Two league matches tonight, two losses for the Guildford teams. We can't say we were out-rated since in both cases the opposition was of a similar strength. In the Surrey League Division 1, Guildford 1 lost 2.5–5.5 to Epsom 1. Clive Frostick and Julien Shepley picked up our only wins. Roger Emerson came away with a half point. Guildford still lead the table, level on points with Epsom and with a superior game points total. But it was Epsom's night, and they have a match in hand. In the Surrey Border League Rapidplay Division 2, Guildford RB lost 1–7 to Farnham RB. Liam Ireland took the solitary point.

Upstairs, Trevor Jones took the Beginners' Group through some of his positional games. Next door, the internal rated rapidplay reached 50 rounds for the season to date. The Organiser and Wonderboy A remain the only players on 100%.

There was a full programme of activities at the club on Monday 22 January.

Three matches took place in the main room. In the Surrey Border League Division 1, Guildford A beat Farnham A by 4–1. This reflected the rating difference of +270 in favour of Guildford A, who turned out their strongest team of the season with an average of 2239. In the Surrey Border League Rapidplay Division 2, Guildford RB lost 2.5–5.5 to Crowthorne RB, again reflecting the rating difference which was over +300 in favour of Crowthorne. And in the Surrey League Division 4 (Centenary Trophy), Guildford 3 beat Kingston 3 by 5.5–0.5, with a rating advantage of +200 a board. All this must say something about the rating system – it proved a good predictor of the match results tonight.

Upstairs, the juggernaut known as the internal rated rapidplay saw three further rounds with nine players taking part. James Toon continues to lead the event, now with 18 out of 18. The sequence of 18 consecutive wins sees the player known as "The Organiser" closing in on Bobby Fischer (20 consecutive wins in 1971) and the world-record holder, Wilhelm Steinitz (25 consecutive wins between 1873 and 1882).

Next door, the Beginners' Group took part in a lively session with a set of Find the Continuation positions provided by Mike Gunn, ending in a series of blitz and other casual games.

Well done everyone and here's to a successful and enjoyable second half of the season.

Guildford 2 hosted Wimbledon 2 in the Surrey League Division 3 (Ellam Trophy) on Monday 15 January. Guildford edged it on paper with an average rating of 1900 a board vs 1850 and this was reflected in the final score, a 4–2 home win. The top two boards swung it with a couple of late victories. On board 1, James Toon played positional chess as White against his opponent's QGD Tarrasch Defence (by transposition), winning Black's isolated d-pawn to reach a rook ending with six pawns vs five pawns. There was only going to be one outcome. See the Games page for the annotated game. Then on board 2, defending against the English Opening, Seb Galer reached a queen and rook ending with complicated pawns, outplaying his opponent to win a piece in an exciting finish with both payers very short of time. After that Guildford 2 are third in the table but it's very close at the top.

Guildford 3 travelled to South Norwood 2 for this table-topping Centenary Trophy match on Thursday 4 January. Although Guildford lost 4–2, several players were better at some stage in their games. Thanks to all who played, especially Paul Welling who stepped in after 25 minutes on board 6 when our player had a car problem and couldn't reach the venue. Captain Mike Gunn admits failing to convert a +30 advantage and ending up with a draw (we've all been there).