Club newsletter No 32 – September 2025

By Martin Smith -- 17 September 2025

Download the newsletter as a PDF (it has the photos and diagrams that are not on this page).

AGM news – club blitz 30 September – new Club Secretary – new club nights – Player of the Year – plus other news

Unless stated otherwise the text in this edition is by the editor Martin Smith.

Upbeat AGM looks forward to the upcoming season…

Ten members attended the AGM on the 30 September – the best attended for some years. Antony Hall (Chair) kicked off things off by saluting Richard Tillett’s ‘retirement’ after 24 years as Club Secretary and presenting him with a bug (of the creepy crawly kind) identification guide - it’s what he does when he is not organising chess, though fat chance given the demands of the exciting new Club Night start-up detailed below.

And in with the New! Welcome to Chris Bernard, our new Club Secretary: a seasoned chess organiser and tournament addict (and ghost of Crystal Palace CC). Read all about him in our interview below. The AGM confirmed the Club’s core management of Chris plus Chair Antony Hall and Treasurer Paul Ritchie – a great team to take us into the 2025-26 season supported by a growing band of volunteers detailed in Appendix 1.

And hello, too, to ‘Chess at the Café’ club nights! An ancient club tradition will make a welcome return under the enthusiastic leadership of Ed Mospan (you’ll have seen him at the Library Group – and at Kingston CC if you’ve been over that way). He and Richard will be nudging this initiative along – with lots of innovative ideas for social, fun, and rated, chess on Tuesday evenings at St. Thomas’s Café.

Season Opener Blitz: Tuesday 30 September

• Venue: St Thomas’ Café, St Thomas’ Church, Telford Avenue, SW2 4XW. Starting at 7.30pm prompt. If you arrive late you may default your first-round game.
• 7 rounds. Players will be paired with others on the same or a similar score (Swiss pairings). 5 minutes per game plus a 3 second increment each move.
• All games blitz rated by the English Chess Federation (ECF). You don’t need to be a member of the ECF to play in this event.
• Ed Mospan is organising the event and Alan Romeril will be our controller on the night. To enter, contact Ed (his details are in the PDF newsletter).

… and looked back at successes in 2024-25…

Chair Antony Hall reviewed the past season. There were standout performances from our OTB London League MI, Croydon League D and both our Central London League teams. We did well, too, in one-off team events (Surrey County Thorp – 2nd place by our U1450s; SCCU London Club Champs – 1st place by our U1650s).

There was also success in the 4NCL Online where our Division 4 side reached the semi-final (only to be knocked out on board count, though they did win promotion to Division 3). For the full details of our 2024-25 league season see Appendix 2. The club’s occasional blitz and rapidplay events at St Thomas’s Café continued to prove popular (see full report below), as did the rapidplay initiative started by Ed Mospan at the Tuesday Streatham Library Group. We supported ‘Chess in the Community’, not only via the thriving Library Group, but also the outdoor chess table meet-ups at Ruskin Park and Streatham Common. Throughout the season, several S&BCCers were out and about in congresses across the UK (with an impressive club presence at Kingston in August – see separate note below); and represented five counties (in two as captain) (see Appendix 3). Antony rounded off by reflecting on the great progress made over the season across many areas of club management, building the impressive team of officers and volunteers detailed in Appendix 1.

Treasurer Paul Ritchie reported that the club’s balance sheet showed a small surplus, and that subs could remain at the same level for another year – another success! However, he highlighted that the Club’s reliance on donations (from a small number of donors) carried some risks. Both subs levels and donor dependency may have to be addressed at the next year’s AGM.

The roster of teams and captains for the 2025-26 season - showing additional teams in the Central London and Croydon Leagues and a turnover of some captains – is detailed in Appendix 4. The Player of the Year was declared as Charlie Pearson – see the separate POTY report below.

…and discussed some Other Business

Finally: some talking points for a new Club Constitution were introduced by Martin Smith. The target date for adoption is the 2026 AGM. And Gabriel Barr’s ‘Chess Retreat’ was advertised – see below.

Meet Chris Bernard: From Ghost of Crystal Palace to S&BCC Secretary

We’re delighted to welcome our new Secretary Chris Bernard as the new public face of Streatham & Brixton Chess Club—although in the world of South London chess, Chris is hardly a stranger.

“I started playing club chess after my son was born,” Chris tells us. “First with Beckenham & Bromley, then Crystal Palace. When the Palace sadly closed its doors, I made my way to S&BCC.”

A regular on the congress circuit, Chris has a taste for travel. “Apparently, I like small islands—I’ve played in Kos, Guernsey, Reykjavik, various parts of Crete, and once even in a tournament in Condom, France,” he laughs. His most recent outing was the August Thanet Congress. Despite now flying S&BCC’s colours in the London and Croydon Leagues, Chris is part of a group of former Crystal Palace players who still register under the old club’s name at congresses. “We call ourselves the Ghosts of Crystal Palace. So don’t be offended if you don’t see the S&BCC flag next to my name at some events!”

