We’re delighted to share that Hammersmith Chess Club was featured on the Perpetual Chess Podcast. In this episode, Club Captain Gastón Franco talks about how the club grew from fewer than 20 members into one of the most active and welcoming clubs in London.
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!
9 of our teams currently lead their divisions
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.
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
Hammersmith Chess Club invited GM Daniel King once again to present our annual awards for the 2024/25 Season. Danny selected our Game of the Season and showed interesting positions from other nominated games. There were additional prizes for the best players of the season and the winners of our internal tournament series.
GM Daniel King presenting to a large audience at the Mindsports Centre
Danny kicked things off by scattering a few interesting positions from the games around the room and asking the audience to take a look at them and try to find the best move in each position – this ensured the session would be interactive as members were able to suggest moves, at times even surprising the Grandmaster with their creative ideas.
With his trademark charismatic and engaging style, DK walked us through the critical positions of the games, which were played throughout the season by a wide range of our members at all levels, from amateurs to masters. Indeed, it was possible to spot our top IMs Peter Roberson and Tom Rendle in the audience, as well as the winner of the previous two years, Marco Gallana.
This time, the award went to one of our top juniors, Kai Hanache, for his Round 1 win at the English Championship in July. The game featured a positional queen sacrifice which left Kai’s opponent with very passive pieces and an endangered King, until eventually Kai regained the queen while winning material in the process. Replay the game below, and watch the other nominated games on this Lichess Study
After announcing the winner, Danny also presented awards for various categories and internal tournament winners, all of whom received a certificate and a £10 voucher for Chess & Bridge. The full list of winners is below:
Player of the Season: Gaston Franco
First Team Player of the Season: Ash Stewart
Junior of the Season: Aryaman Ganguly
Woman of the Season: Swati Singha
Captain of the season: John White
Sledgehammer Winner: Sarah Ewart
Rockhammer Winner: Nick Fookes
Handicap Blitz Winner: Thomas Bonn
Game of the Season: Kai Hanache
Prize winners receiving awards from GM Danny King. Top L to R: Sarah Ewart, Thomas Bonn, John White. Bottom L to R: Kai Hanache, Gaston Franco, Nick Fookes
Many thanks once again to GM Daniel King, who will also analyse the game on his Youtube Channel (PowerPlayChess) soon. He stressed how difficult it has become to select a winner year after year given the club’s increasing success, with more members, more games being played, and more brilliant moves! As the ECF Club of the Year, let’s make it even harder to choose the 2026 Game of the Season!
