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Waltham Forest and Haringey Schools Chess Tournament
3 April 2026
On 23 March, we paired up with Chess in Schools and Communities to host a huge day of chess training and competition for primary school kids across Waltham Forest and Haringey. Here’s a lightly edited writeup from CSC’s Matt Prior.
‘CSC was delighted to work in partnership with Walthamstow Chess Club to organise a new event for NE London - the Waltham Forest and Haringey Schools Chess Tournament. Over 150 children from 15 local primary schools joined us for a day of chess activities hosted by Big Penny Social an amazing venue which was very kindly given to us free of charge by Big Penny Community CIC.
On arrival, the children received chess lessons and coaching from an illustrious group of chess experts including WFMs Emmanuelle and Eunice Hng, currently #3 and #4 in the FIDE rankings for Singapore women, CM Jacob Yoon, part of the University College London first team which won the 2025 BUCA championship, CM Daniel Lindner, president of the City Chess Association, Rauf Khalilov, author, singer and a generous contributor to the local chess scene, and Chase Tecimer, founder of Fintech start-ups Doorway and Flagships and participant at the 2025 Pro Biz Cup.
Next the children got to test their own skills against these experts as they took them on in a giant simultaneous display. We will spare the blushes of our chess experts but it’s sufficient to say that the children certainly seemed to hold their own judging by the number of medals we gave away for outstanding performances!
After lunch, the serious chess began as all the children took part in a tournament against their peers. At stake were trophies for the schools whose teams scored the most points and more medals for the highest individual scores. All the children played amazingly well. A special mention must go to those who attend Higham Hill Chess Club - Steph Miller’s coaching was rewarded with two gold and two silver medals. However, nobody left empty handed as every child left with some chess goodies to encourage them to keep up the game. For most it was their first experience of competitive chess and, judging by their enthusiasm, it won’t be their last.
A huge thank you to all the volunteers for contributing to such a special day, and to their employers, including the Bank of England, JP Morgan, Barclays Bank, and Amazon for allowing their employees to take a day off work to help out as part of their excellent employee volunteering schemes. Thank you too to the ECF Grassroots Scheme, Andersen LLP, the Waltham Forest Community Funding Team and to several private donors for their generous financial support.’
From all of us at the club, big thanks to all involved, particularly Big Penny Social, CSC, and all our members who volunteered their time. We hope to run another event next spring.
Simultaneous match with GM Eldar Gasanov
21 January 2026
On Monday we were thrilled to be joined by Grandmaster Eldar Gasanov, who played Walthamstow Chess Club members and guests in a 12-board simultaneous match at Big Penny Social.
The final score? Congratulations to Eldar on a 12–0 clean sweep. Some of us held out forty or fifty moves, and even caused the occasional short think, but in the end we all crashed and burned. Alfie maintains he missed a win but we reckon it was an opposite-coloured bishop draw anyway.
Huge thanks to GM Gasanov for crushing our dreams and to Rauf for making the match possible.
Photos courtesy of Paul Donnelly.
Membership and Q1 events now available
2 January 2026
We’ve released our events calendar for our events through March. Save the date for our first Walthamstow Rapid Championship, spanning 23 Feb and 2 Mar. This will be a rated club event; if you play in it you’ll be able to earn your first ECF rating.
The calendar has a couple of gaps – we’d like your thoughts on what we should focus on and what sort of events you’d enjoy. WhatsApp group members, look out for a short survey soon.
We’ve also launched our membership programme. You do not need to be a member to come to regular club nights. They’ll remain free and open to all. But if you’d like to help us bring this game to more of our community, please consider joining. Membership will be needed to play rated events, tournaments, and matches for the club. Our standard subscription is £60/year – but we want to be accessible to all, so you can name your own price if preferred. All details on the Membership page.
Christmas party!
18 November 2025
Save the date: the Walthamstow Chess Club Christmas party will be on Mon 1 Dec, at Chequers, E17 7BX. Meet at 6pm for a meal and merriment before we head over to the Palmerston for our usual club night.
Bookings needed – please see Victoria to get your name down.
Blitz, blunders, and brilliance: our first tournament
29 October 2025
In Walthamstow Chess Club’s first ever competitive outing, we finished the Capes Trophy with a highly respectable record of two wins, a draw, and three losses. This strong blitz tournament, played at a breakneck 5+0 time control, is an annual fixture now in its 65th year.
From left: John, Alfie, Cennydd, Dan.
Standout performance was probably Cennydd’s win against CM Diana Serbanescu, part of his 7–2 record on the day. But across the team there were plenty of great moments, revolting blunders, and outrageous time swindles in hopeless positions. The overall trophy was won by a strong Hackney team.
Thanks to everyone who humoured us with 5-minute training games recently! We’ll be lining up more matches and tournaments soon – although next time expect slightly more relaxed time controls…
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