Gustavo won the Club Championship for the 4th year running. The race went to the final round and a showdown against the only other player who could win, Dave Armbruster. After winning that game, Gustavo finished on 6.5/7 with his closest rivals finishing 1.5 points behind on 5.
Plate (U1900):Ethan Ross
A great achievement for Ethan, one of our juniors who has rapidly worked his way up the club rankings this season. His score of 5/7 is very impressive given that he faced 6 of the top 7 rated players to earn those points. The Plate was eventually decided by a play-off against Andrew Robinson who also finished on 5/7. Ethan won the play-off 2-0.
Challengers (U1500):Heath Grimman
Another rapidly improving junior, Heath has only been playing competitive chess for a year, but is already moving ahead of many of the established adult players. An excellent score of 4/7. His closest rival was Bob Heyman who finished on 3.5.
Juniors:Ethan Ross
Ethan wins the Juniors title for the 2nd year running. Good performances also from Lev Drobiazko and Joey Pramana who both finished just half a point behind Ethan on 4.5.
The final table:
Past Winners
CHAMPIONSHIP
PLATE
CHALLENGERS
JUNIORS
2026
Gustavo Leon Cazares
Ethan Ross
Heath Grimman
Ethan Ross
2025
Gustavo Leon Cazares
Mick Riding
Ethan Ross
Ethan Ross
2024
Gustavo Leon Cazares
Mark McKay
Alan Green
Lev Drobiazko
2023
Gustavo Leon Cazares
Ray Devenney
Paul Costello
2022
Mick Riding
Marcos Caso Huerta
William Robinson
2020/21 *
Mick Riding
Ian Chester
2019
Jack Erskine-Pereira
* 2020 competition was interrupted by Covid and then completed in 2021
A fantastic 1st round of Gosforth Chess Club Summer Blitz Series which had 44 people in attendance who made the night an exceptional event! The winners were:
Open: 1st Gustavo Leon 7/7 ยฃ30 2nd Andy Burnett 6/7 ยฃ20
Major: 1st = Murray Pollock, Mark Davey, Ed Dodds and Nagendra KS 5/6 ยฃ12.50 each
Minor: 1st = Ethan Ross and Heath Grimman 4/6 ยฃ25 each
The leader board is available below, due to the amount of people who don’t have rating yet I will wait till after the 3rd event is graded before separating the groups.
So we have some great news with still a few league games to go.
Firstly in the Northumberland Championship Sell (Under 2000), we are proud to announce that Alex Blake has won the competition with a round to go!
A massive well done to Alex from all the club!
In league chess Monday the 30th was a busy night….. 3 of our teams have secured promotion!
Well done to Mark’s (Captain) Salters team who have secured promotion to Division 1. They are 3 points ahead of Morpeth who have a game in hand. With both teams playing each other in the last game that could be the title decider.
Well done to the Jedis (1st junior team), who have secured promotion to Division 3. Again they are 3 points clear of South Shields who have a game in hand. With both teams playing each other in the last game that could be the title decider.
Finally well done to the Padawans (3rd junior team), who have secured promotion to Division 5. The Padawans are runaway leaders of Division 6 and only require 1 point from their remaining 3 games to be declared Champions!!
We had 4 league matches, 2 club championship games and 3 Gilroy matches.
League Update:
Division 1:
We had two Division 1 matches which were Gosforth Empire v Newcastle University and Gosforth Regents v Leam Lane.
Gosforth Empire got off to a good start with winning the match 3.5 v 1.5, this puts us in first place of Division 1 by 4 points but have played a game more than both Jesmond and Newcastle. A huge match away vs Newcastle on April 15th but with 3 games to go its all in our hands.
The Regents were heavily outgraded but managed a fantastic 2 all draw with wins for Alex Blake and John Liddle. This puts the Regents in 7th place 1 point from safety.
