Club news

League Update (December 2025)

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As we come to the Christmas break with about a third of the league season completed, here is a summary of how our teams are doing.

On the whole, things are going very well.  Out of the six divisions, we are top, or joint top, in five of them.  You can find all the latest results on the ECF LMS site, but here is a quick summary by division:

Division 1

Our first team, Empire, are leading with 7 points from 4 matches.  They are a point clear of and have a game in hand on both Newcastle and Jesmond.  Regents are second to bottom in the relegation zone with 2/4.

Division 2

Salters and Centurions are joint top together with Morpeth on 5 points from 7 matches. 

Division 3

Ivy and Hawthorns are mid-table both with 4 points from 4 matches.  Woodbines find themselves at the bottom having lost their four matches.  This is a tough division with some very strong opponents who would not be out of place in division 2.

 Division 4

Our top junior team, Jedis, lead with 9 points from 5 matches.  Otterburns sit comfortably in mid-table with 5/5.

Division 5

Our second junior team, Siths, are joint leaders with South Shields on 8 points from 5 matches.

Division 6

The new junior team Padawans have 11 points from 6 matches and jointly lead the table with Forest Hall Parrots (but we have a game in hand!).

And finally…

…some great individual performances so far especially from many of the juniors.  Two juniors still have 100% records – well done Felix Glover (5/5) and Heath Grimman (4/4) !!

2026 Blitz Series

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We are pleased to announce the dates of our 2026 Blitz Series.

The dates are:

  • May 18th
  • June 15th
  • July 20th
  • August 24th
  • September 14th

As in previous years entry fee will be £5 and we will be awarding prizes on the night and an overall summer winner for the following sections:

  • Open
  • Major
  • Minor
  • Junior

More information will follow and we look forward to seeing you there!

Christmas Party 2025 Monday December 15th

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We will holding a fun 5 round 5 minutes plus 5 second Fisher Random tournament with a Pizza Buffet for only £5 per person. You will need to be a paid up member to attend the event.

Contact a member of the committee ASAP so we can confirm numbers for food.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Club Fees 2025-26

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It’s that time again guys.
Club fees are now due.


No changes from last year.
£25 for a full member
£15 for an assosciate member


Please pay by bacs to:
Gosforth Chess Club
Acc# 62085786
SC: 55-50-34
and add your name in as a reference.



or pay Mark on any Monday night.

Club Championship 2024/25

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Congratulations to the winners !!

Club Championship: Gustavo Leon Cazares

This was a very close race this year with Gustavo and Dave Armbruster both finishing on 6.5 points having drawn with each other and beaten all other opponents.  Gustavo wins on the tiebreak calculation making that a hat-trick of victories in consecutive years.

Plate (U1900): Mick Riding

Another close one with Ethan Ross and David Pritchard matching Mick on 5 points. Again, the tiebreak calculation decides it.

Challengers (U1500): Ethan Ross

5 points. An excellent result with some wins against much higher rated opponents. Ethan put in a tremendous run of 15 consecutive wins through the second half of the season which included his 5 wins in the championship.

Juniors: Ethan Ross

Winning the Juniors title in addition to winning the Challengers trophy. A mention here for Gautham Sathishkumar and Joey Pramana who both finished a point behind Ethan on 4 points and were the closest to him for both the Challengers and Juniors trophies.

The final table:

GCC update 19/03/25

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19 March 2025

Hi All.

A fantastic 36 at Juniors on Saturday, the gift that keeps on giving! 32 played in our Competition with Ethan winning on 5½/6, Joey and Lev chasing on 5 and Samira and Ellie topping the girls with 3.  

On Monday Our Siths team saw off South Shields 3-1 to remain top of D6.

During the week we also received notice from Arnold Clark that we were being awarded £400 for their support of local activities. The money will help pay for foldable tables, chairs and maybe a display item for our outdoor events.

As ever PPt attached and hope to see you soon – Mick

2024 Christmas Party

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Monday December 16th 7pm

Why not come along to our Christms Party. Full details to be confirmed over the next few months.

Hope to see you all there!!!

2024 3rd Annual Gosforth Summer Blitz Festival

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Firstly, can I say a big thank you from the Gosforth Chess Club Committee to everyone who attended these events. We have held 5 events over the summer to help keep over the board chess going and it has once again been a great success.

Overall, 77 different competitors came to the events with a high of 49 people and an average attendance of 38, it has been amazing.

So big Congratulations to the following people:

Open

Joint 1st FM Charlie Storey and Gustavo Leon Cazares (74 points) £28.50 each

Gustavo also wins the Gosforth Rapid play trophy for the highest placed Gosforth player.

Special mention to Charlie, he is off to pastures new in Dubai and has donated his winnings to our junior club…. Thank you 🙂 

Major

1st Alan Welsh (56.5 points) £33

2nd Alex Blake (54.5 points) £22

Minor

1st Reece Wright (50.5 points) £33

2nd Gianluca Pirozzi (44 points) £22

Junior

(Only one prize per person, top junior goes to next person after Gianluca)

1st Kai Harkensee (24.5 points) £13

1st Junior Competition

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On 7th July 2024 we had our first junior competition, an amazing 42 Juniors attended and the final standings are below:

Round 7 Completed… results are in!

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Congratulations to the winners, who are:

Club Championship:

Gustavo Leon Cazares

Gustavo finished on 6 points, a point clear of a group of players on 5.  Well done!  Champion for the second year running.

Plate:

Mark McKay

A solid performance with 5 points, only dropping points in games against significantly higher rated players.

Challengers:

Alan Green

4.5 points.  An excellent set of results for somebody who was a newcomer to competitive OTB chess this year.  Was also second to Mark in the Plate.

Juniors:

Lev Drobiazko

2.5 points. Won on tiebreak ahead of Aaron Cheung who also finished with 2.5. An excellent result for Lev having been drawn against some strong opponents.

The final table is shown below: