Details of adult chess are in the left hand column and junior chess in the right hand column below. Online chess is also taking place - main club communities ["Watford Chess Club" and, for junior members and others known to us, "Watford Juniors"] are on Lichess but there are corresponding communities on Chess.com. Teams compete in 4NCL and other events, both over-the-board and onIine
Watford Chess Club's venue at West Herts Sports Club, 8 Park Avenue, Watford WD18 7HP has now reopened. Club nights are on Mondays for both adults (7.30 onwards) and juniors (6.0 onwards). Entry to the Function Room, where the club meets, is at the rear of the building, opposite the cricket pitch.
Both adults and juniors take part in the 4 Nations Chess League, both online and over-the-board, with junior teams also playing in the Junior 4 Nations Chess League. Watford has two teams in the 4 Nations Chess League, two in the Hertfordshire League, and junior teams in the J4NCL and the Hillingdon League.
Intending new members of all levels and abilities (with the obvious proviso that they know how to play chess) are welcome. Club policy is that newcomers are allowed three visits as guests to sample the atmosphere and decide whether they wish to apply to join the club. This website aims to give full information about the club but, if you find there is anything not covered here, please use the "Contact Us" facility and a committee member will get in touch.
Our squad in this event is fairly evenly divided between adults and juniors. In 2022-23, Watford 'A' compete in Division 3 East whiIe Watford 'B' compete in Division 4. Both events are scheduIed to take pIace over 11 rounds spread across five weekends.
First two rounds for both teams was 5-6 November with Watford A resuIts shown in opposite coIumn and Watford B resuIts on 'ResuIts' page. Later weeks for Watford A are 7-8 January (Daventry), 11-12 February (Warwick), 25-26 March (Daventry) and 29 April - 1 May (Milton Keynes). The 11 opposing teams are AngIian Avengers, Cambridge University B, Crowthorne, GuiIdford CastIes, HuII & East Riding, Iceni, MK Phoenix, Poisoned Pawns, Rhyfelwyr Essyllwg, Surbiton and Sussex B.
Watford B wiII pIay on 7-8 January (Daventry), 4-5 February (Daventry), 25-26 March (Daventry) and 29 April - 1 May (Warwick). Division 4 is a Swiss-paired event so future opponents are unknown.
Start times, except for the finaI three-day weekend, are 2.0 (Saturdays) and 11.0 (Sundays) Time control is first 40 moves in 100 minutes with 50 minutes for all remaining moves plus 30-second increments from move 1
BREAKING NEWS: Catastrophe at the 7-8 January 4NCL weekend - the 'A' team lost both matches (4-2 and 5-1) while the 'B' team did only slightly better with a 3-3 draw and a 4.5-1.5 loss.
4 NATIONS CHESS LEAGUE ONLINE
Three Watford teams, including two junior teams, will compete in the 2022-23 main 4NCL online. In 2021-22Watford's first team compete in Division 1; they won their group and were beaten in the semi finals by a very strong Guildford Young Guns team. Watford's second team finished fourth in their group in Division 3.
HERTFORDSHIRE CHESS LEAGUE
Watford are fielding two teams in the Hertfordshire Chess League.
1. Receive apologies for absence
2. Elect Officers, Secretaries and Committee for 2022-23. Committee nominations are:
President Sriram Panchanadeeswaran
Treasurer AIistair TayIor
Club Secretary Jayakumar Jayakarthikeyan
Membership Secretary Sandesh Tathare? (TBC)
Juniors Secretary Roger Lancaster
Tournament Secretary Vacant
Other Committee members Simon Charles (TBC), Sanjay Vig (TBC), Bradley Mead-Herbert (TBC) plus one vacancy
3. Approve the Accounts for the financial year ending 31st July 2022
4. Agree Club membership subscriptions for 2022-23.
5. Approve minutes of September 2021 AGM
6. Receive report on the 2021-22 year
7. Plans for 2022-23
8. Any Other Business
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, WATFORD CHESS CLUBJUNIOR CLUB NEWS, JANUARY 2023:
BREAKING NEWS: New venue, effective Monday 23 January, is Herts Bowling Club, Bellmount Wood Avenue, Watford WD17 3BT. (There are no further club nights at West Herts Sports Club).
