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Busy summer cups for Anstey Chess Club

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Four teams competing again this summer, as Anstey Juniors kick off in the Harrod Cup

Not sure if we mentioned it before, but while our second team is trying hard to cope in Division 3 without its captain and driving force El Presidente Ben (we must admit, though, they have done a great job), the latter is not slowing down and has worked tirelessly behind the curtains to promote and develop the club. Unsurprisingly, with the club continuing to grow, there will be another busy summer for our members. Apart from the usual entries in the Individual County Championship which will be partly hosted by our own team (for more information, click here), four teams will be joining the team competitions during the quiet months. After a disappointing run in the Wylie Cup last year, the members of the friendliest club in Leicestershire decided to drop the competition in 2023 and instead opted for three (yes, the number 3) teams in the Harrod Cup, the most popular summer competition in the whole of Leicestershire. (apart from the British Championship this year, obviously) Along with the defending joint champions Anstey 1 and our second team Anstey 2, captained by Ben and El Capitan Oskar respectively, “the new kid on the block” is Anstey Juniors, another team captained by our chairman, which will include only youngsters. The Harrod Cup is a Rapid format tournament whereby a rating cut-off is applied for teams to allow for lower-rated players to compete for silverware, unlike the Wylie Cup which is open to all players and teams.

In addition to this impressive line-up in the Harrod Cup, Anstey will attempt to make history again, and defend their Chapman Cup trophy from last year. An all-time favourite to many players, the Chapman Cup is the slower time format tournament where a handicap is applied, based on rating difference.

The summer cups are here, and they are pretty much knocking on the door, as the Harrod Cup kicks off with the Anstey Juniors taking on Wigston in round 1 on Star Wars day. (May the Fourth be with you!) Whether you are a casual player, or just curious to see what is the fuss about, pop over to the Anstey Methodist Church this Thursday. All abilities welcome!

Anstey Chess Club host the Individual County Championship this summer

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The Minor and Challengers divisions to take place in the Anstey Methodist Church as part of the summer competitions for 2023

As expected, while taking some time off playing, ‘El Presidente’ is not wasting any time. Our beloved chairman continues to train junior players both in the club, and during the Saturday sessions at Beenies Soft play. (for more information, click here) In addition, Ben has found a great way to utilise the enormous hall which we use in the Anstey Methodist Church, and our club is scheduled to host two divisions of the Individual County Championship. The schedule for the games in the Challengers and the Minor divisions is listed below:

Round 1 11th May

Round 2 1st June (NB 3 weeks after round 1)

Round 3 29th June

Round 4 27th July

Round 5 24th August

The time control will be 80 minutes for all moves + 10-second increment throughout. As expected, Anstey will have many members taking part in the championship, including some exciting young players looking to build on a very successful season and possibly challenge for the silverware in the Minor division.

The Major and Open divisions will take place in the Wigston Chess Club. For more information, visit the Leicestershire and Rutland Chess Association website.

Anstey Chess Club celebrated an amazing club night before a well-deserved holiday

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Surprisingly, in spite of the busy season featuring three Anstey Chess Club teams, last Thursday (22/12/22) was fixture-less and a busy club night took place instead. Well in advance, our chairman Ben started the organisation of a blitz tournament to celebrate the last club night of 2022. Hesitant about the number of people to turn up, ‘El Presidente’ left the details open until the very end, only to find himself overwhelmed by the interest in the tournament by our players and members. In total of sixteen players were eager to take participation in the event, with Mick and Ben himself watching from the sidelines and attending to the organisation of the tournament. The club saw a diversity of casual players, competitors in the league, prospective juniors and seasoned experienced chess players. Julian “Mr Engine”, John “The Torturer”, Matt “The Dark Destroyer”, Boris “The Toaster”, Bob, Leo “The Lion”, Aarav and his dad Amit, Oskar “El Capitan”, Young John, Sev, Aristotle and dad Damien, newcomers Tom and Luca, and returning for the holidays Glasgow student Ashton all started their clocks around 8pm and embarked on a five-round Swiss style tournament under the critical eyes of “El Presidente” and “Just Mick”. After a brilliant performance, naturally Julian won the tournament with 4.5/5 points, but the important outcome of the event was the excitement for all of our regular, returning and potential new members. After the tournament had finished, a fair number of our players went to “Passage to India” while the remaining members stayed for some puzzle work and casual games.

