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Anstey Chess Club Hosts Exciting Junior Tournament Tomorrow!

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Calling all budding chess champions and casual players alike! Get ready to sharpen your strategies and make your moves because the Anstey Chess Club is thrilled to announce its Junior Chess Tournament happening tomorrow, May 9th, at the Anstey Methodist Church. The action kicks off at 7:30 PM sharp!

Spearheaded by the generosity of Alfie’s dad, who is graciously providing the trophy, this tournament promises an evening filled with excitement, camaraderie, and, of course, some fierce chess battles.

Whether you’re a seasoned competitor or just starting out on your chess journey, this event is for you. It’s a fantastic opportunity for young players to showcase their skills and learn from one another in a supportive and friendly environment.

But wait, there’s more! Entries are still open, so if you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time to join in on the fun. Simply show up at the Anstey Methodist Church tomorrow evening and register to secure your spot in the tournament.

And don’t worry if tournament play isn’t your thing or you’re past the point of being a junior player — our regular club night will also be happening as usual. It’s a chance to mingle with fellow chess enthusiasts, engage in friendly matches, and soak up the vibrant friendly athmosphere of our club.

So why wait? Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just looking for a fun way to spend your evening, Anstey Chess Club is the place to be. Join us tomorrow at the Anstey Methodist Church from 7:30 PM onwards for an unforgettable chess experience. Remember, all abilities are welcome, so come on down and let’s make some lasting chess memories together!

See you at the chessboard!

Exciting summer for Anstey Chess Club after a successful league season!

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An internal poll sees the club opting for an internal club championship over the team summer cups…

The Season

With one game to go for any Anstey Chess Club, tonight will be the official end of the 2023-24 league season for four Anstey teams. As expected, each team had to face challenging opposition and tough venues but no surprise there – our competitors rose to the challenge and went toe-to-toe with the strong opponents they had to face.

Anstey 1 had their debut in Division 1 this season with a slightly underwhelming in terms of rating squad for the elite in Leicestershire. Nevertheless, great performances from Julian, Matt, Boris, Mick and Ben saw our top team clinching the sixth place in the first half of the season, standing just above the relegation zone. Some amazing wins against Thurnby and Loughborough 1 in the beginning of the calendar year meant that our team had practical chances to stay in the top division in the county if they manage to hold off the strong Braunstone 1 and Market Harborough 1 teams. With the end of the season in sight, our top team was joined by an outstanding player in Sooraj who scored a couple of crucial wins to help Anstey 1 not only stay in the league but also finish in fifth place among the eight strongest teams in Leicestershire. It has been a surreal experience for our top team who were competing (with pretty much the same players) two divisions below only two years ago.

Anstey 2 competed in Division 3 where they looked to be one of the strongest teams on the field. However, a few hiccups in games where our team on paper had a slight edge meant that it was not going to be dream championship season for the second team and with one game to go (against the already crowned division champions Market Harborough 2) they sit in fifth position which is still a decent performance among some strong teams.

Anstey 3 also had a decent season in Division 4, finishing sixth out of eight teams. Consistently outrated on most boards on the evening, our third team players did not shy away from playing for the win and frequently gave their opponents difficult problems to solve. The team can also take pride in the two wins against Latimer, a team that has been considered a “boggey team” for Anstey for a long time.

Arguably the hardest task was in front of Anstey 4 in Division 5 where our youngest players (probably fair to call it Anstey Juniors) had to frequently compete against significantly higher opposition in the 1400s and 1500s (sometimes even 1700s). After many bouts closer than the results suggested, our fourth team was unlucky to finish seventh and on the other hand provided many opportunities for many players to compete and even get their debuts in competitive chess.

After a long and gruelling season, our club would like to thank all of our competitors for their commitment and we hope that everyone had an overall positive experience.

The Summer

For our longstanding members and supporters the summer is generally an opportunity for some faster time controls and different competition formats with the variety of summer cups organised by the LRCA. This year, however, El Presidente provided our patrons with the democratic opportunity to decide on the direction the club will take in the upcoming months. In a surprising turn of events, the Anstey Chess Club community settled upon missing out on the LRCA competitions and organising our own Club Championship where both regular competitors and casual players will have the opportunity to try and win the Anstey Chess Club Trophy.

In addition, our spacious venue will host again the Challengers and the Minor divisions in the Individual County Championships, which would be a relief for the 27 competitors in the U1550 race who would be looking avoid tight spaces in the presumably hot sunny weather.

Finally, the Monthly Knockabout will return and the club will host a few other events for fun (as in having fun playing chess, not Mud Race or watching the Euro 2024), starting with the Junior Club Championship in two days’ time. More information on those to follow this week unless our Website Maintenance Guy, The Toaster, decides to abandon his duties again.

Does all of this sound exciting, invigorating and makes you jump from your chair with an enthusiastic shout? Don’t think twice and pop over to the Anstey Methodist Church every Thursday from 7.30pm. All abilities welcome!

