Happy New Year! Hammersmith Chess Club will soon resume their league activity with 4 matches to be played on the week of 5th Jan, and we share an update on how we’ve done so far this season. Almost half of our teams stand at the top of their respective league tables!
Given we have 19 different teams, it’s no surprise that we’ve already had lots of competitive chess in the first few months of the season. Indeed, since September we have already played nearly 450 games! The season will run until June 2026, which means there is still much to look forward to, and newer members who haven’t played yet will have more than enough opportunities to join a team – speak to a captain or feel free to message me directly if you’re not sure where to start!
Below is a summary of our stats by team so far. It’s comforting to notice that 9 (out of 19) teams are currently in sole or shared first place in their divisions! This includes: most of our “first” teams; our Women’s team (defending champions); our Juniors team, crushing it in an adult division; and two brand new teams (Mackenzie and Cadets) currently sharing first place in the Minor Division of the London League; and our only team still on 100% score: Hammersmith 3 on the Central London League – and more!
The irregular scheduling of matches makes some of these stats hard to compare against other clubs which might have played a much different number of games so far. But you can only count the points you’ve earned at the board! Speaking of which, the above numbers add up to 36 match-wins to 31 losses (plus 10 draws), rounding to about 53.25% (slightly better than White’s average score per game, according to Lichess stats!)
Upcoming matches
We have 22 matches in January, with spots filling up fast! I hand-picked a few of them that I think will be interesting to follow, so keep an eye on our group chats to see how we’re doing!
8th January: Hammersmith Mackenzie vs Hammersmith Cadets (London League Minor). Two of our teams facing each other for the second time this season! The young Cadets won the first match 3-1 back in September. Will Mackenzie strike back?
15th January: Hammersmith 3 vs Pimlico 4 (Central London League Division 4). We maintain a 100% record in this division and Pimlico is currently in second place. A win would be a big step towards promotion to Division 3.
20th January: London Women Hou vs Hammersmith Women 1 and Wimbledon Women vs Hammersmith Women 2 (London League Women’s). Both of our Women’s team are playing on the same night! Our respective opponents have similar playing strength to our teams, so both matches will be hard fought.
27th January: Hammersmith 1 vs Wood Green (London League Division 1). Our toughest match of the year against the perennial champions of the London League. Even though we will be the underdogs, we have defeated them in the past so it can be done again!
Good luck to all our players in the rest of the season (and don’t forget to save the scoresheets of your good wins for our annual Awards Night!) and wishing everybody a Happy 2026!
Gastón