Alnwick Chess Club

Alnwick Chess Club The largest and most vibrant chess club in Alnwick - but then it is the only one we know of! We meet every Monday evening in Alnwick Rugby Club from 630pm.

Everyone is welcome, from beginner to Grandmaster (although we don’t see many of them!)

03/09/2026

This coming Monday (7th) we’re having a different kind of club night. We’re playing a buzzer chess tournament with pre-set gambit based openings. In other words, look at the (probably crazy) position you’re given, play very quickly whenever you hear the buzzer, cross your fingers and hope for the best! At least, those will be my tactics! Sound like fun? Come along and give it a go. As always, everyone is welcome. Alnwick Rugby Club 630pm

31/08/2026

As well as our club nights on Mondays, we run a chess session at Alnwick library each Thursday between 3pm and 5pm. The emphasis is on fun as well as learning and improvement. Anybody and everybody is welcome - any age, any level, including absolute beginners. Our regular attendees range from age 7 to, er, a bit older than 7. It’s completely free. Come along and try!

28/08/2026

The new season is just around the corner and in preparation, lots of games are taking place during our regular Monday evening club nights, both friendlies and in our club championship. If you’re interested in playing for one of our 3 teams in the Northumberland league or just in playing socially against a human rather than online, come along and join in! No invitation necessary. We’re even meeting on Bank Holiday Monday! Alnwick Rugby Club, 630 pm onwards

18/08/2026

A busy evening at the club yesterday with 4 games taking place in the 20 player club championship. Darren’s win moves him to the top of the leaderboard but it’s all very close!

There’s lots of social chess to be played on Monday evenings as well. Anybody is welcome to come along!

17/08/2026

John H was flying the flag for us at this weekend’s Lancaster Congress. Playing in the Major, John scored a very creditable 2.5 from his 5 games, with 2 wins. I know that John was frustrated with a couple of his games (we’re all very familiar with that feeling!) but it’s a “well done” from me!

25/07/2026

Well sadly we lost our last competitive match of the season on Wednesday evening at Morpeth. We went down 1.5-2.5 to Gosforth Hawthorns, but John got another good win and Phil drew. No more competitive matches - apart from our Club Championship and any Congresses any of us enter - until October. This does sound a long way away for some of us.

The club will continue to meet during the summer at 6:30 every Monday in the Committee Room at Alnwick Rugby Club. If you have been thinking of coming along, now would be a very good time to do it as you can see if it suits you long before the serious stuff resumes in the autumn.

New faces always welcome!

28/06/2026

A disappointing result on Wednesday as we only drew 2-2 with Morpeth B in the Northumberland Summer Tournament. Under the handicap system that meant we lost 2-3.5. But there were good wins for Darren and Andrew. Our final match of the season will be on July 15 - opponents as yet unknown. AGM this coming Monday June 29!

23/06/2026

I have been going to Alnwick Chess Club, with one short break, since 1986. Last night (Monday June 22) we had 15 people down for a club night. I really don’t think we have had that number on one night in the last 40 years. But be careful about coming down next week though unless you are into meetings, as we will be holding our AGM. It won’t last all evening and I am sure some chess will be played afterwards! This Wednesday evening we have a match against Morpeth B in the Northumberland Summer Tournament. We are currently mid table with a win and a loss.

05/06/2026

Better luck for Alnwick in their second match in the Northumberland summer Tournament last Wednesday. We were drawn against local rivals Morpeth A. Because of the difference in rated strengths, the Alnwick team started with 1.5 points and so Morpeth A had to win 3-1. But wins from John and VInce made the over the board score 2-2, so including the bonus points that made it 3.5-2 in favour of Alnwick. Certainly not what Morpeth will have been expecting. The next round will be on June 24.

16/05/2026

The final league match of the season for Alnwick was the C team taking on Forest Hall Pheasants on Wednesday night and they went down 1.5-2.5, but with a good win from Vince and a very good draw from Charles. This means that at the end of the season, the A team finished 6th in Division 2, and the B and C teams finished 5th and 6th in Division 5. So, unless there is another league reorganisation, each team can expect to be in the same division next season.

At the Durham Congress last weekend, our best performer was John in the Major with 2.5/5. George also got 2.5 and Phil 1.5 (in his first Congress for 30 years!) in the same section and surely both felt they should have done better. Andrew got 2/5 in the Minor and probably thought the same.

This coming week we take on Division 1 champions Gosforth Empire in the Northumberland Summer Tournament. Could be a bit of a challenge …

Address

Alnwick Rugby Club
Alnwick
NE661BE

Opening Hours

Monday 6:30pm - 10pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Alnwick Chess Club posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Alnwick Chess Club:

Shortcuts

Share

Category