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

The Hull Chess Club meets at The Sailmakers Arms, High Street (in the old town near Wilberforce House) on Wednesdays.

On Fridays the club meets at the Methodist Church Hall on Chanterlands Avenue (on the corner of Perth Street).

StudyBase CD

Welcome to Our Club

Opening Theory

StudtBase CD available for just £4.95 plus £1.20 p&p
Click here for details and examples

Stunning Moves

What is the most amazing move of all time?
  Is it Shirov's fantastic 47...Bh3! against Topalov in the Linares tournament of 1998.  Or how about Bischoff's Queen sac against Nogueiras in Havana 1998. There are of course many other candidates, Ivanchuk's 21.Qg7!! against Shirov in Wijk aan Zee 1996 must rate in the top ten.

This position must be one of the most famous in chess history.

Levizky-Marshall 

Breslau 1912

Black to play.

White has just played 23.Rc5 attacking the Queen. What happened next is simply stunning.
Click here for solution.

The Combinations of
Garry Kasparov

Kasparov - Smirin
USSR 1988
Solution here
Check out other combinations by Kasparov here

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 Kasparov, experienced player, Grandmaster or just a simple woodpusher. You are certain to find new friends at our chess club.
   Members are of all experience and ability levels, ranging from 220 to 65 on the BCF 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, Friday night is best. 

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   

  Wednesday at The Sailmakers Arms High Street. Fridays Methodist Church Hall Chanterlands Ave.  Start at 7.15 New members very welcome.

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!

    French Advanced        5...Bd7

John Watson's main line in big trouble, improvements urgently required. Checkout the following analysis here

Position after 17.Qd2

 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.