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 20 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. There's a contact form below for adults, and a 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

What's on this month

The new chess season is launched in September with various activities.

Monday 11 September
The club’s AGM took place with the election of club officers (including team captains) and various trophies were awarded. This is the only Monday meeting night of the year when we meet and don’t actually play chess!

Saturday 16 September
We will be running our annual stall in the High Street (outside Holy Trinity Church) from 10.00am to 2.00pm. Please turn up for a friendly game or to chat to club members about what the club does.

Monday 18 September
There will be a rapidplay tournament (each player has 30 minutes or less for all their moves) for club members and those interested in joining. Expect to play 3 (or possibly 4) games of chess.

In addition we will be offering two separate sessions of instruction to beginners or players who wish to improve their chess. The beginners session is the first we have run and will cover how the chess pieces move, how games can finish, simple tactics to win your opponent’s pieces and simple checkmates followed by practice against other beginners. The improvers group caters for adults of all ages who know the moves and want to improve. Sessions now include teaching by acclaimed chess coach IM Andrew Martin on a regular basis together with other group activities aimed at learning together. The ethos is informal, discussion is encouraged, and lots of chess is played.

Both the instruction sessions are free to all but if you want to come please book a place by emailing
membership@guildfordchess.org.uk to ensure we have enough equipment ready. All these activities start at 7.30pm or very soon afterwards – please arrive promptly.

Monday 25 September
Matches against other clubs commence with a 10-board home match versus Epsom in the Alexander Cup (the Surrey League’s knockout competition) plus another chance for members to play games against each other.

Thursday 28 September
The first away fixture of the season as Guildford E play Woking C in Division 5 of the Surrey Border League.
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Contact us

This form is for enquiries from adults. For juniors please use the contact form on our Juniors page.