Hull Chess Club (UK)
'Yorkshire's Premier Club'©

Newland Christian Centre
Beverley Road
 

The club meets on Wednesday and Friday evenings 7.00 - 10.15
 

For more information about St John's church and the Christian Centre visit their web site here

Forthcoming Tournaments this summer

Friday July 30th  

 'Noah's Ark!'   5 round swiss tournament

Always great fun and very entertaining, just turn up and enter on the night!
First round starts at 7.30

Gallery

Welcome to Our Club

Notice Board

Hull Chess Club players gallery

Click here to see Gallery

Many thanks to Roger Noble for providing the pictures

Fun Time

Try Crazy Chess! This addictive little game can be found here How far can you go? I have got to level 10 before it gets difficult

Chess Study Section

V. and M. Platov

This study won first prize in the Rigaer Tagablatt tourney of 1909. The Study is said to have been Lenin's favorite and is the most widely known study in Russia.

White to Play and Win

Check out the solution here and play through some more Platov gems here

Download 100 V. and M. Platov 
endgame studies in PGN
Click here

This study by Yochanan Afek is one of my favorites, it twists and turns at every move.

White to Play and Win

Solution and more of my favorite studies here

   At the Hull Chess Club you will be guaranteed a warm welcome whether you are a budding Magnus Carlsen, Master or just a simple Woodpusher looking to play a few friendly games.  You are certain to find new friends at our chess club.
The club meets at the Newland Christian Centre Beverley Road on Wednesday and Friday evenings . The clubs playing conditions are excellent. Spread over three floors the club can accommodate over 40 boards providing separate rooms for matches, juniors and casual 5-minute players.  Good sized tables and chairs and first-class lighting is offered. The club provides all the equipment necessary; Boards ,Sets, Clocks etc.
 The club also offers a range of enhanced facilities to members including internet access and a large library of chess books.  Tea and Coffee is provided free to players.
The building is fully equipped to accommodate disabled players, lift to all floors and toilet facilities.
  Car parking is easy and free, check the map for directions.
   Members are of all experience and ability levels, ranging from 220 to 65 on the ECF grading list. 
  Experienced players will often be happy to offer advice and assistance to beginners  who wishes to improve their game.   Juniors are welcome. The club tries to maintain a junior program where experienced players give training and play games. Friday evening is best.

 Parents: Your child is welcome at the Hull Chess Club. Chess is not a game but a mental sport; and as such, it is played at the Olympics. The necessary equipment is inexpensive, and the skills it helps develop are invaluable to any child. The world's greatest Grandmasters learned chess in their youths. As a chess player, your child will learn to concentrate, and act less impulsively. As players progress, they must tap into higher level thinking skills: skills which can translate into superior academic performance.- competitions and coaching are available.

The Club Championship 2008/9

  The club championship this year will take the form of a 6 round Swiss Tournament and all games will be completed in a single session. The tournament will commence in the first week of October with a period of 4-6 weeks between each round.

       Competitions and League Chess

    The Club provides competitive chess for members through internal competitions and local league matches all year round. 
  The local leagues are run by the Hull and District Chess Association and further information can be found on their site. HDCA 
  We have competitions and team places available for every playing ability. The club has a long adopted policy that every member can if they wish play for a team in the local league. The club presently enters eight teams of six players each in the three divisions of the Hull and District League. Teams are also entered into the 'four board' summer leagues.

Club Nights   

  Twice a week on Wednesday and Friday evenings
 New members welcome on either night.

Junior Chess

   Friday evening is new members and junior night at the club.  We run a programme of coaching and competitions, (many of our juniors have gone on to county and national level) Juniors are encouraged to take part in internal competitions and play against adults. The clubs best players are often at hand to give talks and advice on all aspects of the game

Saturday Chess

   The Yorkshire Chess Association runs a series of team events in four divisions between clubs. The Woodhouse Cup is one of the oldest leagues in the world, it began in 1885, two weeks before the Football league.
The Hull Chess Club has won it a unprecedented 13 times in succession, and 15 out of the last 19 seasons. Matches, both home and away take place on Saturday afternoons played over eight boards.
Over the winter season Hull Chess Club will take on the best players from cities such as Bradford, Sheffield, Leeds and York.
 We also run Saturday team events in the lower Yorkshire leagues, team captains are always on the look out for new players.

     On normal club nights 5 minute 'blitz' is very popular among players who have no serious games arranged, the club has bought special clocks to play this type of chess.

     The atmosphere is friendly and visitors are always welcome, you will meet a variety of people interested in chess. Join us at our next meeting -you'll be glad you did!

News

Hull Chess Club

2009-10 Championship Results

Champion        John Bycroft

Runner up       John Atkinson

Major             Dave Stothard

Intermediate    John Scotter

Minor              Jon Spence
 

Lightning Tournament 2010

The Clubs annual lightning tournament was won by Club Champion John Bycroft with a score of 4.5 out of 5

Opening Theory

 Milner-Barry Gambit

The Milner-Barry Gambit is very popular at club level. White sac's a pawn for attacking chances. If you play the French Defence you must know how to meet this gambit. There is not a lot of  published analysis and what there is seems inadequate. Watson, Psakhis, McDonald and Collins all give their respective lines and ideas for meeting the Milner-Barry, but none is truly convincing when you look at the positions more deeply. I realise that the constrains of writing a book and having limited space restrict these respected authors to just a few pages on what is considered by many to be an unsound and overambitious sacrifice.
 I am not claiming to have rehabilitated the Milner-Barry as I still believe Black can take the Gambit offered and play to win, but he has to know the analysis or spend a long time at the board working out the variations. There are many tricks and traps just waiting for you to fall into as the Black player.

I have made two databases available to download. Key Games and a database of over 1100 Milner-Barry games. 

This is still 'work in progress' and the Key Games with analysis still need to be checked for obvious mistakes and I am continuing to make 'adjustments' to the notes and analysis. Meanwhile if you are interested in this gambit feel free to download the games and have a look, any comments, analysis or suggestions welcome.

Key Games Download

1100 Game Database Download

French Winawer  7.Qg4 0-0

New theory, annotated games and database on this exciting line 
Click here

  This position has become critical in the main line with 8...Qa5. At present Black seems to be holding his own here but there will certainly be more high level games played in the future.
It is a line worth further attention.