Category: Club Updates

BY CLUB SECRETARY, MIKE MACKENZIE

A flurry of activity in May saw the conclusion of most of the leagues we play in, bringing with it a large dollop of success (and a tiny drop of failure) for the Club’s teams!

Monday 2nd May – Club Night
As it was the May Day bank holiday, the Club did not open!

Tuesday 3rd May – Middlesex League Division 2
Ealing 2 v Hammersmith
Unfortunately the penultimate round of games in the Middlesex League brought with it confirmation that Hammersmith are relegated to Division 3 along with Harrow next season. A 5-3 win over Ealing  brought some consolation. The final match is against Kings Head on 16th May.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
13	2	2	9	3	7th

Player of the Season in the Middlesex League is… John D White

Friday 6th May – London League Division 4, Second Team
Morley College v Hammersmith
This game completes the Second Team’s campaign for this season. Some consolation is brought by us winning our final game 5-2, with one adjournment. Dave Lambert has captained the side with excellence this year and I’m sure he will look forward to leading the side in 2016/17.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
10	2	0	8	2	8th

Player of the Season in London League 4, second team is… Brian Dodgeon

Monday 9th May – Club Night
We had a marvellous turn out with 14 members present, including two first-time callers. The theme of the evening was tactics. John White talked through a game of his where some clever tactical play secured him a win. Bajrush then analysed a game of his where he used his own opening “The Steamroller”, winning in short time.

Unfortunately we had no time for the planned blitz tournament so the remainder of the evening was quick fire chess.

Wednesday 11th May – London League 4, First Team
Athenaeum v Hammersmith
A thumping 6-2 win rounded off a great season for the Division 4 first team. We are promoted!!! Well done to John and his team.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
10	8	1	1	8.5	2nd

Player of the season in London League 4 first team is… Paul Kennelly

Thursday 12th May – London League Division 6
Cavendish v Hammersmith
A clean sweep in our final game saw us finish the season as Champions!! Brilliant well done to all the many players who participated in this league and huge thanks to Dave who took the reigns for this last match.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
9	7	1	1	7.5	1st

Player of the season in London League 6 is… David Lambert

Thursday 12th May – Thames Valley League
Harrow v Hammersmith
A fine final win (4.5-2.5) from our Thames Valley side clinched 1st place and we are Champions of Division 2! Promotion to Division 1 is the order of play next season. Many congratulations to Bajrush and his team for this superb effort.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
12	8	1	3	8.5	1st

Player of the season in Thames Valley Division 2 is… Bajrush Kelmendi

Monday 23rd May – Club Night
A Committee Meeting lasting nearly 2 hours took place. Reports from all Officers were presented in preparation for the AGM.

Following this, Bajrush gave another of his game demonstrations using his by now famous “Steamroller” attack. On completion we all enjoyed some blitz chess. Another fantastic turnout with no fewer than 17 members in attendance.

 

Thursday 26th May – London League Division 5
West London v Hammersmith
Our season in Division 5 ended in a 3-1 defeat. We have had a tough time of it in this league but with a new captain on board for next season and a number of new members, things should soon improve!

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
9	3	2	4	4	6th

Player of the season in London League Division 5 is… Robin Lee

Library Evenings and Rota for June
As you may have read previously, we have expanded our Library evenings throughout the Borough and now offer sessions at four different locations. Full details can be found here, but the dates for June are as follows:

Monday 6 June – Kensington (5.30-7pm)
Tuesday 7 June – Shepherds Bush (5.30-7pm)
Wednesday 8 June – Hammersmith (6-7.30pm)
Thursday 9 June – Fulham (6-7.30pm)

Monday 13 June – Kensington (5.30-7pm)
Tuesday 14 June – Shepherds Bush (5.30-7pm)
Wednesday 15 June – Hammersmith (6-7.30pm)
Thursday 16 June – Fulham (6-7.30pm)

Monday 20 June – Kensington (5.30-7pm)
Tuesday 21 June – Shepherds Bush (5.30-7pm)
Wednesday 22 June – Hammersmith (6-7.30pm)
Thursday 23 June – Fulham (6-7.30pm)

Monday 27 June – Kensington (5.30-7pm)
Tuesday 28 June – Shepherds Bush (5.30-7pm)
Wednesday 29 June – Hammersmith (6-7.30pm)
Thursday 30 June – Fulham (6-7.30pm)

If you’d like to help out with running a session please drop us an email. They are short, fun, and you’ll play some crazy chess!

Thank you to all our members and players this season, and to Anda for the great job in running the Library evenings! We now look forward to the AGM and our Summer activities, and a new season of chess in the not-too-distant future!

Ladies & Gents – a reminder & important note for your diaries:

Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Hammersmith Chess Club
Date: Monday 6th June 2016
Time: From 7pm
Location: Lytton Hall Home Venue

The meeting will be used to discuss a number of matters of Club business, updates and the election of Officers – full agenda can be found here. We encourage as many people as possible to attend what will be an important and interesting meeting.

This will be followed by an open Blitz Tournament for everyone who’s attended!

