22nd February 2025
Ulverston Junior Tournament
There was a Junior Tournament in Ulverston on Friday 21st Friday. Here is a link to a Westmorland Gazette report of the event.
Young
chess players compete at the Coronation Hall in Ulverston
21st February
Dozens of budding chess players from across Furness showcased their strategy skills in a tournament this week. More than 30 young people gathered at the Coronation Hall in Ulverston to take part in a competition.
This
annual event is organised by the Furness Junior Chess Association
(FJCA) which runs clubs and workshops in schools and venues across
the area. The
competition was open to anyone aged between the ages of six and 18
years old, regardless of ability.
Peter
Hanks, who organised the competition, said the championship was an
important part of the association’s efforts to promote the game to
a new generation of young people.
One of the winners was Ellis Maiden, who scooped top prize in the under-nines category, and was congratulated by the Mayor of Ulverston, Graham Scrogham.
At the end of this week, several members of the FJCA will be representing Cumbria at the Pennine Cup competition in Manchester on Sunday.
“I was really pleased with the turnout. We are looking to expand and develop the game as much as we can and it was great to see so many young people enjoying themselves and playing in such a good spirit,” said Peter.
The
FJCA runs a weekly club at Ulverston Market Hall every Tuesday after
school until 4.45 pm. Free to attend and all welcome. If you are
interested, call Peter on 07833 934031 for details.
17th February 2025
Carlisle Chess Club
Please note that Carlisle Chess Club have moved again ! They now meet at 40 Abbey Street, Carlisle, CA3 8TQ on Thursday evenings.
Check the Clubs page for details and a link to a Google map.
23rd January 2025
Ulverston Junior Open 18th February 2025
See the details here.
16th January 2025
ECF Grassroots Support
The ECF is pleased to announce an initiative to support grassroots
chess, as discussed at recent Council meetings. This is intended as a
multi-year initiative to help promote and develop chess across England.
Full details about the fund, areas we are looking to support, criteria for applications and how to apply can be found in this prospectus – Grassroots Prospectus
Organisations and individual ECF members/chess players can apply for support via the online form, a link to which is in the prospectus.
Applications for regional funding will be reviewed by regional co-ordinators covering all regions of England, while applications involving more than one region will be reviewed by a small central ECF team.
Full details about the fund, areas we are looking to support, criteria for applications and how to apply can be found in this prospectus – Grassroots Prospectus
Organisations and individual ECF members/chess players can apply for support via the online form, a link to which is in the prospectus.
Applications for regional funding will be reviewed by regional co-ordinators covering all regions of England, while applications involving more than one region will be reviewed by a small central ECF team.
14th January 2025
South Lakes Congress 2025
Please note the change of venue to the Town Hall.
The Entry Form can be seen here, and on the Tournaments Page.
2nd January 2025
Carlisle Chess Club
Please note that as well as moving premises to Spencer Street Social Club, Carlisle Chess Club now meet on Wednesday evenings.
Check the Clubs page for details and a link to a Google map.
8th December 2024
North v South Rheged Centre 7th December
I produced an article on the recent Rheged event for the local press.
Please see following link.
John Lydon
12th September 2024
Whitaker Draw
The draw for the second round ( or should I say semi-finals ) of the Whitaker was taken this evening by Michael Thistlewood, Kendal Chess Club Secretary.
The details can be seen on the Whitaker Page.
11th December 2024
Barrow Open Team
Sorry to report that Barrow have had to withdraw from the Open League.
As they have just played 2 matches the fairest thing to be done is reverse their results in the League Table. Sorry, Penrith !
8th December 2024
North v South Rheged Centre 7th December
The junior event
The senior event
The senior event
Jonathan receiving the trophy from Eggert
Analysis tables
Letting you know that the Junior Match was a close match.
The lead changed a few times, but the North eventually won by 29 points to 27.
Two players, Anika Blood for the South Ana Lozano Burnham won all 5 of their games.
Very well done indeed to both of them.
John
The results of the seniors match -
24th November 2024
North v South Rheged Centre 7th December
The Adult's event will be a 2 leg match with a time control of 45 minutes plus 30 seconds per move (Standard play). The 2nd leg will start at 2:45 pm with colours reversed.
