined the Chandler’s Ford Central Club yet, and would like to, please see their website’s ‘Join Us’ Page. There you will find a link to the Application Form. This is completed by you, plus Proposer and Seconder. Two passport photos, the form, and the fee should then be passed to the Club Secretary during normal Club hours (see the Central Club’s Home page for details).
Membership Fee table from the Chandler’s Ford Central Club website
Annual subscriptions for the venue is one of three financial costs if you want to fully engage with playing chess and the chess club, the other two outlays being annual subs to the Chess Club itself, and the other, annual membership of the English Chess Federation – so that you can participate in ECF-graded League matches and chess tournaments. See our What does it cost Page.
The over-the-board chess tournament comprises 6 Rounds of 4-hour games, organised in three Sections: The Open, the Major, and the Minor. There are currently 75 players entered in the tournament.
Silverware: Trophy prizes at the Hampshire Chess Association HCA Congress
The venue
The Lysses House Hotel in Fareham is a pleasant and friendly venue that has been used by the Hampshire Chess Association on previous occasions, and also by Castle Chess (they will have 3 events there in 2024). The address is: Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, Hampshire, PO16 7BQ.
The Lysses House Hotel, Fareham, venue for the HCA Chess Congress
Parking:
The Hotel has free parking for 35 cars, but there is a convenient car park very close to the venue: the Lysses Car Park, Lysses Path, Fareham PO16 7BE, free after 6pm and Sundays, whilst Saturday all day is only £3.50.
The Major. Under 1900 English Chess Federation rating. £30 Entry.
The Minor. Under 1600 ECF. £27 Entry.
Note: Entry fees based on ECF Membership of Silver or above. Otherwise add a £9 fee.
Late Fee: for entries received after Monday 30th October additional fee of £5. So enter the HCA Congress today!
Prizes
Each Section has Prizes 1st, 2nd, 3rd, plus a Grading Prize. There are also various Trophies and Cups in the Sections. Overall, there are further Prizes, such as the Gillian Moore Cup for the highest-scoring Hampshire Lady, and the John Dunleavy Memorial Best Game Prize (£100). The cash prizes are open to all players, whilst the Cups and Trophies are for Hampshire players.
Hampshire Congress trophies The Silver Rook, Hampshire county champion prize
For more details on the Prize see the HCA entry form link below:
The Summer Tournament runs during the summer months between May and September, and has a 5-round Swiss format. The organiser is Malcolm Clarke.
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.
There is one game left from Round 4, but the Summer Tournament 2023 is currently well into its 5th and last Round of the year, with all but two of the Round’s games already completed.
Click on the button below to see the Summer Tournament 2023 Page:
News from Chandler’s Ford Junior Club organiser Maha Chandar that one of our young players has won a trophy at the South of England Junior Congress. Timothy Hsiu-Yao Hu came 4th in his category: congratulations Timothy!
The event was held at Yately Manor, Yately, on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th October 2023, different sections playing on different days.
Eight Sections, according to age of player, from the under-7s to Under-18. Timothy Hsiu-Yao Hu was in the under-8 section.
The Under eight category played their games on the Sunday. They played six one-hour games (i.e. time control 30 minutes all moves for each player).
The games were all English Chess Federation rated.
Trophy Prizes were awarded for the first 4 places in this section. Timothy won a trophy! He came 4th in the U-8 Section. Well done Timothy!
Hampshire Junior Chess Congress at Badger Farm on 12th November
Junior Chess organiser Maha Chandar also brings to our attention the Hampshire Junior Chess Congress, which will be on Sunday 12th November at Badger Farm Community Centre, 2 Badger Farm Road, Winchester SO22 4QB.
See the link buttons below for the Hampshire Junior Chess Association website, and the link to the Eventbrite page for full details and entry:
The Book Prize Tournament 2023-24 begins, one of four Chandler’s Ford Chess Club tournaments. This year’s Book Prize Tournament started at the beginning of September 2023. It is organised by Peter Przybycin. Here he announces the start of the new tournament.
We have 30 entries, 10 in the Premier, 10 in the Major, and 10 in the Minor. The tournament will have nine rounds, with one round every five weeks, so the tournament should last 45 weeks, ending August 2024.
Rate of play will be 90 minutes each for the whole game.
If two players tie for first place in any section, the book prize will go to the winner of their individual game. If that was a draw, then there will be a replay with reversed colours. If the replay is drawn, the player with the lower published grade (at the time of the replayed game) will take the prize.
These are the pairings for round 1 (first named player has white):
Premier Section:
Peter Eales v Iwan Cave
Connor Frost v Graham Stuart
Cary Xie v Rob Sims
Sam Murphy v Peter Przybycin
Philip Tarrant-Edwards v Andy Mills
Major Section:
Patrick Pavey v Frazer Burlinson
Richard Meredith v John Kooner
Daniel Phillips v Nobby George
Keven Lamb v John Davis
John Pellegrini v Alikhan Menseitov
Minor Section:
Rose Saunders v Lee Mundy
Steve Dunleavy v Alan Weaver
Ian Parker v James Gray
Rob Strachan v Steve Saunders
Geoff Parish v Mike Davis
Please complete the above games by 4th October 2023.
The Castle Chess Fareham Congress will be on 13-15 October 2023. It will be at the Lysses House Hotel, 51 High Street, Fareham, PO16 7BQ. The Congress – tournament (over the board games) – is over six Rounds, played at a rate of 75 minutes plus 30 seconds per move. There are 3 Sections.
The Lysses House Hotel, venue for Fareham Chess Congress
Castle Chess have run a number of Congresses (tournaments) over recent years at this pleasant venue. They usually host two Congresses per year at the Lysses, one earlier in the year, one in the Autumn. But this year they have put on three events in Fareham, these tournaments being popular events. The previous 2023 Castle Chess events in Fareham were in January and March.
The Lysses House Hotel, Fareham, venue for Castle Chess Congresses
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
Major: Under 1901
Minor: under 1601
The Congress costs £40 to enter, with a £7 discount for Juniors. Non-ECF members will need to pay £9 extra.
Please note that an £8 Late fee is payable after 3rd October. So enter soon!
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
Since the first article the website has grown: to date there have been 284 Posts (articles etc; this is a Post), and 19 Pages. There have been 59 comments.
Some recent photos
Over the five years of the website, many photos have appeared in its Posts. Here are a few new ones, mostly taken at the club’s AGM on 13th September:
