“And now the end is near, And so I face the final curtain, My friends I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case of which I am certain” – Paul Anka/Frank Sinatra
Hammers,
This is my final article as Chair of Hammersmith Chess Club, as I will be stepping down from the post at the next AGM – to be held on the 7th of July 2025. I will be fully supporting our Secretary Adam Cranston as next Chair, and I know he will be do a superb job for our club in the role. Stepping into Adam’s shoes, as Club Secretary, will be David Lambert another stalwart of the club and someone who has been a long serving member and fully knows this club inside out. I will, if you vote me in, be taking up the reins of the Events Officer again and hope to be able to bring lots of activity in 2025/2026.
I want to say it has been one of the greatest honours of my life to lead this club and see it grow and develop into something that is so special and unique. This is down to many people, and I will get to them later in this missive. The journey we have been on, as a club, in the last 10 years has been amazing and I know there are even better times ahead. This has been another fantastic season for our club with a list of huge achievements.
The Hammersmith team in the Fide Rapid and Blitz Team World Championships won the u2200 prize. Lead by our great captain Gaston. This was a phenomenal result
Our Women’s team won the London Women’s League. Great Captaincy from Ana
Hammer 2 won Division 3 and were unbeaten all season – some Captain called Clueless???
Hammer 1 came second in London League Division 1 losing narrowly to Wood Green in the winner takes it all match. We were so unlucky – Jim Stevenson did a fabulous job.
Hammer 1 in the Middlesex Division 1 came joint first only losing out on points difference – Captain Maria did an amazing job
Hammer 3 finished second in Division 4 of the Central London League and gained promotion
Our LL Junior team scored 50% and finished mid table an outstanding result.
Hammersmith 3 just missed out on promotion in Middlesex 3 as did Hammer 1 in the Central London League
We finished 4th in the Thames valley Division 1
We also performed well in the other London, Middlesex and CLL divisions.
These are the headlines – for a club that only had 19 members 10 years ago this is some progress. However, as amazing as this roll of honour is I think it pales into insignificance as to what the soul of our club is. We are Hammers – we play for each other, not just ourselves. We support each other…. always. We welcome all to our club and judge people by the content of their character and not their chess ability. We are friends. This is what makes us so unique.
I also want to thank all the Captains, the Trainers, The Committee members and all of you… For what you have contributed to the club – your club – and I will never forget that.
Finally, I want to make a final plea to all of you – none of the above happens without the volunteers – we have a unique culture in our club that encourages people to contribute – I urge all of you to step forward to become a captain, to serve on the Committee, to help with Junior hour or be a mentor to new members.
Thank you once again for supporting me as Chair and now let’s move with confidence and pride to the next chapter of Hammersmith Chess Club.
John aka Lord Clueless Chair of Hammersmith Chess Club June 2025
Dear Members, the club’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) is approaching – this year it will be held on Monday 7th July at 7:30pm at the Mindsports Centre.
The Committee gives notice that the following members will stand for re-election:
President – Adam Cranston (currently Secretary)
Treasurer – Christof Brixel
Club Captain – Gastón Franco (currently Webmaster)
PR & Events Officer – John White (currently Chairman)
Diversity Officer – Anastasija Royce
Junior Officer – Tom Townsend
Auditor – Nadim Osseiran
We are sorry to announce that Robin Sarfas and Matt Perchard have decided to step down from the Committee this year.
As Club Captain for several years, Robin has carried out a demanding and vital role with dedication and professionalism. Responsible for overseeing 16 teams, he introduced several initiatives to support our ever-changing roster of captains. These include comprehensive documentation to help new captains avoid common pitfalls, as well as organising the now-annual end-of-season captains’ dinner.
In his role as PR & Events Officer, Matt has brought numerous prominent speakers to the club, delivering both entertaining and thought-provoking lectures. His creativity and expertise have been instrumental in shaping the club’s identity — our current logo, branded scoresheets and pens are all the result of his remarkable work.
The Committee is deeply grateful for Robin and Matt’s significant contributions and lasting impact.
With this in mind, David Lambert intends to run for the position of Secretary, and David Steyn for the role of Webmaster. All members are encouraged to stand for any Committee position, and all applications are warmly welcomed.
This year, the Committee proposes to make a significant amendment to club’s status. In short, we are looking into setting up Hammersmith Chess Club as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO for short).
We have struggled sometimes with not being an official organisation, including difficulties with bank accounts, lease agreements and software to help us manage the club better.
What is a CIO?
The CIO was created in response to requests from charities for a new legal form that could provide some of the benefits of being a company, but without some of the burdens.
What are the advantages of CIOs?
