The club went down in flames in two cup finals on Tuesday 29 April.

In the final of the Surrey League Alexander Cup, played at the neutral venue of Ashtead, Kingston beat Guildford 8–2. Kingston fielded their strongest team of the season and had a rating advantage of 200 points a board. The match was closer than the score suggests as Guildford had chances in some games that finally went the wrong way. Congratulations to Matthew Dishman for recording Guildford's only individual win of the night, on board 8, and also to Gwilym Price who took a draw as Black against GM Ameet Ghasi on board 1. Jon Ady also drew on board 4.

At the same time, in the final of the 4NCL Online Season 11 Division 2, Guildford 1 lost 3–1 to Wells Hartbreakers, who outrated Guildford by over 100 points a board.

The club committee will review the season at its meeting in late May and start to plan for the future.

We had a surge of late entries and a total of 104 players entered the congress. The event ran very smoothly – many thanks to the arbiter team, and those volunteers from Guildford who helped in various ways.

In the Open, there was a three-way tie for 1st place on 4/5 between Ioannis Lentzos, Adam A Taylor, and Peter Lalic. They split the money equally, but Ioannis was the winner on tie break. He becomes the SCCU Individual Champion for 2025, receiving the Glenroy Cup, and an automatic qualifying place at the British Championships later this year.

In the Major, two players tied for 1st place on 4.5/5 – Mike Morgan, from Guildford, and Mohammad Mozaffari. Pietro Silke Balerna took the money for 3rd place.

Special prizes when to Andrew Boughen (Senior), Lev Razhnou (Junior), and Aryna Razhnova (U1600).

Adam Sefton became the Surrey Junior Champion for 2025, receiving the Michell Memorial Trophy which was presented by Clive Frostick (see picture).

The congress takes place from Friday 25 to Sunday 27 April at the University of Surrey. With one week to go, a total of 75 players have entered. This is lower than in previous years. We have restructured the event and will now be running two sections, the Open, and the Major for players rated under 2000. Entries close on Thursday 24 April. More details on the congress page on the website.

Most league matches are played and the league tables are looking clearer. In the Surrey League, Guildford 1 and 2 have each finished runners up in their respective divisions. Guildford 1 won 4.5–3.5 away against Coulsdon 1 this week in a close match which was in balance right up to the end. Guildford 2 lost 6–1 to a very strong Wimbledon 1 last week. The club's Surrey League campaign reaches its climax at the end of April when Guildford take on Kingston in the final of the Alexander Cup.

A group of Guildford players went into a prison at the start of April to play chess in an initiative organised by the Chess in Schools and Communities Prison programme. The programme helps prison governors to start chess clubs in their prisons. The ECF says that chess "is recognised as providing purposeful activity for inmates, supporting the development of critical analysis and reasoning skills and helping to reduce reoffending rates." Peter Hegarty coordinated this from the Guildford end and can provide more details about the programme.

Guildford 1 lost 5.5–2.5 to Kingston 1 in Division 1 of the Surrey League on Monday night. The match was hard-fought and closer than the score suggests. This means Kingston win Division 1. Guildford will need at least draw from their final match away against Coulsdon 1 on 14 April in order to secure the runners-up spot. Guildford face Kingston again in the final of the Alexander Cup on 29 April. And in Division 4 of the Surrey League, Guildford 4 lost 3.5–2.5 to Kingston 3.

Guildford teams have enjoyed more success in the Surrey Border League. Following Guildford A who won Division 1, the juniors of Guildford F have won Division 6, also with a match to spare. Congratulations to the players and their manager Ian Jennis.

Congratulations to Guildford A, who secured the club's first trophy of the season by winning Division 1 of the Surrey Border League with a match to spare. That was the effect of two match results last week. Guildford A beat Farnham A by 3–2 in a tight contest where both sides were short of full strength. And second-placed Crowthorne A lost at home to Reading A, so can no longer challenge for first place. Guildford benefited from a strong core squad, using only 7 players in our 5 matches so far. And also from the withdrawal of the Sandhurst pro team from the league this season.

Last night, Guildford 1 beat Coulsdon 1 by 6–2 in the Surrey League Division 1 (Surrey Trophy). The match was closer than the score suggests, with some games going our way towards the end of the session. We outrated Coulsdon by 150 points a board in this match – but that might just be because we were playing at home and they had to travel from Coulsdon. We still have to travel to them (in April) and they will certainly field a stronger team at home.

The result of this match leaves us second in the table behind Kingston. We have yet to play Kingston at home. We will also meet them in the final of the Alexander Cup later in the season.

In the Surrey Border League Rapidplay Divisions, Guildford A lost 5–3 to Farnham A, and Guildford B won 6–2 against Farnham B.

The top two teams in the Surrey Border League Division 1 met on Monday night when Guildford A hosted Crowthorne A. Both teams were at full strength with an average rating of over 2200. The match ended in a draw 2.5–2.5. On board 1, Gwilym Price lost to GM Nick Pert. On board 5, James Toon beat Peter Tart. The other three games were hard-fought but all ended in draws. The result leaves Guildford in pole position on 3.5/4 with two matches to play.

In the other match, in the Surrey League Division 3 (Ellam Trophy), Guildford 3 lost 4–2 to Surbiton 2. Guildford 3 were out-rated by nearly 100 points a board. It's been a difficult season for the Guildford team who sit just one place above the drop zone. Their match on 14 April against the bottom team Epsom 3 could be a relegation decider.

Also at the club, Trevor Jones and Clive Gilliam shared the point in the internal standardplay; six players took part in the internal rapidplay; and Mike Gunn led a session on king and pawn endings with the Beginners and Improvers Group.

All three Guildford teams won on Monday night.

In the Surrey League Alexander Cup semi-final, Guildford beat Coulsdon 6–4 in an exciting which was in balance until near the end of the session. This was largely due to the Guildford juniors Adam Sefton, Zac Welling and Seb Twisk, who scored 2.5/3 between them. In the final, on a date to be arranged, we meet the winners of the other semi-final between Epsom and Kingston.

An interesting point arose in the Surrey League Division 2 match (Beaumont Cup) between Guildford 2 and South Norwood 1. On board 3, the Guildford player's flag fell – but neither player said anything. The South Norwood player resigned. He then noticed his opponent's flag fall and claimed a win on time. We had to consult the FIDE Laws of Chess. These state:
1. Resignation ends the game immediately (Article 5.1.2)
2. A player must make all his moves in the time allotted for the game (Article 6.3.1)
3. A flag is considered to have fallen when either player makes a valid claim to that effect (Article 6.8)
4. A player loses if he does not make all his prescribed moves in the allotted time, unless his opponent has already resigned (Article 6.9).

In this case, resignation preceded the win on time claim, so that had no effect. This affected the match result as it meant that Guildford 2 won 4–3 instead of losing 4–3.

Victory also for Guildford E in the Surrey Border League Division 5, who beat Bracknell A by 3–2 despite being outrated by nearly 150 points a board.