TELEPOST CHESS CLUB

A friendly club for all standards, based in Shrewsbury and online

Welcome

Come and join us

Telepost Chess Club welcomes new members of whatever standard, from beginner to experienced player. We meet on Monday evenings at The Telepost Club, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury SY2 6BT, where we are fortunate to have the use of a pleasant clubhouse with a licensed bar. We currently have over 50 members, including a thriving Junior section, and we run five teams in the Shropshire Chess League, with opportunities to play friendly social chess, to compete in various club and county competitions, or just to watch and enjoy some interesting games.

We also have a number of online activities, mainly based around our Lichess team, Telepost Dark Knights, who compete in the 4 Nations Chess League.

Find out more

Find us

Latest news

Champions galore!

June 21, 2023

Shropshire Megafinal Winners (left to right) – Rudi Bedford, Merry Curtis and Archie Flavell. Thanks to Christy Curtis for the photo.

Early summer has seen members old and new shine in recent congress events. A trio of Telepost Juniors grabbed a spectacular hat trick of wins at the recent Shropshire Megafinal. Rudi Bedford was unbeaten with six wins to take the U10 event. Merry Curtis was also unbeaten, with his 5.5/6 giving him joint first in the U12 section and U11 winner. Finally, Archie Flavell continued his stellar summer (see 21/4/23 News, and below), pipping Telford’s Ryan Barton on tiebreak to take the U18 section with 4.5/6. The event, held at Charlton School in Wellington, saw a 100% increase in entrants compared to the last Megafinal, meaning the organisers and helpers, including Telepost’s Dan Hilditch-Love and Kate Walker, were kept very busy. Telepost mentor Paul Billington attended as a spectator and commented:

It was evident from the start that excellent planning, and a certain level of sensitivity had been employed. For example, many of the parents arriving were greeted and welcomed in a warm friendly manner by helpers who made great effort to make each and every one very relaxed and certain of what to expect. The event started well, on time, and with the massive bonus of being able to gain the expert over-view of a Chess Master, Jonathan Blackburn, and Rudi VanKemenade adding his expert advice. Not only were the parents able to watch live the top boards in each section, the games were streamed live on the internet for everyone to see!

Plenty of concentration in the main playing hall

The players were all in great spirits, thoroughly enjoying themselves, and very clearly guided at each stage. The outstanding play soon became easy to spot, by the most talented players playing great chess, but not being too hurried, having just the right amount of time to play a reasonable game. There were some outstanding players who were able to express their talents properly, knowing that they could trust the arbiters to sort out any problems immediately, and with confidence. Our Arbiter Dan Hilditch-Love added to the richness of the event by showing how much his skills have improved after completing a course ran by FIDE on running tournaments which allowed his section to be overseen in the best possible way.

Not to be outdone, in the South Lakes Congress, held in Barrow-in-Furness, James Holyhead’s congress strategy of playing a section or more above his own rating had its best outing ever as he scored an unbeaten 4/5 to take a superb joint first place in the Intermediate (U1825) section. Seeded 24th out of 25 players, James took on a succession of higher graded players, remaining unbeaten. In game 3, careful endgame play by James defeated third seed Greg Millar, rated 1804…

The full story and more News…