The 38th Surrey Chess Congress takes place at Kingston University on 26th-28th October 2018. Will you be there?

It takes a substantial amount of effort to put on a chess congress like this one, including adult sections. It has been resurrected after six years of dormancy. It will be run by the Surrey Chess Congress company, which is a subsidiary of the Surrey County Chess Association, in conjunction with the well known organiser Adam Raoof and Kingston Chess Club.

As usual, there will be sections that cater for all levels, but strong players should particularly take note.That is because the Open event incorporates the Southern Counties Chess Union (SCCU) championship, with the winner being crowned SCCU Champion. It means the SCCU Champion, if not already qualified, will qualify for a place in the next British Chess Championships due to take place in Torquay during July 2019.

A little congress history from Mike Gunn.....

"First organised in connection with the centenary of Kingston Chess Club in 1975, by the late 1990s the Surrey Chess Congress had become the third largest congress in the country after the British Championships and Hastings. Possibly the peak year was 1997 when there were 459 entries in its seven separate tournaments held at Sutton Library over the four days of the Easter bank holiday weekend and the 101 strong Open section was won by GM Michael Adams.

The refurbishment of Sutton Library in 2000 (and an increase in the rent) sent the Congress on the road with new venues at various schools (and one year at Surrey University) before it settled down at Nonsuch High School in Cheam in 2007 for a period of about six years. Although Nonsuch was a good venue we saw a continuing decline in numbers in the adult events from 161 in 2007 to around 100 in 2012.

During the latter years at Nonsuch the adult events were cross-subsidised by an increasingly successful Junior Congress run by Marda Dixon. The Junior Congress took over the main (sports) hall on Easter Monday and an adult rapidplay was held in the smaller hall while the adult standard play events were reduced to 6 rounds run over 3 days. There was no adult congress in 2013 and an attempt to run a "bare bones" congress in Guildford in 2014 was abandoned due to the very low number of entries received. There has been no adult congress since."

With the event taking place just down the road in Kingston this is THE local congress for Surbiton chess players. Let's reward the effort of all of the volunteers who have worked hard to get the congress back up and running by having a healthy Surbiton presence at the event.

You can find more details, including an entry form and online entry option at the Surrey Chess Congress Website.

Please note that early birds entering by Monday 22nd October avoid late entry charges.