A community junior chess and go club
Welcoming young people keen to explore and play these strategy games.
The club has a junior section (age 7-11) and an intermediate section (age 11-17).
It resumes for the Spring term on 6 January 2025.
We are running a waiting list for the junior section. We expect to release some spaces for the Spring term and will contact those on the waiting list.
About the club
Junior chess and go club meetings
The club meets on Monday evenings during term time at The Settlement in Letchworth Garden City. Our junior section meets 5.30-6.30pm. This is for ages up to 11 (primary school age). Our intermediate section meets 6.30 - 8.00pm. This is for secondary school age or exceptionally for younger members who are very strong for their age. Our junior section is close to capacity so please contact us in advance to check whether we have any spaces available.
About chess
Chess is an ancient strategy game played between two players. The current form of the game emerged from a much older game of Indian origin dating back 1,500 years. Chess is played by millions of people around the world.
About go
The game of Go is one of the oldest strategy games in the world. It originated over 3,000 years ago in China and is extremely popular in the Far East. It continues to expand in popularity in Europe. As with chess, it is a game that rewards study and ability grows with the effort put into it.
Autumn term club meeting 2024
Our Autumn term is when we welcome some new members and see some members promoted up from the junior section to the intermediate section. We assess the level of our current members through practice games and adapt our teaching curriculum according to the current levels of our members. We cover both chess and go in each group varying our whole group teaching between the two games. members can choose whether they play both games or focus mainly on one game at their choice.
Junior section
We start each club session with a short coaching talk followed by paired games. During this term we will run our club tournament to determine age champions. We use this to introduce our members to tournament play and the rules for that (such as touch and move). The club tournament will run over a number of weeks with one game each week.
Intermediate section
We usually start the club meeting with a coaching talk where we study a tactical position or review a classical game. We encourage members to fully participate in these sessions contributing their thoughts and questions.
Contact
- The Settlement, Nevells Road, Letchworth Garden City, UK
Team
Alison Bexfield
Club manager, chess coach and go coach
Alison set up and has been running the Letchworth Junior chess and go club for over ten years (with a break during the covid years). Alison is an experienced player at both chess and go. She also runs the UK's Junior Go Squad.
Tom Coates
Chess coach
Tom is an experienced chess player. He has run many previous chess clubs in schools in North Herts. Tom provides some of our whole group coaching sessions at the start of each meeting and individual tuition during the meetings.
Bill Thurl
Chess coach
Bill is an experienced chess player and has previously run chess clubs in schools. He provides some of our whole group teaching and also individual tuition to members during our meetings.
Future chess events
We list here some future chess events that may be of interest to our members.
Herts county team events that some of our members may qualify for:
U11 East zone: Saturday 16 March 2024
This is a team event and Herts Schools Chess Association usually enters a team of around 20 players
Girls U11 county final: Saturday 13 April 2024
This is a team event and Herts Schools chess Association usually enters a team of around 12 players
future go events
We list here future go events that may be of interest to our members.
British Small Board tournament: 20 October 2024
Location Cambridge
An excellent first tournament for those new to the game of go. Played on 13x3 boards.
British Youth Go Championship: Saturday 9 November 2024
Location: Leicester County Bridge Club, 67 St. Oswald Road, Leicester LE3 6RJ
This event is suitable for those players who are comfortable playing on a full size board. All grades are welcome.
Useful links
We provide here useful links where you can explore more about chess and go.
British Go Association https://www.britgo.org/
The British Go Association promotes and supports the playing of go in the UK. Its website provides useful information on where you can play go in the UK and has resources to help you become stronger at go.
English Chess Federation https://www.englishchess.org.uk/
The English Chess Federation promotes and supports chess playing in England. Its website has useful information on events across the country. To play in many events that are rated you will need to acquire a silver level of membership.
ChessKid https://www.chesskid.com/
This is a great site for juniors new to chess to learn the rules of the games and start to play. It offers fun engaging tutorials and the chance to play other new players. The online playing environment does not support chat and can provide parents with a child activity report to monitor use.