The club was open as usual on Monday 2 January for a 6-round ECF-rated rapidplay open to all club members which was won by Luuk van Essen with a 100% score ahead of Alistair Taylor on 5/6 and Aashna, Ananya, Maya, Rishabh and Vishnu, all on 4 points. 18 competed, including 13 juniors. |
Club nights are from 6.0 until 10.45 (but no obligation to stay late!) on Monday evenings.. "Junior" normally means under 18. We strongly recommend juniors join the EngIish Chess Federation because there are many events where ECF membership is mandatory. Junior membership of the ECF is inexpensive - see https://www.englishchess.
Please note that the juniors no longer meet at West Herts Sports Club, nor at the temporary venue in The Harebreaks, north Watford.
Full junior membership (expiring 30 September 2023) of Watford Chess Club costs £35 and is subject, in the case of new members, to their already being able to play chess at a reasonable level, taking age into account. "Online only" membership is £17.50.
Most Monday evening sessions start with group coaching (6.0 to 6.40) following which training games take place. The length of playing sessions means that we can stage classical games (typically 45' + 15") as well as rapidplay. Some evenings instead have matches against other clubs. We aim to ensure that all rated training games at the club, whether rapidplay or classical, count towards juniors' ratings by the ECF within 10 days of their being played.
Main competitive activities are described below with a fixture list on the separate 'Fixtures' page.
Eight-year-old Advait Keerthi Kumar was his age-group winner (October 2021) from several thousand entries in the UK Chess Challenge. In the final, Advait won 8 and drew one of his 11 games.
JUNIOR 4 NATIONS CHESS LEAGUE
Dates for the three 2022-23 weekends are stiII awaited.
Watford Juniors played in the third and final 2021-22 weekend, 9-10 April, in Daventry - results in table below.
J4NCL DIVISION ONE | P | W | D | L | MP | GP | ||
1 | Oxfordshire A | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 15 | |
2 | JHJ 1 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 14½ | |
3 | Staffordshire Spitfires | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 13 | |
4 | Welsh Dragons A | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 10 | |
5 | Leicestershire Juniors | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9½ | |
6 | Watford Juniors | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | |
7 | Fantastic Six | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 11 | |
8 | 3Cs Charmanders | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 10½ | |
9 | Warwickshire Bears A | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | |
10 | JHJ 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8 | |
11 | Harrow Juniors A | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 5½ | |
12 | Manchester A | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
For the 2022-23 event, 'juniors' means those born 2005 or later. Watford teams typically consist of juniors rated 1100 or higher although there are often one or two reserve places for lower-rated juniors who it is believed will benefit from the experience. Each weekend consists of 5 rounds [3 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday] of chess, at either an 80' + 10" [Division 1] or 50' + 10" [Division 2] rate of play, between teams of four following a Swiss-paired system. BeIow ( L to R) Avy, Maanav, Jacob, Ananya. (Not shown, Aashna) in April.
4 NATIONS CHESS LEAGUE
For this event, Watford Juniors combines with the adult section of the club - our squad is fairly evenly divided between adults and juniors - with two teams competing. In 2022-23, Watford 'A' compete in Division 3 East whiIe Watford 'B' compete in Division 4. Both events are scheduIed to take pIace over 11 rounds spread across five weekends.
Watford A played 5-6 November and 7-8 January (Daventry on both occasions - results in 'Latest Results' pages) with later matches on 11-12 February (Warwick), 25-26 March (Daventry) and 29 April - 1 May (Milton Keynes).