An amazing end to an amazing year. We cannot be any happier seeing the variety of ages, abilities and backgrounds of people coming to our club, all united by the love of the great game of chess. We wish them all the best for their future both over and away from the board.

Finally, to all our members, friends and everyone interested in Anstey Chess Club, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you all in 2023!!!

Anstey Chess Club celebrates the end of a successful calendar year with Blitz tournament and curry

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As the calendar year is drawing to an end, our members are looking forward to a busy and promising 2023

With Christmas songs being heard more and more often on the radio and the streets, the great Anstey community, including our amazing Anstey Chess Club, are all looking forward to the festivities at the end of the year. Fortunately, in a slightly odd development of the circumstances there are no scheduled competitive league games in the last week prior to Christmas. Surprisingly, our members will be able to enjoy a full club night whereby our great chairman ‘El Presidente’ Ben has prepared a great program for the final club gathering for the year.

As usual, the plan is to start promptly at 7.30pm in our usual venue, the Anstey Methodist Church, with a club tournament in blitz format. Regardless of whether the players are competing in the league, or are just playing socially, everyone will be welcome to take part and compete against their teammates. After the champion on the night is crowned, everyone who fancies tasty food and a great banter with teammates would be able to enjoy an amazing and delicious end of the evening in our neighbouring restaurant ‘Passage to India’. A wonderful end to a wonderful year!

In 2022, our club managed to accomplish some great results OTB, as the first team was competing for the top spot in division 3 at the end of the 2021/22 season. Both Anstey teams at the time performed amazingly and finished their seasons without a loss in 2022. In the summer cups, in total of four Anstey teams competed across all competitions, and 50% of them ended up ‘lifting’ (we could not see the actual cups, as they were not present at the award ceremony) the trophy in their competition, with Anstey being the undisputed Chapman Cup winner and Anstey 1 sharing the Harrod cup with Ashby 2. The new season posed some challenges to our ever-growing club, with three teams competing in three different divisions in the 2022/23 season. All three teams are doing great over the board, with our first team challenging the leaders in division 2!

The results are amazing but they are just the cherry on the top. Since December last year, Anstey Chess Club has expanded significantly, with strong players like Julian, Matt, Brian, Bob, and Big Daddy Valdas, and the promising juniors Noor, Aarav, Yuvraj, and Young John joining/returning to the club from the end of 2021 onwards. We also welcomed plenty of new social members, including young Marcus, dad Damien and son Aristotle, young Sev and the teen gang, among others. We got to have our own stall at the amazing Anstey Gala which proved to be a great experience and connected us to the local community and most importantly, some of our great members. We continued our presence in the community by introducing the Monthly Knockabout as we played some great casual games in Bradgate Park, The Nook Corner Café, and Peppercorns Café. Last but not least, we became a local online go-to place for chess, having launched our website, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and the Anstey Chess Club Podcast.

If you want to join one of the fastest developing chess communities in Leicestershire, or you feel like playing some blitz games in a more formal format, come and join us for some chess and curry next Thursday, 22/12/2022. The session starts 7.30pm in the Anstey Methodist Church. It does not matter how good or who you are, all you need is love for the great game of chess!

Episode 4 of the Anstey Chess Club podcast – The busiest players and joining Anstey Chess Club

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It has been an interesting period for our club as Anstey Chess Club and its members grow both over and off the board. Following the growth of the club, we have decided to take the next step in our development through the release of a monthly podcast. Throughout the next year, we will use this new platform to give you updates on the season and Leicestershire chess in general. Our team is also committed to do their absolute best to interview each episode a member of the club or the community.

In the fourth episode of our podcast, the hosts Boris “The Toaster” and “El Presidente” Ben were unfortunate to not be able to present their planned guest, Matt ‘The Dark Destroyer’, due to unforeseen circumstances. Nevertheless, Ben and Boris discussed seven more games of the very busy for Anstey Chess Club 2022/23 season. The hosts also spoke in the end about joining Anstey Chess Club and the junior sessions in the area.

To listen to the episode, follow this link. It is also available on Anchor, Spotify and Amazon Music. Subscribe, comment, like and share!

Episode 3 of the Anstey Chess Club podcast – El Capitan and El Presidente’s rise amidst Boris’ blunders

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It has been an interesting period for our club as Anstey Chess Club and its members grow both over and off the board. Following the growth of the club, we have decided to take the next step in our development through the release of a monthly podcast. Throughout the next year, we will use this new platform to give you updates on the season and Leicestershire chess in general. Our team is also committed to do their absolute best to interview each episode a member of the club or the community.