The Christmas Club Night this week

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Blitz tournament for Christmas for second year in a row

This Thursday is the last club night scheduled for 2023 in the Anstey Chess Club. As usual, the Christmas spirit will prevail and following on the success of last year’s event, our great club will host another blitz tournament for its members and friends. Starting sharply at 7.30pm everyone will have the chance to taste the dopamine boost of playing fast chess against capable opponents in our always welcoming venue. Although the format is still being finalised based on attendance, it is expected to be a 5-round Swiss 5m/1s.

Following the tournament, some of our members will be looking to enjoy some curry in Passage to India next door.

If you want to enjoy some fast chess, fun and curry, put on your Christmas jumper and join us this Thursday from 7.15pm in the Anstey Methodist Church.

Further expansion for Anstey Chess Clubs in the new season after the AGM

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Four Anstey teams scheduled to play in 2023/24 season, as the first team take on a tough challenge

On the 3rd August, the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Anstey Chess club took place in our great venue.

The club met for our annual meeting, followed by a curry next door at the Passage to India (or chess for those who did not want a curry).
In a nutshell, the members decided that four teams will represent the club in the next season. Although rumours circulated about the club playing five teams in the weeks prior, the more conservative number was agreed, with chances to extend the 4th team if possible to accommodate more boards.
In addition to the extended number of teams, the top Anstey team were offered the chance to play in division 1. Always the gambler and in accordance with his teammates’ opinion, first team captain Matt did not hesitate and took on the challenge.
For next season, the captaincy does not change much as Matt will continue to lead the first team, Ben will be again the driving force of the second team, while Oskar will continue his tenure as Anstey 3 captain. This star line-up will be complemented by our rising junior Aarav who in spite of his young age offered to take on the responsibility of captaining the 4th team.

As usual, happy faces left the Anstey Methodist Church, as our club will be looking to take part in another exciting league season from September.

Anstey win through in 3-way club jamboree

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8/6/23 – In the first event of its kind for a while, certainly locally and since I can remember, having been involved in club chess for 10+ years, Anstey Chess Club invited 2 other clubs over to Anstey to play in a 3 way ‘Jamboree’ event.

El Presidente (Ben) formulated the idea during discussion with the LRCA (Leicestershire and Rutland Chess Association, to which we are affiliated) and the discussion was around shaking up the Summer Cups in the County. He has previously played for Radcliffe and Bingham in Nottinghamshire and Nuneaton in Warwickshire and, knowing a couple of contacts within the respective clubs, suggested the idea in February of this year. The idea was well received and after lengthy discussions about playing personnel, time controls, board order, and when/where it would happen, the format was decided.

Hosts: Anstey
Visitors: Radcliffe and Bingham; Nuneaton
Time Controls: 20 minutes + 10 second increments
Jamboree style board order: Teams drew lots to be designated as team A, team B and team C and A1 played B1, A2 played C1 etc.

Nuneaton were team A, Radcliffe and Bingham were team B and Anstey were team C.

In what was almost certainly a blessing on the night, El Presidente couldn’t talk, due to an operation in his throat (to cut a long story short) and Matt Connor was forced in to kindly agreed to be the MC on the night – nothing to do with his initials, although that may not be how it looks.

All players arrived in good time for round 1 and some very good chess was played by all teams, in both rounds. The abilities seemed to be very well matched but Nuneaton surged ahead with 5 points out of 6 boards after the 1st round – almost a perfect score. Anstey and Radcliffe had 1.5 and 1 respectively.

Round 2 commenced and, with nothing to lose, Anstey fought hard and scored a whopping 5.5 points in round 2 with Nuneaton only scoring 1 point, meaning that Anstey snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on the night. This was very eloquently put as ‘Sneaking up on the rails on the inside’ by Nuneaton’s captain. Radcliffe also managed to accrue some points in the final round with the totals for the evening being as follows:
Anstey – 7 points
Nuneaton – 6.5 points
Radcliffe and Bingham – 4.5 points

Post match discussions with playing personnel indicated that the night was a huge success and all of the players indicated that they would like to do the same next year, and we will be doing this again, for sure. Anstey will soon be visiting Nuneaton themselves and doing a similar thing with Anstey, Nuneaton and Kenilworth, albeit these discussions are in their infancy.

Well done to all involved for a very special evening, thanks especially to Nick London of Radcliffe and Bingham chess club, Colin Green of Nuneaton chess club and of course to all of the players for travelling and taking part in what was a fabulous night of chess.

Three-way Jamboree this Thursday in the Anstey Chess Club

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Two clubs to scheduled to arrive for some casual rapid games in the Anstey Methodist Church

As usual, El Presidente keeps himself busy and does not waste any club night opportunity to be filled with some extracurricular activities. For this Thursday, our chairman has organised a three-way jamboree in Rapid format, with the participation of Nuneaton Chess Club from Warwickshire and Radcliffe and Bingham Chess Club from Nottinghamshire. The teams will be scheduled to play each other in casual (non-rated, they will still try to win) games over six boards per match.

Another exciting club night in front of us, and with the teams possibly bringing more players for casual games, we encourage all of our players, whether casual or competitive, to attend and have the opportunity to face players from other counties.

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 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 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!