Week 13 Highlights

A rearranged fixture meant that Gambit 2 took on Mansfield and University 1 this week. Mansfield’s Tuesday win briefly regained top spot, before University’s Thursday win reclaimed this. These 2 teams are now clear of the rest and look set to fight out the League title. Radcliffe and Bingham 1 claim top spot in Division 2 after a 4-0 win […]

Continue reading

4NCL On-Line Round Seven

Ashfield Anonymous “A” 4 Trelawny’s Army 0 There were three very different challenges in the 7th and final round of 4NCL on-line. Trelawny’s Army is a Cornish based team named after a local Bishop who denounced James II and was sent to the Tower of London. There’s a lot more about him but unfortunately turning to chess the Cornishmen fielded […]

Continue reading

34th Nottingham Rapidplay

The 34th Nottingham Rapidplay will take place on the 2nd February 2025 at Nottingham High School. This will be a six round FIDE rated event. The first round will start at 10.00am. Enter online here.  Details can also be downloaded from the entry form.

Continue reading

4NCL Report – Ashfield 1

Ashfield 1 compete in the Division 3 Bishops league of the 4NCL. A report of the first weekend follows. Games can be viewed on the 4NCL website. Mike writes Ashfield 1 had varying fortunes in the first two rounds of the 4NCL. Saturday was a disaster with 4 games lost before the time control was reached. Hubert made it to […]

Continue reading

4 NCL Report – Ashfield 2 & 3

Weekend one of the 4NCL was held over two separate weekends. Ashfield 2 and 3 played first and the games can be view on the 4NCLwebsite. Due to some vagaries of the Swiss Pairing System we had two sets of matches against the same teams at the weekend; Guildford Young Guns 1 and Peterborough United. The opening round was seeded […]

Continue reading

Week 12 Highlights

University 1 win at Mansfield and now lead Division 1, a point clear. Mansfield captain reports, ‘3-2 might look it was a close match. It wasn’t. We were worse on every single board and could easily have lost 5-0.’ This opens up the title race, and makes the division more interesting. In D2 Nomads 2 defeat Ashfield 1. West Nottingham […]

Continue reading

4NCL Online Week 6 Report

Ashfield Anonymous “A” 4 Wessex “C” 0 Three of the games had finished in this match before any results had been posted by teams “B” and “C”. The remaining game did continue till the end of the session but that too never looked in doubt. Our team had already qualified for the play-offs and will face the second placed team […]

Continue reading

Week 11 Highlights

The snow arrived on Monday impacting on road/travel conditions. Thanks to captains and drivers who managed to safely keep their teams on the road over the week. D1 Grantham 1 slam West Bridgford 5-0, and overtake them to move into fourth place. D2 Better fortune for West Bridgford 2, whose narrow win over Ashfield 2, moves them into third place. […]

Continue reading

Week 10 Highlights

Grantham 1 are back. Grantham ruled the roost with 10 League titles between 2010 and 2020. The break-up of the team led by Nigel Birtwistle coincided with the Covid epidemic. Shorn of their championship players, Grantham 1 appeared in and won Division 3 in 2021-22. Last season they were promoted back to Division 1 as runners-up to Nomads 1.Their first […]

Continue reading

Whatsapp for Notts CA

At the NCA AGM in July a straw poll was taken from attendees about their use of social media. The only medium with significant usage was shown to be Whatsapp. Arising from this it was agreed that a Whatsapp Group for Notts Chess would help to improve communications and fast dissemination of news and information. This has now been set […]

Continue reading

Week 9 Highlights

Mansfield power on in D1 with a 4-1 win at Gambit 1. After just 4 games Mansfield have a Board Points difference of + 15. Narrow wins for West Bridgford 1 over Gambit 2 and University 1 over Newark 1. University now sit second in the table, a point behind Mansfield. University last won the League title in 2008-9, a […]

Continue reading

4NCL Online Week 5 Report

Round 5 of the 4NCL online took place on 5th November. The games can be viewed here – 4NCL Replays. Ashfield Anonymous “A” With two rounds to spare, the “A” team have already ensured a place in the play-offs. Their fifth win in a row to maintain a 100% record was not without incident. Board One was lost in tactical […]

Continue reading

Radcliffe and Bingham win ECF Small Club of the Year

Radcliffe and Bingham Chess Club is delighted to announce that we are the proud winners of the English Chess Federation’s ‘Small Club of the Year’ Award for 2024. This national award recognises the enthusiastic and enjoyable environment we have created and also the contribution our members make to chess throughout the county. We have also had great success in starting […]

Continue reading

Week 8 Highlights

Wins for Newark 1 and University 1 in Division 1. Yet another 3-2 defeat for Nomads 1. The Division 2 race opens up after leaders, Radcliffe & B. lose at West Nottingham. Ashfield 1 and West Bridgford 2 make up ground. Two more reverses for Radcliffe, second team at University 2 and third team at Newark 3. A busy week […]