Off the board, Chris is no less active. He’s contributed significantly to the wider chess community through various administrative roles: Secretary of the Croydon Chess League, Kent County Chess Association, and the Southern Counties Chess Union. He also captains the Kent U2050 team. His dedication to the game has now brought him into a key role at S&BCC: “I offered my time to act as Secretary of the club. I’m looking forward to helping where I can.”

Please join us in welcoming Chris—player, organiser, and ghostbuster—to the Streatham & Brixton Chess Club family.

[Editorial note: thanks Chris, and his silicon friend ChatGPT (could you tell?), for providing the above in reply to the few questions we sent him. We have made just one minor edit. The photo of Chris at the 2025 Folkestone Congress is taken from here, with thanks.]

Club tournaments

Great turn outs again for the Club’s end of season internal tournaments at St. Thomas’s Café. The July 1 Blitz saw a five-way pile-up at the top of the table when Robin Haldane, Charlie Pearson, Martin Smith, Amar Adatia, and Austin Sopocko all finished on 5/7. 18 players slugged it out under Alan Romeril’s smooth tournament control. Table here. Generous donations covered the cost of the evening.

A two-evening rapid, spread over 15 and 22 July, attracted 21 contestants (with 14 playing both evenings). Peter Lalic beat the field with a clean 6/6 sweep, well clear of Martin Smith and Tom Mayers following up on 4 each. Table here. Once again Alan ran the event with his customary aplomb and efficiency. At both events new faces were made welcome alongside club regulars.

Let’s mention also Ed Mospan’s brilliant work organising ad hoc pairings for rated games at the Library – see here.

And don’t miss the next one: Season Starter Blitz 30 September!

Player of the Year 2024-25 – report by Martin Smith

As usual we had an impressive short list for the annual Player Of The Year: notable for its range of playing strength (from fourth team level to first) and from junior to senior. Martin Dale (a senior, and another CPCC ghost) was mentioned in despatches for his reliability in the Croydon League; Andrew Ponting was on our short list for scoring highest (and playing most games) for the London League 2nds and notching up a modest rating gain to boot. The junior Han brothers, Qixiang and Qixuan, might have been joint POTY’s in any other year: they both racked up impressive rating gains over the season, and impressed with their performances in the London League and their enthusiasm for tournament play (each played over 50 rated OTB games in the season). We were spared the invidious task of choosing between them as we were delighted to declare another promising junior, Charlie Pearson, as this year’s POTY. The citation includes his massive 500 odd rating point gain this year, his willingness to turn out for the Croydon and London Leagues, and his fantastic contribution to our Online effort scoring 6/7 in the last season. Charlie has also impressed in our internal club tournaments, at County level, and has travelled the length and breadth of the country (well over 60 OTB games) to gain two norms to qualify for the England Junior Squad.

Congratulations Charlie – S&BCC Player Of The Year 2024/25.

Kingston – we came, we played, but we didn’t conquer – Graham Keane (another ghost) reports

In August, four club members played in the Kingston Invitational Swiss run by Kingston CC: Phil Makepeace, Qixiang and Qixuan Han and myself, playing in my first 9-round tournament for over 50 years. The tournament was well organised with good playing space, air conditioning (it was 30 degrees outside!) and an endless supply of soft drinks and donuts… Ed Mospan of this parish was one of the efficient arbiters - and earned his first FIDE Arbiters norm.

I scored just 4/9, though I did manage one good win* (all games marked * can be played through at the end of this section) after repeating the first twelve moves from the previous day. First time I lost to Qixiang - fortunately, my second opponent didn’t play nearly as well!

The other three Streatham players had very successful tournaments. Qixuan continued his recent big improvement. All his opponents had higher ratings, yet he scored 5 points including wins over experienced players Bob Eames* and Clive Frostick. Brother Qixiang was in contention for the junior prize until his last round loss, but his score of 50% was excellent – including that win* over the Streatham London League First Team captain: he gained a significant number of rating points.

Phil played very well, and his win* against IM Jack Rudd (one of the two IMs he beat) was typical of his accurate play. He was in contention for 3rd place until his final round loss to a WGM. Playing alongside, in a separate all-play-all IM event, was Peter Lalic. Although the lowest rated player he scored an impressive 3.5/9 including a 110-mover* (typical!) which held up the next round until a draw was finally agreed.

