Friday 30th May 2025    
Final Club Night of the season 2024/25   Variant Chess Night – different variants and a bit of fun    
Hope as many can make it as possible even though Half Term
Certificates for those who took the Quiz
Winners of Senior Spring Rapid and Junior Spring Blitz announced
Sorry no Summer Club this season so we return on Friday 5th September 2025
We will hold an AGM before then, date to be announced. 

Saturday 21st June 2025    
SCCU and London Team Championships at West Hamstead
Details https://sccu-chess.com/index.php/en/london-club-champs
 
1st Team
David Fryer
Luke Freeman
Elena Currah
Raina Jithendra

2nd Team 
Liam Finlay
Shravan Prabhu
Raul Rodrigues
Arjun Prasanna
 
If anyone else would like to be a reserve for this competition please let me know     

Friday 16th May 2025 
6:30pm Junior Club – Round 7 Spring Blitz 
7:45pm Senior Club – Blitz 10+5 Tournament of 3 games – trying something new    
Please come along and support this one-off format that we will be trying at 7:45 even if you do not usually stay for the Senior Club please give it a try. Players will be in Sections of 8 players of similar strength.    

Also thank you to the 17 who tried our Quiz – only three scored 10/10 but everyone scored at least 6/10 Certificates will be presented on the last Friday in May. Even to the person who forgot to put their name on and also to Thor The God of Thunder who I didn’t even know was a club member.    

Friday 23rd May 2025 
6:30pm Junior Club – Round 8 Spring Blitz 7:45pm 
Senior Club – Round 7 Spring Rapid 
7:30pm Crowborough Knights vs EG Bookshop 2    

Please note the Centre will be very busy on this night as there is a Theatre event taking place and we do not have the small MR3 booked as it is being used by the actors. Parents may not be able to sit in the Café Area and will need to sit in MR1 instead.    

Friday 30th May 2025 
6:30pm Junior Club – Presentations followed by Variant Chess 
7:45pm Senior Club – Trophy Presentations followed by Variant Chess Tournament

News

Wow the 1st Team stay in Division 1 (just!) after a lot of effort in what proved to be a long hard season see Final League Table every ½ point counts    

Many thanks to Luke who played a simultaneous last Friday against 21 Junior members losing 2 drawing 2 and winning the rest.    

I asked for news of tournaments played by members here are a few headlines from April;

Raul played in the IAPS (Independent Association of Prep Schools) national chess tournament & had a great result coming 2nd in the U13 age group.
Arjun & Luke played at the St Albans Congress both scoring 2/5 in their respective sections
Raul played in the Maidenhead Junior Congress in the Top section and secured a good 4th place in a very competitive field. 
Gerry and Raul played for the Sussex 3rd team in 4NCL
Luke  played in the 4NCL that weekend too, in the 2nd team
Raul, Shravan & Liam played for the SJC U14 team against Richmond last Sunday in the SCCU junior league
Doug played in 4NCL online for Wessex

Plenty of chess to be played out there and I would encourage everyone to give it a go 

Also the Sussex Grand Prix 6 in Worthing on Saturday 17th May and for our youngest members the Sussex Under 7s on Sunday June 8th at Lewes. 
As a member of Crowborough CC you are eligible even if you live and go to school in Kent.

If you fancy a longer time control there is the 3rd Kent FIDE Congress over the week end 19th - 21st July in Tunbridge Wells


Friday 25th April 2025  
Chess Club returns this Friday after the Easter break    
6:30pm Junior Club Round 6 of Spring Junior Blitz 
7:45pm Senior Club Round 4 of Spring Rapid Play    

Crowborough Teams    
As we approach the end of the season the senior teams have completed all their matches.    
In the Sussex League the first team are on the edge awaiting the result of Horsham 1 vs Eastbourne 1 to see who is relegated from Division 1 it might even require a play-off match to decide as it has been so close this season.    