In the third episode of our podcast, the hosts Boris “The Toaster” and “El Presidente” Ben were joined by Oskar ‘El Capitan’. Our third team captain spoke about the joy of captaining a young promising team and his chess story. After the interview, Oskar, Ben and Boris all discussed eight games of what already seems to be a very busy 2022/23 season for Anstey Chess Club.

To listen to the episode, follow this link. It is also available on Anchor, Spotify and Amazon Music. Subscribe, comment, like and share!

The Monthly Knockabout in November

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In the Anstey Chess club, the love for chess is the main driving force for everyone involved. Nevertheless, in spite of the notoriously solitary nature of the game of chess, in our club we are proud of our thriving community full of great memories and positive attitude. To promote the great relationships between our members, we have decided to introduce The Monthly Knockabout. As suggested by the name, each month our club members and supporters get together for some casual games in a suitable location in Anstey or the surrounding area – park, club, café, pub, etc. There we enjoy games of chess, including “hand and brain”, “Crazyhouse”, “Duck” chess, and various time controls. All necessary equipment such as pieces, boards and clocks is provided by the club.

This month we will be meeting on Saturday, 12th November. So far the venue is scheduled to be the Peppercorns café on the main Anstey roundabout across our club home venue. (map screenshot below) We meet at the café at 11am and we will be glad to see as many of you as possible. To ensure that there will be room and activities for all, please contact us if you are coming. All abilities welcome! All you need is a love for the great game of chess.

Episode 2 of the Anstey Chess Club podcast – Mr Engine and the start of the new season

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It has been an interesting period for our club as Anstey Chess Club and its members grow both over and off the board. Following the growth of the club, we have decided to take the next step in our development through the release of a monthly podcast. Throughout the next year, we will use this new platform to give you updates on the season and Leicestershire chess in general. Our team is also committed to do their absolute best to interview each episode a member of the club or the community.

In the second episode of our podcast, the hosts Boris “The Toaster” and “El Presidente” Ben were joined by Julian ‘Mr. Engine’. Our top-rated player spoke about his background in chess and provided some tips for the aspiring chess players out there. After the interview, Julian, Boris and Ben all discussed the first four games of our teams and also addressed the biggest topic in the world of chess these days – the matter of cheating and the accusations of cheating.

To listen to the episode, follow this link. It is also available on Anchor, Spotify and Amazon Music. Subscribe, comment, like and share!

[IMPORTANT!] The Monthly Knockabout changes location this Saturday

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Unforeseen circumstances see Anstey Chess Club’s monthly casual meeting changing location to The Nook Corner Coffee Shop across the club venue.

Following operational issues, the Peppercorns café expressed concerns regarding their availability this Saturday. We wish to express our support for them and to wish them speedy recovery to normal operation.

Fortunately, Anstey Chess Club’s management team reacted quickly and now the new location for this Saturday’s Monthly Knockabout will be held in The Nook Corner Coffee Shop in Anstey. The lovely coffee shop is located on the famous Anstey roundabout, just across our favourite club’s home the Anstey Methodist Church. The meeting of our members and supporters is scheduled for 11:15 am, parking will hopefully be available in the Nook car park. Nevertheless, bear in mind that a big football game is happening in Anstey tomorrow as the Anstey Nomads will try to continue their successful march in the FA cup, therefore, an alternative parking might be found on the nearby streets.

Come and join us for some casual games, different time formats and different variation using competition grade playing boards and pieces! All abilities welcome!

The Anstey Chess Club Podcast kicks off with a summary of the summer campaign

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It has been interesting period for our club as Anstey Chess Club and its members grow both OTB and off the board. After the successful season and the significant improvement in the last few months, we have now decided to take the next step in our development through the release of a monthly podcast. Throughout the next year, we will use this new platform to give you updates on the season and Leicestershire chess in general. In the future episodes, we will be interviewing people from the club as well as from the area.

In the very first episode of our podcast, Boris “The Toaster” and “El Presidente” Ben gave a little background on the club and the podcast as well. Then they went on to discuss the three summer competitions where four Anstey teams participated and won two trophies. (admittedly, the Harrod cup was a joint win with Ashby 2)

To listen to the episode, follow this link. It is also available on Anchor, Spotify and Amazon Music. Subscribe, comment, like and share!