All the games marked * in this report:

CheckMate Retreats for Streatham and Brixton Chess Club – from Gabriel Barr

After several years wrangling ‘light’ topics like Brexit and Covid, it was time to hang up my Department for Health Lenovo laptop and take a sabbatical to Brazil. There I reconnected with family on my mum’s side, polished my Portuguese at language school, organised chess sessions and tournaments for youths in the picturesque Pantanal wetlands, taught English in Rio favelas, and attended a 10-day silent retreat among other adventures.

Along the way, an idea began to crystallise: chess-based retreats. Countless conversations with my good friend and National Master, Sam Walker, shaped this into CheckMate Retreats – mindful getaways in the peaceful countryside, combining high-quality chess coaching with yoga, meditation, and digital detox.

Whether you’re a casual player or seasoned club competitor, our retreats offer the chance to elevate your game in a restorative fun-filled environment with fellow chess enthusiasts. Our first weekend is 21-23 November. If you’re curious, or know someone who might be, you can find out details of venue, cost, etc here.

Finally

We are planning the next issue of the Newsletter for December or January. We’d welcome your comments on this one or your contributions to the next. Please send them to Martin or Antony.

Appendices

1. Club Officers and Volunteers 2025-26

Officers

• Chair: Antony Hall
• Secretary: Chris Bernard
• Treasurer: Paul Ritchie

Volunteers

• Financial examiner: Andrew Ponting
• Fixtures organiser: Ed Mospan
• Club night organisers: Ed Mospan, Richard Tillett
• Tournament controller: Alan Romeril
• Club grader: Ed Mospan
• Library chess liaison: Richard Tillett
• Venue liaison: Richard Tillett
• Membership: Richard Tillett (temporarily, then vacant)
• Safeguarding officer: Vacant
• Newsletter editor: Martin Smith
• Media coordinator?: Vacant
• Website editor?: Vacant
• Social media editor: Tom Mayers

(As at 30 August 2025)

2. League Results 2024-25

Note: all match scores have been based on 1 for a win, 0.5 for a draw, 0 for a loss – even where a league uses 2,1,0. For each team: position, match points (wins; draws; losses), game points.

London League

• Division 1 (11 teams, 8 boards, Open) – captain Graham Keane: 5th of 11; 5.5/10 (+5; =1; -4); 40 game points (50%). Decent mid-table result.
• Division 2 (11 teams, 8 boards, ratings lower than Division 1) – captain Antony Hall: 8th of 11; 4.0/10 (+3; =2; -5); 34 (42%). Survived again, against many clubs’ first teams.
• Minor (13 teams, 4 boards, U1650) – captain Ed Mospan: 2nd of 13; 9.0/12 (+8; =2; -2); 31 (65%). Great result!

Central London League (allocation to division by fiat of league administration)

• Division 2 (7 teams, double round, 5 boards, mid-strength) – captain Andrew Stone: 1st of 7; 10.5/12 (+9; =3; -0); 36 (75%). Great result! Promotion?
• Division 4 (6 teams, double round, 4 boards, entry level) – captain Paul Ritchie: 1st of 6; 7/10 (+7; =0; -3); 28.5 (71%). Great result!

Croydon League

• Division A (5 teams, 4 boards, Open) – captain Robin Haldane: 2nd of 5; 3.0/4 (+3; =0; -1); 10 (62%). Great result!
• Division B (5 teams, max total 7800) – captain Richard Tillett: 3rd of 5; 1.5/4 (+1; =1; -2); 8 (50%). Decent mid-table result.
• Division C (8 teams, 4 boards, max total 6600) – captain Richard Tillett: 6th of 8; 2.5/7 (+2; =1; -4); 13 (46%). Tough going.
• Division D (6 teams, 4 boards, max total 5800) – captain Richard Tillett: 1st of 6; 4.5/5 (+4; =1; -0); 14.5 (72%). Great result for our entry level team.

Surrey

• Alexander Cup (10 boards, Open, 7 teams, knockout in 3 rounds) – captain Martin Smith: lost in round 1, 3.5 v 6.5 to Kingston. Lost to a strong Kingston team for a third season – they went on to win the competition.

SCCU/London Rapid, 21 June 2025 (4 boards; Richard Tillett, Ed Mospan)

• U2100: 9th of 12; 2.5/6 (+1; =3; -2). Tough!
• U1850: 10th of 12; 2.0/6 (+2; =0; -4). Tough!
• U1650: 1st of 15; 6.0/6 (+6; =0; -0). Great result! (and won a DGT clock for the club)

Online 4NCL, season 7 (allocation to division by team rating; Matt Tillett)

• Division 1 Group B (4 boards, 8 teams): 4th of 8; 4/7 (+4; =0; -3); 15.5 (48%). Tough group/division!
• Division 4 Group B (4 boards, 8 teams): 2nd of 8; 5/7 (+4; =2; -1); 17.5 (62%). Great effort! Got to the semi-final, drew 2-2, but lost on board count.