Children’s North v South Cumbria Match in the morning (09:00-12:00)
Please contact
- Jonathan Rashleigh if you wish to play for the South team.
- Andy McAtear if you wish to play for the North team.
- John Lydon is staging the event for juniors in the morning. Please contact John for full details.
24th November 2024
South Lakes Congress 2025
The Entry Form can be seen here, and on the Tournaments Page.
20th October 2024
Carlisle Chess Club
Please note that Carlisle have moved premises to Spencer Street Social Club. Check the Clubs page for details and a link to a Google map.
Bill asks that players should not bring their own food and drinks into the club please.
20th October 2024
Cumbria Junior Championship 20224
Note from John Lydon -
Just letting you know that Saturday's Junior Tournament went ahead without issue.
The number of entries were down a little on last year which is disappointing, but there were still enough for a good tournament.
Peter
Hanks supplied all the equipment and ran the day to his ever high
standard, Neil Foxcroft and Neill Cooper also helped and supported the
event.
Financially, it made a small profit of £41.08.Making money isn't an objective, but being sensible with money is.
This
time I used used the congress.org.uk software for the registrations and
payments. I'm delighted to say that it worked very well and has solved
the awkward
problems that I encountered with the first 2 tournaments.
I
also presented John Davis of Long Marton School with the British Chess
Educational Trust award and a donation of childrens' chess books.
Thank
you for all your help with producing the poster, distributing them and
using the Cumbria Chess web site to help publicise the event.
Thank you to Peter Hanks, Neil Foxcroft and Neill Cooper for their great work on the day.
John
See the News & Star article here.
Under 13 Champion is Alistair Jones from Penrith
Under 18 Champion is Rachael Bunter from Barrow
Miller Bowes from Maryport was the Runner Up.
19th September 2024
Cumbria Junior Chess Tournament
The arrangements have now been finalised for this year's junior tournament.John Lydon
Details are here and on the Juniors Page.
12th September 2024
Whitaker Draw
The draw for the first round of the Whitaker was taken this evening by Michael Thistlewood, Kendal Chess Club Secretary. The details can be seen on the Whitaker Page.
8th September 2024
Fixtures are out
The fixtures are on the Fixtures Page.
Many thanks to Andy for 'proof reading' and correcting my errors !
24th August 2024
Casting Now - Your chance of stardom !
Hi,
I hope you are okay with me getting in touch. My name is MeeMee, and I am a Casting Producer at Curve Media in Cardiff, an award-winning TV company. We work with the biggest broadcasters in the UK and US, including the BBC, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime, among many others.
We are excited to be in the casting phase of our most recent commission, Chess Masters (working title) for the BBC, where passionate and highly skilled chess players from all backgrounds will battle it out across a series of rapid chess games before one will be crowned the title of Chess Champion.
I came across your chess club online and wanted to see if you or anyone you know might be interested in learning more about our series and even applying to appear on the show! We welcome applicants from various styles, standards and abilities to apply.
It would be fantastic if you could help us spread the word by sharing the attached flyer with your network.
In case it's helpful, here is a blurb of the programme and the ask:
"Would you like to be Chess Champion 2025?
An exciting new competitive format show for the BBC is looking for players to battle it out on TV. If you're interested in being on the show, please get in touch with us at chessmasters@curvemedia.com"
Please let me know if you'd like to learn more or have any questions.
Thanks for your time, and I hope to hear from you,
Best wishes,
MeeMee.
16th August 2024
2024 Cumbria AGM
The minutes of the 2024 Cumbria AGM can be seen here and on the Library Page.
Andy receiving the Open Trophy for 2023-24.
25th July 2024
ECF Grassroots Support
Cumbria chess clubs should be aware that the Northern Counties Chess region will be receiving a grant of £10,000 from ECF to spend on promoting chess and we can apply for some of this if we so wish. Richard Walsh from Lancaster is co-ordinating things for the Northern Counties region.
The relevant document can be read at:
https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-grassroots-support/
If any clubs or individual members have any ideas for using some of this money within our county or any of its clubs then we can include discussion at the AGM on 3rd August under Any Other Business. The first date for submitting proposals back to the region is 1st September.
Best wishes
Jonathan Rashleigh
Secretary CCA
