Friday 14th November 2025    
6:30pm – 7:30pm Junior Chess Club 
7:45pm – 9:45pm Senior Chess Club 
Round 11 of Autumn Rapid Play  See the Crosstable of last week’s results with 16 players competing for the 1st Prize of Chocolate 
Jon Lawrance remains the leader of the Grand Prix – everyone welcome to join in let’s try catching Jon up while he is playing in the 1st Team Match..    

7:30pm – 10:40pm Sussex League Division 1 Home Match vs Horsham.
Please everyone help to clear away sets etc from MR1 at the end of the evening.    

Last Friday of this year will be Friday 5th December so just 4 more to go before Christmas. 
We will return in the New Year on Friday 9th January 2026

Friday 24th October 2025

Just a reminder that we do have a Junior Club tonight even though it is half term    
6:30pm Junior Club including Round 1 of our Winter 2025 Tournament 
7:45pm Senior Club including Round 8 of our Autumn 2025 Rapid Play    

Can I encourage more of our juniors to stay for the Senior Club. 
Players do not need to stay for the full 4 games and I will try to pair players of equal experience in Round 1 but it will get tougher after that if you win!
Games are the same time control as the Junior matches being 10 minutes + 5 seconds per move so do please give it a try. 
Also these games are ECF Rated so by playing you will be closer to getting a national rating.    

UK Chess Challenge 2025 (50,000 entries UK wide)

We started our Crowborough Preliminary tournament for the UK Chess Challenge back in January 2025 Players then moved on to the county round called the MegaFinals in which numerous Crowborough players competed. 
Those who reached the qualifying score moved on to the South of England GigaFinal. 
The GigaFinal winners qualified directly for the grand final called the TeraFinal. 
Those just missing out on qualification played in the Challengers with a further chance to qualify for the TeraFinal. 

This is where Luke Freeman the last standing Crowborough representative found himself. Luke scored 6½/9 coming second in the Under 14s and thereby qualified for the TeraFinal.    

The Terafinal consisted of a gruelling 12 player all play all played over two days with Luke ranked 9th. Losing just the one game and scoring 8 points Luke came Runner-Up. 

A fantastic result which has not been equalled by a Crowborough player (correct me if I am wrong) but I think the previous best was David Howell (future Grandmaster and British Champion) who came 4th in 2001.

See SJC Report

Sussex Junior Chess    

Results of last Saturdays Worth Grand Prix and London Junior Qualifier can be found on UTU Chess Results 
Well played to all those competing Crowborough players; Raul, Arjun and Shravan. I would recommend these SJC events to all our juniors.    

Upcoming Tournaments    

Sunday 9th November 2025 – Sussex Junior Chess Championships see SJC Entry. Please note all members of Crowborough Chess Club are eligible even if you live and go to school outside of Sussex    

Saturday 29th November 2025 – one for the adults and older juniors Bexhill Rapid see Bexhill Chess Club for details.  

New Season 2025-26    
Crowborough Chess Club re-opens on Friday 5th September 2025    

6:30pm – 7:30pm Junior Chess Club consisting of ½ hour training followed by an organised game Juniors of all ages are welcome though parents of younger children should stay in the meeting room during training and games. There is a café area for other parents to sit in next to the playing room.    

7:45pm – 10:00pm Senior Chess Club consisting of an organised rapid play tournament of 4 games with a 10+5 time control. The games will be ECF Rapid Play rated so members should ensure that their ECF Membership is renewed. With a trophy presented December 5th for the player scoring the highest number of points in their best six events.

We are going to try this new format rather than the longer games of last season. If its not popular we will change back.    

Membership    
Covering the 14 Fridays 5th September 2025 to 5th December 2025 inclusive the cost is £50 per member juniors and seniors. For new members who want a trial session the cost is £5.   Please pay Gill at the club or preferably by direct transfer to the Chess Club bank account Account

New Junior Members    
Simply turn up at the club in the downstairs Meeting Room 1 of the Crowborough Community Centre Pine Grove TN6 1FE on Friday 5th September by 6:30pm and talk to Gill who will welcome you and provide a membership form for completion.    

There is an opportunity for the older and more experienced juniors to stay on for the senior club and to play adults. Please ask if you think your child would like to play in these tournaments that are played under adult conditions of quiet and longer time controls.    

We remind parents that;
Our child protection policy can be found on our website as can the email address of our safeguarding officer who can be contacted confidentially.
We cannot act as loco parentis and do expect parents or carers to remain at the venue where they are welcome in the club rooms or can use the café area to sit in.
Although the centre is reasonably safe in that there are no simple exits, if children do leave the playing room, we may not notice so parents should be vigilant.
We can always do with help on club nights.
We do offer water and biscuits and sometimes take photos for publishing on our website.
Please let myself or Gill know if you have any concerns in these regards.

As the children improve they will be encouraged to become involved in Sussex Junior Chess events. Please visit www.sussexjuniorchess.org for more information.    

42nd Crowborough Chess Congress    
A reminder for our experienced players that our tournament takes place on Saturday 13th September 2025. Now is the time to enter see https://crowborough.org/club/42nd-Congress.html      

Please note that the Congress is being held on a separate day to the Sussex Junior Chess Tournament that is being held the week after. Juniors are of course welcome to enter both.