Watford B pIayed 5-6 November and 7-8 January (Daventry on both occasions - results in 'Latest Results' pages) with later matches on 4-5 February (Daventry), 25-26 March (Daventry) and 29 April - 1 May (Warwick).
Start times, except for the finaI three-day weekend, are 2.0 (Saturdays) and 11.0 (Sundays) Time control is first 40 moves in 100 minutes with another 50 minutes for all remaining moves plus 30-second increments per move starting at move 1. . .

HILLINGDON & DISTRICT LEAGUE - JUNIOR DIVISION
This Ieague restarted with a match at Harrow on Thursday 10 November, to be foIIowed by Watford Juniors hosting two teams from Uxbridge on 21 and 28 November, the return matches taking pIace earIy next year. . Format is teams of four playing 45' + 15" sessions, on home and away basis. In the 2021-22 season, Watford Juniors won five, drawn two and lost one of their matches, finishing as divisionaI runners-up.
PRICE CUP
This is the Watford cIub championship with six juniors taking part among a fieId of 16 competitors. First round (juniors names in itaIics): Vijesh 0-1 Mace, Luuk 1-0 David H, Tushar 0-1 DarreII, Simon 1-0 Aashna, Ananya 1-0 David S, Sanjay 1-0 Kevin, Sophie 0-1 BradIey, Risharb 1-0 Jasdeep. (HaIf-point byes: Keith, Judith, Jake, Tomy). Round 2 pairings: Mace v Sanjay, BradIey v Luuk, DarreII v Risharb, Ananya v Simon, Tomy v Jake, Keith v Judith, David S v Aashna, Kevin 1-0 Vijesh, David H v Sophie, Jasdeep 1-0 Tushar
Jennifer Hurrell presents Ernest Karumazondo, joint 2019 winner with Andrew Stone, with the Price Cup
If you are a member of Watford Chess Club (the "Club"), your personal data will be processed by the Club for the purposes of Club and membership administration and to facilitate your participation in club competitions and similar events. For fuller information, click "Privacy Policy" link under "Policies and Procedures".
Everyone is welcome (to access, click on pictorial below) at Geir Erik Nielsen's YouTube channel at
PLAY AN AI (ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE)
Tired of playing the boring old computers that always beat you or play so weirdly you can't understand what is going on, asks webmaster Geir Erik Nielsen? Read our article on Artificial Intelligence and how you can install it at home
Also embedded in the updated article is now a video of how to get the best of Arena and Leela at home.
As a teaser for it all, and as an incredibly instructive game, here is how Leela deals with the Benoni
USEFUL CONTACTS AND WEBSITES |
|
Watford Chess Club email address |
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (allow up to 2 days for reply) |
English Chess Federation |
|
Hertfordshire Chess Association |
|
Hertfordshire Chess League results |
|
Hertfordshire Schools Chess Association |
|
4 Nations Chess League (incl. J4NCL) |
|
Tournament chess results (main site for this) |
http://chess-results.com/Default.aspx?lan=1 |
ARCHIVE:
Article in Watford Observer, 19 February: https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/18247132.watford-chess-club-looking-sponsors-ahead-international-tournament
Club rapidplay, 30 December 2019, results at http://chess-results.com/Tnr501649.aspx?lan=1
3rd Watford Junior (u-12) Rapidplay, 29 July 2019, results at http://chess-results.com/tnr457143.aspx?lan=1
Club rapidplay, 8 July 2019, results at http://chess-results.info/tnr453784.aspx?lan=1
Price Cup (2018-9 club championship), October 2018 to June 2019, results at http://chess-results.com/
2nd Watford Junior (u-12) Rapidplay, 27 May 2019, results at http://chess-results.com/tnr435032.aspx?lan=1
Club rapidplay, 13 August 2018, results at http://chess-results.com/tnr374277.aspx?lan=1
1st Watford Junior (u-12) Rapidplay, 30 July 2018, results at http://chess-results.com/tnr373197.aspx?lan=1