We can enter into contracts
We can receive gift-aid
Other benefits as that of a charity
Specifics of the proposed changes to the club constitution will be shared in due course.
Any member who wishes to stand for a Committee position, or to submit a motion for the meeting, should do so at least 21 days prior to the AGM – that is, 16th June. If you want to support any of the Committee roles, we would love to hear from you too, as there is a lot of work to run the club and any time is valued. There are a number of subcommittees reporting to the Committee that are vital to the club, on which volunteers to help out are invaluable. We are constantly looking for members to help out in areas including (but not limited to) the following:
Operations
– Running club night events
– Point of contact and friendly face for new walk-ins
– Providing suggestions for different types of events to run
– Running occasional club nights on Mondays and Thursdays
Captaincy
– Captains for the 2025/26 season
Juniors
– Coaching at Monday night Junior Hour (6-7pm)
Events/PR
– Help with organising club tours, events and matches
Website/Social Media
– Writing articles for the website
– General maintenance of website
– Creating other useful pages for the website
– Creating content for our social media channels
Please contact Club Secretary Adam if you wish to stand for a Committee position, submit a motion, or are willing to help out in any other way: adam1234321@gmail.com
Between the 11th and the 15th of June, teams from all over the world are gathering to play in the 2025 FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships – at the Novotel in Hammersmith!
We could not pass up the opportunity to play on home ground and have registered a team to take on this monumental challenge: at the time of writing, there are 112 GMs (about 25% of the field!) registered to play for dozens of other teams.
Led by Captain and Club Secretary Adam Cranston, our players will be Marco Gallana (2232 FIDE Rapid), Tom Villiers (2108), Alistair Hill (2095), Ashley Stewart (2056), Kai Hanache (2023), Gaston Franco (2010), Maria-Alexandra Ciocan (1924), Aryaman Ganguly (1604) and Gesneria-Codruta Cepoi (1599). A healthy mix of youth and experience (at least by chess standards)!
Top, L to R: Marco, Tom, Ali, Ash, Kai. Bottom, L to R: Gaston, Maria, Aryaman, Gesneria, Adam.
Our starting ranks are #44 for Rapid and #45 for Blitz. FIDE Rapid and Blitz ratings might not be too reliable for some players, but nevertheless it is clear competition will be fierce, with the strongest teams including several of the top 10 players in the world such as Hikaru Nakamura, Alireza Firouzja, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, etc.
We hope all our other members will support our team! Keep an eye on our WhatsApp channels for updates and links to games and commentary – we are pleased to hear our friend and member GM Daniel King will join the official commentary team at FIDE alongside IM and WGM Jovanka Houska! Check out which five teams he has picked as the ones to watch:
But that is not all! We have many members playing for other teams, with the Sharks being one we are already very familiar with: we partnered up with them in 2024 to win the Global Chess League. IMs Peter Roberson and Tom Rendle, plus FM James Moreby are some of their top players.
Other Hammers joining the competition are GM Gawain Maroroa Jones at Malcolm’s Mates, with many members of Team England; Sami Mortazavi at e-therapeutics; FM Supratit Banerjee at English Knightmares; FM Sohum Lohia at Turkish Airlines Sports Club, with other prodigies such as IMs Lu Miaoyi and Faustino Oro; and Zain Patel, Harry Bryant and Raman Vashisht-Pigem at The London Legends. Lots of clubmates to follow! (And I hope I did not miss any others!)
World Rapid and Blitz Team Schedule. Source: FIDE
In addition to online streaming, there are tickets for sale on the FIDE website to watch the event at the Novotel. For more info, visit the official website.
Introducing: A lecture and workshop for club members by Scotland’s strongest ever player, Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson.
GM Jonathan Rowson – photo by David Llada
Jonathan is a three-time British Chess Champion and author of the critically acclaimed books, The Seven Deadly Chess Sins (2001) Chess for Zebras (2005) and The Moves that Matter (2019).
On Monday 5th May, Jonathan will introduce the idea of chess therapy, ahead of offering weekly chess therapy sessions at the Mindsports Centre on Monday evenings. Jonathan has prepared material from his books to share, but would also welcome the chance to analyse games and take questions from club members, so feel free to bring them along.
Report by Christof Brixel on the recent Jersey International Chess Festival – where 4 Hammers participated
Which island would you associate with a week-long International Open in April? One immediately thinks of Reykjavik, and sure it is an attractive tournament. But then, there is Jersey. Close to the UK, but not part of it. Much more sunny than Reykjavik, lots of sandy golden beaches, and a long history of chess tournaments. In fact, the author proudly remembers the Jersey International Congress 1975 where he (not a Hammer yet) finished 3rd in a strong field, and so it was a kind of nostalgic return exactly 50 years later.
