Welcome to Manningtree Chess Club.

Last Updated: 22nd May 2025

If you are interested in playing chess,
please come along and enjoy a game or two with a friendly club.
Chess players of any age and any standard are always welcome.

Further details of the club can be obtained from;
Club Secretary: Jim Buis - jim.buis@btinternet.com

Our Playing Room.

Our Squad.

A TEAM NOMINEES	B TEAM NOMINEES	C TEAM NOMINEES	REMAINING SQUAD
Andrew P Lewis	Simon Webber	Jim Buis	Carl Phillips
Panagiotis Kanellopoulos	Graeme Jones	John McAllister	Martin Ellingham
Philip J Hutchings	Bob Stephens	David Welsh	John Huke
Rowland Kerr	Roderick Saines	Adrian Sanderson

Our Record of Achievements:

Nine of us turned up for our end of season tourney and a few celebratory beers at the Red Lion. On the whole it's been a reasonably good season for us, winning the U1800 Cup, the Division One Rapidplay Cup and the Suffolk section of the Norfolk and Suffolk Cup. It is worth pointing out that this is the first time since 1988 that the Norfolk and Suffolk Cup has not been won by either Bury or Ipswich, and we dispatched both of them in winning it this year. We were also runners up in all three divisions, which apart from division one is exactly where we wanted to finish.
  Rowland triumphed again tonight, just as he did at the start of the season (see September 18 below) but he couldn't quite make a clean sweep of it, although he did try very hard to squeeze a win out of a dead bishop of opposite coloured ending against Bob. The unluckiest player of the night has got to be David, who resigned his game against John M because he was a piece and several pawns down and couldn't stop a pawn from queening. What neither player saw because they were both concentrating on that advanced pawn was that David was sitting on a mate in two when he resigned.

This week we tried a time control of ten minutes with a five second increment, which proved perfect for keeping each round to no more than half an hour and allowed us to finish the tournament comfortably within the allotted time.
  Simon W proved his previous first place was no fluke by improving on his score with a clean sweep. And we should not forget David, who once gain defied his lower rating and came in second. It was good to welcome another new face in the form of Simon D, who was rather thrown in at the deep end and very sportingly took place in his first tournament and showed the potential to become a very useful player.

We started tonight's competition with a leisurely six minutes and a ten second increment. However as it was nearly eight o'clock before the second round started, this was cut back to five minutes, with the penultimate round cut back even further to five minutes and five seconds. The final round of course was back to a leisurely period of an hour or so at the Red Lion where we were all able to celebrate our wins and commiserate our blunders. Once again, congratulations to Simon for finishing as the clear winner dropping only half a point, which by the way, was in the very first round.

With a more leisurely time control of 20 minutes with ten second increments we had a lot more time to think in this three round rapid play mini-tournament. Going into the last round Graeme had the opportunity to finish top if he could just hold Rowland to a draw, but Rowland made sure he didn't repeat his slip up in the previous round and thus they shared the honours.

This should nave been a five round tournament, but it was very soon clear that a time control of 10 minutes with a 15 second increment was far too generous to allow each round to be completed within half an hour. That time control was chosen because it allowed minimal adjustment to the DG2010 clocks from their normal league settings, but future tournaments will go back to the previously used 12 minutes plus ten seconds. And while this doesn't make much difference to a thirty move game, the faster increment means they don't go on much after that (at least they haven't done so in the past).
  As is usually the case, there was a fair share of upsets, but congratulations must go to Jim, who beat off all the opposition without dropping so much as half a point.

The Suffolk chess season seems to be starting earlier each year so we already had four league matches under our belt before we had the chance to fit in our opening blitz with a beer or two at the Red Lion.
  It was very good to see our old A-Team captain join us again this year, although he wasn't able to repeat his previous performance of joint top, because he did repeat his previous performance by slipping up against Bob. It was Rowland who took the honours, leading from the start and showing a clear aptitude for such rapid play games.
  Special mention must be made for David, who despite being the second lowest rated player, came in a clear second. And we mustn't forget John H, playing his first competitive games in Manningtree and didn't come away empty handed.

Although a reduced field from this time last year, it was still a closely fought contest, with the winner in doubt even as the last round started. And the same could be said for the bottom half of the table as Adrian managed to climb off the bottom rung and join the other three as joint fifth. There were truly some extraordinary games, and as always, a fair dose of luck determined the outcome of many.

Tonight's activities was somewhat reduced by events outside of our control, not the least of which was the return of the perennial head cold. It was nonetheless an enjoyable tournament full of the usual mayhem you would expect in a blitz tournament played with five minutes plus a three second increment, Bronstein style. Graeme kept a cool head winning his first four games, while Rowland had lost his first game, no doubt just getting used to the time controls. Meeting in the final round Rowland was able to arrest Graeme's roll and share the top spot with him. We were joined by Mark's brother Alan, who played as enthusiastically as his brother, but declined taking up membership of the club on the grounds that he couldn't afford it. Apparently he lives five thousand miles away. We all thought that was just an excuse.

We had a pretty good turnout for our final club night of the 22/23 season, and after a minor glitch with the 12-player spreadsheet, we got the show on the road. The clocks were set for seven minutes with a five second increment, so we managed to finish all five rounds and still have time for a couple of beers down the Red Lion. It was good to see Leon back for a few over the board games, and he showed he hasn´t lost his touch by finishing joint top. And joint top was none other than David, who not only shared the top spot, but did so without losing a game, and was in fact the only player to complete all five rounds unbeaten. It was also good to welcome a few new faces as well, we look forward to seeing a lot more of them next season.

This is becoming something of a habit. Perhaps we should make these 12m+10s tournaments a regular fixture in the club calendar. And maybe add a Grand-Prix into the mix, the winner being the one with the highest sum of their best five results. Something to think about.

COVID 19 GUIDANCE (From 8th Sept. 2021)

Until the current national guidance changes the guidance below refers to club evenings and internal club matches only. League matches must adhere to the S.C.C.A. guidance.

1. Members who feel unwell, have at least one of the Covid 19 symptoms, are awaiting the results of a test for Covid 19, or have been advised to self-isolate by a competent person, must NOT attend the club under any circumstances.

2. Members who have at least one of the Covid 19 symptoms or have tested positive following a club evening must inform all other members of the club immediately.

3. Members are expected to act responsibly in matters of personal hygiene with hand sanitising gel, disposable gloves and anti-bacterial wipes made available for members to use throughout their playing session.

4. Members are expected to respect social distancing when setting up boards and spectating games.

5. Members are free to decide whether to wear a face mask or not whilst playing. However, should a member insist that his or her opponent wears a mask this must be agreed before the commencement of a game.

Finally, once other groups start using the building all members are expected to follow the Covid 19 rules for the premises when moving around the building.