Further success for Guildford teams in last night's matches, this time in the Surrey League. In Division 1, Guildford 1 beat Wimbledon 1 by 5.5–2.5. In Division 4, Guildford 4 beat Kingston 3 by 5–1. In both matches, the Guildford teams outrated their opponents by about 130 points a board.

Mike Gunn led a session for the Beginners and Improvers, demonstrating basic checkmates in pawnless positions. Interestingly these included King, Bishop and Knight v King, which is far from basic.

The internal rapidplay completed 74 rounds. Tauseef Rahman won all three of his games last night to move into second place in the table. James Toon and Adam Sefton are the only players still on 100%.

The Guildford FIDE Congress now has 132 entries, just a few short of last year's total of 136 with over two weeks to go.

Congratulations to Guildford 2 captain Rory Davies and his squad, who finished top of the Surrey League Division 3 and won the Ellam Trophy. Everything came down to the last match v Richmond on Tuesday 19 March. Guildford 2 won 4–2 to finish level on match points (5.5) and game points (27). The final tie-break was direct encounter, and of course that went in favour of Guildford. The teams were equally matched on paper, so this was a good result. Wins for Julien Shepley, Peter Horlock and David Carpenter.

This means promotion to Division 2 (Beaumont Cup) next season.

The club's first trophy of the season was the Surrey Border League Haslemere Trophy. The Guildford Juniors beat Fleet & Farnborough 5.5–4.5 in the final on 26 February. Congratulations to the squad and their manager Paul Welling.

In Monday's Surrey Border League matches, both Guildford teams were victorious. Guildford B beat Reading A by 3.5–1.5 in Division 2, and Guildford E beat Basingstoke A 3–2 in Division 5. That's a long way to travel in a losing cause. The Guildford B match featured two very different games on the top two boards. Julien Shepley won very quickly on board 2 when his opponent dropped a rook in a calm position and had to resign. James Toon was the last to finish, but had to defend accurately to hold the draw in an ending with bishop and three pawns v knight and four pawns.

The latest Andrew Martin training session featured an analysis of an exciting GM game. The internal rapidplay completed 71 rounds. Hats off to Ian Deswarte who won all three of his games.

The Guildford FIDE Congress now has 118 entries and looks likely to sell out by the end of the month.

Once again the club fielded two teams in Surrey Border League matches. In Division 3, Guildford C held a 50-point rating advantage over nearest rivals Woking A, and won convincingly 4–1 to go top of the table. In Division 7, the Guildford G team of juniors drew 2–2 against top team Farnham E.

Sean Sussex led a session of the Beginners' and Improvers' groups combined, while the internal rapidplay has now completed 68 rounds. Tauseef Rahman and Tony Garrood were the main beneficiaries, scoring 3/3 and 2.5/3 respectively.

Entries to the April congress have now reached 101 with a month still to go. The maximum is 160, and there's always a rush towards the end, so if you're thinking of entering then it would be a good idea to enter sooner rather than later.

The first Monday in March saw two Guildford teams in action in the Surrey Border League. In Division 2, Guildford B faced Farnham B in an evenly-rated match which ended in a draw (2.5–2.5). The last game to finish was on board 1 where Rolandas Lukosius beat Clive Frostick in an exciting rook and pawn ending. In Division 4, Guildford D played Crowthorne B, losing 3.5–1.5.

Upstairs, Peter Hegarty led a session for the Beginners' Group. Next door to that, the internal rated rapidplay has now completed 65 rounds in 21 sessions featuring 59 players. James Toon is currently in pole position. Adam Sefton is the only other player on 100%.