This time, there were 4 Hammers, plus the father of our local Jersey boy Matt, who was convinced to participate the night before the start. Quite a family affair. The only negative aspect was the low number of participants, in total 44 players, just a tenth of the simultaneously convened Reykjavik Open. That however created another touch of familiar atmosphere, which seems to me quite fitting to the relaxed Jersey mood. Do I need to tell more about Jersey? Its population is half the size of Hammersmith, it is a self-governing entity, and it is so because it was supportive of English kings when it was important – Henry III in 1259, when it was either France or England; then Charles II who was proclaimed king here in 1649, 11 years before the monarchy was restored with his crowning in London. It seems, Jersey knows how to play the royal game. Well, back to chess then.
The participants were split in 2 sections: a smaller, norm-awarding Open with mostly titled players, and a – maybe inappropriately called – Holiday section with FIDE ratings below 1900. Our fabulous four represented Hammersmith in both groups. There is Gaston, everyone knows him. Organiser and lecturer of nearly everything, he was able to squeeze in a holiday week. Same goes for Robin, club captain, organiser of our teams, he came with his girlfriend for a joint fun & chess week (the verdict is open whether that suits the chess). Matt, still the club’s PR officer, having recently returned to his native Jersey (does that give a home advantage?). And then me, Christof, adult improver (I hope so, at least!)
So, how did it go? To start with a summary: With the exception of myself, we all won prizes: Matt and Robin won Rating prizes, Gaston was Best U2150. Everyone improved on their starting rating, Matt even by an impressive 92 points! And the challenge was formidable. Most of us started in the bottom half of the rating lists. Half of our games were against title holders, mainly GMs and IMs in the Open section, but also some in the U1900 section. Gaston played all except one game against titled players, he was in fact paired in the first round with the final winner, Lithuanian GM Eduardas Rozentalis. We made no points in our 3 games against GMs, drew one in 4 against IMs, but made 5 of 7 (!) against FMs and drew the one game against a CM, all in all not too bad for us four amateurs.
Day 1 started with a hammer. And I mean that. It surely was a big upset in the Open section, me winning against all odds against a FM who was here after an IM norm, a mere 340 points higher rated. I played a good game, and the end was even better. In mutual time trouble, I found the psychologically most challenging move, then the winning tactics motif, and executed the right sequence. You sense a feeling of pride in my words? Judge for yourself:
Christof Brixel v FM Koby Kalavannan
After White played 30. Re5, Black should have given his queen with dxe5 31.Bxc6 exf4 for a chance to hold the game. After 30…Qc8 however, White wins with 31.Re7! Qf5 (Qxe8 32.Rxe8 Kg7 33.Rxf8! Kxf8 34.Bxd6+) 32.Bh6! Rc8 33.g4 (Be4 or Bd5 work as well) Qf6 34.Bxf8! Rxe8 35.Rxe8 and Black has to give back the queen to avoid being checkmated. It couldn’t have started better – which means it could only get worse. And it got worse, for me. So, the next days reports are mainly dedicated to my fellow Hammer players.
Day 2: See day 7.
Day 3 saw Matt’s brilliancy in his game against a higher rated opponent. He sacrificed an exchange in a tactically demanding position. With Matt’s tournament preparation heavily focused on calculation skills, it definitely helped to bring home the point. See for yourself – would you have found and gone for Matt’s choice?
Gus Weber v Matthew Perchard
Black sacrificed the exchange with 16…Bxf3!, and after White accepted the sac with 17.Bxf8 (Qxf3 was necessary), Black followed up with Bxg2 (Bxh2+ works even quicker, but requires flawless calculation) 18.Bxd6 Bxf1. Black is a pawn up in a much better position, the rest was good technique.
Day 4: Christof blundered in record time against the World’s best non-binary (their own words) chess player, who at the end had more time on the clock than at the beginning. Otherwise, see day 7.
Day 5 was the golden day of the Hammers, 4 games, 4 wins. Did our joint relaxed dinner the evening before help? Early finishers were watching the remaining matches in the downtown Sports Bar. No, chess is not on Sky Sports yet, but 3 of our 4 games were always recorded live on Lichess. For Gaston it was a diamond day, winning a fabulous game against FM Mike Waddington.
Day 6: Robin took on a CM. His energy level was still high from his day off with a bike trip around the island. And in true Hammer holiday spirit, he gave 2 pieces for a rook and a couple of pawns, plus the initiative. The game continued in a highly complex manner. In mutual time trouble towards the end (that seemed to be a common theme for us, may be Jersey-mood inspired) he settled for a draw by threefold repetition. Have fun watching the whole game.