The Semi Final of the Cup saw us just go down to Bexhill despite Raina scoring an early victory in the match the rest of us could not quite match her fine play.    
The Junior teams still have a few matches left against The EG Bookshop and we could still have a victory to celebrate.    

Tournament News  
Don’t forget to enter these upcoming Junior events;    
Saturday May 17th sees the final SJC Grand Prix event of the season in Worthing https://sussexjuniorchess.org/calendar/    
Also the UK Chess Challenge Mega-Finals are coming in May    
Sunday May 18th at Chislehurst 
Saturday May 24th at Canterbury 
Sunday May 25th at Cuckfield  

UK Chess Challenge 2025    
It is now time to enter the county wide Mega-Finals    
Please enter individually via https://www.delanceyukschoolschesschallenge.com/megafinals-2025/     
You can choose whichever event you wish to enter;

SUSSEX Sunday 25th May 2025 at Cuckfield
EAST KENT Saturday 24th May 2025 at Canterbury
WEST KENT not sure if this one is going ahead yet – it was announced late last year
SURREY U9s Saturday 3rd May 2025 at Addleston
SURREY U10-U18s Sunday 4th May 2025 at Addleston
LONDON Saturday 7th June 2025 Near Regents Park

Last year we booked a classroom for Crowborough players at the East Kent event but it will depend on how many choose to enter that one now that there is a Sussex event to choose from.

We have completed our own preliminary Club UK Chess Challenge event see attached for full Results but here are our champions;
Year 13 Winner – Benjamin P 12 points
Year 10 Winner – Jacob 13 points
Year 9 Winner – Shravan 26 points
Year 8 Winner – Vivan 18 points
Year 7 Winner – Smrithi 18 points
Year 6 Winner – Oscar 11 points
Year 5 Winner – Leon 10 points
Year 4 Winner – Casper 22 points
Year 3 Winner – Advita 17 points
Year 2 Winner – Kai 17 points
Year 1 Winner – Chloe 11 points

Group Results    
1. Group A – Shravan 26 points
2. Group A – Woody 19 points
3. Group A – Gleb, Vivan & Smrithi 18 points

1. Group B – Casper 22 points
2. Group B – Bertie 20 points
3. Group B – Kai & Advita 17 points

Club Championship 2025    

We completed the Club Championship last week and Michael Redman confirmed his place at the top with a final round win 
See all the results here 
We even found the Trophy ! which is now at the engravers  

Friday 28th February 2025
6:30pm Junior Club Round 8 of the UK Chess Challenge
7:45pm Senior Club Round 8 of the Club Championship
7:30pm Home League Match 1st Team vs Horsham 2

Friday 7th March 2025    
6:30pm Junior Club Round 9 of the UK Chess Challenge
7:45pm Senior Club Round 9 of the Club Championship
7:30pm Away League Match 1st Team vs Eastbourne 1

Friday 14th March 2025    
6:30pm Junior Club Round 10 of the UK Chess Challenge
7:45pm Spring Blitz Championship
5 Rounds of 5 Minutes + 3 Seconds per move 7:45pm Rounds 1 -5 games will be ECF Rated – All Welcome

Friday 21st  March 2025
6:30pm Junior Club Final Round 11 of the UK Chess Challenge
7:45pm Senior Club Round 10 of the Club Championship
7:30pm Home League Match 1st Team vs Lewes

Sunday 2nd February 2025
The Horsham Grand Prix results are published and a number of our club members did very well. Special mention to;
U18 Major Luke came equal 1st
U18 Minor Shravan came 2nd  and Arjun came 4th having played each other in the final round
     
Sunday 9th February 2025
We had a number of representatives playing for the Sussex Under 14 Team that played last weekend against Surrey
Results here https://lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/event/6160/fixtures

Friday 6th December 2025    

Final Club night of the calendar year as the Pantomime uses the room in mid December    
6:30pm Junior Fun Blitz 
7:45pm PIZZA BLITZ our annual Winter Blitz organised by Gary with 5 Rounds. Prizes !!  

