Month: September 2024

The 2024/25 League Season has officially started this month and Hammersmith is once again presenting 16 teams on 4 different leagues. We expect to play 184 matches throughout the season, meaning a total of 1,100 games (!) for our members, with opportunities for players of all levels from beginner to master.

As usual, we have some Hammer vs Hammer clashes in the divisions where we entered more than one team, and these typically happen at the start of the season before playing other clubs.

Our biggest internal clash is taking place on Thursday 3^rd of October, when Hammersmith 2 will face Hammersmith 3 and Hammersmith 4 will be up against our Juniors team, both for the London League. Each of these matches is played over 8 boards, which means we will need 32 players on the night!

Every Thursday we would typically welcome everyone for either rated or unrated standard or rapid games against other members, but given space constraints for this particular date, your best bet if you want a game will be to join one of our teams.

Our team captains are collecting expressions of interest and will contact the selected players for each team, please fill in this form if you’d like to play.

Please be reminded that both Club Membership and ECF Membership (at least Bronze level) are required for participating in League Matches. If you have not yet done so, please join or renew your memberships.

Thank you to all our players who continue to bring success to our club, and especially to all team captains for coordinating their respective teams, looking forward to some exciting games! The fight for the next Game of Season Award has started!

Hammersmith Chess Club

A major change in Junior Hour for 2024/2025, and the launch of a brand-new chess initiative for Women and Girls at Hammersmith Chess Club. Both these initiatives will start officially on Monday 9th September 2024.

As some of you may already know, Luna Eastham and Luke Lau are both standing down from their positions as Junior coaches. On behalf of the Committee and all Hammersmith members, I want to thank them both for all their hard work over the past 12 months. They are true Hammers.

To fill such a void, we needed to find the right person. To that end, I am delighted to announce that Tom Villiers – Hammer, vastly experienced chess trainer and 2200+ FIDE rated Candidate Master – has agreed to head up Junior Hour coaching at Hammer. I know he will do a fantastic job.

In addition to this exciting development, Hammersmith CC is launching an exclusive Women’s and Girls’ Hour on Monday 9th September. This will start at 5pm, and like Junior Hour be based on school term dates. Tom Villiers will provide coaching from 5:30pm each Monday for the attendees, and there will be other surprises throughout the year.

This is a bold initiative. Its origins lie very much with the altruism of a Hammer member, as well as with huge contributions from Ana, Veronika and Sarah. This is a hugely exciting development for Women’s and Girls’ Chess at our club.

The cost of attending this extra hour will be as follows:

For Women (age 18+) the yearly cost will be £80. This includes entrance to this hour, full Hammer membership and attendance on both Thursday and Monday nights if desired.

For Girls (age under 18) the yearly cost will be £50. This includes entrance to this hour, full Hammer membership and attendance on both Thursday and Monday. The extra payment for Junior hour will remain £100.

I ask all Hammers to help promote this initiative for Women’s and Girls’ Chess, and make it a massive success.

John White