Day 7: We have to talk about knight endings. Three times, we dropped unnecessary points. Knight endings are a matter of calculation and visualisation, but also of having seen lots of patterns and quickly recognising ideas. So, before the next tournament, some focused puzzle training is due to overcome our knight ending trauma.
Brixel v Clarke
White has a tablebase draw after 46. Kf2, but lost after 46. Kg2, which allows Black’s King to support its f-pawn with Ke4.
Hunn v Perchard
Black has a tablebase win after 42… Ke4, but lost his h-pawn after 42… Nf4 43. Kh6 and drew.
Day 8: Last round, Saturday, our Black Sabbath day. Three losses, only Christof escaped with a lucky draw. Maybe moody blues had taken over by now, with a lovely week coming to an end.
Hammers having dinner – we all won that day!
When you have four Hammer players together, even if everyone with his own agenda, you can expect lots of joint postmortems, of chess-related discussions, some beer and wine, and else. That is the charm of those events. Besides the relaxed holiday mood and a good sun tan, we gained prizes, and all gained rating points, and we also took home some valuable lessons.
And lots of new memories, which is what is really counting.
Following the popularity of our initial series of beginners’ classes, we are very happy to announce our next series of classes, to begin on Thursday 1st May.
Or second series of classes will take place at 5:30pm each Thursday over 8 weeks. Each week will feature an hour long group lesson on a different topic, followed by organised, casual games against your fellow students.
The cost of the course will be £100, reduced by 50% for Hammersmith members. Non-members who take the course will be eligible for a 50% discount on club membership.
Following feedback from the previous series, we will be insisting that all attendees are genuine beginners. Those who sign up are expected to know little more than the basic rules of chess. Anyone rated >800 should not attend.
1st team captain Jim Stevenson would like to invite all members to watch our upcoming match against Wood Green, including live commentary by some of our top players!
Hi everyone. As some of you may know, I am the (essentially non-playing) captain of our London League Division 1 team.
On Tuesday, 6th May, we will play one of the most important matches in the modern history of the club. We face the mighty Wood Green team, league champions (for the past 20 years!), who will undoubtedly field a team consisting of 8 Grandmasters against us.
We also have a strong, youthful and ambitious team, and in fact, as you may recall, we beat Wood Green in the individual match against them last season. Then we were too inconsistent to challenge for the league title, this time around we have 100% from our first seven matches, and this upcoming match will decide the fate of the championship title.
London League Division 1 – Table as of 17 April 2025
So an exciting and memorable event in our club history. We will be underdogs, but with a good fighting chance! To mark the occasion, the club will be providing a commentary room for those who want to follow the match. Several players of our first team squad will provide a lively, interactive discussion upstairs in the T- Mark room for the top two games and there may also be a livestream for those unable to join us in person (details TBD).
All members are welcome, though space will be limited, so if you are interested in attending, please let Adam Cranston, John White or myself know in advance, so that we can make comfortable arrangements. There will be a few other matches that day, so even if you are not playing there will be plenty of chess to watch!
Match reports on two important fixtures in the Central London Chess League Division 2, against home club Pimlico and the undefeated leaders Streatham
Tom Townsend‘s Hammersmith 1 in the Central London League has added some reinforcements this month (new members Sergiy and Berk) and returned to Pimlico since last December – one match took place in January, but it was against our own second team and therefore played at the MSC.
Hoping to keep our promotion chances alive, the tasks were to beat local club Pimlico, and to at least draw against the intimidating leaders Streatham, who have not lost a match yet and consistently field players in the 2100-2350 range. Gastón was acting captain on both matches, and shares his thoughts on the games.
Hammersmith 1 vs Pimlico 3 (Thursday 06 Feb 2025)
This was an interesting match, with Pimlico 3 bringing some lower rated players than usual. On paper we had a big advantage, but when the clocks start ticking it’s rarely so easy! The venue was quite crowded, which made it hard to check on how the other games were going.
I could see Cian going for a line in the French defense of which I know little theory so I couldn’t evaluate the position easily. This was in fact the first game to end so I suppose Black was okay!
Board 2 also saw a French, with Sergiy taking the initiative as White and giving up an exchange in order to keep his opponent’s king in the centre, while securing a strong outpost for his bishop. The game looked very entertaining and it eventually ended with checkmate on the board after a precise sequence of moves. A great first game for a new club member!
My own game was not so interesting, although the context perhaps was. My opponent David is also my colleague and we both co-host a chess club at our office! We have played blitz games against each other many times, with mixed results. This time he tried some offbeat moves in the opening and got into an awkward position early on, until his queen got trapped in a somewhat amusing way.
