Change to Sunday Opening Dates - Please Read

As well as every Monday evening 7pm-11pm, the club is open on the following Sundays 2pm-6pm:

March: Sunday 9th and 23rd.

April: Sunday 20th and 27th.

May: Sunday 11th and 25th.

June: Sunday 1st and 22nd.

July: Sunday 6th and 27th.

Easter Opening

To avoid any confusion: the club will be open as normal on Easter Sunday 20th April (2pm-6pm) and Easter Monday 21st April (7pm-11pm).

Club Tournaments.

 Paul Batchelor is at the moment deciding on entries for the tournaments.

Only paid members are being considered. Entries have to be in by 31st October. If  you have yet to apply you must see me on a Monday evening and I will forward  your details to Paul. The Crenshaw system is being used which means no late applications can be considered.

Due to the numbers involved, unfortunately you may not be placed in your first choice of tournament.

The tournaments will be ready to start from Monday November 4th.

Sunday Afternoon Opening

Following discussions with the Queens Hotel, the club is now able to offer some Sunday afternoon sessions on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month between 2pm and 6pm, starting on November 10th and 24th and running until the end of July 2025. We have agreed that if the hotel receives a one-off “standard" booking from elsewhere, our session will be postponed, since we have a concessionary rate with the hotel. A postponement is unlikely to happen - certainly less likely than on a Saturday - but if it does happen then we will post here.

The Brighton Junior Club.

 The Junior Club will be closed for the summer.

It closed on the 10th July and will reopen on Wednesday 11th September.

Summer time.

The club is open every Monday evening during the summer. Special reduced rates for new members before the year starts in September.

Saturday afternoons

 The club will be open again on Saturdays 16th and 23rd March from 2.00pm to 6.00pm. A good opportunity to play tournament games.

Saturday afternoons

 For a trial period the club will be open in addition on Saturday 10th and 17th February. 2pm to 6pm.

A good opportunity to play tournament games.

Happy New Year!

 The club will be open on News Years Day from 7pm, and then each Monday into 2024. All levels welcome! We hope to see you there!

Club Internal Tournament Standings Just Prior To Christmas.

Please see below the links for the various competitions:

Tasker Tankard   https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/league_comp/207222/swtable

Plummer Trophy https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/league_comp/207219/swtable

Club Championship https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/league_comp/207218/swtable

Merry Christmas everyone and i hope you continue to enjoy your tournaments for the following year.

Paul Batchelor

Bar and food refreshments.;

  The Club has experienced a wonderful new opportunity over the last few months with our new venue. The committee has decided that the welcome given to celebrate this fact and welcome new members will not continue after Christmas. We hope that members will appreciate that this could only continue for a limited time, but nevertheless have appreciated this extra bonus  applied over the last few months.

 The club will be closed on Christmas Day (Monday 25 December) and opens up again the following Monday (New Year's Day 1 January 2024). Best wishes for Christmas and 2024 to all reading this.

Caplin Hastings International Chess Congress

 The Caplin Hastings Chess Congress will run from 28th December until 7th January this time round. There are a whole host of events to enter for all standards of player. Below is an excerpt from an email received from GM Stuart Conquest concerning the upcoming event.

Hi Paul,

Just following on from Mark's email of yesterday, it would of course be a pleasure to welcome any Brighton and Hove players to our traditional Congress, now in its 97th edition.

The website is here: Caplin Hastings International Chess Congress – December 28th 2023 to January 7th 2024. We have various sections, according to rating and of different duration, with many events FIDE-rated. Current confirmed entries can be found through a link to chess-results on our site. 

Stuart is in charge of running the tournament this time round. I can heartily recommend participation in this event and have enjoyed many times it's various tournaments. See the link above for the various details.

Junior Chess Club.

        Callum Brewer a member of the club for 10 years has recently returned to the club after graduating.

       While at the club he became an outstanding player eventually going on to become captain of both Sussex and England teams at the junior level.

       He is now teaching chess every Wednesday evening from 6 pm to 8 pm, for pupils 7 to 16 years, at the Jing Institute of Massage 28-29 Bond Street Brighton BN1 1RD.

      He is a DBS certified chess coach through Sussex Junior Chess.

     Those pupils who progress to a competent standard will then be recommended to move over to the senior club. Here they can benefit from the wider experience and opportunities we can offer.

    For more information please contact:

                              callum.brewer@cbchess.co.uk

Advantages of the Brighton & Hove Chess Club

 1)     Play friendly games.

2)      Play longer games and obtain a chess  grade.

                a)  In club tournaments.

                b)  In one of the three teams playing other clubs.

3)       Join by Monday October 2nd and have the chance of playing Raymond Keene , chess Grand  Master, in a simultaneous match on Saturday October 7th at The Queen's Hotel.

 Tournament Controller’s Report

The two tournaments run this season were the Plummer Knight Trophy and the Club Championship. Both had seven entrants, which meant six games for each competitor. I had calculated there were 24 available Mondays for the players to finish their six games. This discounted those Mondays, where the team matches occurred. There was too little room at the Ralli Hall to accommodate both team games and internal ones. The Plummer Knight Trophy was the first tournament to conclude. This finished in July. First place was secured by Jan Ten Sythoff, who, scored 4½ points. Second was Paul Selby with 4 points. Joint third were Paul Edwards and Brian Izzard with 3½ points.

The Club Championship finished later in August. During the tournament cycle the deadline was extended until the end of August. In the last match up Luke Rutherford was to play Michael Gyure. This was due to be played on the last day of August. The last possible date for play.  The day prior to this Luke Rutherford rung with the news Michael would not be able to make the date of their match. He explained Michael had messaged him to say he had 'a last minute change in plans'. He also said he was claiming a default win in this instance. After he had forwarded the message to me i drew the conclusion there wasn't a serious mitigating reason for not issuing a default win. So, i did so. In first place with 5½ points was Luke Rutherford. Second was Geoffrey James with 5 points. Third placed was Chris Lake with 4 points.

New venue - Queens Hotel, Brighton

From Monday 3rd July we shall be meeting at the Queens Hotel in King's Road, Brighton (7-11 pm). We are in the Sandringham suite, which is in the basement. Our last day at the Ralli Hall will be 26th June. We hope to see you there. New subscriptions taken out from now on will run to 31st August 2024.

Further parking news

Parking at the Ralli Hall is now strictly by permit only. We only have one permit unfortunately, and that is reserved for visiting teams. Please park at the station car park or on a nearby street.

Parking

There is no parking available to the chess club at the Ralli Hall.

Juniors and tuition

Because of space limitations and the potential for noise issues, regrettably we are having to restrict the attendance of juniors to those aged 15 and over. An exception will be made for under 15s who have an over-the-board rating. 15+ needn’t have a rating. We are not currently running a Junior Club. There is Brighton Chess and Lego Club and Sussex Junior Chess for beginners/improvers.

The Studio is not a large room so please could everyone observe quiet conditions, particularly when important games are in progress. The acoustic curtain will be drawn on match nights (the first one is 31^st Oct) but it’s not 100%.

Private tuition is available for juniors and adults. See Juniors page for contact information.