We return on January 10th with the start of the UK Chess Challenge for the juniors and the Club Championship for the Seniors    
All members Year 7 upwards are encouraged to stay on for the Senior club.    

Team News

The Knights gained revenge over the Bishops in the Sussex Junior League match. 
Despite some excellent individual results the 1st Team are struggling with 4 losses so far this season  see the League Table.
Our star is Elena with a current performance of 2274 from her 2½ points from 3 games. 
Our next match is in the PW Trophy. Away to Bexhill on 13th December please reply promptly to emails from team captain Anthony Stockham

Out and About in Sussex   

Amongst other results at the Sussex Closed on Sunday 10th November in Hassocks not all of which are on the SJC website as they sometimes miss out on mentioning the ratings prizes; in the U18 Liam & Shravan won rating prizes; in the U14 Raul & Smrithi won rating prizes too.  See SJC Results

The results from last Sunday’s Eastbourne Grand Prix are not on the SJC Website at the time of writing yet but I can see from the U18 Major that Luke came at least 1st Equal with a score of 5/6 and that Raul came 3rd equal in the U18 Minor with 4½/6 

Our entrants in the U11s were Nithila and Kai and I would encourage more of our players to enter these SJC events

41st Crowborough Chess Congress    

Entry is now open for our tournament on Saturday 22nd February 2024    

Autumn Junior Blitz 2024    

Congratulations to Raul Misquita Rodrigues who won the tournament with 16pts and collected the Regency Chess Board and Set that he keeps until February 2025 Quite a few players came a close second on 15 pts all receiving Chocolate !  

Sussex Junior Chess    

Several Tournaments coming up over the next few weeks All Crowborough Club Members are eligible to play in these events even if you do not live nor go to school in Sussex
   
Sunday 10th November - Sussex Under 9/11/13/18 Championships in Hassocks
Sunday 24th November – Grand Prix 3 in Eastbourne
Sunday 8th December – Sussex Girls Championship in Burgess Hill
Wednesday 1st January – Grand Prix 4 in Hastings

Details on https://sussexjuniorchess.org/calendar/

Friday 1st November 2024    

We have a busy club tonight with ;
Prizegiving for our Autumn Tournaments both Junior and Senior Events
Start of our Junior and Senior Winter Tournaments
Juniors 6:30pm start
Seniors 7:45pm start
As well as a Sussex League 1st Division Match in MR1 starting at 7:30pm against Hastings

We do not have Luke nor Raina at the club tonight as they are representing England in Lucerne   
 
You can find Luke’s results and Raina’s results by clicking on the links

So good luck to them in their next matches and I look forward to seeing the rest of you all at the club tonight  

New Season 2024-25    

Starts Friday 13th September When we will be pleased to welcome all our old and new members alike    
Venue the same being the Crowborough Community Centre     

Format as last year; 
6:30pm – 7:30pm Junior Club with half hour training followed by the First Round of the Autumn junior tournament 
7:45pm – 9:30pm Senior Club  First Round of the Autumn Rapid 25+10    

Membership Fees    
Please pay your membership as soon as you can either to Gill at the club or by electronic transfer

Full Membership covers the season September 2024 to end of May 2025
Adult Membership £95
Junior Membership £70
Family Membership £120

Alternatively Half-Year memberships are available

1st Half Year Membership covers September 2024 to end of January 2025
Adult Half-Year Membership £55
Junior Half-Year Membership £40
Family Half-Year Membership £65
 
2nd Half Year Membership covers January 2024 to end of May 2025
Adult Half-Year Membership £55
Junior Half-Year Membership £40
Family Half-Year Membership £65

Guest Membership £5 per evening    

Crowborough Chess Congress September 2024    
Our 40th Congress will be held on Saturday 28th September 2024 at the Community Centre 
Places are limited so please enter early to avoid disappointment.    

For Details and Entry  

Please note that this year the Congress is being held on a separate day to the Sussex Junior Chess Tournament that is being held the week before 

Juniors are of course welcome to enter both.  .