Dust off the diaries folks, & get your midweek excuses ready… we now have confirmed fixtures for most of our teams for the upcoming season.
Full details are on our Calendar page, and further information is available on the London League website (Middlesex and Thames Valley League fixtures are mostly TBC at present).
It’s going to be an absolute cracker this year – with one extra team in the Middlesex League, we’ll be entering 8 teams across 6 Leagues! There will quite literally be dozens of opportunities for all our members to get involved with competitive, Face-to-Face games this year.
That’s even before we talk about our soon-to-be-launched season-long, graded Rapidplay tournament (more details coming up later this week – stay tuned!).
Detailed information below:
- Our London League odyssey officially kicks off on Wednesday 4th October, as our two Division 6 teams face off in the season-opener.
- October is looking like an awesomely-busy month already, even before we add the Thames Valley fixtures – fully THIRTEEN games of chess! It’s going to set the pace for the rest of the season!!
Important Logistics you need to be aware of:
- London League games have now MOVED – the Golden Lane venue is alas no more. The League has moved to a new venue near Holborn – The Citadines Hotel on High Holborn (94-99 High Holborn, WC1V 6LF) – it’s a 2 minute stroll from Holborn tube station.
- The new facility is a bit more ‘plush’ than Golden Lane, and will offer free tea & coffee (!), as well as cheaper beer prices for those post-match analyses.
- All games at the Citadines Hotel will start at 7pm, and will normally be held on a Wednesday evening
- Note that, as usual, any clubs with a home venue in Underground Zone 1 will continue to host their home matches at their venue. In addition to this, our friends at Battersea will also be hosting their home games at their Battersea Labour Club venue this season (81-83 Falcon Road, SW11 2PF – 5 minute walk from Clapham Junction Station)
- Please familiarise yourself with the fixtures you’re likely to be playing in, taking particular note of the start times (they vary considerably by venue!), and addresses. Full details are on our Calendar, and the London League website.
- If you’re in any doubt, please just drop a line to the team Captain
- Some of our captains will be arranging games using the Teamster smartphone app. This is a great piece of tech which we pioneered for our Summer League fixtures. If you haven’t already done so, I urge you to download it now. It truly makes yours and the captains’ lives much, much easier!
Playing Requirements – Important!
We will be operating a strict, but simple set of playing requirements this season as follows:
- All players must be ECF registered AND a fully paid-up member of the club BEFORE they will be picked for any League games.
- ECF Registration – is very simple, and very cheap. From the ECF website: www.englishchess.org.uk – select “Join the ECF” from the right-hand menu, and simply follow the instructions. You only need to be a Bronze member, which is around £15 for the year, though of course you are welcome to choose Silver or Gold membership if you wish.
- Hammersmith Chess Club Membership – is also very simple, and extremely good value. The full range of Membership options can be viewed here. If you haven’t already done so, please contact your team captain, or a member of the Committee and we can provide you with full details of how to pay your subs.
- We will be imposing a strict deadline of September 25th for subs & ECF memberships to be paid. If you aren’t fully signed up by this point, team Captains will not pick you for games. There will be no exceptions.
- Please help us out by ensuring you get signed up as soon as possible.
Many thanks, and on with the chess!!!