15… Re8 left the white queen with no squares, winning a piece after 16. Ne3
These 3 results were enough to win us the match, but the fight continued on boards 3 and 4. Bajrush had an unfortunate moment when he captured a pawn leaving a piece en prise, as he would give a back-rank checkmate a few moves later. I was watching and thought it was a clever trick, only to realise Black could actually block the “checkmate”… So White lost a piece and the game later on.
On the last game to finish, Christof played a complex middlegame which turned into a fascinating knights endgame, full of tactics and counterattacks. His central pawns were marching on but his king was unable to support them, while his opponent’s monarch marched to the queenside to push his pawn majority. Christof managed to use his knight to stop white’s last passed pawn, but with the white king trying to chase it away, a threefold repetition could not be avoided.
The final result was Hammersmith 3.5 – 1.5 Pimlico.
Hammersmith 1 vs Streatham 1 (Thursday 20 Feb 2025)
We knew this match was going to be tough and even then Streatham was stronger than we expected. All their players were rated higher than our board 1! The first result was decided on the Tube: some incident caused disruption on several lines and prevented Streatham’s board 5 from arriving before the default time, and unfortunately Berk did not get a game.
The other four games did get played, and mine was the shortest one: it was an unusual line in the Accelerated Dragon which I had played a month ago with opposite colours against Hammersmith 2’s Grigoris, when I deviated earlier from the known theory. This time I had Black and my opponent Jeremy did play the most critical moves, although the time he was spending suggested he was out of book. The lines I had once looked at were complex and I could not remember what I was supposed to do, so I got in a bad position after giving up a pawn. I was lucky to find a tactic that restored the material balance, and we landed on a rook endgame with 5 pawns each. A draw was agreed shortly after.
Sergiy was facing their highest rated played (and FM) on board 2, and he had a slight initiative at some point in an Italian game, gaining space on the queenside and keeping a solid pawn centre. He then tried to push forward on the kingside too, but it was his own king who got exposed in the process. Black got a strong attack with some rook lifts and won a pawn, converting in the endgame and equalizing the match score.
All the fireworks were happening on board 4, with Christof launching a daring kingside attack and then finding a nice sequence that won an exchange as shown in the diagram, where 1… Qe7 would lose to 2. Rxf6. The game ended quickly after 1… Qxd4 2. Qxe8 Kg8 3. Qe4 Qb6 4. Qd5+ Kh8 5. Qf7 Qb8 6. Rxf6! gxf6 7. Nf5 d5+ 8. Kg2 1-0
This result brought some relief, as we were then leading 2.5-1.5 meaning we could not lose the match. We were still hoping for a win and it all depended on Harry‘s game. He was defending as Black against a King’s Gambit, and while it looked scary at some point, White settled for trading queens and coming out with an extra pawn. After more trades, the resulting endgame had White with a bishop and 5 pawns and Black with a knight and 4 pawns. Harry tried to create a fortress but his opponent played very accurately and managed to convert the advantage. Overall, an amazing effort by our team, outgraded by a large margin on all boards.
The Fight for Promotion
The current League Table
Drawing this match keeps us potentially on equal footing with Streatham, as we have played fewer matches. Our next match (6th March) is the return leg against them. We are yet to face Battersea Galacticos which is another strong team in this division and our first encounter will be in March as well. Please let Tom know if you want to play either or both.
Clearly, next month will be crucial as only one team gets promoted. Let’s keep it up!
Following on from the success of Junior Hour and Women and Girls Hour, Hammersmith Chess Club is proud to introduce its next offering, aimed at another sizeable but often-neglected demographic: chess beginners!
Commencing on 9th January, our first official Beginners & Improvers Course will take place at 5:30pm each Thursday over 8 weeks. Each week will feature an hour long group lesson on a different topic, followed by organised, casual games against your fellow students.
The cost of the course will be £100, reduced by 50% for Hammersmith members. Non-members who take the course will be eligible for a 50% discount on club membership.
Those who sign up are expected to know no more than the basic rules of chess. Anyone rated >1200 would be too strong for this course, but depending on demand, there may be more advanced courses in future.
Hammersmith Chess Club is thrilled to host Grandmaster Daniel King once again for an exclusive book signing and puzzle-filled lecture for his new book launch! This is a unique chance to gain invaluable insights and get a copy of his new book signed!
GM Daniel King will share his expertise through puzzles, exercises, and chess wisdom throughout the evening.
He will also be selling signed copies of his books at a special discounted price of just £20 each:
King’s Anti-Sicilians for Black (25 copies available)