As a thank-you and congratulations to all members for our success this year (Thames Valley Champions, League 6 Champions, League 4 – Promotion!) there will be a number of extra refreshments & snacks laid on free of charge 😀

Hope to see you all there!

Another treat from the archives on this Bank Holiday Monday.

Our former Chairman and now Life Member Peter S Morton took on a much stronger opponent in the final round of the Guernsey Open back in 2004. Cast your minds back – Facebook was launched in February of that year, the EU expanded by adding another 10 Nation States to the Union, and Greece somehow conspired to win the Euros!

The Guernsey Open is a prestigious event in the calendar, with a sizeable prize pot. Although not in touch of winning the event outright, a victory for Peter would be enough to secure him victory in the Under-2000 section (gives you some idea of the strength of the competition!).

Could he achieve the win? Find out here.

The good news keeps on rolling in!!! After an anxious wait of almost two weeks we have finally received confirmation that our London League 4 first team have been promoted as runners-up in the division. London League 3 awaits next year!

Huge congratulations go to Captain John White and his team. It’s been a very successful season for them, and they’ve always looked on track to gain promotion. Amongst the highlights this season were two 8-0 walkovers – full results here.

We go again!!

More good news for the club late last week, with Bajrush and his Thames Valley team beating Harrow in their last game of the season, thereby ensuring the team finishes as Champions and securing their promotion to Division 1!

Congratulations and thanks to all players who turned out for the team this year – we look forward to returning to Division 1 next year! 😀

 

Congratulations to our League 6 Captain Mike Mackenzie, and his team of stalwarts as we celebrate winning the London League 6 Trophy – victory was sealed late last night as Hammersmith beat Cavendish 4-0 to confirm our status as Champions!

It’s been a great year for Mike & team with Hammersmith leading the table for most of the season. Honourable mention to our friends at Battersea, who were in the hunt until the last round of games but couldn’t quite pip us to the prize, despite some decidedly sharp mind-games the last few weeks (see our Twitter feed @hammer_chess) 🙂

In more good news for Hammersmith, our League 4 first team eagerly awaits confirmation of winning that league. With all our games played it would take a very unlikely set of results for us to be disappointed there. More on that as and when we find out.

Thanks again to Mike and everyone who’s played in the L6 team this year. We go again in 2016/17!!

We are pleased to announce details of our upcoming Theory & Practice sessions for May! Details as follows:

• Monday 9th May, from 7pm – following hot on the heels of our previous session, another look at endgame tactics. April’s session was really valuable & very well received, particularly the discussions on the Lucena and Philidor positions. This will then be followed by another match involving all players – similar to the previous session, it should get everyone thinking well outside of the box!

• Monday 23rd May, from 7pm – a session run by Carsten – currently our top-rated club player and GM-slayer! – this will involve a deeper look at some endgame scenarios, followed by a move-by-move analysis of some recent games from our club players. The game analyses are always fascinating, if only to see just how differently (or perhaps similarly!) a stronger player views the positions. Always gets you thinking and a great way to see moves you wouldn’t otherwise have thought of.

As usual the sessions are free of charge and open to all-comers – no need to be a member, just get in touch if you’d like to come along; we’d love to see you there!

BY CLUB SECRETARY, MIKE MACKENZIE

The games came thick & fast in April, with the club playing no fewer than 10 matches as we approach the end of the season.

Monday 4th April – Thames Valley League
Ealing Juniors v Hammersmith
Hammersmith won the match 4-3 with 2 matches remaining. Monday 11th April we are home to Ealing B, followed by Thursday 12th May away to Harrow A. We are now favourites to win the League and promotion.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
10	7	1	2	7.5	1st

Keeping the home fires burning at the Club House were myself and Andy, who organised, controlled and won a blitz tournament! With five members in attendance, plus a late appearance by Graham, we had an all-play-all competition, results as follows:

Andy 4-3-1-0 = 3.5 points – Winner
Mike 4-2-1-1 = 2.5 points
Chris 4-2-0-2 = 2 points
Phil 4-2-0-2 = 2 points
Chris 4-0-0-4 = 0 points

Phil is one of our newest members. The other Chris was a guest of Chris Moore’s; he lives in Spain but dropped in for a game whilst over on vacation.

Wednesday 6th April – London League Division 4, Team 1
Hammersmith v Kings Head
Great result for the team last night, an 8-0 whitewash!! Cannot get any better! Our closest rivals DHSS who have played 6 (two games more than us), having won 5 and drawn 1. We meet on the fields of Agincourt on Tuesday 26th April. Let’s get as good a turnout as we had last time and we will have the same success as Henry V!!

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
8	7	1	0	7.5	1st

Thursday 7th April – London League Division 6
Wanstead v Hammersmith
A splendid win for Hammersmith securing top spot with 1 game to go. It was a tense affair going to the wire. With the scores level at 1.5-1.5, Robin Lee beat off a furious attack and seemed to be heading for a draw. However he managed to Fork his opponents Rook and Queen, winning the exchange and eventually the game.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
8	6	1	1	6.5	1st

Monday 11th April – Thames Valley League
Hammersmith v Ealing B
Another tense game that went to the wire. Hammersmith with 2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss held on to draw the game and win the match 4-3. This will secure promotion to Division 1, however the Championship will probably go down to board count against Richmond. Hearty congratulations to captain Bajrush and his team!