Continue reading

4NCL Online Week 3 Report

Round three of the 4NCL Online took place on the 8th October Ashfield Anonymous “A” 3 v Dundee “C” 1 A win is a win. Richard’s opponent blundered into a mate in two after our early advantage had dissipated. Although material up David faced a pawn steam roller whilst Justin’s opponent exceeded the time limit with still plenty of play […]

Continue reading

Week 7 Highlights

University 1 deliver blow to Gambit 1’s title chances with wins on top three boards. Nomads 1 still seeking first point in Division 1 for 20 years after defeat to Gambit 2. The players on Board 1 in this match were clubmates through the 1990s for Oxclose and Fiveways. Drag’s win over Julian set up a win secured by Nikolai. […]

Continue reading

4NCL Online Week 2 Report

4NCL Online week two took place on the 24th September. Ashfield Anonymous “A” v Shropshire & Friends For a second successive week we were gifted a default win, David C was the recipient this time. With a penalty –½ it should have been plain sailing. However two of the games finished with blunders; Steve lost a piece and Alex C […]

Continue reading

4NCL Online – Week One Highlights

Ashfield Anonymous field three teams in the 4NCL Online. The 10th season is being played over seven rounds leading up to semi finals and finals just before Christmas. Ashfield Anonymous “A” started with a win over Oxford 3 who defaulted a board which resulted in a penalty ½ point deduction. Although Steve lost we had a relatively easy win from […]

Continue reading

34th Nottingham Rapidplay

The 34th Nottingham Rapidplay will take place on the 2nd February 2025 at Nottingham High School. This will be a six round FIDE rated event. The first round will start at 10.00am. Enter online here.  Details can also be downloaded from the entry form.

Continue reading

Week 6 Highlights

Mansfield motor on in Division 1. University 1 and 2 open with draws. Radcliffe & Bingham, winner of the ECF Small Club Of The Year Award 2024 show they are a club on the rise. R&B 1 continue to set a hot pace in Division 2, defeating Ashfield 1 in the first match between these two teams for decades. Previously […]

Continue reading

Jonah Willow has a first Grandmaster norm!

Jonah Willow has secured his first Grandmaster norm at a tournament in Norway. The event was held in the town of Fagernes, which is situated 114 miles north-west of Oslo. Jonah was first equal (second on tie-break) with GM Rinat Jumbayev of Kazakhstan with whom he drew his game in round 7. Jonah was unbeaten on 7/9, with a tournament […]

Continue reading

Week 5 Highlights

Gambit 1 are held to a draw by West Bridgford 1. WB’s Shabhir Okhai has notched an opening top board hat-trick over Julian Cast, Jonathan Tait and now Mike Barnes. A good week for Newark. Newark 1 bounce back to winning form over Nomads 1 with a 4-1 win. Newark 3 better this score. A winning week too for Radcliffe […]

Continue reading

Week 4 Highlights

Mansfield follow up their 5-0 win at Grantham with a 4-1 win over West Bridgford. Gambit 1 trounce Newark 4.5-0.5. In Div 1 the League table already looks telling. After two games, two teams are on 100% – Mansfield with a 9-1 points difference and Gambit 1 on 8-2. The only other unbeaten team is University 1, yet to play […]

Continue reading

Week 3 Highlights

Mansfield, Post-Covid 3x League champions, launch their campaign with a statement 5-0 win at Grantham, despite being outrated on the top two boards. Nomads 1, who last appeared in Division 1 in 2005, narrowly lose at West Bridgford 1. In Division 2 Beeston 1 and R&B 1 fight out a 2-2 draw, of 4 decisive games. In D3 wins for […]

Continue reading

Week One Update & Week Two Preview

Intra-Club Matches Gambit 2 could not pull off their usual upset win against Gambit 1, losing 1.5- 3.5. As the ‘home’ team they had the disadvantage of 3 Blacks. The reverse fixture in January might be closer. Gambit 5 did share the points with Gambit 4. Three more intra-club matches follow next week. Radcliffe and Bingham 4 host R&B 3. […]

Continue reading

New League Season 2024-25

Fixtures for the new season are now on LMS. The season will kick off on Tuesday 10th September with Gambit 2 v Gambit 1 and Gambit 5 v Gambit 4. Can Gambit 2 pull off another upset? There are new League rules, including that the standard time limit for all clubs is now 65 minutes + 10 second increments. You […]

Continue reading

AGM Monday 8th July 2024

The Nottinghamshire Chess Association AGM will be held on Monday 8th July at The Wolds, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford starting at 7:30 pm Clubs are entitled to attend, with one voting member per club plus one for each team in the NCA league for 23-24 season (including minor league teams). Officer Reports: please send to Nick London by 1st July […]