3. S&BCC Players Out and About, April-August 2025 – analysis by Antony Hall

For Counties. In the national (Knock Out) stages of the Counties Championships, Streatham & Brixton was well-represented across county teams in the Southern Counties Chess Union. Peter Lalic played for Surrey in the Open SF (Semi Final) v Yorkshire and the Final v Greater Manchester, which Surrey won. Martin Smith and James Fox played for the Surrey U2050s as they lost narrowly to Greater Manchester in their SF. Charlie Pearson and Alan Romeril played for the Surrey U1650s in their QF v Lincolnshire, their SF v Yorkshire and in their Final v Kent (which they won). Chris Bernard played in the QF as the Kent U1850s went down 10-6 to Yorkshire. Meanwhile, Norfolk First Team captain Antony Hall played in the Minor Counties SF where his side beat Devon on board count after drawing 8-8. Unfortunately, they then lost on board count to Cambridgeshire in the Final (again!).

In Tournaments

• British Championships 2025. Charlie Pearson: Under 14: 4/7; Weekday PM U2050: 3.5/6. Tom Mayers: Weekday PM U2050: 2/6; Weekday AM U1900: 2.5/6. Charlie also played in the EJCOA National Youth Finals Combined U16, U18, U20 – scoring 4/5 to finish =2nd. Tom also played in the London Chess League FIDE Weekender, 25-27 July, Major section, scoring 3.5/5 to finish 8th (ranked #31 at the start).
• Kingston Invitational IM Norm Tournament. Peter Lalic was the lowest rated player but finished in 8th place (of 10), scoring 3.5/9.
• Kingston Invitational Swiss. Phil Makepeace scored 5.5/9, including wins against two IMs. Qixuan Han scored 5/9 to finish in 22nd place (seeded #43) and beat FM Bob Eames on the way. His brother Qixiang finished on 4.5/9 and LL1 captain Graham Keane scored 4/9.
• Pimlico Open. Phil Makepeace won this on 4.5/5, Ben Simpson came =3rd on 3.5 while John Hodgson and Matthew Tillett both scored 3 pts to finish in the top 8.
• Pimlico Summer Major. Chris Bernard scored 4/5 to finish =2nd, Richard Tillett scored 2.5/5 and Nic Basty scored 1.5/5.
• St Albans Open. Qixiang Han scored 4/5 and finished =2nd, drawing with IM Paul Littlewood. Peter Lalic and Andrew Ponting both scored 3.5 while Qixuan Han scored 2 pts.
• Bolton Easter Congress 2025 Open. Qixuan scored 3/5 and Qixiang 2.5 pts. He also scored 3/5 at the South Lakes Congress 2025: Open, and 3.5/5 at 48th Nottingham Congress 2025 Open to finish =2nd, losing only to the eventual winner, GM Mark Hebden, in the final round.
• Ben Simpson scored 3/5 to finish 3rd at the ‘UKCA 2508 FM one’ congress. Andrew Ponting started strongly with 1.5/2 but could not add to this at the Frome Chess Congress 2025 – Open, and he scored 2.5/5 at the Durham Open (and drew with FM Tim Wall).
• Peter Lalic (that man again!) scored 5.5/8 to finish 2nd in the SCCA Individual Tournaments 2025 Challenge Cup; in the London Chess League FIDE Weekender Open he came =1st on 4/5; and came =1st again with 4/5 in the Coulsdon Chess: Late Spring LP Congress Open. In the Earlsfield Congress U2400 Peter came =1st with GM Keith Arkell, whom he beat. And, finally, Chris Bernard scored 2.5/5 at the 53rd Thanet and East Kent Chess Congress, U1800.

4. S&BCC Teams and Captains 2025-26

London League

• LL1, playing in Division 1: Graham Keane
• LL2, playing in Division 2: Antony Hall
• LLMi, playing in the Intermediate (U1650) division: Ed Mospan

Central London League

• CLL1, playing in Division 1: Andrew Stone
• CLL2, playing in Division 3: Andrew Ponting
• CLL3, playing in Division 4: David Marshall

Croydon League

• CL1, playing in Division 1: Ed Mospan
• CL2, playing in Division 2: Ed Mospan
• CL3, playing in Division 3: Ed Mospan
• CL4, playing in Division 4: Ed Mospan
• CLR, playing in the Rapid division: Ed Mospan

4NCL Online

• 4NCL Online 1, playing in Division 1: Matt Tillett
• 4NCL Online 2, playing in Division 3: Matt Tillett

Editorial contacts: Martin Smith, Antony Hall.

Links: Streatham & Brixton Chess Club; Streatham & Brixton Chess Club: calendar; Chess at Streatham Library; London Chess League: results, general information; Central London Chess League; Croydon & District Chess League: results, general information; Surrey County Chess Association; Southern Counties Chess Union: results, general information.