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
11	7	1	2	7.5	1st

On the other side of the hall four new guests arrived, receiving welcome packs and applications forms – welcome to our new members! We hope to see them at our next training evening.

Wednesday 13th April – London League Division 5
Hammersmith v Metropolitan
Although hopelessly out graded, we put up a good show with 2 draws and 2 losses. We have struggled a bit in this division, but with the influx of new members will certainly do better next season!

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
6	2	1	3	2.5	9th

Tuesday 14th April – London League Division 4, Team 2
Newham v Hammersmith
Our London League 4 second team welcomed two of our newest members, Gokhan and Phil. Gokhan fared well on his debut with a win. Robin was again the star, winning in 16 moves! The overall result was a loss for us 3-5. No shame in that though, Newham are top of the league!

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
9	1	0	8	1	10th

Monday 18th April – Middlesex League
Hammersmith v Muswell Hill
This last 3-5 loss means we are relegated to Division 3. A great shame for Bajrush and his players – we’ll be back in Division 2 next season.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
12	1	2	9	2	8th

Tuesday 19th April -Exhibition Match
Hammersmith v Fulham Juniors
This was Hammersmith’s first clash with a Junior team. A suburb little tournament, turn out, and a very pleasing result. Two matches were played, with a 3-3 result in both – match drawn! You can read a full report of the match here.

Thursday 21st April – London League 5
Battersea v Hammersmith
A nice win for Hammersmith, with Dan excelling again on board 4, and John R winning with a nice controlled attack, despite giving away 13 grading points to his opponent.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
7	3	1	3	3.5	8th

Monday 25th April – Free Evening & Training Session
A special Committee meeting took place at the clubhouse from 6.30pm to finalise details of our Club Constitution. Some other business was discussed and will be finalised at our next Committee meeting.

A training session started after the meeting in which Bajrush demonstrated Rook-Pawn endings. The endings were well known positions: the Lucena and the Philidor positions (the two articles are well worth a read if you’re unfamiliar with either of them). Another successful turnout and an excellent display from Bajrush.

To round the evening off an excellent and original tournament took place, whereby members were split into two “teams” but then rotated around the boards. An excellent way to encourage original and agile thinking about positions. 12 members took part and it was superbly controlled by Bajrush. We will certainly do this again!

Tuesday 26th April – London League Division 4, Team 1
DHSS v Hammersmith
Our promotion hopes took a setback with this loss to what looks like the strongest team in the league. Hammersmith lost narrowly, 3.5-4.5. We have one game left and should be overwhelming favourites to beat Athenaeum who are floundering near the bottom of the table. This will give us 8.5pts. Newham have completed their season on 8pts. Streatham who have also completed their season have the same score as us but after beating Kings Head 8-0 have a board count of +36 compared to our +30. DHSS have two to play (Kings Head, and Wanstead). Sitting with 7pts they could end up with 9pts.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
9	7	1	1	7.5	2nd

Thursday 28th April – London League 5
Hammersmith v Streatham
An excellent draw for Hammersmith – on board 1 Robin won in double quick time against a strong 130-rated player, and I had a nice controlled draw against a 123.

Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	Position
8	3	2	3	4	8th

May Fixtures:

• 3rd May – Ealing 2 (A), Middlesex League
• 6th May – Morley College (A), London League 4 (Team 2)
• 11th May – Athenaeum (A), London League 4 (Team 1)
• 12th May – Cavendish (A), London League 6
• 12th May – Harrow A (A), Thames Valley League
• 16th May – Kings Head (H), Middlesex League
• 18th May – Metropolitan (A), London League 4 (Team 2)
• 26th May – West London (A), London League 5

Full list of fixtures & results can also be found here.

Library Evenings and Rota for May
As you may have read previously, we will shortly be expanding our library evenings as a result of the enormous success of our weekly spot in Hammersmith Library. Full details can be found here, but the dates for May are as follows:

Monday 9 May – Kensington (5.30-7pm)
Tuesday 10 May – Shepherds Bush (5.30-7pm)
Wednesday 11 May – Hammersmith (6-7.30pm)
Thursday 12 May – Fulham (6-pm)

Monday 16 May – Kensington (5.30-7pm)
Tuesday 17 May – Shepherds Bush (5.30-7pm)
Wednesday 18 May – Hammersmith (6-7.30pm)
Thursday 19 May – Fulham (6-7.30pm)

Monday 23 May – Kensington (5.30-7pm)
Tuesday 24 May – Shepherds Bush (5.30-7pm)
Wednesday 25 May – Hammersmith (6-7.30pm)
Thursday 26 May – Fulham (6-7.30pm)

Monday 30 May – Kensington (5.30-7pm)
Tuesday 31 May – Shepherds Bush (5.30-7pm)
Wednesday 1 May – Hammersmith (6-7.30pm)
Thursday 2 May – Fulham (6-7.30pm)

Thanks to all members & players, and best of luck in our remaining games this season!