Surbiton Chess Club
Surbiton Chess Club, Surrey, England, is a friendly club playing in the Surrey and Thames Valley Leagues. Many of our players regard us as the most sociable club they have ever played for. In our Fircroft venue we enjoy that rare thing for a chess club - warm and comfortable playing conditions! Hence, for several reasons, current and prospective new members are assured of a warm welcome! We can be contacted by e-mail at enquiries@surbitonchessclub.co.uk.
The club has been in existence since 1948 (see a 1950 request for players!). We have members with a wide range of abilities, from ungraded to 200+ BCF (see our gradings), and we once had a world champion playing for us. Unfortunately, R Fulford was world champion at croquet! We have had successful players that have played for us including British Open Championship competitors, a US Amateur Championship winner and a former member of the Italian Olympiad team. Probably our most famous player is our club President, Mike Basman, an International Master and a former joint winner of the British Championship.
Annual club membership fees for the 2010-2011 season are £35 for adults and £15 for juniors, which makes us one of the least expensive chess clubs in London.
If you wish to find out more information on a variety of current activities and issues in the local Surbiton area we recommend visiting www.surbitonpeople.co.uk.
Venue
We meet on Wednesdays at Fircroft, 96 Ditton Road, Surbiton, (see map) from about 7:30PM. Buses 71, 465, K1 and K4 all stop near the junction of Ditton Road and Hook Road. All these routes serve Surbiton railway station and Kingston town centre.
Details of the usual meeting point for away matches can be found here.
Juniors
Chris Briscoe (196 ECF, 2219 ELO), the British Rapidplay Champion 2010, runs small, informal, juniors coaching sessions at the club on Wednesday evenings between 6:30 and 7:30pm. Coaching fees are only £5 per session. Chris can be contacted at juniors@surbitonchessclub.co.uk.
Fixtures and Results
Fixtures and links to results and league tables for the Surrey and Thames Valley competitions may be found on the fixtures and results page. The fixtures for the coming 2011-2012 season are now available. Please put them in your diaries!
For accounts of our matches and season summaries see captains reports.
Summary of the Thames Valley first team's 2010-2011 season.
Latest News, Articles and Immortal Games
The annual North vs South of the Thames Valley chess match for the Elam Trophy took place at Surbiton on Saturday 17th September 2011 and resulted in a victory for the North by 5-3. Nine Surbiton players participated in the match including several who defected to the North for the day!
On 31st May 2011 Surbiton put up a herioc fight against the much higher graded and serial trophy winners, Redhill, in the Alexander Cup Final. It went right to the wire but Redhill ran out eventual 5.5-4.5 winners. Competition results.
During the 2nd February 2011 club night there was an event for all members that included a queen ending demonstration, discussion on the application of the laws of chess and some problem solving. More information, including all the game and puzzle information, can be found here.
British Championship 2010 - A personal account by Mark Josse features detailed round by round commentary on Mark's games as well as observations on the tournament as a whole and what life is like fighting the GM's, IM's, FM's and juniors while being kept awake by drunken teenagers until 04:00 and trying to keep your family happy on their holiday too!
Ian Henderson also competed at the British Championship and has provided an equally detailed report of Ian's British Championship 2010 experience including having to let locked out players back into their accommodation in the early hours and gaining the sartorial edge on his opponents with his flamingo-pink bicycle!
See our Surbiton Immortal Games with Nick Pelling, Angus James, Paul Durrant and Michael Nightingale in starring roles! Nick's game features "Rook,bishop, pawn and queen sacrifices, a Novotony interference and an unusual smothered mate." Angus's game features a speculative piece sacrifice followed by a rook sac to mate which earned him a best game prize from GM Jon Speelman. Paul's game features a speculative piece sacrifice that led to a pretty attack that beat IM Colin Crouch. Michael Nightingale uncorked a lovely double knight sacrifice for a long term attack on his opponent's king, eventually finishing him off with a bishop sac.
For accounts of Surbiton players' exploits in individual tournaments see Latest news.
See an account of the 2010 Summer Barbeque and our club perspective on The Quickplay vs Slowplay Debate.
Photos Section
Our 2010 Xmas dinner was held at Il Positano in Surbiton. Good food, good company and a good time!
A couple of players we are hoping to recruit. Rumour has it that they are good enough for our first team!
Ian Henderson won the Thames Valley first team training event on 13 October 2010. More details here.
Chris Briscoe at Barcelona 2010 on stage against the top player in Canada, GM Mark Bluvenstein, 2583
The 2010 Summer Barbeque was a great success. See an account and more photos here.
Chris Briscoe coaching some of his junior pupils. Black to play and win!
Celebrating the winning of the Surrey Beamont Cup for the 2008-2009 season.
Paul Durrant and Paul Shepherd were on the top boards of our winning team in the Coulsdon Challenge Shield rapid play event of 2007. The other team members were Jacques Tivillier and Nicholas Inglis.
After the end of 2009-2010 season curry night some team rapid play at the Cap in Hand. Dave Morant contemplates how to get out of back-rank mate while his team-mate Paul Durrant considers the move "Guinness to h1 mate". Guinness has the combined powers of a Queen and Knight in this form of chess. The Knight's power allows the Guinness to leap onto the board and the Queen's power is sufficent for the Guinness to deliver mate in this position!