Reading Chess Club

♟️ 2nd Reading Chess Club Rapid Championship
📅 Thursday, 25 September 2025
📍 New Hope Community Church

Join us for an exciting evening of rapid chess!

Round 1 starts: 7:30 pm

Format: 5 rounds, Swiss system

Time control: 15 minutes

ECF rated

💷 Entry fees:

Free for club members (membership must be renewed)

£10 for guests

⚠️ Limited to 32 players (Swiss 5-round)

Don’t miss the chance to compete, learn, and enjoy a great night of chess!

Here are some details about our club:

- we currently have about 65 members from near beginner level to strong match players and including over 25 juniors.
- we have ongoing Open and Championship tournaments so that every week, if they wish, members can play games where the results are sent to the ECF for rating. These are ongoing tournaments so that members may play tournament games whenever they wish on Thursday evening club nights.
- members may play unrated friendly games if they don’t wish to play rated tournament games.
- we have five teams in the Berkshire Chess Association Leagues; one in Div 1, two in Div 2 and two in Div 3.(Sept-May)
- we have two teams in the Surrey Border League; one in Div 1 and one in Div 2(Sept-May)
- we have several blitz and rapid play tournament evenings where members play six rounds with 5 or 15 minute time controls. There are prizes.
- we also have occasional simuls given by guest IMs or GMs.
- in the summer months we run training sessions.
- we are open throughout the year including the summer months, always on Thursday evenings from 7.15pm until 10.30pm, at the Hope Centre (first floor) , 95 York Road, Reading RG1 8DU.
- young juniors must be accompanied by an adult at the club

The annual membership fee for adults is £95 and for juniors it is £85. If payment is made by 18th September 2025 there is a £5 reduction. The membership fee may be paid by cash, cheque or bank transfer. Our membership season runs from September to August. For those wanting to try the club without obligation to join we charge £5 for a visit which is subtracted from the membership fee if you decide to join.

Joining the Club just requires completing a membership form and paying the subscription. I can email you a membership form which contains the club’s bank details. Club members must also be bronze or higher members of the English Chess Federation (ECF). The ECF can be joined on the ECF website https://www.englishchess.org.uk/. For juniors the first year of ECF membership is free.

We do not offer chess lessons and so the Club is not suitable for absolute beginners. For those wanting a specifically junior chess club with coaching I suggest the following website:
https://www.chesswithdino.co.uk which gives details of a local junior chess club.

The minimum age for juniors is 11 unless the junior has an ECF rating.

Children Chess Club In Reading And Berkshire | ChesswithDino | Reading ChesswithDino is a Chess club for children in Reading.

Congratulations to our A team who won their match against the University in the Berkshire Premier Precision Cup Final to retain the trophy which they won last year. It was a tough match and as the University had the higher average rating, particularly on the top boards, a 3-3 draw would have been enough for Reading to win. In the event Reading won 3.5-2.5. The details are below.

Berkshire League - Premier Precision Cup
Reading PPCA University of Reading PPCA (white on odd boards)
1. Ewan Wilson (2177) 1-0 Maxin Dunn (2226)
2. Volodymyr Mylovanov (1906) 0-1 Forbes Welford-Ranson (2156)
3. Jim Stayt (1910) 0.5-0.5 Max Walker (2077)
4. Abhishek Pradhan (1887) 0-1 James Connors (1791)
5. Stephen Bartle (1836) 1-0 Adam Smith (1670)
6. Yawar Jafri (1719) 1-0 Kyri Weeks (1570)
Result. 3.5-2.5

Last week our Border League B team played its last match of the season against a strong Crowthorne B team which out-rated our team on all boards. Reading B lost 1.5-3.5. The details are below

Border League Div 2
Crowthorne B Reading B (white on odd boards)
1. Colin Purdon (2036) 0.5-0.5 Dylan Wastney (1971)
2. Derek Johnson (1938). 1-0 Jim Stayt (1918)
3. Peter Tart (1989) 1-0 Volodymyr Mylovanov (1900)
4. Kenneth Coates (1888) 0-1 Ilan Dwek (1744)
5. Zak Javellana-Jones (1865) 1-0 Yawar Jafri (1683)
Result 3.5-1.5

Summer Events

Last Thursday Stuart Knox presented a coaching session to 12 Club members. It was well received as was the previous week’s coaching session given by Volodymyr Mylovanov. Many thanks to Stuart and Volodymyr for running these sessions for the Club.

Thursday 19th June - An opportunity to practice Blitz games to prepare for next week’s Blitz tournament.

Thursday 26th June - Blitz tournament (please note the changed details below)

All those entering must be ECF members
- The games will be ECF rated.
- Please arrive at 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start.
- Entry will be free for members
- Guests will be asked to pay £10
- There will be prizes
- There will be 10 rounds with a 5 minute time control and no increments
- There will be a maximum of 40 players - first come first served.
- The first 40 to email their commitment to play will be accepted ( there are still places available).
- Late entries on the night will not be accepted .
- The tournament will take until 10pm to complete and only those who can commit to playing until then should enter.
- It will not be suitable for any juniors who have to leave earlier than 10pm.

If you wish to enter please email [email protected] and cc [email protected] Please do not 'reply to all’ to enter.

Thursday 3rd July - Training session to be presented by Jim Stayt

Thursday 10th July - Simul by GM Matthew Wadsworth (entry list now full)