Division 2:
We had a Gosforth Centurions v Gosforth Salters, in a Gosforth battle the Salters managed to win the match 3.5 v 0.5. This puts the Salters at the top of Division 2, 2 points ahead of Morpeth in second. This could go all the way to a last match play off for first place when the Salters play Morpeth on April 27th. The Centurions are now in 4th place but look much more comfortable to keep their place in Division 2 next year.
Division 3: We had Gosforth Woodbines v Morpeth B, sadly Morpeth B were too strong and won the match 3 – 1. This leaves the Woodbines in 7th place in Division 3, with our other teams (Hawthorns and Ivy) in positions 5 and 6 it will mean one of our teams will be playing in Division 4 next year due to a really strong Division 3 this year.
Division 4 Goforth Jedis (1st Junior team) are top of Division 4 on board count, they are joint first with South Shields Sand Dancers, again this could come down to a final game match on Monday the 11th of May when we host South Shields!
Gosforth Otterburns are having a great season in 4th place and are aiming to solidify their place in Division 4 next year.
Division 5 Goforth Siths (2nd Junior team) are top of Division 5 by 4 points but have played a game more than Forest Hall Pheasants. With only 3 games remaining it’s all in the Siths hands to take down the title!
Divisions 6: Goforth Padawans (3rd Junior team) are top of Division 6 by 6 points, with only 4 games left this could be all over quickly!
Amazingly with under 7 weeks to go we are TOP OF 5 OUT OF 6 DIVISIONS!!!!!
With top 2 from Divisions 2 – 6 getting promoted and the bottom 2 from Division 1-5 getting relegated there is so much to play for in the next 7 weeks!!!
Tonight we were proud to host a top board clash of two of our top Junior players. Gautham Sathishkumar (4/5) v Ethan Ross (5/5) were playing on a beautiful Judith Polgar chess set that was awarded to the club by the British Chess Educational Trust (BCET) for contributions to chess.
Ethan managed to get the better of Gautham and is now on 6 out of 6! This means that he will only need a draw in the final round to take the trophy, at worst if he loses and Tom Cameron (also Gosforth) wins his last round it would mean a play-off would be needed.
Sell (Under 2000)
Leading the Sell is Gosforth’s own Alex Blake yet again on an amazing 6 out of 6. Alex only needs half a point from round 7 but will be crowned champion before round 7 if his nearest rival Stuart Skelsey does not win his round 6 match vs Gosforth’s Mark McKay.
Zollner (Open)
Gosforth’s NM Gustavo Leon is leading the Zollner on 5 out of 6 after a huge win against last years champion FM Andy Burnett, Gustavo is closely followed by FM Tim Wall (Newcastle) on 4.5 points and FM David Walker (Leam Lane) on 4 points. The draw is not out yet but odds are FM David Walker will play Gustavo in the last round which will be very interesting! In theory there is a possibility to see a 3 player play off to decide that title!
With one round to go we are leading all 3 County Championship competitions…… this is unheard of!!
So with less than 2 months to go this is a very exciting time and fingers crossed we bring back lots of silverware!!
https://gosforthchessclub.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GCC-logo-1.jpeg00Davehttps://gosforthchessclub.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GCC-logo-1.jpegDave2026-03-19 11:00:362026-03-19 20:23:41Club Night Update
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.ย Out of the six divisions, we are top, or joint top, in five of them.ย 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.
ย 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.ย Two juniors still have 100% records โ well done Felix Glover (5/5) and Heath Grimman (4/4) !!
https://gosforthchessclub.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GCC-logo-1.jpeg00Davehttps://gosforthchessclub.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GCC-logo-1.jpegDave2025-12-11 17:45:292026-03-19 11:34:592026 Blitz Series
We will holding a fun 5 round 5 minutes plus 5 second Fisher Random tournament with a Pizza Buffet for only ยฃ5 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!
https://gosforthchessclub.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GCC-logo-1.jpeg00Davehttps://gosforthchessclub.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GCC-logo-1.jpegDave2025-11-11 16:51:102025-11-16 21:38:12Christmas Party 2025 Monday December 15th
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