Guildford Chess Club

Welcome to our world!

We aim to provide a safe and secure inclusive environment for all chess players to play and learn about chess.

We are one of the strongest chess clubs in the UK, with over 50 regular adult players and 100 juniors in membership, spanning the complete ability range from beginner to expert.

We currently field 15 teams across four leagues – the Surrey League, the Surrey Border League, the 4 Nations Chess League and the 4NCL Online. Some of our members also play for Surrey County teams and have represented England at both Junior and Senior levels.

Our regular club night is at 7.30pm on Mondays night for adults (earlier for juniors) from September to July at the Guildford Institute on Ward Street – we're closed in August and on Bank Holidays.

We encourage all our members to participate in the life of the club in some way.

Map

How the site works

Access to everything on the site is via the Navigation menu at the top of the page. Move the cursor over each item to reveal a drop-down menu with links to all the pages.

  • About – our constitution, contacts, gallery, history, library, membership, privacy policy, roll of honour, and safeguarding policy.

  • Activities – our calendar, coaching, junior club, league chess, and tournaments.

  • Directory – chess advice, games by club members, and links to the outside chess world.

And below on our home page, see our blog with all the latest news about the club.

It's easy to contact us. Just use this contact form for adults, or else use the contact form on our Juniors page for juniors.

Click on the club logo on the top left to return to the home page.

Latest news

Internal contest

Monday was round 1 of the new Guildford Internal Team Tournament. This brings together 16 players in four evenly-matched teams of four players each. Teams play each other twice over the season, making six rounds in all. It provides competitive chess (ECF-rated) with a standardplay time control at the Guildford home venue on Monday nights.

Last night's results:
• Juniors 2–2 Tigers
• Eagles 3–1 Lions.

Well done to Mike Gunn, who successfully delivered mate with king, bishop and knight v king within the 50-move time limit. This material balance is a theoretical win but is not easy to achieve in practice.

Also last night, Guildford 2 lost 4.5–2.5 to Kingston 2 in a Surrey League Division 2 match at the club. Guildford 2 fielded a strong team but it wasn't quite enough on the night.

We did not organise an internal rapidplay event but there were several players engaged in friendly games in the room upstairs.

Tags: October 2025

Guildford Chess Club on the radio

The Stephen Brown show on BBC Radio Surrey has a regular slot on community groups. This week they approached Guildford Chess Club for a short interview. James Toon, the club secretary, appeared on the programme on Wednesday 15 October. To listen to the interview, visit the Radio Surrey website at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002kds9 and go to 1:15:25 on the Play timeline.

Tags: October 2025

Surrey League, home and away

In a league the size of the Surrey League, home advantage counts for a lot. Many players are happy to play at home but reluctant, or unable, to travel to far-away venues. Guildford Chess Club is no different in that respect. We generally field stronger teams at home than away.

On Monday 13 October, the 1st team had to travel to Epsom for the opening match in Division 1. Our team was outrated by an average of 50 points a board. So it was very satisfying to win the match 5–3. Special thanks to our two juniors, Adam Sefton and Alistair Jennis, who each won their games. In the process, Adam claimed his first IM victim, beating IM / WGM Susan Lalic on board 3. Adam has annotated his game for the club and this is now published on the Games page on the website.

Unfortunately home advantage did not help the 3rd team, playing in the Minor Trophy, who lost 4–2 at home to Surbiton 3. In fairness, our 3rd team were themselves outrated by an average of 50 points a board.

Tags: Octber 2025

Graham Smith Trophy 2025

Nigel Povah presents the Graham Smith Trophy to James Toon for making the most significant off-the-board contribution to the Club in 2024-25.

Tags: Octber 2025

Early season success

The new league season has started. In OTB chess, Guildford teams have hit the ground running with 3 wins out of 3 so far.

On Monday 22 September, Guildford B beat Bracknell A 4.5–0.5 in the Border League Division 2.

On Monday 29 September, Guildford C beat Camberley B 4–1 in the Border League Division 3.

Also on Monday 29 September, Guildford beat Wimbledon 8–2 in the semi-final of the Surrey League Alexander Cup. Home advantage helped, as did a rating difference of over 200 points a board in Guildford's favour, but actually the match was closely contested and most games were still in progress at 10.00pm.

The most encouraging point is that Guildford managed to field 5 junior players on the 15 boards in play on 29 September.

Tags: September 2025

Russell Cup 2025

On Monday 15 September, Nigel Povah, Club President, presented the Russell Cup to Alistair Jennis for the best performance by a Guildford player in the 2024-25 season.

Tags: September 2025

Guildford Blitz Tournament 2025

The Guildford Blitz Tournament 2025 took place on Monday 28 July. A total of 21 players took part.

It was an exciting and fast-paced event, with the outcome in doubt until the last game was finished. Matthew Dishman and Ronit Sachdeva tied for 1st place on 7.5 / 9. Matthew won the event on tie break, having defeated Ronit in their individual game. Jon Ady was 3rd on 6.5.

Tags: July 2025,Tournaments

Guildford Summer Tournament 2025

The Guildford Summer Tournament 2025 has just ended. A total of 60 players took part.

In the Open, Ronit Sachdeva and Jon Ady tied for 1st place on 7 / 8. Ronit won the section on tie break and becomes the Club Champion for 2025.

In the Minor (<1600), Keith Lo finished 1st on 7 / 8 and becomes the Club Minor Champion for 2025. Three players tied for 2nd place on 6 / 8, including Keith's brother Kurtis.

Thank you to Trevor Jones and Mike Gunn for acting as organisers / arbiters while each round took place, as well as playing in the event itself.

Tags: July 2025,Tournaments

Crash and burn

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.

Tags: April 2025,Match reports

Guildford FIDE Congress 2025

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).

Tags: April 2025

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