Welcome

Do come and play at the most active and successful chess club in Kent!

We meet Wednesday evenings from 19:30hrs at the Maidstone Leisure Centre (Mote Park, Willow Way, Maidstone, ME15 7RN). You will find players at every level. Every week you can meet opponents for serious games and/or quick, casual games. There are club competitions, at both normal and rapid play, running throughout the year. You can join one of the teams (we have teams in 6 of the 7 Kent league divisions and in national events), get advice on how to improve your game, or simply kibitz and chat! Juniors are very welcome.

For more information ring Bob Lane on 01795 842331 or e-mail Bob Fenn at r.fenn446@googlemail.com or simply come along on any Wednesday evening.

(Please note - when using the "How to find us" link on the right - that the entrance to the Leisure Centre is off the double roundabout in Willow Way opposite Upper Road.)

Xmas Lightning Tournament

The Xmas Lightning tournament will be held on Wednesday 16 December 2009. Please arrive no later than 19:45hrs to get your name into the draw for a 20:00hrs start. Note that this is a 5-round event with just 10 seconds per move!

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The club will be closed on both 23 & 30 December 2009.

Tom Fuller Cup v Weald of Kent

On Wednesday 25 November 2009 we played our second game in the Tom Fuller Cup, achieving another 2-2 draw (2 draws from 2 games).

Stephenson Cup v Rainham

The trick with matches against Rainham, is to watch the bottom boards, as the result on first board is somewhat of a forgone conclusion.

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This way exactly what happened on Wednesday 25 November 2009. We won the bottom 3 boards whilst losing on board 3. I then succumbed on board 1 leaving the fate of the match dependant upon the result on board 2. David Barnes thoughtfully brought along a book to read, no doubt used to the usual late start. Oliver Gill duly arrived and entered the quickplay finish with seconds to spare. In a rook & pawn ending he successfully won, giving us the match 4- 2. A great result, especially as this was Oliver's last match for us, before he leaves for sunnier climes next month.

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169 David Munford 0-1 Martin Taylor 211

168 Oliver Gill 1-0 David Barnes 169

164 David Heath 0-1 Andrew Waters 161

150 Bob Lane 1-0 Paul Giddins 137

135 Barry Beavis 1-0 Robert Springett 126

113 George Hollands 1-0 Bruce Morrison 121

En Passant match 2

On 18 November 2009, we had another exciting evening of chess, where we ended up victorious. The final score being 6-0 to us against Weald of Kent.

Maidstone Weald of Kent

164 David Heath 1 - 0 James Hart-Dyke 154
150 Robert Lane 1 - 0 Teddy Wickman 142
143 Timothy Weaver 1 - 0 Henry Cove 128
135 Barry Beavis 1 - 0 David Warrick 121
133 Robert Fenn 1 - 0 Dominic Oram 112
115 George Hollands 1 - 0 Clive Oram 108

Results @ 13 November 2009

Six weeks into the 2009/10 season, and we have scored 7 wins, 1 draw, and just I loss. A most impressive start.

TOURNAMENT DAY DATE OPPONENTS RESULT

Len Hammond Memorial Thur 01/10/09 SNODLAND Won

See article below for more details

Harvey Mon 19/10/09 WEALD Of KENT Lost

Lewis Wed 21/10/09 RAINHAM 1 Won

A nice result (despite being nominally out-graded), as usually we have to play Rainham in the final.

Tom Fuller Wed 21/10/09 SNODLAND Drew

Stevenson Wed 28/10/09 SNODLAND Won

Stevenson Mon 02/11/09 SEVENOAKS Won

En Passant Sat 07/11/09 FOLKESTONE Won

See article below for more details

County Wed 11/11/09 CHARLTON Won

Charlton once again turned up with just 4 players (as they did last year), but this time we won the match by the score of 4-2, a big improvement on our loss last time by the score of 2½ - 3½.

Harvey Fri 13/11/09 MEDWAY Won

The match was won with the score of 3½-2½. Don Creasey (Captain) commented that on 1st board, Bob Lane (150) was heavily out-graded by Andrew Mayhew (188), but put up a magnificent fight, before eventually losing.

En Passant Chess match

The first match of the season for the En Passant chess team was played at Folkestone on Saturday 7 November 2009. After some hard fought games we ended victorious with a final score of 4½ - 1½. Barry Beavis in particular had an exciting finish. The results are as follows:

Folkestone Maidstone

178 David Shire ½-½ David Heath 164
176 John Atherton ½-½ John Allan 158
137 Matthew Cussens 0-1 Barry Beavis 135
126 Chris Siebert ½-½ Robert Fenn 133
121 Max Smith 0-1 Ian Clark 129
90 Alan Walker 0-1 Don Creasey 99

Len Hammond Memorial - Match Result

On 1 October 2009 the evening started off with heartfelt tributes to Len from David Lettington (Snodland) and Ian Watson (Maidstone). Both speakers spoke of Len's quiet and friendly manner, always willing to help younger players and a gentle man in both senses of the word. Len's widow and two sons were present and said they were humbled to see how Len was held in such high esteem by members of both clubs.

The first winners of the Shield were Maidstone, who heavily outgraded Snodland, with a score of 5-2.

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Snodland Maidstone

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170 Ben Spink ½-½ Ian Watson 197

145 Chris Marshall 0-1 David Heath 164

137 David Fowler ½-½ Bob Lane 150

122 Tyrone Jefferies 0-1 Bob Fenn 133

122 David Lettington 0-1 George Hollands 115

117 Nick Allen 1-0 Brian Stock 107

85 Neil Miners 0-1 Don Creasey 99

AGM 2009

Our Annual General Meeting was held on Wednesday 9 September 2009. Having dealt with the painful matter of membership fees, listened to the match captain's reports: tournament controller's report, and secretary's report, we then moved onto the pleasurable part, where a whole host of cups, trophies & shields were awarded (seen here with Club President Ian Watson & Treasurer Bob Lane)

The results are published below:

Lewis Cup captained by Bob Lane, who beat Rainham 3.5/2.5 in the final.

Harvey Cup captained by Don Creasey, who beat Petts Wood 3.5/2.5 in the final.

Players Trophy won jointly (a repeat of last year) by Cliff Chandler/Ian Watson with scores of 4.5/5

Players Trophy Qualifier awarded to Bob Fenn who scored 3.5/5

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Stanford Cup (Club Championship) awarded to David Munford with a total of 9.5 points.

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Reed Memorial Shield ('B' player winner) won by George Hollands with a score of just 2 points.

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Christmas Lightning won by Chris Howell

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Rapidplay Shield awarded jointly to Ian Watson/Bob Lane who both scored 6 points.

Time Handicap Shield won by George Hollands with 10 points.

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Reynolds Cup awarded to Ian Clark who amassed a grand total of 18.5 points, playing for the Club on 31 occasions.