News

CLUB DATES

Every Wednesday at 7.30 except over the Christmas hols.  

IN JULY

we will hold our annual AGM.  Date tbc but please attend if you can.

IN JUNE

Uckfield Lions Fun Day on Sunday 1st had a chess club stand...there was a steady stream of visitors which was very encouraging, Hopefully we will get some new members.

IN MAY

Note for the diary - following the survey we will be having one of our jumbled blitz evenings on Wednesday 21st May.

This is also a good time to mention that semi-finals of our Knockout competition between Brian Stockham & Arran Airlie, and Ian Archbold & Michael Stockham have to be played during the month of May.  It would be good if these did take place without attendance being a criteria for moving forward, as has happened in every round so far.

We only have roughly two months of this season’s club competitions left.  When we know the date of the Sussex League AGM, we will set the date for our own, and the 2024/25 season end will be two club sessions before that.

I thought it would therefore be timely to give an update on the club competitions. The current top six positions in the others are:-

GRAND PRIX RANKING:- 1st – Arran – 2160;  2nd – Joseph – 2015;  3rd – Brian S – 1920;  4th – Mark – 1770;  5th – Oliver – 1725;  6th – Jayden – 1660.

BLITZ:- 1st – Brian S – 12;  2nd – Arran – 10.5;  3rd – Jayden – 7;  4th – Joseph – 6:  5th= – Ian & Harvey – 4;  6th= - Mark & Oliver.

HANDICAP SPLIT:-  1st – Brian S – 34;  2nd – Oliver – 32;  3rd – Arran – 22;  4th – Jayden – 20;  5th – Joseph – 16;  6th – Ian – 10.

STANDARD PLAY:-  1st – Brian S – 12.5;  2nd – Jayden – 3.5;  3rd= – Oliver & Ian & Steve & Joseph – 2;  7th= Piers & Saxon & Beauden - 1.

RAPID PLAY:-  1st – Brian S – 15;  2nd – Piers – 9.5;  3rd – Ian – 8.5;  4th – Joseph – 7.5;  5th – Michael – 6.5;  6th – Jayden – 5.     

There is still time therefore to catch any of the leaders with strong attendance and focus. Remember the sporting spirit of the club that any challenge should be accepted.

IN APRIL

There was an away match versus Bexhill in the Paul Watson Trophy on 11th April..(read more here) and it was Easter Egg Blitz Night on 2nd April, all welcome, members, non members (it'll cost you the £3 attendance fee) and anyone looking for a fast and furious evening, hopefully with some mini eggs at the end.

IN MARCH

There was a match in the Paul Watson Trophy, a competition open to all clubs in Sussex, on 5th March.  This ended in a 4-0 win for Uckfield, so we march on.  Details here.

Meanwhile the Sussex League promotion battle unfortunately went against us.  Although we had a good win against East Grinstead Bookshop, East Grinstead 3 (confusing isn't it?) also won, which meant that despite having more game points than any other team we lost out on match points and came 3rd.  Details here.

IN FEBRUARY

The 41st Crowborough Chess Congress took place on Saturday 22nd February 2025

Details below;

Details on the website https://crowborough.org/club/41st-Congress.html

IN DECEMBER

We had a Christmas Blitz on 18th December  All welcome, existing members or new prospective members.

The Christmas and New Year period is also when there are a number of congresses nearby...in Hastings particularly, but also in London, which you may wish to try your hand in.  Various competitions.

IN NOVEMBER.

We lost our 3rd match of the season away to Eastbourne and drew the 4th Details to follow.

IN OCTOBER

Two things at the end of October.

Our 2nd League match away to Horsham 6 resulted in a 3 1/2 to 1/2 win, with Arran, Brian and Joe winning, Michael drawing.  See here.

On 30th we played a Chess 960 Blitz.  Arran ran out a convincing winner with Joe, Brian and Mark joint 2nd.  Beauden was the most successful younger player.

We returned to action in the Sussex Chess League with a home game against Worthing 3 on October 16th.  More details elsewhere on the site but the team of Arran, Michael, Brian and Joe won 3-1.  Which means we are top of our division.  Mind you, it's the only game to have been played so far.