Continue reading

Nottinghamshire County Championships 2024

Nottinghamshire County Championship 2023/2024 Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th June 2024 The Royal British Legion Hall Radcliffe-on-Trent Nottingham NG12 2BB Organised by Gambit Chess Club Eligibility: 1 Born in Nottinghamshire 2 Living in Nottinghamshire 3 Working in Nottinghamshire 4 Attending an educational establishment in Nottinghamshire 5 Member of a chess club based in Nottinghamshire or affiliated to Nottinghamshire Chess Association […]

Continue reading

Rules Revision Meeting 20th May 2024

The annual rules and revision meeting will take place at 7:30pm on the 20th May at The Wolds pub, W Bridgford. Attached are the proposals for the meeting. Votes during this meeting are on the basis of one vote per club plus one vote for each team participating in the NCA league this season. RRM Proposals 2024.pdf

Continue reading

47th Nottingham Congress

Following the successful conclusion of our Rapidplay last Sunday, we are now taking entries for our weekend congress. Full details can be found on our Competitions/Tournaments page.

Continue reading

33rd Nottingham Rapidplay

Capacity has now been reached. We are pleased to announce our that our annual Rapidplay will take place on Sunday, February 4th 2024 at our usual venue, Nottingham High School, starting at 10:00 am. This will be a 6 round Swiss system event, with five ECF rated sections. The basic entry fees are £20 for Adults and £15 for Juniors, whilst […]

Continue reading

Centenary Grandmaster Tournament: Report

The grand finale event to celebrate our centenary was a Grandmaster round-robin tournament in early November.  A range of invited English and overseas young stars competed against each other and against the established GMs in the hope of gaining title norms as well as valuable experience in a hard-fought event.  The venue was the Nottingham Mechanics Institute which proved to […]

Continue reading

33rd Nottingham Rapidplay

We are pleased to announce our that our annual Rapidplay will take place on Sunday, February 4th 2024 at our usual venue, Nottingham High School, starting at 10:00 am. This will be a 6 round Swiss system event, with five ECF rated sections. The basic entry fees are £20 for Adults and £15 for Juniors, whilst the prizes in each section […]

Continue reading

NCA Centenary Grandmaster Tournament

Top-level chess comes to Nottingham in early November when invited Grandmasters take on some of England’s best young players, including the cream of Nottingham’s chess talent.  It takes place from Monday 30 October – Friday 3 November. This special tournament is being organised to celebrate NCA’s centenary since its foundation and is the strongest tournament to be held in the County since […]

Continue reading

Derbyshire Congress

The inaugural Derbyshire weekend congress takes place 23-24th September, with sections for all standards of player.  Notts player are encouraged to support this new event on our doorstep.  Click on [Continue Reading] for a link to the Congress web site.

Continue reading

Nottingham Chessfest 2023

NCA has celebrated its first 100 years with the first ‘Chessfest’, an open-air event held in Nottingham’s Trinity Square – and all involved agree it was a tremendous success.  An estimated 500 people visited the event during the 6 hours that we took over the Square, including lots of enthusiastic children, parents and many passers-by who stopped for a game […]

Continue reading

County Correspondence Team

The Counties and Districts Correspondence Chess Competition started on 14/4/23. Our team is in the Ward-Higgs, Division 1 section. Nottinghamshire team. 1 SIM Jonathan Tait 2419 2 CCM Gordon Anderson 2378 3 CCM Richard Webster 2361 4 CCM John Shaw 2322 5 CCE Phil Morgan 2232 6 Kevin Williamson 2120 7 Glenn Halfpenny 1800p 8 Andrew Robins 1800p We have […]

Continue reading

George Murfet and Len Morrell

Radcliffe and Bingham Chess Club has recently suffered the loss of two long-standing members of the Nottinghamshire chess community, both well known to generations of chess players in the area as teammates and foes over the board. George Murfet had early roots in the area and was an ‘old boy’ of Nottingham High School – from where I gather he […]

Continue reading

RIP Alan Morrey

Sadly we have lost another former pillar of the Notts Chess community. Alan was a valued member of the Sutton/Ashfield and Rainworth clubs for many years and held NCA posts, for example publishing the monthly Notts Bulletin in pre-website days. We hear that he passed away on 14/02/2023, aged 87 years old, and the funeral will take place, 3.00 pm […]

Continue reading

RIP George Murfet and Len Morrell

We are sad to announce the loss of two longstanding members of the Notts Chess community. We understand that George’s funeral will be held at 14:30 at Wilford Hill Cemetery on Monday March 6th. If you wish to attend, we suggest you check with the Cemetery, as we don’t have direct contact with his family. We will pass on details […]

Continue reading

46th Nottingham Congress

We are pleased to announce that the Congress will take place on the weekend of April 15th & 16th at our usual venue, Nottingham High School. It will be a five round, ECF-rated, standard play Swiss, with five sections. Full details of the event, the entry form and access to online entry are available on our Competitions page.

Continue reading

County Correspondence Team

Playing in the Second Division of the Counties Championship, our team had a successful 2022/23 season, finishing in second place and so gaining promotion to Division 1. A link to the results can be found here by clicking Continue Reading on the News page.

Continue reading